You’ll spend more time in your house than any other space in the world during the years you call it home. Apart from sleeping there 50-plus hours a week, you’ll also eat, play, and possibly work out of your home.
It’s the epicenter of your life, and you’ll feel happier and more fulfilled all around if you enjoy living in it.
There’s a difference between owning a house and having a home. If you aren’t careful, you’ll spend so much time stressed out about the former that it never evolves into the latter.
But life doesn’t have to be like that. Loving your life at home can be much easier than most people realize. Here are eight essentials that will help you maximize your enjoyment every step of the way.
Far too many people make the mistake of buying more house than they can afford, which leaves them house poor. The first step to enjoying your home is to make sure it isn’t a financial burden.
There are various rules about how much house you should own, but the smartest approach is to stick with the most conservative measures. This leaves you with more wiggle room should something happen.
If you observe the rule that your mortgage should be no more than 25 percent of your monthly take-home pay on a 15-year mortgage, you’ll be golden. You also shouldn’t have any issue with a 30-year mortgage; it’ll just cost you more in the long run.
As a general principle in life, don’t create headaches for yourself when they aren’t necessary. In terms of home ownership, this means you shouldn’t invest in upgrades, renovations, additions, or features that are going to drain more joy than they yield.
Take a swimming pool as an example. Some families use their pool every day in the summer and derive immense pleasure from it.
But for others, the pool can become a burden. It requires maintenance and upkeep costs, may be subject to zoning restrictions, etc.
If you’re going to use it only a handful of times a year, is it really worth it? Don’t create unnecessary headaches; in most cases, simpler is better.
Nothing stresses many homeowners like clutter. Despite proof that clutter is bad for our health, many of us continue to wallow in it. Something has to give!
Take a week to declutter your house from top to bottom. Clean off surfaces, open cabinets, purge drawers, organize the garage, go through the attic … do it all.
You’ll be amazed by how much stuff you can throw away, donate, or sell. You’ll end up with a much tidier home that siphons off less of your mental energy.
Once you’ve decluttered your house, it’ll be a lot easier to keep it clean. Make a point of clearing out living areas each night before you go to bed.
It’s also worthwhile to schedule a cleaning day once every couple of weeks to dust, wipe down counters, clean bathrooms, and vacuum floors. If you do that regularly, it won’t become such a chore because you’ve let it go.
At one point, homeowner Christina Tiplea was so fed up with so many items that broke and fell apart in her house that she and her husband considered selling.
“Do you have things like cabinets that are a little loose on the hinges or a water filter in your fridge that needs replacing? We actually had a lot of those little tasks around our house that seemed to pile up on our ‘one day we need to get around to that’ list,” Tiplea recalls.
For some, the problems are even bigger than these. Your punch list may include a new water heater, leaky roof, or rotting windows. But whatever the case, you recognize the feeling.
“Once we decided we wanted to make more of an effort to enjoy our house while we are still here, we decided to treat our home like we were listing it on the market anyway,” Tiplea explains. “Which meant fixing all of those little things on our to-do list for around the house.”
It’ll cost some money and may require a bit of elbow grease, but fixing things when they break — rather than letting them go for years because “it’s not that big a deal” — will empower you to enjoy the space more.
Stop treating your house as a refuge where you can hide from the world. Though everyone can use some time to relax in privacy, your home should also be a place into which you invite others and entertain them (not to mention yourself in good company). This will give your house a much greater sense of purpose.
A dark home can feel depressing, dingy, and small. If your house feels more like a bat cave than a home, make some changes. Let in more natural light by replacing your window coverings, installing a skylight, or even just reorienting your furniture.
When it’s all said and done, this is your house. You shouldn’t let anyone else tell you how to enjoy it.
So, although most people should find the above tips helpful, you might have your own way of doing things. The most important thing is to make some kind of changes so you’ll be less stressed and more joyful. You do you!
If you’re a Houston homeowner, you have every right to take pride in your home. Some challenges inevitably come with keeping a house safe, functioning, clean, and organized, but a substantial amount of joy can be extracted from owning a home as well. Don’t miss out on that!
At Green Residential, we work with clients to help them buy and sell homes. But we understand that this is more than a business transaction; it’s a part of your life. As such, we take great care to walk our clients through the process, with meticulous attention to detail.
For more information on what this process looks like, please contact us today
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