Happier At Home

Happier At Home is an instruction manual to transform your home into a castle of happiness by figuring out what needs to be changed, what needs to stay the same, and embracing the gift of family.

It sounds so simple, but I can vouch that this is life-changing. Go through all of the possessions in your house, one by one, pick them up and ask yourself this: “When’s the last time I used this? How much do I like it?”

No matter how little you think you might have, you’ll realize there’s a ton of junk among it. Works every time.

A house full of stuff doesn’t just make your house full. It also fills your mind to the brim. You’ll notice you tend to think a lot more about what you could improve and contemplate the important things in life once you find yourself in a less cluttered space. You can start asking your family questions about what they really want and then get them just that, instead of cleaning up all the unnecessary stuff they already have.

Also make sure to actually get familiar with the things you do decide to keep. If you won’t read that coffee-maker manual about how to clean your machine, then toss it out!

Lastly, always keep the things that matter most to you where you can see them. If you love seeing pictures of your family vacation from 5 years ago, hang some of them right on the center wall in your living room.

Less clutter = more happiness.

Overreacting is overrated. Why not underreact to problems for a change?

For example, when her daughter spilled a bottle of open nail polish on the carpet, Gretchen didn’t yell at her and make a big fuss. Instead, she calmly told her to search the web to find a way to clean the stain and get rid of it, so that’s exactly what she did. Nobody was upset, the stain was gone and her daughter had even learned a new skill – how great is that?

So stop being a drama queen (or king), take a deep breath, and get people to solve the problems they’ve caused calmly and without aggression.

The bigger your family, the bigger your happiness, that makes sense, right? So how about extending your family by connecting with your neighbors? Over 30% of Americans don’t even know who their neighbors are, which is quite a depressing statistic for a species that has for thousands of years relied on one another to survive. Sure, you don’t have to invite everyone to a big BBQ right away, but you can at least start. Maybe you want to ease into things by strolling…