11.14.2017

Secrets to a happy home. No arguements

Creating a happy home can often be easier said than done. A lot of families spend most of their time complaining or arguing with one another. Of course, at the end of the day, family arguments are part and parcel of life. We all have them, and it doesn’t mean we love each other any less.

What’s annoying - from a parent's perspective anyway - is when your kids argue with one another and you have to hear them shouting all the time. Or, they complain about certain things and expect you to wave a magic wand and fix them. This is when it gets very frustrating, and you almost welcome any chores that get you out of the house for a few minutes.

Thankfully, there are a few things you can do to change this. Often, all the arguments and complaints stem from your home itself. There are elements of it that cause discontent amongst your kids and the family in general. So, I thought it would be fun to take a look at your home and how you can make it happier. By making just a few subtle changes, you will have a home with far fewer arguments!

Upgrade Your Internet Speed

I can’t tell you how many arguments start because of slow internet in our household. It’s not just children that complain, it’s the adults too. The internet is one of those things that gets used by everyone, all the time. So, when it slows down just a tiny bit, everyone goes crazy. You have people floating around your wireless router looking to see if all the right lights are on. They’ll do the faithful trick of turning the router off then on again, in a bid to revive it. When they’ve failed at everything, they tend to shout at mom and dad to help fix the problem. Most of the time, parents don’t have any additional suggestions, and the house has to deal with slow internet for a while.

Ironically, it’s probably slow because too many people are using it at one time. You’re all eating up the data as one of you streams Netflix, the other is playing online games, and someone else is listening to Spotify. Have you ever noticed the internet is much quicker when your kids go to sleep? That’s because there are fewer people online, meaning the connection is less congested, and you can browse at the speeds you paid for.

  You can solve internet problems for good - meaning fewer arguments in your home - in a few simple steps. A quick search for "test my internet speed" will enable you to find a site like TestMySpeed, where you can test the internet speed and connection you are receiving from your current service provider. Then, if needed, you can simply upgrade your service! You will find that most service providers give you different speed options. Some go up to around 400mb/s of data, and a basic entry level family internet is around 60mb/s. As you can imagine, there’s a huge speed difference in the top and bottom packages out there. If you upgrade to a faster internet plan, your home will enjoy faster speeds. The best thing is, even when loads of people are using it, you’ll still end up with quicker internet than before. This is because you’ve got a higher max speed, meaning it’s got more room to drop and still be a very good connection.  

Separate Rooms (If Possible!)

It’s easy to write this piece as I just have to think about things that cause arguments in most homes! In a lot of households, the bedroom situation causes a lot of problems. Primarily, kids sharing their bedroom with one another. It might be a good idea when they’re very little, but there comes a time when kids need their space. Otherwise, they end up arguing with each other over every little thing. Someone’s stolen someone else's favourite toy, someone keeps moving their things onto the other person’s side of the room; they’ll argue about everything.

The best, and only, solution is to give your children separate rooms. If you’ve got a spare room that’s not really being used effectively, then this is the ideal opportunity for you. In fact, when I was younger I shared a room with my sibling until we got too old and the arguments started. So, off I went to the spare room to start my new life as a free child with their own bedroom! Admittedly, this is a solution that some people might find hard to accomplish. If you have a small house and are using all the bedrooms, then you probably think you have no answer to this problem. But, you could look at converting an attic or basement into a new bedroom if you have either of those in your home. By looking at the images on salterspiralstair.com, you’ll see loads of great attic conversions to inspire you.

If you don’t have an attic or basement and still can’t find an extra room to convert, then the only other affordable option is to plan an extension. Extend your house in some way to add an extra room or two. This is a great home improvement idea as it adds value to your property as well. Plus, it helps with the next point I’m going to discuss too!

Create As Much Space As Possible

If arguments aren’t caused by slow internet or bedroom disputes, then the chances are that space is the problem. Not that massive eternal darkness filled with stars and planets, I’m talking actual physical space in your home. More specifically, a lack of it. When there’s no space in your home, it makes people uncomfortable, and they can get a bit rowdy. It feels like you don’t have any space to yourself and you’re constantly bunched in with everyone else. It almost gives everyone mild claustrophobia as they need to break free and have their own space.

So, the aim is to create as much space as possible in your home, which is easier than you think. There are articles on diynetwork.com that include long lists of space-saving ideas. It’s not just there, you’ll find these types of articles all over the internet. As such, I won’t bore you by repeating things you could find in far more detail elsewhere. Instead, I’ll just cover a few of my favourite points that I deem most effective. Firstly, turn your home into a storage haven. You need smart storage everywhere to help de-clutter your home. The less junk you have lying around, the more space you’ve got; simple! Secondly, I love the idea of modular furniture or furniture that can be used and moved around in different ways. There are tables you can fold out to be very big or close down to be tiny and take up no space when not in use. Things like this save loads of space while still giving you a functional home.

Of course, as mentioned in the point about bedrooms, you could always opt for the home improvement angle instead. Again, an extension provides you with extra space, helping to spread things out and not make your home feel so cramped.

A Fair Chore System

This is definitely something that’s aimed at families with children old enough to do some work around the house. It’s not fair for the parents to do everything, particularly when you consider you might be out the house more than your kids. Especially when they get old enough to stay home alone and both parents in the household go out to work. Your kids will have time after school on their own, which means they have no excuses for not doing chores.

The problem with getting kids to do chores is that they don’t think it’s fair. One child may feel like they do all the dirty work while the other(s) get the easy jobs. So, you need a fair chore system to ensure everyone does an equal amount of work. Set up a little cycle where someone does one thing one month, then another the next, and so on. Each child has a job per month, and it changes accordingly.

If you only have one child, then you can’t really implement a system like this. Instead, you can reward them for their hard work with pocket money. In fact, I suggest you do this even if you have multiple children. It teaches them the value of hard work and shows them from a young age that money doesn’t grow on trees. If they want pocket money to go to the cinema with their friends, then they need to work for it!


On that note, we’ve come to the end of this guide to a happier home. As you can see, I’ve tried to talk about elements within the home that cause the most arguments and discontent. By tackling these, you can try and make your home a little more civil and free from those petty disputes. Not only does this make your life less stressful at home, but it also makes your whole family a lot happier. There are fewer reasons to argue, and you should all get along perfectly.

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