Making Home a Beautiful Place

I used to simply hate and avoid a lot of the tasks I had to do at home, so I often just wanted to be somewhere else besides home.  The first thing I did to solve the problem, of course, was get some help, but I was still left with the day to day chores.  During that period of my life several books were available that helped a lot.  One was Alexandra Stoddard's "Living a Beautiful Life" and the "Simple Abundance" book I've already mentioned.  Another book that came in handy was "The Woman's Comfort Book" by Jennifer Louden.  All three of these books recommended that I turn tasks I hated into rituals of beauty.

I truly thought the authors had gone nuts at first.  Drudgery is drudgery.  Finding a way to make laundry, dishes, vacuuming and bill paying beautiful was way too lofty to suit me.  But the concept that my home is a blank slate that I can use to paint a beautiful picture kind of spoke to my heart.  And all three of the authors pointed out that home is where I spend more than half my time so why wouldn't it be worth putting some creativity and care into making it and the care of it beautiful?

Some ideas I tried:  Choose music to accompany a task.  If I was cleaning house, I picked rock and roll - the faster the beat the better.  I went just as fast as I could and used the cleaning as a workout.  So I not only got to enjoy the music but scratch exercise off my list as well.  Classical music seems to go with paying bills.  I use a pretty pen, and I have a filing system that helps me keep bills straight and in order for paying.  Planning meals with appearance as well as taste is another creative joy.  It's worth a few extra pennies to buy garnishes at the grocery store.  Coordinating the bright yellows, oranges, greens and reds of fruits and vegetables at each meal is fun too.