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What is a Happy Place
If you could ask someone only one question in order to really get to know them, a great option would be to ask about their happy place.
A happy place is anywhere that fills you with joy and allows you to feel relaxed and entirely at peace. When you discover your happy place, you know that anytime you’re there, you’ll feel at your absolute best, and you’ll be able to create fond memories there that you’ll cherish for a lifetime.
In fact, I’m sure you’ve heard many people mention their happy places before. They might have said the beach is my happy place, the mountains are my happy place, or sitting on a boat early in the morning with a fishing pole in my hand is my happy place.
And these are all great examples of life experiences that make us truly happy. But have you ever noticed that they’re also examples of places we escape to?
How have we gotten so busy, so stressed out, and so overwhelmed that we often feel like we have to run away from our day-to-day lives just to experience unadulterated bliss?
A happy place is the one place in the world where we can go to feel joy, peace, and relaxation. So why don’t more of us declare that our homes are our happy places?
Is it because our homes are bigger than ever and cluttered with stuff that we really don’t need?
Is it because we come home exhausted after working all day just to face even more obligations at home like cooking, cleaning, and child care?
Or is it because we’re so digitally connected that even at home we can’t escape work, the downfalls of social media, and the doom and gloom of the world’s news?
No matter what the reasons are, it’s within our control to create change and have a home that’s at the top of our list of happy places.
Several years ago, I made the decision to make sure that my home was at the top of my list of happy places, and I couldn’t be happier with the results. Now, my home is my sanctuary — it’s my very happiest of places.
And yours should be too.
Brooke’s Top Picks For Happy Place Decor
Personalized This Is Our Happy Place Pillow by DesignedForGifting
- Handmade zippered pillow cover
- 16 x 16 inches
- Doesn’t wrinkle
- Personalized with your address
Living Room Wall Decor – This Is Our Happy Place Sign by MelioraCraft
- Comes in various sizes
- Choose between several colors
- High-quality stain and paint
- Ability to add personalization
New Home Gift Our Happy Place Candle by KindredFires
- Hand-poured soy candle
- 25-hour burn time
- Choose your favorite scent
- Personalized with your address
Our Happy Place, Personalized Doormat by HamlinRowShop
- Made of 100% natural coir
- Slip-resistant back
- Standard size is 18 x 30 inches
- Personalized with your names
What is a Happy Home
In order to create a happy home for yourself, you must first know exactly what that looks like to you.
A happy home should be the one place in the world where you can go to feel safe, comfortable, relaxed, and at peace. Homes don’t have to be huge or full of expensive consumer goods to be happy homes. In fact, all you need for the happiest of homes is love, laughter, and kindness from all who enter.
And remember, that people who enter don’t have to walk through the front door. They can just as easily enter your home through all of the devices you’ve connected to on a daily basis, so make a point of disconnecting at least some of the time you’re at home.
Put away your phone, curl up on the couch with a good book or movie, and shut out all of the problems in the outside world.
Trust me, it doesn’t matter if you own your own home, have a trailer on a property, live in a beachside condo, an urban apartment, or a converted van down by the river. What matters most is that you make your home your sanctuary too.
The world can be a cold place at times. Our jobs can be mentally and physically draining. And our obligations can feel insurmountable all too often.
So making your home your happy place is a gift that keeps on giving. It ensures that you don’t have to run away every time you need to find your joy again.
How to Make a Happy Home
The easiest way to make a happy home is to think about your personal needs. By discovering what to include and remove from your home, you’re taking the first step toward creating the happy home you’ve always dreamed of, and you’ll enjoy the safety, comfort, relaxation, and peace that comes with it.
Here are 6 tips that will help you get started:
1. Make Sure Your Home is Affordable
You cannot be at peace in a home that stretches your budget to the max.
People tend to buy or rent bigger places than they actually need in order to impress others, because they’re jealous of what other people have, or because they think that houses are an investment. But the only sure way to gain wealth through a primary residence is to buy a place that is well below your maximum budget and invest the rest.
It’s not possible to be at peace in a home you simply can’t afford.
Who wants to come home after a long day of work, stretch out on the couch, and spend the evening worrying about how you’re going to make your next payment? If you’re already stretched too thin, start planning your move today.
The sooner you have a place that you can actually afford, the sooner you will feel like a huge financial weight has been lifted off of your shoulders.
2. Only Allow Genuinely Good People Into Your Home
This is your home. You don’t have to invite awful people into it out of obligation.
No tie through work, friends, or family, or even a marriage certificate, should make you feel trapped in your home with a person who is detrimental to your life or abusive in any way.
Your home is your safe place. If you want a happy home, it’s imperative that you feel safe in it. And if it doesn’t feel that way now, start making a plan to change that today.
Whether you stop inviting certain family members over for cookouts, you leave an abusive partner, or you end a friendship that doesn’t add value to your life, you owe it to yourself to make that decision and stick to it.
And don’t forget that this includes any form of entering your home, not just physically. If someone is harassing you through your phone or computer, block them.
When you’re at home, you deserve to relax and recharge in a safe environment. It’s as simple as that.
3. Declutter Your Entire Home
Make a point of eliminating items in your house that don’t serve an important purpose.
It may seem daunting at first, but if you break it into small, manageable jobs, it will go flawlessly. Tackle one bedroom this weekend, a drawer tomorrow, a closet later this week, and so on. The next thing you know, your home will just feel different. Instead of cramped, messy, and embarrassing, it will feel cozy, organized, and inviting.
Gone are the days of tripping over extra toys, spending endless amounts of time digging through piles just to find the one thing that got misplaced, and dusting stuff you don’t even like anymore.
You will feel happier every time you walk through the door after you declutter.
4. Fill Your House With Items That You Truly Love
When you do need to make a new purchase, take the time to find something that you truly love.
Ask yourself if this item will fill a need, will hold up to wear and tear, and will make you happy for the long term.
Being surrounded by things we really enjoy helps our homes feel warm and inviting. It’s good for our souls to sit with a soft blanket, to look at an art piece that brings us joy, or to burn a candle filling the room with our favorite scent. But it can be incredibly stressful to walk into oversized furniture that doesn’t fit the space, to find a dish that isn’t chipped, or to search for matching shoes in an overstuffed closet.
So be intentional with each of your purchases and make sure that these items will be well-loved and have a purpose in your home.
5. Shut the World Out Occasionally
Your number one job at home is to recharge and spend time alone and with those you love.
Don’t let a TV show convince you that your house is so plain or outdated that you must stop everything and do a major renovation at this very moment.
Don’t scroll endlessly through news articles on your phone inviting all of the chaos, death, and destruction of the world into your home.
Don’t enable the notifications on your apps so that you become distracted with every ding. Is it important to know at this very moment that your friend is going live while doing a craft with her kids or what food your co-worker is having for lunch? Of course not.
It’s okay to shut the world out occasionally. You’ll realize you really didn’t miss out on anything worth knowing at all. And you’ll be much happier at home when you focus on enjoying this moment in your own life.
6. Rest and Recharge
We are all overworked and overscheduled these days. So making a commitment to rest and recharge anytime you’re at home will make a huge difference in your life.
The best way to do this is to take care of your body, mind, and your soul.
Eat healthy, hydrate, exercise, and get plenty of sleep. Your body will feel so much better when you take care of its basic needs. And there are endless ways to care for your mind and soul, as well, like meditation, playing music, reading, completing crossword puzzles, and coloring.
Do whatever it is that helps you feel at peace when you’re at home.
You deserve to live your best life every day especially when you’re in your own home. Life is too short to have to run far away from the day-to-day before you can find any peace or joy.
So follow these 6 tips and create a home that’s your happy place today.
Sources
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What can you do to make your home a happier place? Share your thoughts in the comments section below.
These are some great tips, I completely agree with every point you mentioned in this article. Thanks for sharing this amazing article.
That’s very nice of you to say. I’m glad you enjoyed reading it.
Great post, I completely agree with every point you’ve mentioned. I personally love decluttering every so often, it makes me feel so much more relaxed.
Same! It really melts the stress away to be in a clean and cozy home.
Love your 3rd point, Declutter as much as we can to make room for our needs and memories 🙂
Absolutely! Our homes should be filled with the people and items we truly love and nothing else.
Loved each point. “Your home is your safe place” was my favorite. I agree! Take charge. Peace is your prerogative, not an option. Lovely post. xx
I am so glad you enjoyed it. Home is the one place we are supposed to feel free and peaceful.