Starting your year well - Making your house a home

Your home, the heart of where everything starts. What do you think of when you get home, when you walk into your bedroom, kitchen dare I say it the kids playroom. It stands to reason this is something we should pay attention to as well. What can be done about it?

There are many dimensions to making a house a home. Here are a few areas to help you think about what you want to do!

• Routines, routines, routines now don't groan too loudly. I remember when I left home actually not knowing how to keep a house, I knew how to clean but I actually didn't know how to keep it clean. Since then I have been making all sorts of attempts make changes in this area. Reason being not only do I want my home a haven, I also want to train my kids in the way to keep a home as well.                 Now I won't go into this too much but to mention a few things that have helped me and may help you also. Flylady is a website that helps you starting from scratch learn routines to keep your house clean. A lot of what I have learnt has come down to the excuses and thinking that sabotages me before I get started. Another website that is simular but different to flylady is The Organised Housewife, this site has many ideas on helping to get the house into order and different freebies you can download or some that you can purchase. Both of these websites have facebook as well. What also goes well with Flylady are two apps Cozi and my favourite Home Routines please check them out!
• Being intentional  this concept is a little more abstract. What do you want people to feel when they come to your home? What do you want to feel when you go home? Recently I read a book that mentioned making our bedrooms places of retreat and relaxation, simply buying a new doona cover, pillows or candles. Maybe buying some flowers to put on your dining table. Get creative simple little things can make us feel special including those around us. Let's not forget to make our children's rooms special as well, lamps, doona covers they like or have picked out, whatever is going to make their room a haven. After all a good night's sleep for them is a great nights sleep for you too!
• Don't be a perfectionist this is my experience I always want to do the job properly it frustrates me if I can't. But in my perfectionism I realised that I actually wasn't doing the job at all. So I decided it's time to do at least some of the job, I started with cleaning the dining chairs you know the ones your kids spill weet-bix all over? I decided to just wipe them down more often and thought you know it will get clean. I didn't have to do a full detail clean. The reason why things get bad is because we don't do the little things. I think in the last three months I think my house is getting easier because I am doing something instead of staying in the prison of perfectionism. 

Whatever your personality style is, if you hate routines or not, or you get obsessed with doing the routine if you can't do it you give up. This year say no to sabotaging your efforts in your home. After all you spend a lot of time there and you deserve to feel rested and relaxed. So the challenge is have a think about what type of personality you are and then make the changes little by little to change those things into a positive. So if you hate routines then have a go you never know it might work. If you are obsessed with making a complicated routine, then make it simpler so you can achieve it! Whatever it takes do it well and then sit back and enjoy the benefits!