Homemaking Books

Rhonda wrote in with a question:

I have always loved the art of homemaking.  I am a single woman in my 30’s and work a full-time job.I am able to live out my passion by slowly learning creative and inexpensive ways to show hospitality to others. I have searched for books on homemaking, but have only found home-decorating books.  Would you be able to suggest any books on homemaking?

We so respect your commitment to homemaking, Rhonda! And yes, we can recommend some great resources on the topic. We aren’t aware of one book that contains all you need to know to be a homemaker (wouldn’t that be nice?!), but there are numerous books on specific aspects of homemaking—cooking, cleaning, organizing, etc. Honestly, though, we’ve found the best practical help from other homemakers. There is a wealth of wisdom in those who are doing it well and so along with the books listed below, we recommend a lifestyle of learning from other homemakers.

Having said that, the following list is comprised of books focused on a biblical understanding of a woman’s role in the home, but many of them get very practical as well. We hope they inspire you and everyone else in your role as homemaker….

"The High Calling of Wife and Mother in Biblical Perspective" by Dorothy Patterson is a chapter in Recovering Biblical Manhood and Womanhood and a great place to begin for single and married women.

Edith Schaeffer's classic The Hidden Art of Homemaking is both beautiful and inspiring.

Anything by Elisabeth Elliot is going to encourage a woman in the home, but her memoir, The Shaping of a Christian Family, will give you a vision for the fruit a godly home can produce by the grace of God.

In Becoming a Woman Who Pleases God Pat Ennis and Lisa Tatlock (a single woman and a married woman, by the way) cover both a biblical perspective and practical help for homemakers (it even includes a budget form and meal plans!).

Susan Hunt devotes a chapter of her book, The True Woman, to "Domesticity."

Married women will learn right along with the single women in Carolyn McCulley's Did I Kiss Marriage Goodbye? Part three of her book, "Finding a Guide For Daily Life in the Proverbs 31 Woman" shows how to make the home a place of mission and hospitality.

In Girl Talk: Mother-Daughter Conversations on Biblical Womanhood we devoted two chapters to a young woman's training as a homemaker.

And finally, last, but certainly not least, my personal favorite is still chapter six of Feminine Appeal: "The Honor of Working at Home"

Happy Home Reading, Rhonda!