Hello Friend,

Ever since Christmas, my home has needed a little extra loving – without all the Christmas decorations it feels sad, empty, and little lifeless. Our family was sick in January for a couple weeks, so the cleaning and organizing of our home fell by the wayside as I was recovering.

This past week, on my instagram page, I hosted a Love Your Home Challenge to encourage all of us to pour a little extra love into our homes this winter. Today, I want to compile what we were learning and talking about and put it all together into a helpful post. I hope it encourages you to spend a little extra time on your home in the next few weeks, and not neglect the cultivating of a clean and investing home during the cold months of winter.

5 Ways to Love Your Home this Winter

1. Make It Cozy

A cozy home is a wonderful blessing during the cold and dreary months of winter. Making our homes a cozy place to be helps us (and our family members) enjoy the extra time we spend indoors. What are some simple ways to make our homes cozy and inviting? Here’s a list of things that help to make a home cozy:

• Candles
• Twinkle lights (these are my favorite twinkle lights!)
• A diffuser with essential oils
• Blankets and throw pillows (such as these)
• Warm lighting
• Framed pictures of the people you love
• Rugs
• Warm colors
• Soft music
• A fire in the fireplace
• Delicious smells
• Varied textures
• Curtains
• Live plants
• Comfortable seating

Just adding a few cozy touches to our homes can make a huge difference. Most of the things mentioned above are not very expensive… and you probably have some of these things in your home already. Look around and see what you can do to cultivate a cozy space for your family!

2. Rearrange

Simply rearranging a few things in your home can breath new life into an “old” space. My husband and I experienced this over Christmas when we had to rearrange our living room in order to make room for our large Christmas tree. The way we moved things around actually provided more space and made our living room cozier as well as more open. We loved it. Since the tree is gone, we did some more rearranging to find a set up that we love!

You don’t have to rearrange an entire room though! There are other places and spaced you can rearrange to freshen up a space… here are some ideas:

• The pantry
• A closet
• A crowded corner
• The books on your shelves
• A spare bedroom
• The laundry station
• Your desk/work space
• Inside drawers/cabinets

Now, if something already works well for you… don’t worry about changing it (unless you want to!). The concept of rearranging something is best when you either don’t like something, the system isn’t working, or you just desperately need to change things up!

Growing up, I really didn’t like change AT ALL, so I rarely switched things around in my bedroom. As an adult, I have thankfully grown out of my aversion to change. I still don’t like rearranging my bedroom… but I do enjoy switching things up in the rest of house.

Give it a try and see if you don’t like the new setup even better than the old one! 😉

3. Keep it Clean

A clean home is also a welcoming home. No ones enjoys spending a lot of time in a dirty or messy space! Since we spend a lot of extra time in our homes during the winter, we need to combat that with a little extra time and attention to cleaning (not to mention the influx of STUFF at Christmas time). A little decluttering and organizing may be in order as well.

If you don’t have a cleaning system or routine that works well for you, I would encourage you to give it some thought and create a plan. I have written about this in the past, but here’s a real quick rundown of my current cleaning routine (it has changed a bit):

This doesn’t happen every week… but I usually have this plan in the back of my head and try to shoot for it each week.

A Word on Decluttering:

Decluttering is something I try to do every few months. (It’s amazing how stuff just piles up each month. Seriously, where does it come from?!?) if decluttering feels overwhelming, then just start small. Here are some suggestions to get you started:

Throw away trash – go around the house and just get rid of things that belong in the trash. Dirty tissues, empty water bottles, junk mail, excess papers, etc.

Put things back where they belong – grab a box (or the laundry basket) and walk through the house looking for out-of-place items. Put them in your box/basket and then work on putting everything back where it belongs. If it doesn’t have a home, find one for it or get rid of it.

Start a donate box – I have spot in my house where I place unwanted items that either need to be sold or donated. Once I have a significant pile, I put everything in the trunk and take it somewhere to be donated.

Go through your clothing – pull out the items you no longer wear and donate them or take them to a consignment shop.

Sell extra stuff on FB Marketplace – Facebook marketplace is an excellent place to sell furniture or stuff you no longer need. I like to save up the cash I earn and put it back into my home somehow (putting it towards a house project, decorations, or something special for our home).

Winter is an excellent time to cleanup and clean out our homes… take some extra time this week to work on this aspect of your home management.

Here are some articles you may find helpful regarding this topic:

• My Cleaning Schedule and Daily Routine
• Three Cleaning Routines for a Fresh and Tidy Home

4. Fill it With Music

Music can help to fill our homes with joy – and this is often something that is much-needed in winter months. Winter blues are a real thing, and godly, uplifting music can help combat that.

I have put together a “Daily Joy” playlist that I like to turn on from time to time. I don’t listen to it everyday, but some days when I need some cheer and encouragement, music is the way to go.

Think about ways that you can fill your home with music… you can go “old school” with a CD player and your favorite cds or you can use Spotify or YouTube to put together personalized playlists. And don’t forget the possiblity of filling your home with musical instruments.

We have a piano in our living room and my husband plays it regularly. This may not work for you but I would still encourage you to think of ways you can add music (and a little extra joy) to your home and your days!

5. Let in the Sunlight

Most of us can use some extra vitamin D during the winter months. I have a habit of going throughout the day without opening our curtains and blinds but it really makes a difference when I open things up and let the sunlight inside. It brightens up our home and makes it a more cheerful place.

You could easily add opening the blinds and curtains to your morning routine each day… and it will make a difference! 😉

Another thing to keep in mind is that window cleaning usually gets neglected in the wintertime (at least, I know it does at my house!). While it may be too cold to clean the outside windows, it may help to clean the inside so you can let that sunshine come in through clean windows!

Final Thoughts

I hope this post has given you some insight and encouragement to love your home this winter. Remember, we spend a lot of extra time in our homes during the winter (especially if you live in an area with a colder climate and snow) therefore, we ought to make sure we are spending out time in a place we love. A place that is cozy, fresh, clean, music-filled, and bright!

Question for YOU!

Which tip do you plan to implement to love your home? Do you need to work on cleaning and decluttering? Or will you focus on rearranging and freshening up an “old” space?

Share your thoughts and ideas with me in the comments! I love hearing from you!

Here are some other links and articles you may find helpful that relate to this topic:

• Over 15 Great Books on the Home
• Homemaking Tips for the Brand New Homemaker
• 20+ Tools and Resources for Marriage and Homemaking

Until Next Time,