Ladies,
We have been living in an economy which has made it profoundly difficult to afford even modest housing, groceries, bills, and living on a husband’s one income. However, having lived through economic booms as well, I have observed consistently that the economy is not what affects homemaking. In the greatest of economies, households still flounder in dirt, disorganization, lack of cooking skills, and general neglect. I have lived in many a less-than-desirable-situation, but it has been consistent homemaking that made our most modest circumstances truly luxurious.
The Luxury of Clean Floors
There is a feeling when you walk on clean floors that is like a sigh of relief. Hair and dirt are not going to get stuck in your toes. Instead of the grit and grime beneath every step, on clean floors you feel almost like you are seamlessly wafting around. Nothing unpleasant impedes your movements. No sharp objects will suddenly poke up into your foot, your sock does not suddenly happen upon a sticky spot and then have to be peeled up with every footstep. The feeling and look of clean floors is by far one of the most relaxing and valuable experiences in any home. Clean floors are a significant difference in the look of any room, grand or modest. Even if you live in a hovel, you can keep the floor swept like Ma Ingalls in the Little House on the Prairie book series. You can keep ugly cheap linoleum mopped and you can keep old carpet vacuumed. This was a practice I mastered when we lived in our RV for nearly 6 years. I noticed that in such a small space, the dirt and hair gathered at warp speed. If I simply kept the floors clean daily, our tiny little living space looked much nicer and felt better too. Living in the back guest bedroom of my mother-in-law’s house meant my room was shaggy tan outdated carpet but it looked nicer when it was freshly vacuumed with those satisfying vacuum marks. Every time I vacuumed it made our hard times feel better.
The Luxury of Clean Sheets
The feeling of getting into bed with clean sheets is up there with slipping into the most luxurious bed at a high-end retreat. The lack of sweat, skin oils, hair, and bacteria engulfing your body is a feeling of luxury that any person can have today. This is true luxury: experiencing everyday things but in a higher level of excellence. This is all that high end hotels are doing for people. They offer a room, a bed, a bathroom and all of it is the same exact thing as in any living quarters, except it is done with attention to hygiene and presentation. That’s it. The hotel is not making you slip into bed sheets that have not been washed in a month. But many homes present this daily necessity with just that: filth. If you want to experience a better quality of life regardless of what you can afford to live in, start by washing your bedding every week. What is the point of a big, beautiful house anyway if you do not even have the discipline or knowledge to keep it nice?
The Luxury of Clean Toilets, Showers, & Sinks
This goes along with the floors and sheets clearly; do you see a theme here? Keeping a clean house is not only nearly free to do other than your time, but also the main ingredient in a household being nice no matter where you live. This is probably even more important the more modest the home. Clean things make everything look better and feel better so it will up level your abode. When these things are clean it not only makes you feel at ease, but it does feel luxurious compared to the opposite of these things being in a constant state of stank. This is a free or almost free way to live high end. Why own nicer things if you can’t even keep what you already have nice? So you can just trash more expensive looking things? Good habits matter at all price points so live well now to live well anywhere.
The Luxury of Decor
No matter how small your living conditions, there is room for pretty decor. When we lived in the RV, we had extremely limited space for decorations. I still put one pretty candle on the countertop. I hung the smallest wall art known to man in the small little wall areas we did have. I strung up beautiful curtains around the windows as one of the only ways I had to beautify that small space. I thrifted a beautiful bed spread and shams for the pillows. I folded up a pretty throw blanket on our teeny tiny RV sofa. Dress your home right where you are. Decor is not only meant for certain kinds of living situations. Every visible item in your home can be something that offers beauty. Dishes, towels, bedding, you need it all anyway, make it pretty. These things are incredibly inexpensive at the thrift shop and even cheaper at garage sales.
The Luxury of Good Lighting
You don’t have to be a millionaire to have good sense about lighting. When the sun is up, open the blinds or curtains and let that beautiful sunshine drench your indoor space with light. This will signal to your brain that it is time to be awake and up getting things done. As evening comes, instead of flipping on that blaring overhead bulb, opt for lamp light. Maybe light a serene candle for the evening dinner, or on the stove top after the kitchen is cleaned for the night. Light a candle on the bedroom dresser for some romantic ambiance. Lighting. We all have it, but it takes the artist in every homemaker to tailor it beautifully for your days.
The Luxury of Dinner
Dinner is a constant never-ending need that we must meet. It is so unending and so overwhelming for some women, they opt out of it altogether making their family fend for themselves. Take the complexity of cooking out of it and simply offer something. A can of soup heated up with salt and pepper and a nice loaf of bread from the bakery with some butter. Eat like a peasant and still enjoy a beautiful dinner every day. Give this luxury to your husband and children, that even if it is simple or without much creativity, that they will have it. Simple inexpensive foods are delicious when you don’t skimp on butter, salt, and other seasonings.
The Luxury of a Happy Wife
You might be upset or sad about your circumstance. Are you making it even worse by being a woman who scowls, pouts, and complains her way through the day? Are you controlling the home environment by holding it hostage with your sour attitude? You can feel the luxury of gladness and rejoicing just by having thanksgiving to God for what you do have. A heart that is truly grateful and counting its blessings cannot become as wound around its misfortunes. Give your husband the luxury of a happy wife, one who thanks him for his hard work that day, one who greets him with a smile and a kiss, one who is more focused on serving him than on serving yourself. Far too few homes are filled with the luxury of thankful hearts to God right where they are.
Make Your Home Now
Wherever you find yourself living in hard times, it can always be better with your pursuit of excellence in it. In fact, it is the more dire circumstance that needs to be given that much more attention because it doesn’t have the benefit of looking good on its own. Look around you and observe what you need to do to make your home clean, comfortable, pretty, fed, and happy. These are things that are easily passed up as luxuries, but even with the ability to afford much, without these things we have very little indeed.
WHATEVERLOVEY.com
CHRISTIAN LIVING – FASHION – HOME
Leave a Reply