Being disorganized isn't the only reason you might be avoiding annual planning. Most moms fail at planning because they’ve been given planning strategies that don’t match real life, real responsibilities, or biblical priorities.
The good news? When we redefine planning from control to stewardship, the process becomes doable and even joyful.
Here’s how to find an annual planning process that will help you create goals that don’t fall apart by February — goals that actually support cheerful, faithful homemaking all year long.
Planning is stewardship, not self-help
We often think we don’t have time to plan. We imagine sitting down with a notebook after dishes and laundry are complete and the children wait patiently in the background — an unrealistic scene that makes planning feel like a luxury.
Skipping planning won't save you time, though. When we wing it, we spend more time putting out fires, making impulsive decisions, and feeling guilty for never getting ahead. Living reactively doesn’t produce peace. It produces anxiety and distraction.
Planning won't prevent interruptions, but it does prepare us to handle interruptions with grace. Planning is not about asserting control, but about preparing and being ready.
When planning becomes an act of stewardship rather than a quest for perfection, it becomes not only possible — but necessary. It doesn’t require perfect conditions. Faithful planning requires a posture of responsibility and willingness to prepare our hearts, homes, and habits for the work set before us, the work of our vocations.
Design your plan for real life
I know you're probably tempted to give up New Year Resolutions or big picture planning because you've tried before and it didn't really help you at all. Traditional planning processes assume predictable time, consistent energy, uninterrupted routines, and personal control. Christian homemaking doesn’t look like that.
Real life is full of illness, growth spurts, grandparents visiting, job changes, spiritual dryness, hyper-focused toddlers, and days that go nothing like we imagined. Good planning has to account for the uncertainties of reality, not ignore them.
Looking back, the plans that crumble most quickly are usually the ones that didn’t bend. They were idealistic but not flexible, rigid not resilient. A faithful plan is not the one that survives untouched; it’s the one that adapts and still holds shape. God's sanctifying work often interrupts our systems — not to frustrate them, but to deepen them.
Once we stop judging the success of a plan by how perfectly we followed it, we begin to see that every failed plan was teaching us something important: where we need margin, where we need rest, and where we need more reliance on grace and less on grit. Planning is not about perfection. It’s about wisdom, learned gradually through experience, mistakes, reflection, and prayer.
Begin annual planning with review
The most overlooked planning skill is reflection. We tend to focus on fixing the future without understanding the past. But without reflection, we don’t know what to keep, what to adjust, or what to completely release. We end up repeating the same overwhelm with new stationery.
Reflection reveals God’s faithfulness in our year, even in the parts we thought were wasted. What felt chaotic often held hidden growth: a strengthened habit, an ability to pivot, or a humbled prayer life. Review and reflection allows us to cultivate gratitude so we don't plan for the future out of discontent and frustration.
When we reflect, we don’t build plans on wishful thinking; we build them on reality. Instead of “What didn’t work?” the better questions become: What helped, even a little? What drained the most energy? What served my people well? What grew my faith? That kind of remembering shapes next year’s goals not from discontent, but from wisdom and gratitude.
Set up your annual plan by vocation
Many of us have tried setting goals that sounded great on paper but collapsed as soon as they met real family life. Goals pulled from ambition, Pinterest, or productivity culture might look impressive, but they don’t necessarily honor the vocations God has actually given us.
Christian planning starts by asking: What has God called me to steward? Who has He put in my care? What needs to grow, even slowly? These questions shape goals that deserve our time and energy — goals that serve relationships, home atmosphere, spiritual growth, health, and responsibility.
A faithful goal doesn’t demand a whole new version of you. It partners with the current you and cultivates next baby steps. Faithful goals always fit within capacity, calling, and season. They don’t shrink vision — they refine it. They aren’t small because they’re weak. They’re small because they’re doable, and therefore transformative.
Community is better than isolation, even for annual planning
Planning alone is possible, but planning in isolation is harder, lonelier, and easier to abandon. When we make plans by ourselves, we either overestimate or underestimate because we are often driven by ambition, insecurity, or uncertainty. But when we plan in community, we clarify, refine, and ground those plans with encouragement, accountability, perspective, and wisdom.
Community planning creates endurance. We’re reminded that faithfulness grows through small steps, honest reflection, and stubborn hope that God works through ordinary obedience. When other homemakers are praying, planning, and practicing alongside you, the work becomes more cheerful — and more lasting.
Faithful planning isn’t just about what to do next. It’s about who you’re becoming — and that kind of formation happens best alongside others practicing the same work.
The next faithful step: plan your year with peace, purpose, and community
This year, instead of planning alone, come plan with me inside Ready5 — the annual planning process I host inside Convivial Circle. We don’t build perfect plans. We build faithful ones, one hour a week for five weeks, starting the day after Thanksgiving.
You’ll reflect, set direction, and build a plan that fits your real family life — without overwhelm, without guilt, and without perfectionism.
Every year we work through Ready5 Annual Review from Thanksgiving through New Year. We'd love to have you join us!
- Get gospel-focused advice and encouragement.
- Level up your plans and progress, one step at a time.
- Find accountability with likeminded women without any social media drama.
- Experience the homemaking mentoring you’ve always wanted.
- Learn to love being a homemaker!
The direction & accountability homemakers need to make noticeable progress in their home management skills.
Just $27.99/month
(or save with a quarterly or annual plan)