Making sure your family is comfortable at home is more important than ever in these unconventional times. If making sure your family feels safe, secure, and happy in your home is a big priority for you, there are ways you can see to it that they are comfortable physically, spiritually, and mentally. From addressing practical needs like your home’s heating and cooling to more abstract things like spending quality time together, if you’re looking for ways to keep your family happy and comfortable at home, read on.
Physical Comfort
The top way to keep your family comfortable year round is by maintaining climate control. Too hot and too cold make for an uncomfortable experience for anyone. Keeping your furnace, heating system, and air conditioning systems up to date and in full repair is critical to overall comfort in your home.
Nearly a year into a pandemic where many people are learning and working from home, making sure your HVAC systems are up to speed is more important than ever. From thermostats and heaters to air filters and air conditioning systems, there are many ways to see to your family members’ physical comfort. After calling your professional heating and cooling technician for HVAC repairs or maintenance, your home will already be more comfortable. This will give you the peace of mind you need to get on with other things that make your house a home.
Spiritual Growth
Maybe you’ve used quarantine or shutdown time to start a church from home, in lieu of visiting the church building you used to frequent. If spirituality is important to your family’s overall comfort, taking time to unplug from social media and make time for prayer is crucial. You can make your family more comfortable at home by creating rituals around your shared spiritual journeys. A home church that brings the congregation to you, with the wisdom of a weekly sermon, can be a good idea in this respect.
Or, if spirituality isn’t as important to you, that same sacred time can be used for other activities like family game nights and check-ins. No matter how you choose to spend time away from the computer screens, creating special spaces for quiet reflection will be important to creating the most comfortable home possible.
Quality Time and Connectedness
When not in prayer or focused on work or the school year, you can make your home more comfortable by designating spaces in the home for specific activities. Pick a favorite spot for storytimes, another for exercise, and so on. By creating designated spots for activities, you’ll be building in the structure and comforts of a routine that you might be missing otherwise.
Inside our homes, we don’t generally need social distancing. For this reason, it’s important to meet each other’s needs with physical touch and proximity. Instead of sending everyone off to their own rooms or space at the end of the day, consider designating a bigger space for group activities. While part of making a home comfortable will mean creating areas people can get away from, it’s also important to maintain connections both in and out of the home.
Quality time can range from activities with the people you live with to others outside of the home. If regular calls to grandma are important to you and your loved ones, set up an area where it’s easy to zoom. Make this accessible to everyone in your home (of the appropriate ages) so they’re able to stay connected, too.
Outdoor Space
Lastly, when thinking about how to make your home more comfortable, don’t forget the outdoor space. From picnic tables to gardens and patios, your backyard can be turned into an outdoor escape. If you have little kids, think about bringing some sand in for play they may be missing at the playground at the park or school. If your family is older, consider a new grill or cocktail bar.
In the end, how you go about making your home more comfortable will be up to you and should be about how your family likes to live. With some creative thinking, designated spaces honored spiritual customs, and in the right temperatures, your home will be primed for comfort.
