Home As Haven

I was talking to my husband Jay recently about the dynamic of a fast-flying summer. It seems like we are all dying for summer to start and then just as we are really getting into the groove it’s almost over. Jay compared the summer months to a weekend. June is like Friday; you are excited you finally made it, the weekend is stretching ahead of you and the anticipation of summertime activities is palpable. July is like Saturday; you are in the thick of vacation-mode with time to spare and your mindset is relatively carefree. And August is like Sunday. You are running out of time, school is ramping up and every event seems fleeting as you approach the dreaded equivalent of Sunday Night: Labor Day. Well friends, our ‘Sunday Night’ is fast approaching and on the other side are new routines, shorter days and a home that may not be kid-free, but definitely kid-light.

Maybe your kids have left home for college, maybe they are just back at school during the day; either way now is a great time to think about getting your home organized and working for you again. Kids spend a lot of summertime running rampant through the house, leaving a trail of crap in their wake. As the summer draws to a close there is a moment to seize, the moment when you reclaim your home from your kids and turn it into the haven you deserve. You could probably think of a million projects to start on, but before you do anything answer the question – how does your house make you feel?

Do you feel instantly relaxed when you enter your home? Are you happy to be there? Does your house help you to unwind or hinder the attempt? The emotional context of how our personal spaces make us feel can be an enhancement or source of stress in our lives; something we aren’t always aware of. So think about it; the definition of haven is ‘a place of safety or refuge’.’ Doesn’t that sound like someplace you’d like to be? If that definition does not apply to your home you may be unwittingly enabling an additional layer of stress in your life that is completely avoidable. Your home should work for you, not the other way around. Kids have a habit of turning havens upside-down in the summertime – time to take yours back!

The pandemic changed a lot of things in our world, not the least of which is the way we live in our homes. Most of us spent a lot more time at home, many doing activities like school or work or gigantic jigsaw puzzles. We lived hard in our homes, kind of like a really long summer! Now that we have left the worst behind us and mostly re-entered a life similar to the one we knew before COVID, the imprint of pandemic-life remains in our homes. How many people hastily pulled together a workable Home Office or Home Gym? How many toys and games migrated to different parts of the house and stayed there, disintegrating any semblance of order that existed prior to the pandemic?

Yes, the summer is almost over and the pandemic is now feeling a lot closer to endemic. It’s a perfect time to assess your spaces and identify what isn’t working for you. What makes you clench reflexively when you you walk in the door? What prevents your home from achieving Haven status? How do you make that happen?

Before you rush over to attack your junk drawer (which is very satisfying, I admit) stop and think about the bigger picture. This is where a Home Organizer can step in to help you reclaim your home and turn it into a haven. A pro will help you prioritize which areas of your home need the most work, contain the clutter that right now feels overwhelming and design systems that are sustainable for your family. Emerging from pandemic-life and a crazy-busy summer is exhausting and you may feel defeated every time you come home. Let an expert help lead you out of the woods – you and your haven are worth the investment!