Day 99: Make This Place Your Home

What: Making Your House, Your Home

Why: Why do you live in the house you do? Go back to the time when you were first looking at the home you currently live in. What thoughts went through your mind? Did you think about all that you could do to it? Where you could put everything? Those dreams of what you dreamed your home to be – are they fulfilled? Or are they the complete opposite? Are you overwhelmed by your home and what is in it? Do you ever wonder where all of the “stuff” came from? Are you so busy taking care of the things in your home that it is keeping you from doing what you really want to do? If you are struggling with any of the questions above, here are some ideas on how to make your house into your home.

How:
1. Pretend you are a guest at your home, walking up to your front door. You walk in – what goes through your head? Have you ever stepped into someone else’s home and think “wow, their house is cluttered!” What would someone say about your home?

2. Do you have a purpose or reason for every item in your house? Though this is an ongoing process, take the time to look at each item and question what it’s purpose is.

3. Always have an perpetual donation box. When you have a donation box available, you are more likely to fill it. Don’t let your house become a storage house. Let it be filled with the things that are meaningful to you and your family.

4. Why do you work? Do you work only to pay for the things in your home? Do you have so much debt that you HAVE to work, just to own and maintain the things you do? Do you own so much that you forget what you are still paying for? Think about the sacrifices you are making, just to own what you do. You do not need to fill every nook and cranny in your home – be okay with empty spaces.

5. Be content. Are you always looking at what everyone else owns? Are you satisfied with what you are blessed with? Be okay with “enough.”

6. Ever heard the saying “you can tow a u-haul behind a hearse?” Are you so tied to your possessions that you would be at an utter loss of what to do if you lost everything? Remember that all that we have, we will one day lose it all.

7. Ideas vs. owning them. Are you ever marveled at the idea of owning something – like a new boat or a new car? If you obtained one of those goals, would you just move on to the next? Sometimes we can fall more in love with the idea of “being” someone or the IDEA of “owning” something, than actually owning it. If you achieve all of your dreams, it is a guarantee you will always think of more. Again, be content with enough.

8. Think about the legacy you are leaving – even when it comes to the stuff you own. When you eventually pass away, what will your families think about your stuff? Are they going to wonder why you have a certain item or question why you had so much of “this” item? What are they going to be talking about when you are gone?

Confession of the Day: It took me a few years after getting married to realize what our home was – was it just a place we lived in? Was there a purpose behind our home? When my husband and I sat down and talked about what we wanted our home to be, I knew we had to be purposeful about what we brought in and what we allowed in our home. Realizing that as much as it is a place to sleep, it is also a place of refuge – of faith – of friendship. Living with less means knowing why you have what you have, why you do what you do, and just being purposeful in all you do. Making your house into a home takes time – but envision what that might look like and pursue that vision!

What is stopping you from making your house into your home? What is standing in the way? Clutter? Stress? Too much “stuff”? Challenge yourself to make some changes!