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Christian homemakers need encouragement and motivation to stay the course. Homemaking and homeschooling can feel overwhelming, but they don’t have to be. If you’re a Christian mom longing for a well-ordered home, a peaceful homeschool, and a joyful heart—without the stress or burnout—you’re in the right place. Moms can be productive and peaceful when grounded in Scriptural truth.
I’m Mystie Winckler, homeschooling mom of five, founder of Simply Convivial, and your guide to managing both home and heart with faith and focus. Here, we talk about biblical homemaking, sustainable homeschooling, and cheerful productivity—all through the lens of organizing your attitude and embracing your God-given calling.
In each episode, you’ll find practical homemaking systems, homeschooling strategies, and mindset shifts that will help you manage your home without perfectionism or frustration. We’ll tackle topics like:
✔️ Christian homemaking routines that actually work
✔️ Productivity, mom-style
✔️ Homeschooling with peace—even when life gets messy
✔️ Time management for moms (without rigid schedules)
✔️ Decluttering your home & your attitude
✔️ How to be diligent, not just busy
Motherhood is a marathon, not a sprint. You don’t need more willpower—you need a grace-filled, biblical approach to managing life at home. Let’s cultivate faithfulness, embrace joy, and build habits that make home a place of peace and purpose.
👉 Subscribe now and start organizing your home and heart—cheerfully.
Speaker 2: We had a whole bathtub
stacked with more boxes of photos
and photo albums and, you know, like
graduation diplomas and announcements
and cards, and it was just sad.
It was sad to open up the bathroom
door and see all of that stuff and
not know what to do with it, and not
know who a lot of those people are.
Then you have the guilt on top of
the sadness on top of everything.
So it was just, it was right
where I was at the moment.
And like I said, she didn't have a lot
of digital clutter, but it caused me
to come back and look at, you know,
when I eventually do die- I don't know
if anybody would even know where to
start with all of my digital clutter.
Speaker: Hello, and welcome to
the Christian Homemaking Podcast.
I'm Misty Winkler, homemaker, homeschool
mom of five, three graduates now.
I'm a grandma, author of the book
Simplified Organization: Learn
to Love What Must Be Done, and
host here at Simply Convivial.
Convivial means doing life together
with joy, and that's the kind
of hospitable atmosphere that
we want to create in our homes.
My goal is to see as many women as
possible become engaged, competent,
and cheerful Christian homemakers.
And today I'm joined by someone who's
been doing things on the internet
as long as I have, Kerry Dunker.
Speaker 2: Hey.
Speaker: Kerry is a wife of
30 years, former homeschooler.
She's graduated all three of her boys.
She is grandma to three, and she
says an inconsistent blogger.
She has the Journal and Doodle Bible
Studies, Biblical Meditation Journals,
and she has retyped and republished
an excellent memoir of Susan Albion.
Uh, do you want to tell us maybe, just
real quick before we jump into the
topic we're gonna do today, tell us
a little bit about that book project.
Speaker 2: Oh, yeah.
It was a book I stumbled upon, uh,
quite a few years ago, and it was
from my son's co-op lit teacher.
When we went and visited her, she had this
falling apart book, and I had just flipped
through a few pages of it and I read a few
entries and thought, "I need this book."
And of course, it's nowhere to be found.
You can't find it online.
So I found an old used book, uh, store
that mailed me a copy that was falling
apart, and I was reading it and just
loving it, and I thought, "I don't
know if it's legal to underline and
highlight in an almost 200-year-old book."
So I thought, "You know what?
I'm done homeschooling.
I will just sit down at my computer
and type this out for myself,"
because one, it'd be good practice
for increasing my typing skills and
paying attention to details, and I
would have a paper copy for myself.
And then when I got it all done, I had
a whole bunch of people help me edit it
from my blog who were wonderful editors.
And then I thought, "Well,
I'll just go ahead and put
it on Amazon and publish it."
And then I had a real copy that
I could keep in my hands and
highlight and underline, and
it's all falling apart now too.
But it's such a great memoir of such
a godly woman who for, she lived to be
41, but for 20, I think it was 21 years
of her life, was so sick with what they
call consumption- Mm-hmm ⦠which now
I think it w- I mean, it's any number
of things, but she was completely
debilitated and unable to even walk
downstairs for the latter half of her
life, but yet had this vibrant life,
this wonderful relationship with the
Lord, reached so many people for Christ.
We had ⦠She had Henry Clay come
and visit her, and I don't know how
to say his name, Adoniram Judson-
Speaker: Oh
⦠Speaker 2: the missionary.
Speaker: The missionary, yeah.
Speaker 2: Yes, came and visited her,
and like, it was just incredible.
I'm like, "This is like all of history
coming together in one life," and
how she just used it for the Lord.
It was
It's absolutely an astounding memoir.
So it's 690 some pages, but-
Speaker: It's a big book.
Speaker 2: We got it done.
Speaker: So I will have a link to
that biography in the show notes
for sure, as well as a link to
Carrie's site, ordinarycarrie.com.
So I asked you to come on the podcast
because you had a post inside the Scalley
Sisters community, the sistership,
talking about how you were decluttering,
especially while going through your
parents' estate and processing things,
and how that was, you know, changing your
thoughts about stuff and, you know- Yeah
management of our resources.
And I think that's just a phase of life
that we would all be better off if we
thought about it ahead of time a bit more.
Mm-hmm,
Speaker 2: yeah.
Speaker: And ifâ¦
It often hits us, um, you know, if
you have to care for your parents or,
or deal with their stuff, it comes
upon us at a vulnerable time, usually
some kind of grief or processing
of illnesses or, you know- Yeah
all kinds of things.
And if we aren't prepared for
it, it can be a lot to handle.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah, I think somebody posted on there
that she was struggling with digital
clutter and how you organize all of that,
and it- it's right where we are right now.
And Cori, so it's my husband's mom
that passed away, and she's such
a godly woman and so dear to us.
And, and it was as, you know how it
is with sickness, it's fast but slow.
Mm-hmm.
And so it was fast because
we didn't seem like we had
enough time with her, but slow.
And so you didn't wanna spend the time
that she was sick going through her
stuff and saying- Right ⦠"Now, Mom,
we need to get rid of this stuff,"
or, "You need to tell us who all
these people are in these pictures.
Let's getâ¦"
You know, you wanna just be
with them and enjoy them.
And so we did that, but then
after she passed, we have boxes
and boxes of physical stuff
that we all took some of it.
You know, Cori has, uh,
six other brothers, and so
there's a, a large family.
And we all took some boxes.
But I have a vivid picture in my
memory of when we were getting
ready for the estate sale.
We had a whole bathtub
stacked with more boxes of-
Speaker: Hmm
⦠Speaker 2: photos and photo albums
and, you know, like graduation
diplomas and announcements and
cards, and it was just sad.
It was sad to open up the bathroom
door and see all of that stuff and
not know what to do with it, and not
know who a lot of those people are.
Like, and then you have the guilt on
top of the sadness on top of everything.
So it was just, it was right
where I was at the moment.
And like I said, she didn't have a lot
of digital clutter, but it caused me
to come back and look at if I were, you
know, when I eventually do die- I don't
know if anybody would even know where
to start with all of my digital clutter.
So it was such a good question,
and I loved that question, and I
understand the heart behind it.
And I just, um, before, when mom was
sick, I had started kind of thinking
about my digital clutter and realized,
like, I have a photo, um, like Canva.
It's not Canva, but like that.
Mm.
Like an online photo editor, and
it just stores all of the pictures
that you've ever edited in there.
And then I have Dropbox, which has our
whole life in it, and Google Drive,
which is where the boys did all of
their homeschool, you know, papers
and spreadsheets and all of that.
And then the hard drive on our computer,
which is just overwhelmingly full.
Mm.
And so I justâ¦
I sat down and thought, "I
could do this little by little."
I could haveâ¦
We have four weeks generally in a
month, so then I have four different
areas that need to be decluttered.
So on week one I'll do Dropbox,
and what I'll do is I'll go in
there and I'll get rid of all the
stuff that I know I don't need.
So I'm leaving the stuff that's a
maybe, maybe someday I'll refer to
it, and then try to organize that.
But right now I am just deleting
25 files in each week in each area.
Okay.
And then if it's a maybe, I'm leaving
it until I get through all of that,
and then I'm just left with the maybes.
I don't know what I'll do with that.
I haven't got there yet.
But I figure this is just narrowing
it down, and then I'll revisit those.
So our, um, so that's the
four areas that I'm doing, and
yeah, trying to delete just 25.
And usually it ends up being more
than that, but if I can just set it
for that, then that's been helpful.
And I have seen a little bit of a
difference in how cluttered it is,
so it's making progress on that.
Speaker: Yeah, the idea of, you know,
photo albums and all that where the,
the people inheriting those don't
even know who is in the photos.
That was just, that image- Yeah
⦠really struck me 'cause I'm like,
I've seen that in my grandparents'
f- I mean, I wasn't the one who had
to deal with it, but you know, to
see the photos and like, well, hmm.
I
Speaker 2: don't know.
Yeah.
It's a cool vintage photo.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker 2: But what do we do with it?
Speaker: Uh-huh.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
And we did ⦠So a few years ago I did
pull out those big dusty bins that I
keep under the bed that have the photos
from before we had digital cameras.
Speaker: Yes.
Speaker 2: So when my boys were
born till about three years
old, and I sorted through those.
And again, I, I got rid of, I got rid
of a big stack, and then I divided
the other ones up into four piles.
One for each son and one for us.
And then got rid of all the duplicates.
'Cause you know how when it's like
the first birthday you take 80 photos-
Speaker: Oh, yeah
Speaker 2: of every moment.
And-
Speaker: Well, and it used to be
when you developed your film you
did usually get two of every photo.
Speaker 2: Yes.
And then all the photos that are
grayed out or have a thumb in them
and yeah, so and I kept all of
those with the negative slides.
Remember the negative slides
that came in the- Mm-hmm.
So I got rid of a bunch of those, and then
I, um, yeah, doled them out to each of
the boys, and then kept a stack for us.
And that was good.
And now I'm trying to do that
with our digital photos, which is
just ⦠I mean, it's from when they
were three till, my youngest is 23.
So 20 years-
Speaker: Wow
⦠Speaker 2: of digital photos
that I'm trying to just sort
through, and it's overwhelming.
But I have a goal from now on out,
any time I'm at event, in an event,
I am going to try to tell the story
of that event in seven photos.
So I can, I have the freedom to take
as many photos as I want, and then when
I'm going through them I'm gonna try
to narrow it down to the seven most,
like, important moments of that event.
Because seven's a good number
to text people if they're
like, "Oh, send me pictures."
It's not a photo dump of 30.
And I think seven would be good for, like,
if you were gonna do, like, a memory book.
Three on this page,
maybe four on this page.
It seems like it would be a nice layout.
And seven is the perfect
number, or number of perfection.
Complete.
So, so that's what I've been trying to
do, and it's been kind of a fun challenge.
We went to a wedding a month
ago, and I was able to tell the
story in seven photos- Mm-hmm
that are, like, the best photos.
And then we, after the wedding,
we stopped at the Redwoods over in
California, and there was a thousand
photos, but I told, you know, narrowed
it down to the best of the seven.
And I feel like that's a
great number to strive for.
And it's hard to delete, like
you're going, "This one or this one?
This one or this one?
This one?"
Yeah.
But it's a really good practice
to really kind of be concise with
your storytelling through photos,
which has been a fun challenge.
Speaker: Yeah.
I know my photo album is
actually full of things that
are just, like, price checking.
Like, or do you want this?
Or reference, or, like, maybe s- it's-
Speaker 2: Yes
Speaker: would be really random.
It's like, oh, I really should
go through there and, like, that
was just a reference picture.
Speaker 2: Yes.
Yes.
So many Costco prices compared
to the, the- Right ⦠store's
prices, or this spider that was
incredibly huge next to my thumb.
Like, that's- Yeah.
I don't wanna keep that, but I have it.
But I have, as part of my weekly review
too, I do have delete 50 phone pictures.
Speaker: Oh, okay.
Speaker 2: And that, yeah, I thought, oh,
I'm gonna run out of pictures to delete.
No, it, it goes way back.
So then again, I'm doing the this one or
this one, this one or this one for the
people pictures, but then there's a ton
that's just, yeah, reference, not needed,
screenshots that I sent to somebody,
not needed, and they just stack up in
there, and then it's overwhelming again.
So as part- Yeah ⦠of the weekly
review, just delete 50 and then move on.
Speaker: Yeah.
And so as you sort through, like, files
on Drive and Dropbox, or photosâ¦
You said for photos you have the seven,
to tell a story in seven, so that's like
a framework or a principle for picking.
What um progress do you
see as you delete those?
How does it how does it help
to have deleted the clutter?
'Cause it's like- Well- ⦠not
taking up act- visible space
Speaker 2: Right.
I, I think it's taking
up a lot of head space.
Speaker: Mm-hmm.
' Speaker 2: Cause every time I go into,
let's say, uh, my photo editor, it's
like I have so much stuff in there.
If I wanna find a specific thing,
'cause sometimes this, their
search thing doesn't really work-
Speaker: Yes
Speaker 2: or I don't put the
words in there that I need to.
Speaker: Mm-hmm.
Speaker 2: Um, it's overwhelming,
and it makes me sad.
Like, do I have to start
this all over again?
Or, or I'll never find
this, or that whatâ¦
You know, so if I can really streamline
it and narrow it down, yes, I've probably
deleted some things that maybe I shouldn't
have, but it's not, it's not life ending.
Like- Mm-hmm ⦠I can ⦠And I,
and I don't really know that I have.
Speaker: Mm-hmm.
Speaker 2: Like, there's some stuff
that I've deleted maybe I shouldn't
have, but I've forgotten about it, so
it doesn't- ⦠really matter that much.
But I just think just knowing that
when I go to do a project, to go to
edit, you know, like, a, a label that
I'm making or something, I don't have
to sort through 120 different labels.
I can just see, okay, that's
that one, that's that one.
I can use that one.
It just helps my in the moment mindset.
'Cause it's not, it's not in my head
when I'm just going about life, but
when I need to access that thing, it
gets overwhelming, and then I, I feel
like, well, I've messed this all up.
I'll never get through it.
It'll never get better.
Everything's awful.
I think- Mm-hmm ⦠I'm
just gonna go watch a show.
So it's causing distraction,
overwhelm, sadness.
Like, yeah, it's, it's not an
everyday thing, but it's in the
moment thing, and it's helped that.
It's helped me just to kind
of ⦠Eventually I'll be able to
stay focused and not overwhelmed.
It's not yet, but it's getting there.
Speaker: It's true.
I have wondered before how much time
I actually spend looking for a file.
Speaker 2: Yes.
Yes.
Speaker: And it feels like the
search features everywhere are
worse than they used to be.
Speaker 2: Yes.
Thank you.
Now that they- I think it's true.
Yes.
Speaker: Yes.
It's like they ⦠Because I'm
searching for what I am searching
for, but it says, "Oh, well maybe
you also meant this other thing."
It, it's like predicting- Yes ⦠and
it's also now searching the whole
file and not just the file name.
And it's like, no, I just ⦠Give me
my file- Yes ⦠that's called this, and
Speaker 2: And I know- ⦠it's not
even in here ⦠it's in this name.
I know I put this name on it.
Yes.
It is so frustrating.
I didn't even think about how they
had changed that because I, I simply
cannot find emails that I- Yeah
know I have kept.
Mm-hmm.
And I know I have them,
and I cannot find them.
So I'm thinking, you know, I do
have like folders in my inbox, like
divided up into reference and stuff.
I need to go through those too because
if I- went through those, I wouldn't
have to sort through 500 files to
find the one that I know I have-
Speaker: Yes
but I
Speaker 2: can't find.
Speaker: Yes.
So
Speaker 2: hopefully.
That
Speaker: was a couple, it was a
couple months ago, my husband sent
an email to me and then our adult
children about our Google s- like,
account with our email addresses.
Because he said in five days the plan
is gonna jump up to the, you know, the
one that's like 10 times as expensive.
Speaker 2: Yes.
Speaker: And we're not doing
that, so delete your files.
Speaker 2: Yes.
That's true, too.
They're doing that now.
You don't have unlimited anything.
Yes.
Mm-hmm.
And that's frustrating.
Speaker: So I had to go through and
figure out how am I gonna figure
out how to delete emails, 'cause
I usually just archive in Gmail.
Speaker 2: Oh, yeah.
Speaker: So.
Speaker 2: And so now you have to delete.
Speaker: Mm-hmm.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
That's so tough.
Mm-hmm.
And then it's panic because you only have
this much time, so if I could just be calm
and just go through it, like weekly w- on
my weekly review, then I don't have that.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker 2: And then we don't have
to pay for the newer amount, and
then after we die the boys aren't
stuck with, "Why is she paying
99 cents to Apple all the time?"
You know?
Yeah.
Like, oh, just so irritating.
So it doesn't, yeah, it doesn't help,
like on my day-to-day, but it definitely
helps when you're at crunch time because
they're gonna increase it or you have
to do something and deal with it.
Speaker: Yeah.
Well, I like that idea of like, just 25
files a week in different areas and- Yeah
um, 50 photos during the weekly review.
I think, yeah, that's just c- a
consistent approach instead of treating
it like a project that I have to get
all figured out and put together- Yeah.
Speaker 2: Right
⦠Speaker: the best way right now.
Speaker 2: Yes, and quickly because
they're gonna raise our rates.
Yes.
And I was thinking, why, why am
I doing it, um, like Google Drive
this week, Dropbox this week?
And I, it's actually because normally
I'd be like, "Okay, I'm gonna attack
Dropbox, and I'm gonna do everything
in Dropbox, and then I'll move on."
But it's been really good to do this way
because I see that I have double files.
Speaker: Oh.
Speaker 2: Some of them are-
Yeah ⦠on our hard drive and in
Dropbox and in Google, Google Drive
so then I can be like, "Where does it
make the most sense to keep these?"
And then it's way more i- I can just
delete them in the other places.
Yeah.
'Cause I know I have all of my son's
graduation pictures on the external hard
drive, so I can delete them everywhere.
That's a good point.
I don't need them all the places.
And so if I was just doing
one at a time, I probably
wouldn't have even noticed that.
Speaker: Yeah.
That's a good point.
Speaker 2: So.
Speaker: Well, thank you, Kerry.
I think this is hopefully not- doesn't
feel like something people are like,
"Oh, that wasn't on my to-do list, and
now I need to put it on my to-do list."
No.
But it is something to think about,
and, like, just to notice those
friction points and- Yes ⦠and
think more about what we are keeping.
Speaker 2: Yes.
Yeah.
Speaker: And make it a
doable thing to tackle.
It's not something that
has to be solved overnight.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I like the, the lady
that posted the original question.
She's like, "There's a huge part of
me that's like, 'Just delete it all.
Burn it all down.'"
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker 2: But she realizes
that's not probably realistic.
And that's how I roll too.
I'm like, "You know what?
I'm just gonna delete all of my Dropbox.
I don't even care anymore."
But you will, and maybe there will be
other people that care, so let's be a
little bit more reasonable about this.
But I totally understand
where she was coming from.
Speaker 3: Carrie's strategy for dealing
with digital clutter is completely doable.
But if you feel like you're in a place
where you just can't even do that much
right now, then you might wanna start
with my Smile and Start challenge.
It's a three-day process.
You'll get one email per day with a
small five-minute task that you can
do that will help you gain clarity and
calmness, and even cheerfulness about
your own real-life responsibilities
and circumstances right now.
You can find that by going
to simplyconvivial.com/smile
or find a link in the show notes.
Whether it's our attitude, our
homes, or even our digital files
we need to repent, rejoice, repeat