How to Love the Home You Have
Learn how to love the home you have and find true contentment in your homemaking.
Have you ever struggled to love the home you have? Do you ever feel like things would be different if you just had a different home? I have. In this post, we’ll discuss how to find new joy in your home without changing a thing!
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Dreaming of a Beautiful Life
Years ago, as a young teen, a friend loaned me her set of Anne of Green Gables books. At the age of sixteen, I became completely enamored with Anne’s world, which seemed much more romantic than the one I was living in.
Around the same time, the Road to Avonlea TV series came out, and I started to think I had been born at the wrong time in history! I loved the country setting and the old farmhouses featured in the show.
My Dream Home
From that time on, I’ve always wanted to live in a beautiful old farmhouse, with wood floors, a fireplace (or a wood stove), tall old windows, crown molding, heavy paneled doors with glass or brass knobs, a farmhouse apron kitchen sink, and lots of character. And of course it would be on acreage, so we could have chickens, dairy goats, bees, fruit trees, and lots of garden space!
That’s my description of my dream house. An old, storied place full of history, where we could live out our family’s unique story.
In over twenty years of marriage, we’ve never been able to afford that dream house. For the past twelve years, we’ve lived in a 1960’s raised ranch-style house with wall-to-wall carpeting, linoleum floors, and a water problem in the finished basement.
We live here because it’s what we can afford, and we are passionate about becoming debt free.
I’ve longed for a budget to renovate and update this house, but it just doesn’t exist. Thankfully, the previous owners had updated the kitchen, and we were able to repaint everything after we moved in. But our house has basically stayed exactly as it was when we bought it over ten years ago.
There have been times when I’ve allowed myself to feel completely discontent. I’ve complained about the style of our house and the lack of space for our family of seven. I’ve looked at the old carpet and linoleum and tried to wish them away.
How to Love the Home You Have
But this is no way to live an abundant life!
The way to a beautiful, joy-filled, satisfied life is to be full of gratitude for all the blessings we’ve been given.
The way to live a beautiful life is to look around at our home and see all the evidences of God’s provision and care. To be truly thankful for it all. And most of all, to focus on the blessing of the people who live here, rather than worrying or caring about the style of the furniture or color of the carpet.
When I realized this, I determined to change my attitude and my outlook.
My passion these days is to not just endure the home we have, but to rejoice over it! To revel in the overwhelming evidence of God’s care for us, as I look around our home and see all the furniture we’ve been blessed with (all for free!) by generous family members and friends.
Change Your Perspective Change Your Life
It’s all about perspective. Nothing has changed but the way I allow myself to think and feel about it.
When I allow myself to become discontent, it causes me to be discouraged and down. But when I choose to give thanks instead, my whole outlook changes and I experience joy.
It’s truly amazing how this works.
Our minds truly are powerful. We can change the way we see our lives just by changing our mind about it.
And while I still love seeing photos of beautiful farmhouse kitchens and bedrooms, I continue to search out the beauty in my everyday reality. We are truly blessed!
How to Cultivate Gratitude for Your Home
Something that has really helped me in my quest to be more grateful on a daily basis is using a gratitude journal.
You can use any type of notebook for this purpose, even a simple spiral-bound one from the dollar store. Or, you can purchase one that’s specifically designed for this purpose, like this one.
The main thing is just to seek out and focus on your blessings every day.
Practical Tips for Loving Your Home
In addition to being grateful for our current home, sometimes there are practical things we can do that will help our home function better. And anything that helps it function better will be a positive thing.
Here are a few ways to improve your home without spending any money:
- Declutter and simplify
- Organize your spaces and find a home for everything you decide to keep
- Create a weekly cleaning routine
- Stay current with these 7 main daily tasks
I hope this encourages you to look for and rejoice in the beauty of what you already have and love the home you have been blessed with.
Whether you live in the old farmhouse of my dreams, have a beautiful new house, or live in a mobile home or an apartment, there’s always beauty around us if we look for it.
More Homemaking Inspiration
- How to Be a Better Homemaker
- 7 Habits of Highly Effective Homemakers
- How to Declutter When You’re Overwhelmed
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This is such a great post. It really can be hard to be content this day in age with all the perfect images everywhere you turn. I have been thinking on this same topic a lot lately and recently wrote my thoughts here:
How to Be More Thankful in Our Homemaking.
https://www.makinghomesimple.com/how-to-be-more-thankful-in-our-homemaking/
I came to some similar conclusions and whole heartedly agree that focusing on what we are grateful for really is the key to loving the homes the Lord has blessed us with more, even when they don’t fit the dreams in our minds.
I live in a 1950’s fixer upper and it can be quite the challenge sometimes when like you said it doesn’t feel “instagram worthy”.
Joy, I would love to live in an old house with character. But it is my husband’s worst nightmare– all of the $ and time to upkeep such a thing. And so I am content where I am, just like you. I LOVE this article, and it is so appropriate for Thanksgiving. I’m featuring you tomorrow at Best of the Weekend. Thank you so much for sharing!
Liberty @ B4andAfters.com
I know what you mean about husbands and their feelings about fixer-uppers and older houses. I think my husband feels the same! Thanks for the feature!
This is a great article. Sometimes we forget to be grateful for what we have.
Thanks for sharing with us at #omhgww
Thank you, Clearissa!
Loved ALL the books that LM Montgomery wrote – in fact I just read them ALL to my child (not just the 8 Anne books), and we watched Road to Avonlea! Such a great show. Even Mark Twain loved Anne. I so agree with all you’ve said re our homes and attitude. I can attest to everything you’ve said. When we decided to live in my DH’s house instead of mine I didn’t realize it meant it would take DECADES to fix it up. (Okay, 16 yrs and counting) My house was turn-key ready. His was a fixer-upper, but larger and in a much better neighborhood. Ultimately we made the better choice, but it did take me quite awhile to get over my attitude of wanting everything perfect. Prayer helps! And with my bottom line being I wanted to stay home with our child, it meant that we still have unfinished floors, unusable patio room, and the exterior of our house still hasn’t been painted. But, one project at a time – I have new kitchen and bathroom floors (yay, no longer green!) that he laid, a new roof, and an upgraded bathroom that he did himself, so maybe the house will be finished before he retires : ) I am just grateful to be HOME.
You’re so right about prayer helping! So happy for you that projects are being completed here and there. We’ve done a few less-expensive upgrades (things like painting) and repairs, and it always feel so good to get those crossed off the list.
Great post! I still have dog puke colored walls in my home and am so over it. But I do try and concentrate on the blessings and good things I have. Like a warm bed, a roof, food, etc. Happy Thanksgiving! Saw this on RTT link party. 🙂
Thank you, Cindy! So glad you stopped by today!