“Make My Life Simple: Bringing Peace to Heart and Home” by Rachel Balducci

Rachel Balducci gives us a delightful peek into her life throughout the years as a wife, mother to six children, and her career as a writer and speaker.

Make My Life Simple: Bringing Peace to Heart and Home is a witty and enchanting perspective on bringing simplicity and order into the chaos of day-to-day life. Balducci illustrates the beauty and power of small changes in homemaking, like making the bed, cleaning the sink, and planning your meals for the week — and these are only a few of the many tips she provides for young mothers who are raising little ones.

She also focuses on the utmost importance of self-care and spirituality. She explains that by giving time for God, everything else flows into place — taking care of our health, raising our children and of course maintaining a happy and clean home.

Having followed Balducci on Instagram, I noticed that she had five boys and one girl, and I bought this book thinking she would be able to give me some insight into the minds of little boys.

As a mother to three little ones, I really appreciated her perspective. My oldest is a girl (4.5 years old) and my two younger ones are boys (ages 3 and 1). My four year old little girl is very responsible, a thinker and very girly just like her mama — and my boys are the complete opposite!

My 3-year-old loves to run around, go outside and roughhouse with anyone who is interested. He is a delightful little chap, but his mind works very differently. My 1-year-old already wants to wrestle with his older brother, and actually tries to pummel my 3-year-old who is double his size! They give me grey hairs every day.

One of my favorite passages from her book was:

“Of our six children, the first five are boys. We had a new baby boy every twenty-months for a while, which meant at one point we had four boys, ages five and under. Life was very crazy then, and continues to be so (in all honesty). Our last baby was a girl, and now that she’s in elementary school I’m blown away by how intuitive she is when it comes to knowing what I’m asking. She’s not like her brothers in that regard. In other words, if you have sons, be kind. They very rarely are able to read your mind.”  

After reading several hilarious stories about her boys, I finally came to understand that girls and boys are so very different. Coming from a family of all girls, I never realized how true this is!  As mothers, we should be understanding of that and take care to adhere to their specific needs.

Beyond this, though, the book is truly a goldmine of knowledge.

I would recommend this book to any mother who is trying to do it all while having order in your home. Keeping your house together, running errands, making meal plans, while setting aside time for exercise and faith sounds impossible! But let me tell you, you can do it.

She will guide you to have a sense of order. Her encouraging words will echo in your head everyday. “Make your bed, clean the sink,” will be in your brain repetitively, and her countless stories about her children will keep you laughing out loud!

Since we are all raising little ones it can be very difficult to read, let alone finish up laundry or even cook dinner. I read this whenever I had a pocket of time waiting for my food to cook, or when the kids would be playing peacefully. I would sneak away to the next room to just read two pages! And for the past month and a half, after reading this book I’ve been even more dedicated to reading a little about my faith every day, listening to a podcast, and committing to an exercise schedule.

Balducci’s advice, charm, and great sense of humour will keep you engaged — she is truly a kindred spirit. If you enjoy having a cup of a coffee and sitting with a good friend who has some witty advice, read this book! I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!