You can’t stop thinking “I hate my house. I hate my house!” These tips will make your home lovable in no time! (No moving required!)
Have you ever felt like the walls of your home are closing in on you?
Maybe your family has outgrown the starter home you can’t sell. Or a friend bought a nice new house, and yours suddenly feels old and full of problems.
You may have even just bought a new house yourself, only to regret it the instant you moved in.
No, you can’t buy a new house every time you get the whim to move. But staying in your current home feels too hard.
Even if you’re in a place where you can’t spend much (or any!) money on your home, you can still find a way to escape those “I hate my house!” thoughts. In fact, if you do just 3 things, you might find that you enjoy your old home more than ever!
“Argh! I Hate My House!”
1. All the Benefits of Moving (Without The Moving Accidents)
The best part of moving is getting to start fresh. Your new house would have empty rooms that you can fill with your imagination.
Luckily, you can get the same feeling with your own house!
We emptied my daughter’s bedroom and started over. Everything was taken to the living room until we were left with only furniture.
Then, we rearranged the bed and gave the hardwood floor a good cleaning. We also changed some of the things hanging on the walls.
In the living room, we sorted and purged until we were left with only the things she loves the most. Those things were sorted into better bins and tubs that made cleaning up a breeze.
By the time we were finished, it felt like a new bedroom. It refreshed our house, and gave her a little extra incentive to keep her stuff picked up!
Learn how to organize a large family in a small house here.
2. Get Rid of Stuff to Make Rooms Feel Bigger
No matter how many bags of stuff you get rid of, there always seems to be more. Clutter begets clutter. Stop letting it breed like rabbits!
If you’re like me, there’s some guilt involved in getting rid of stuff. You know you should try to sell it rather than just dumping it in a donation bin, but who has the time?
If you’re sorting through books, movies, music, or electronics, a quick and easy way to get rid of it is with Decluttr.
Scan the barcode and find out if they’ll pay you to take these unused items off your hands. Then you just mail them a box (at their cost!) and collect the money. Super easy.
3. Make Your Senses Feel Sensational
Sight
First, think about what’s making your eyes tired? Too much clutter? The same old look of the room? An ugly wall or surface?
Straighten things and rearrange furniture. Add in a few fresh flowers or potted plants.
Hide ugly surfaces with something beautiful like a picture or a tablecloth. (Or at least scrub them until they shine!)
We hung this sign over our mantel and it completely changed the look of our living room. I love seeing it up there every day.
Sound
Now, are sounds annoying you? If it’s an appliance, see if you can find a deal on a repair or replacement.
(It’s surprising how often a friend has an old refrigerator/dryer/etc lying around that they’re happy to pass on to you!)
If the sounds are coming from neighbors or other sources, first have a reasonable talk with them. They may have no idea how loud it is to you.
Failing that, try sound dampening curtains over the windows. Or just play your favorite relaxing tunes.
Smell
Certain scents always say “home”. What are yours?
Pick a couple to use (so you don’t get fatigued with the same ol’ same ol’) and don’t save them for the most special occasions. Try candles, potpourri, essential oils, or your method of choice.
This candle not only smells amazing, but it’s also pretty enough to add to your decor.
Feel
There’s something amazing about curling up on the couch with a blanket and a good book. With the right genre, you’ll forget what your house looks like in a flash!
If the price of a nice pillow and an amazing cozy blanket keeps you happier in your house, that’s money well spent.
Taste
Finally, let’s talk taste. No, don’t lick the windows! Sometimes a batch of chocolate chip cookies is just right for getting you over the funky “I hate my house” mindset.
These 3 things will send “I hate my house” thoughts packing!
Those walls will feel less suffocating and more like home sweet home all over again.
Maybe what you need are some tips for fitting your large family into a small house?
How do you fall in love with your house again?
I'm Jamie, and I want to help you afford a beautiful life with your family. 
I like my house, but there are things that I’d love to change anyway. Our house is overstuffed, and I know that makes me nuts and doesn’t seem to bother the others who live there. We could also use a couple of coats of strategically applied paint.
Alas, we’ve been working on the yard this fall/summer. It needed some help too. Maybe as the weather changes we can work on making the inside feel cozier.
Great article! It’s amazing how moving out and back into a room can make it feel new again. I’m with you on decluttering and the good scents too. I need to declutter my sewing room. I have so many projects that I know I will never do, but I can’t seem to let them go. LOL
Me, too! Half finished projects are one of those things I won’t throw away until I’ve done 4 decluttering sweeps and finally wonder why I’m holding on to something that only gives me guilt in return.
We live in an apartment, and I definitely get tired of it. My biggest complaints: 1) it’s small, so clutter fills it up quickly, and 2) noisy neighbors. I’m pretty good about decluttering, and I do it on a regular basis (we’re also careful about only bringing into the house what we actually want). As for the noise, I’ve found that rearranging furniture can help a lot. For instance, I moved our bed off of the shared wall and placed it on the opposite wall. Then I moved our furniture onto the shared wall to help block sounds from the neighbors. It really does help. Also, plants and cozy lighting always make a place feel homier!
That tip for dealing with the noise is genius! Thanks for sharing.
I like the idea of emptying out a room and then only putting back what you really love. I think the challenge, in my small home, is finding a place to put everything while you sort. I just need to do a better job of decluttering in general. And you’re right, a good cleaning can do wonders.
We rent a really small cottage so I tend to get tired quickly. But what I like to do is take a section at a time and go through everything. For example, when I decluttered our bedroom, I did a little every night after work. We went through our nightstands, then the dresser, our ottoman and my closet (Husband’s closet is in another room). There are other things I wish we could do but because we rent we have to stick to cleaning and decluttering.
Doing little bits at a time is smart. Much better than getting burnt out halfway through the job!
I have a small home, and my friends all have huge, newer houses, so it is hard not to get “house envy”….lol. A good decluttering and cleaning helps my feelings enormously. In fact, I have, so far, this week, decluttered to the tune of 13 trash bags…lots of donations!
Wow, go you! It always feels good to take all of those bags out of the house, doesn’t it? I just love it!
This might sound like and “odd” little mind game, but I think about the folks on the Oregon Trail and how they slept under their wagons and cooked over bison chips and how rough it must have been during storms, with children, etc. It makes me thankful and then I can ask myself about some of the things you mentioned – sprucing up a bit helps.
I agree! Comparison can take away your contentment if you compare yourself to some. But it can make a world of difference in improving your attitude if you compare yourself to others.
I hate this house. My husband picked it, I did not. The only thing I like about the property/area ate the trees. It’s EVERYTHING WE said we didn’t want and more. Money is going out every which way. It’s an older home with a plethora of problems. I don’t even know how it passed inspection. I don’t know what to do because all I see is a money pit. With no ROI anytime soon.