Contributed post by Samantha Garbett
Everyone likes to think that their home is healthy and happy.
However, your home might not be as happy as you want it to be. It doesn’t just happen on its own; it requires a little effort to maintain a home where everyone is happy and healthy.
You don’t have to spend all day, every day, trying to keep things in order, though. There are plenty of ways to make permanent or long-term changes to your home that make it easier to manage.
Setting your home up in the right way will make it a better place for your family.
Regulate the Temperature
Being too warm or too cold at home isn’t something you want.
Not only can it feel uncomfortable, but it could cause a number of other problems too. You might find that you spend too much on energy bills or even that your home is causing health issues for your family.
If you often find yourself too cold or too warm or the temperature of your home fluctuates a lot, you need to find a solution.
Better insulation is often the answer, for both cold and warm homes. It can help heat to stop escaping but it can also help you in hot weather, making your AC more efficient.
Sometimes, you might just need better control over your home’s temperature.
A new thermostat could give you the control that you’re looking for, and you have several options. You might just choose a thermostat that you can manually turn up and down whenever you want.
Or you might want a smart thermostat that learns when to turn the temperature up and down on its own. With a smart thermostat, you’ll be able to control it while away from home too – so you can stop the kids messing around with it when you’re
Let There Be Light
Light is hugely important in a happy and healthy home too.
Both natural light and artificial light can have an impact on your mood. During the day, trying to get natural light into your home can make a big difference to how it feels. You can boost natural light by keeping windows clear and arranging rooms so that they don’t the windows.
Mirrors and even metallic items can help to reflect light, on top of pale colors for your décor. You might even consider adding extra windows or skylights to bring in more natural light for your home.
When you can’t rely on natural light, you should think about how your lighting choices can make a difference.
If you want to have control over your lighting, consider using dimmer switches or having various light sources in each room. That should allow you to adjust your lighting to fit the time of day, the season and different activities.
Lighting types can give differing effects to your home, from warm and glowing oil lamps to bright LEDs. A lighter color scheme can help you to emphasize the lighting that you choose and make sure your home doesn’t feel too dark and gloomy.
Get Some Green In
Having plants in your home not only helps it to look good, but it also makes your home healthier.
Plants help to purify the air, taking in carbon dioxide and producing oxygen, as well as removing toxins and impurities. House plants don’t need to be difficult to look after, so it’s extremely easy to add some to your home.
They can sit on various surfaces or you can have pots and planters on the floor, and even hanging baskets.
Bringing some nature indoors can also be calming, offering a therapeutic effect. If you’re not much of a gardener, choose hardy plants that don’t need a lot of care.
If you want to go one step further, how about growing some plants that you can eat?
This could be herbs, or perhaps some plants that you can easily grow indoors, such as a tomato or chilli plant. Growing your own food can be really fulfilling, and you’ll know exactly what products have been used to grow everything.
You can put many plants on your kitchen windowsill and grow them there.
Other ways to bring nature into your home are available too. You might want to use natural materials in a practical way, such as for furniture. Or you might use them for decoration, bringing in anything from pretty pebbles to flowers.
Declutter for Cleanliness
A neat, tidy and minimal home can help you to keep your space healthy and happy.
Minimal homes with less clutter are easier to keep clean, with less space for dust and grime to build up and germs to hide. Smooth surfaces and clean lines can help too, but that can venture into using a décor style that you might not want.
Removing some of the clutter from your home can increase your happiness, leaving you with less stuff to manage and fewer frustrations from things lying around.
It can help to keep you in the right mindset by providing a calming and organized atmosphere.
Keep Away Parasites and Pests
Pests are one thing that you don’t want in your home.
Keeping your home clean can keep them away, but it’s not foolproof. Sometimes pest just decide that they want to make your home theirs, and they’ll find their way in.
Whether you’re dealing with pests outside or in your house, you want to get rid of them as soon as possible. There are many different methods for dealing with pests, depending on what sort of pest you’re facing.
Getting professional help is often the right way to go if you do suspect a pest in your home. Professional pest controllers can get rid of them in a healthy way, and also make recommendations for how to prevent them coming back.
Prevention is often the best route to take if you want to avoid pests in your home.
Keeping everything clean and tidy goes a long way. A lot of pests will be attracted to food or anything else you have that they can either eat or use for a comfortable home. If you know a bit about what will attract different types of pests, you can make the right choices to keep them away.
You don’t have to worry about using harsh methods to get rid of pests. There are often more natural or safe ways to tackle any pest problems that you might experience. You can try these first before trying the heavier methods.
Fill Your Home With Art
If you want to breathe some life into your home, art is a great way to do it.
No matter what sort of art you like or even how you define art, things on your walls or around your home that you enjoy looking at and maybe interacting with can make the environment a lot brighter.
You might like fine art, posters, statues, kinetic art or maybe even comic book figurines. Whatever brings you joy, add it to your home in various places.
You can brighten up your walls or use available surfaces to display the things that you love.
If you want to make things extra special, consider filling your home with art made by your family. From the kids’ latest drawings to something more adult, it gives a special touch to your home if you display art that you have all put a lot of time and love into.
Create Relaxing Spaces
Everyone needs somewhere they can feel relaxed.
A happy home probably has somewhere that each member of the family can use. Of course, you have your bedrooms, but not everyone wants to use these places to relax during the day.
If you would prefer to keep your bedrooms for sleeping, other spaces can become relaxing areas instead. You don’t necessarily need to have whole rooms to use.
Small spaces can work just as well if you find clever ways to use them.
For example, you create a relaxing nook for reading. Use curtains or screens to section of an area or pick somewhere that can naturally serve as a relaxing space, such as a bay window seat.
Some comfortable seating and home accessories like throws and cushions, combined with the right lighting, can help you to create a cozy place that the whole family will like using as a place to escape.
Make Home Cooking Easy
As well as growing edible plants in the kitchen, you could make your home healthier and happier by making it easy to cook up home.
There are plenty of ways you can do this, from adding some new cooking appliances to filling your cupboards and fridge with lots of healthy foods. You could also consider making sure you have plenty of reusable tubs and tins, which will allow you to cook healthy meals in advance.
A crock pot can be great for this too, allowing you to put something on to cook while you’re busy with other things.
If you want to create a happy and healthy home, make some smart changes that will help you change your lifestyle.
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