Your Home’s Purpose is not something you generally think about day-to-day.

Yet there’s nothing like going away for a period of time to make you want to click your red heels three times while chanting “There’s no place like home.” And when you get there, you can’t help but compare your home to the hotels you stayed in while away.

And in my case, find something lacking. Something like a deep wide spa bath with a marble tub surround wide enough to pend several empty beer bottles while you enjoy it.

Which makes it relevant and important to ask “what is your home’s purpose?”

Your Home’s Purpose

Mina Irfan (YouTube video auto-plays) (The Universe Guru) asks “what is your home’s purpose?” She explains once you know what your home’s purpose is, you know what to do about it. Without an end-goal in mind, “you’re just running around in circles.”

She asks what is it that you and your family want from your home. When you know that. you can review invitations, objects, and activities to decide whether they belong in your home or not.

Does your Home Support Your Life?

She suggests:

• Reducing the things in your home that take away from your purpose.
• Automate things that take you away from that purpose. One of the things we have in common is undertaking particular chores on particular days. I’m guessing from her video that she sticks to her routine more than me!
• Assign chores to other members of the household, and automate them as well.
• And most important (as far as I’m concerned), to let go and relax. Find a system that works for you, and understand that it won’t always go to plan. Just start again when you can.

Home Efficiency

Jennifer Scott (The Daily Connoisseur) made a similar video (also has sound and auto plays). Her tips include:

• Preparing the night before so that the start of the day is calm and stress free.
• Setting up routines to keep things in order, like dinner time and bed time.
• Think of your home as a small hotel that is a calm and beautiful place to spend time. Eliminate chaos and create routines that bring order.
• Start with a small manageable wardrobe that helps you feel efficient and productive, and minimises the stress of getting dressed.

Getting Things Done

My Mrs Frederick [1] was similarly interested in a clean and calm home. She didn’t give it a purpose, but she applied factory techniques like standardising tools and workflows which we could call routines and automation (I shared a little of this with her version of kitchen ergonomics).

She was also in favour of working clothes, and while she wasn’t explicit, I think she would approve of thinking of your home as a hotel. Especially given she joined her husband for a cocktail of an evening.

My Home’s Purpose

So I boldly announced in my mid-year review that my home was comfortable and soothed my soul (clearly a work in progress). And that suggests to me, neat and clean like Jennifer’s boutique hotel.

• Efficiently maintained by routines (dread of domestic duties notwithstanding).
• Warm enough in winter and cool enough in summer.
• Delicious and healthy meals taken at the table like a civilised family.
• A deep relaxing spa, with an infrared sauna and fluffy towels.
• A fabulous library stuffed to the ceiling with books.

I’m sure there will be more, but that’s enough to get me back on the path of cleaning up and decluttering.

What is your home’s purpose? And what are you going to do about it? If you’d care to share, let us know in the comments below.

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Photo of the Ladies Room in Georges Department Store, c. 1908 via State Library Victoria

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[1] Frederick, Christine. 1914. The New Housekeeping: Efficiency Studies in Home Management. Garden City: Doubleday, Page & Company.

Frederick, Christine. 1923. Household Engineering: Scientific Management in the Home. Chicago: American School of Home Economics.

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