How to be Content with Your Home No Matter What Stage It’s In
Today I want to share five ways to be content with your home no matter what stage it’s in!
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We have lived in our home for eight years now, and while I love to create and change things around and tackle DIY projects in order to make our home beautiful, no improvement I make will ever provide true contentment unless I start with the right attitude.
If you are feeling unhappy with your home, I have five tips that I hope will encourage and help you to be content with your home right now.
Take a Break from Social Media
If you aren’t feeling content with your home, the first thing I would suggest is to take a break from social media. I know this might sound crazy coming from someone who’s business and blog really depends on social media, but taking a break can do so much good.
If we are constantly staring at our phones and looking through Instagram, Pinterest and Facebook at what everyone else has, we will quickly become discontent with our own homes.
The comparison game is a very dangerous one, and I have talked to so many women who feel discouraged because they feel as though their homes don’t “measure up” to the ones they see on social media.
Take a break from those platforms for a while and you will be amazed at the difference it makes. Stop listening to all the noise and delete the apps that make you feel like your home isn’t good enough.
Make a List of Everything You Love about Your Home
Grab a pen and paper and make a list of everything you love about your home. Every single thing. It will open your eyes as to all that you have been blessed with.
Even the simple things like a bay window, a spacious closet, the fact that you have two bathrooms…whatever it is, write it down. When you start to feel discontent, look through that list to remind your self of what you do have.
Remember, what you love about your home, someone else out there is praying and hoping for.
Be Thankful for the Little Things
I truly believe that if you aren’t thankful for the little things, you will never be thankful for the big things. If you are constantly thinking “if I only had this, then I’d be happy”, the truth is that no matter what you gain, you’ll never feel like it’s enough. You’ll always have a desire for more. Something bigger. Something better.
I remember when my husband and I moved into our first home, a tiny little rental with a kitchen so small, I had no counter space at all to prep food. I’m not sure why, maybe it was the way I was raised, or just because I was a young oblivious newlywed…but I remember being so thankful for that tiny home.
At the end of the day when the kitchen was clean, I would light some candles, sit on our hand-me-down yellow couch and feel so grateful for what God had blessed us with.
When we are thankful for the little things, it makes the big things just that much more special. Moving into the home we have now just felt like a dream come true. I remember our first night here, sleeping on a mattress and crying tears of joy.
If you want to be content with the home you have now, start by being thankful for the little things.
Stop Looking at the Big Picture
My next tip for finding contentment in your home right now is to stop looking at the big picture and break up your home or your space up into smaller projects.
My kitchen is a perfect example of this. We were so blessed with a brand new kitchen when we moved in, but it was lacking some character (you can see the before pictures here). Since moving into our home 8 years ago, we have done so much in the space, from subway tile to new hardware to fresh paint, faux beams, a stone accent wall, and so much more.
Do you think we did all of that the first week we lived here? Absolutely not! We took on one small project at a time. And now looking back, eight years later, I am so amazed at all that we’ve accomplished!
You might not have a handyman, or you might be on a tight budget. Maybe you can’t afford to refinish your floors right now, but you can afford a thirty dollar gallon of paint. Start breaking down your space into mini projects and tackle what you can, right now!
Focus Less on How Your Home Looks, and More on How Your Home Feels
The last thought that I’d like to leave you with is this – more important than how your home looks, is how your home feels for your family.
I know that a few men follow my blog and YouTube channel, but the majority of you are women.
Mama – Wife – Grandma – whatever you go by, we have so much power to set the tone and the atmosphere in our homes.
It’s like the old saying – “If Mama ain’t happy, ain’t nobody happy!”
Isn’t that the truth. If we are constantly complaining about our homes, it will have an effect on everyone around us.
Stop trying to pursue perfection, and focus on creating a haven for your families. I don’t so much remember what our home looked like growing up, but I do remember how my Mom made our home feel.
The soft music playing, the cinnamon potpourri burning, the cookies fresh out of the oven when I came home from school. Home was a soft landing spot for us, a place of rest.
I want to provide that same safe place for my children just like my Mom did for me.
I hope these tips were an encouragement to you today friends! I am not perfect in any of these areas, but learning how to be content in my home right now has truly helped me in so many ways. How do you find contentment in your homes? I’d love to hear in the comments below! 🙂
PIN IT FOR LATER
My biggest discouragement right now is not the lack of money or ideas but the inability to physically do anything. 3 weeks ago I broke my knee cap which required surgery and now I’m stuck in a wheel chair for a while. We were already in the process of moving in and getting organized and now I have to deal with this setback. While frustrated I know that I am to be thankful for others are experiencing far worse problems than mine. While I recover I will make notes and plans for the things I want to do.
Oh my goodness, that is still hard but so happy to hear you are trying to be positive! I will pray for a speedy recovery!
Contentment such an important topic rarely if ever discussed.
Yes, I agree! So true!
What a wonderful vlog! I so related to the ” Stop Looking at the Big Picture ” and loved your point using your kitchen as an example. Thank you for sharing this!
Thank you, it was convicting to me as well!
Ahhhhh, precious Andrea,
You are so very wise, Sweetie pie! And I appreciate your sharing this topic.
All the points you shared are absolutely vital to a lifestyle of contentment. I agree if we’re always wanting without thankfulness in our hearts, we will be discontented regardless of what we may achieve! What a sad state to choose!
When you spoke of completing projects over the course of several years’time, it reminded me of Hubby asking, “how do you eat an elephant?”. Answer: “one bite at a time.”:).
There are many seasons in life, so be content to enjoy each one.
Thank you so much for sharing, Sweetie pie ~ many hugs, Susan
Thank you so so much, this is something I need to work on too, so I enjoyed sharing it with you all. That is a cute thing your husband says too!
Such good advice. Thank you.
Thank you so much Susan!
what a wonderful post! every tip you mentioned was very valuable especially the last tip about creating a warm loving atmosphere for the family. I love scent memory and fragrance and scents are so important to me and I too want my kids to always remember how nice our home smells, whether it is cooking or the potpouri I use. I always love to spray linen spray on our linens and towels- my kids have also developed a love of fragrance.
I love your videos and blogs and just how beautiful your home and spirit is.
Oh my goodness, thank you so much. I love smells so much as well! So happy you have created these memories too!
Thank you so much, happy to hear and I hope it helps!
I’ve done quite a bit of decorating & remodeling in the 33 yrs I’ve lived in my house but the one thing that helps me with contentment is to just clean it! A few years ago I started thinking about what I love about the places I stay when I travel. I wanted to make my home more like those peaceful spots. And I just love walking into a beautiful clean space. It doesn’t have to be elaborate, just clean & uncluttered.
Yes this is so very true, I love a clean home!
I work for a ministry full time to help the homeless in my area. Some prefer not to work, and some do not choose a good path in their choices, but others would love to heal, work, build a good future, be responsible, have a house and some are aiming toward that dream getting their lives on track and healing from addiction, too, which often is why they are homeless. . I have a good, safe home and am warm at night, and do not wrestle with addiction. I want that for them, too, and If I complain about my home I feel it is the wrong spirit to have when I work in this job I have. If I have a lack of gratitude for something others would absolutely LOVE to have, I work directly with those who would love the blessing I don’t have an appreciative heart for if I am negative about my home God gave me. In contentment, God has made my little house a home, I think He shows what abundance is. I think about the homeless ladies I have met who would love to take a shower in a house with two “too small” bathrooms. I think there is nothing wrong with making your home prettier and that desire to improve areas or add to it, but contentment we don’t have to make conditional. We can want to improve things from a happy place in our hearts, like shining up a jewel by caring for it…. 🙂
Yes, contentment is huge and this is exactly why! If we don’t learn that early on, nothing we do will ever be enough.