Making your home work for you by identifying and correcting problem areas
When I say ‘flow’ I’m talking about the flow of your home. I want your home to work for YOU. I want it to be the place from which you live your intentionally joyful life. In order to do that, we need to talk about a few things. In this two-part blog post, we’re going to tackle the obstacles to your flow (part one) then we’re going to boost the enjoyment you get out of your home (part two). Time to get started!
Making things easy
Your home should be a safe space, a haven, a place to connect with your family and friends. It should not be a place of stress or discomfort. In order to achieve this, we need to make things easy. You come in the door from work, and you have a place to put your bag and shoes. Your phone charger is always where you need it. You can always find a pen, a clean glass, your keys. All the appliances function properly. To some this may seem like a magical fairytale, but I assure you — it’s not! It takes some time and intention, but it can be done and I’m going to show you how.
Identify your problem areas
This step requires some inward reflection. You need to stop and think about the small issues in your home that cause you problems and stress. For example, are you sometimes late for work because you can’t find your keys? Do you trip over shoes and bags and sports equipment left at your entryway on your way out? Are you tired of looking at that broken kitchen cabinet? Do you often seem to not be able to find something that you KNOW you have? These are all roadblocks to your easy home life that need to be addressed.
My advice is to take a stroll around your house and identify the areas that do not work for you. Really SEE your house from a critical perspective. Sometimes, we become blind to an area or issue because we’re so used to encountering it on a daily basis.
To find these flow roadblocks another way, think about how things get done in the home. For example, when cooking, do you have items you use frequently that are hard to reach? Think about moving them to a more easily accessible place. Do your kids have trouble putting their clothes away because their drawers are too full? Go through the drawers and keep only what is needed.
Sometimes we go about our business in a more difficult way because we don’t take the time to fix the underlying problem. The reasoning behind it could be lack of time, not knowing how to fix the problem or simply not even realizing it IS a problem.
Once you start going through this process of identifying issues, my hope is that you will see that taking the time to fix the issues will help your home life operate smoothly in the long run.
After you’ve identified some of your main grievances, you can start to come up with a plan to mitigate them.
Get the family on board
You are most likely not alone in this home (if you are, the same principles apply, and you can skip to the next step). In order to tackle your home obstacles, you need everyone to be in on the plan. If your kids are old enough, they can share in some of the responsibility as can your significant other. Explain the problem areas and brainstorm ideas on how best to fix them. Ask them to come up with some problem areas of their own that need to be addressed. The bottom line here is that the home is everyone’s responsibility. Each member of the household should share in making it function the best it can for the family.
Make your list
By now you’ve identified your problem areas, shared it with the family and come up with some solutions to fix the agreed-upon issues. It’s possible that your list is longer than your time or budget allows. For the first go ’round I suggest prioritizing the things that will make the most impact on your daily life and also the quick hits — things you can do in under a half hour that require little to no skill or money — something along the lines of putting a dedicated phone charger in the kitchen. For bigger ticket items that aren’t in the budget (a new dishwasher, for example) consider saving up to eventually fix/replace the item. Taking ANY form of action to correct a problem is a win.
It’s GO TIME!
Now that your list is made, start tackling the items one by one. Dedicate specific time each week for the family to work on your home and set a realistic deadline for completion of your projects. If you have the means, consider delegating some of your more time-consuming items to a professional organizer, handyman, painter, etc.
We’re not done yet!
A few months go by and you’re way into your list. Areas of your home that once gave you stress are now no longer an issue. Good for you…but our work is not done yet. We are going to reassess and dig deeper for round two and any other additional rounds we need to complete until we feel that our home reflects the kind of ease and comfort of living we have always wanted.
Once we’ve addressed the functional issues in the home, we’re in the flow and our house makes life easy. The next step is to make it fun! In the second part of this two-part post, we’re going to figure out how to make space for the things that make home life enjoyable.
Stay tuned for the next installment of Finding Your Flow at Home! In the meantime, check out my posts about controlling paper clutter and cleaning out your closet if those happen to be issues blocking your flow at home.
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