When you come home, does your house feel like a cozy hug or a van down by the river? Is your home stressing you out? If your home is causing you stress, that can affect your mood, your mental health and even your physical health. See decorating is not fluff, it’s important stuff.
I’m talking about your house-0related stuff. If you live with a cranky person, you are on your own; I won’t be addressing that today. I’m talking about things about your home that might be causing you stress.
If you think your home might be causing you stress, do you know what the problem is? You might need to spend some time thinking about it.
Here’s a list of few things that might be stressing you.
Clutter – And it could be clutter specific to a certain area. It might be that you can handle a messy closet, but not a messy kitchen island. Try to keep your ‘hotspot’ clear so that you won’t be stressed.
Unorganized spaces – Can you find something if you are looking for it, or do you just go buy a new something instead? It drives me nuts when I know I have something in the house, but can’t find it. Organizing your home can really help you feel better. I just spent an hour looking for some tax forms. They were where I thought they should be, but I found them buried under some other things.
A messy clothes closet – It’s very important to me that my closet stay neat. If my closet is neat, then it’s not as important that the other closets stay neat.
Too much furniture – A room with too much furniture can feel crowded and stressful. If your home feels overstuffed, try removing some furniture from your home. I removed several things when we were selling our old house, and found I loved the more spacious feel.
Broken things that need repair – If you can afford a needed repair, please get it taken care of. Otherwise it will haunt you every time you walk in your house. It’s no fun having a stove with a burner that doesn’t work, or a sink with a drip, or carpet with a big stain. These are the things that really are stressful to live with.
I curious to know, what stresses you out? I hope if your home is stressing you out, you can get that fixed.
“….van down by the river.” Thanks for starting my day with a chuckle!
Love the topic. Appropriate for seasonal change. Been decluttering my kitchen and built-in shelving. Today I’m just going to BREATHE.
Yes clutter and disorganization stress me out. And we spend so much time, effort and money making our homes pretty that we SHOULD be able to enjoy them at their best! So I’ll spend a few extra minutes tidying up so I can have inner calm. ?
This is so timely. I finally started to open and go through the boxes of “potentially important stuff” I had in my basement after losing my parents over 2 years ago. Those boxes haunted me every time I walked by. My resolution this year was to open one or two a week and just deal with it. It’s been so cathartic. I reduced and digitized boxes of photos and slides down to a couple of memory sticks. I shredded reams of papers and donated oodles of frames that don’t go with my decor. I still have several left to go through but I’m already feeling so much more at ease. Tackling those boxes really has reduced my “house stress”.
I’ve been doing the same thing this year. Sorting my parents’ papers and deciding if any of it really needs to be kept. Fortunately it’s not as painful as I thought it would be. But then I waited ten years! It feels so. good to open that closet now! I hope you get as much peace from your project as I did.
Wow you hit the nail on the head!!!! Great conversation. We own a vacation home (we visit every weekend)! We decorated it beautiful! Love it! making sure not to over clutter it! When we are there we are so relaxed Love it! Then we go home on Monday and I feel overwhelmed! We remodeled our kitchen. That room is great. Family room is okay but I think to much furniture. My formal living room we made my sewing sitting room. I know to much furniture! I think I’m answering my own questions to much furniture. The other problem in sitting room is I need some of this furniture for storage. My bedrooms are good but one. Over all this guest room is nice except for the over flow of sewing stuff. LOL! So Furniture and stuff.
So being 5 years from retirement we have decided to start to get rid of stuff. LOL It is hard sometimes to let go of stuff. Really once it is gone I’m okay! I’m not a hoarer more like just hate to part with sentimental items. Well after reading what I wrote what I’m I waiting for time to purge. Thanks for a great posting!
Denise I have just gone through it. I had lots of family things which I offered to my girls first (now I can visit it) and stuff I got rid of I took pictures first and have a little album. The upside of decluttering is when we had less stuff we bought a smaller house and our big house sold in one day!
Projects that were started years ago and are still not completed.
I was at a charity shop and they had a big aisle of craft supplies and bags of partially done projects. They sell a ton of stuff like that. I went home and pulled out all the sewing and crochet projects I had started , found all the pieces and asked myself if I still wanted them. Out of 12 things I had 5 I donated. The other 7 I put in Dollar store baskets and stacked up and have been finishing them one at a time. I am down to 3 baskets.
My closet! I’ve been clearing out my living room since Christmas! It feels good..my closet is still waiting on me..!
I’ve been in the process of updating my small house for over a year now – and I’ve been stressed the entire time. Being on a strict budget, I have to wait in between projects and nothing seems “done.” I tell myself to be patient, take it one project at a time and soon summer and sunshine will be here and most of the work will be completed by then. I have already purged and organized, so that isn’t the stresser for me – in fact doing that helps relieve the stress. I just keep trying to keep my eye on the prize – a much better and more modern, convenient home in my future..
Oh my I needed this laugh … due to my home is anxiety waiting to explode with an 81 yr old mother doesn’t always put things away and then things pile up and trying to take care of my husband who is in in-home hospice … Yikes!!!! Thank you I need to try top of these things
I love how honest you were in this post—-not trying to sell me anything—-to declutter, clean or organize. If I hear one more person wail about not finding the ‘perfect planner’ I’m going to spit post-it notes…! We all have enough stress in our lives, just living without letting our home adding to it. I agree with you—identifying those things that bug you most, and change it!
Again, great post, Sandi
Anita, you’ve hit a nerve. I have two rooms that are “stressful” right now; my office/studio room and the laundry room. The office is still full of Christmas leftovers and pieces removed from other displays I’ve changed out since the holidays. It’s so bad, I have to just shut the door. The laundry room isn’t so bad, just has a few more things to finish since our main re-do last fall. But it’s a pass through to the garage and Hubs’ workshop, so we see it every day! For that room, I have everything I need to finish … except initiative! Your post has given me a push, so maybe I’ll be de-stressed by the weekend 🙂
Yay Cheryl. I’m cheering you on!!
The thing that stresses me the most is when I get too much on my walls….
I loved the idea of your closet; but it’s too big for me. I was inspired to remake certain aspects of mine, I removed my wall to wall carpet. My husband helped me measure the area and we went down to Lowe’s and purchased cedar flooring. We are almost done and I couldn’t be happier! Next will be repainting and installing double rods and storage. I loved the way you organized your clothes by colors! I only did mine by season and see why that wasn’t efficient. I ‘m so happy to have this project started…… Thank you so much for your design ideas!
Susan
That seems like like a wonderful redo. Good for you Susan.
This is so true for me. Just today I cleaned out a cabinet and immediately took the glasses to Goodwill. Then I moved a few things around on the top of those cabinets, opening up space – for nothing, just space. Even my husband commented on how good it looked. Just a few things moved. Amazing.
Congrats Grammy Goodwill! I’m so happy for you.
I got a new desk right afterChristmas. Also came down with what my grandmother called the epizooty. So organizing new desk was put off. Determined to sort everything from old desk and keep only things I need! Epizooty is better and I am working on papers! Makes me feel better.
Glad you are feeling better!
I would really like to know where the pendant lights came from in the picture of the kitchen. I would love to get them for my mother!
Kimberly. That is not my house. Try contacting Ridgewater Homes, Inc in Houston to get that info.
My kitchen is a constant stressor for me. My house is a split level, which means I cannot expand the kitchen, and it is simply too small for a serious cook. Too little workspace, too little cabinet storage, and worst of all, a “dead” corner that requires a contortionist to get things into and out of. Worst kitchen I’ve ever seen! I have rearranged that dead corner about twice a year every year we’ve been here, and I still can’t get it to work!