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| My house, "rising up to meet me" :) |
First of all, it doesn’t matter how big or small your home
is, or how much money you have spent on the things inside. What matters is that your home is home to you and your family. This doesn’t have anything to do with what
kind of pillows are on your couch—or even if you have a couch at all. This has to do with the feeling you get when you walk in the door, or when you lay your
head down at night to go to sleep. Let’s
face it, it’s a lot easier for Oprah Winfrey to talk about her house “rising up
to meet her”, considering her house looks like this:
No offense, Oprah! If I could have Nate Berkus design my house, I would, too! But in the end, I bet that many of us "normal people" are much happier in
our homes than many of the celebrities in Hollywood. Money can’t buy you happiness. So, if money can’t buy it, what can?
Here’s a few of my thoughts…please add yours to the mix!
1.First
Impressions: Think about the
entrance to your home, the place where you unlock the door and walk inside
after a long, hard day. What do you see
when you enter? I bet a lot of us are
afraid to answer that question! I think
that if we all spent just a few minutes working on one little area—the area we first see when we open our door—then we
would be amazed at how our attitude can change when we open that door the next
day. For example, at our old house, we
always came in through the back door, and the very first thing you saw was the
side of our refrigerator and a big garbage can.
Not exactly the definition of “home”.
When we moved to our new house, I knew that had to change. If you knock on my door these days, the first
thing you will see upon entering are two large
pictures of my boys. What better way to
be greeted when I come home? I can’t
think of anything better.
2.Clutter or
Crumbs: This might seem like a weird
concept, but bear with me. I really
believe that we can all be categorized into two main areas: the clutters or the crumbs. For example, I am a “crumb”. At any point in the day that you come to my
house, there are bound to be some crumbs, dust, etc. somewhere. However, the majority of the time, you will not find clutter (stuff out on the
floors, toys all over, piles of laundry, etc.) I can’t live with clutter—I go
crazy. If my kids get a bunch of toys
out, I literally have to put them
away before I go to bed—now, remember, the toys all get thrown into bins in my
living room ( Bins, Bins, Bins!), so this doesn’t really take much time! But seriously…I have actually gotten up out
of bed to go pick up stuff that I knew was laying on the floor. However, I guarantee that there were crumbs
on the floor from dinner, and maybe the kitchen counter could use a good wipe
down. Okay…if you are disgusted by what
you are reading, then I bet you are leaning more towards the side of the “clutters”. This means that your house, on the average
day, is pretty clean. You get your
cleaners out frequently, you vacuum your floors faithfully, and your counters
are not covered in crumbs. But I bet you
can go to bed without cleaning up a few toys or clothes on the floor, right? My
mom is a “clutter”. Any day you walk in
her house, the place is nearly spotless—smells like cleaner, the rubber gloves
are sitting there, and the vacuum has been run.
However, you will also probably find a pile of laundry, or papers, or
other random things. I’m telling you, I really
think that all of us are one way or the other! If you had
to put yourself in one category, which one would it be? Once you answer that,
you can work on making your house “rise up to you” by focusing on what lowers
your stress level. For me, the sweeping
and vacuuming can wait until tomorrow…but those toys have to get picked up! J
3.”The one-minute
rule”: This is courtesy of The Happiness Project, by Gretchen
Rubin. As one of her goals in her happiness project, Gretchen attempted to
de-clutter and to organize her household.
One of the “rules” she decided to follow was this “one-minute rule”. She describes it this way: “I started to apply the ‘one-minute rule’; I didn’t
postpone any task that could be done in less than one minute. I put away my umbrella; I filed a document; I
put the newspapers in the recycling bin; I closed the cabinet door. These steps took just a few moments, but the
cumulative impact was impressive.” (The Happiness
Project, page 33) Gretchen had a great idea when she thought of this rule….just
think how many times a day we put some little task off, just because we don’t
want to do it, even though it really only takes us 30 seconds? After finishing
this book, I have started to consciously think about the “one-minute rule”
every time I start to throw my jacket on the chair instead of hang it up, or
stack a bill on the counter instead of filing it. Believe me…try this rule, and you will be
amazed at how much more you accomplish in one day!
4.Make it a happy
place: As I said, your home should
be a safe place for your family, a place where they feel loved, accepted, and
where they can be themselves. It should
be a haven from the worries of the world, especially in today’s world, where
there are so many worries! Now, I realize that not every moment is happy in anyone’s home…if they say it is, they are
lying! But I’m talking about the overall
atmosphere of your home…make it one
of laughter, of acceptance, of unconditional love. Let your children, and your spouse, know that
they can come to you and tell you anything, that they can walk in those doors
and feel loved. Personally, I had a
wonderful home growing up. My mom tried
her hardest to make every day happy for me, and to keep me away from the cares
of the world for as long as possible. And
when my dad walked in the door from work each day, I was there running to greet
him at the front steps! Heck, I still do that when I’m at their
house! I hope and pray that my children
will remember our home in this way…that they will grow up and tell their own
children how much fun we had, how much we loved each other, and how safe and
secure they felt in our home. This is a
luxury that many children
unfortunately do not have these days.
I don’t believe that the color of a wall or a type of
flooring can make a home. It can
certainly make us like our home more,
and for that reason I think you should do your best, within your means, to
decorate your home in a way that makes you happy, that makes you feel like you
belong there. But in the end, it’s not
about paint or decorative pillows. It’s about the way your heart feels when you
open the door and see your loving husband standing there, or you hear your
laughing children running down the stairs to greet you. That, to me, is the definition of my house “rising
up to greet me”. I pray that yours does the same for you.
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