6 Biggest Sources of Stress in the Home and How to Reduce Them

Your home should be your sanctuary, right? In a perfect world, it would be a place where you could retreat from the stresses of daily life to relax and rejuvenate. The reality is that sometimes a house can actually cause us to experience unwanted stress, adding to our already pressure-filled lives.

How to reduce stress at home

Fortunately, there are some actions you can take to minimize the stress of running a home. Here are some of the most common sources, along with some tips for how to relieve stress quickly at home:

1. Not managing your home expenses

Managing a household budget can feel overwhelming, especially for first-time homeowners. However, having a clear budget that serves as a roadmap for anticipating home expenses can actually help you feel more secure and in control. Here’s how to effectively manage your household budget:

• Track your weekly, monthly, and annual expenses. This will allow you to see where your money is going and make accurate predictions for future costs.
• Cover all the essentials in your house budget. Make sure to include the mortgage, taxes, home insurance, utilities, food, maintenance costs, and savings for future repairs.
• Set up a separate budget for house expenses, or incorporate them into a comprehensive family budget worksheet that includes all your family’s expenses.
• Plan your spending on a weekly basis to stay on track with your budget. This helps you manage your finances more effectively.
• Regularly review your budget progress. Build in some goals and rewards for staying within your budget parameters to keep yourself motivated and disciplined.

2. Messy home, messy mind

A disorganized home might be the most widely reported domestic stressor. It’s true that decluttering your space can leave more room for relaxation, but that often feels easier said than done. Here’s how to be more clean and organized:

• Eliminate clutter. The more stuff you have, the harder it is to clean and stay organized. Get rid of the things that you no longer use or that you no longer enjoy.
• Clean a little at a time. It’s much easier to spend a short amount of time cleaning your home every day than to motivate yourself to spend an entire day on household chores. Set aside some time each day to clean one entire room, or to perform one whole home task, like dusting, vacuuming, or mopping.
• Create a cleaning carryall with all the cleaning products that you use in one place, so you have everything at your fingertips and can easily transport the supplies from room to room.
• Devise a quick cleaning routine or checklist that enables you to whip your home in shape in under an hour. Consider a chore chart that assigns specific tasks to each family member, making it easy to divide and conquer the cleaning duties efficiently.
• Get help. If your household budget allows, get professional cleaning services from time to time.

Did You Know: American Home Shield® members snag exclusive discounts on cleaning services and products.

3. Not enough time in the week to prepare dinner

By squeezing in more time for household dinner preparation with quick and easy dinner recipes and food preparation, you could be saving a lot of energy during the week trying to get food on the table in time for dinner. Here are a few ways to make meal planning easier:

• Keep a running grocery list. Whether you use a paper list, a computer list, or a phone app, keeping a grocery list in progress will help you remember the things you need when you are shopping, eliminating the stress that comes from running out of staples or when you don't have what you need for a recipe.
  
• Organize your pantry, refrigerator, and freezer. This will enable you to find things quickly and to see when supplies are running low.
  
• Have several easy, nutritious, and inexpensive recipes that you can prepare quickly on busy nights.
• Cook double batches of recipes and freeze one portion for later use.
  
• Make cooking a family affair. Assign different family members to be in charge of food preparation one night per week, and encourage them to be creative.

4. Letting your laundry room overflow

Taking care of household chores like laundry is the beginning to freeing up more time on your calendar, so you can begin taking care of the things that really matter. Here are a few tips for improving your laundry system:

• Organize your laundry room. Get all your laundry supplies in one place, and create spaces for air drying and folding clothes.
• Have separate baskets or hampers for white clothes, colored clothes, linens, and items that should be hand-washed.
• Remove clothes from the dryer right away. They will be less wrinkled and you’ll have less ironing to do.
• Hate to fold clothes? Bring the basket into the living room, and fold things while you watch your favorite television show.
• Pre-treat stains right away to avoid set-in stains and to save yourself time on laundry day.

5. Neglecting lawn care and garden maintenance

A well-kept lawn adds appeal and value to your home, but keeping up with lawn work can be overwhelming if you don’t have a plan. Here’s how to keep a handle on your landscaping:

• Be familiar with your growing zone and with the grass, shrubbery, and tree types that thrive the best in your area. Replace any difficult-to-maintain plantings with choices that don’t require as much attention.
• Plant bedding borders and mulch around trees, flower beds, and shrubbery to help keep weeds to a minimum.
• Test your soil to make sure it has the proper pH-level and other attributes to provide a healthy growing foundation.
• Keep your lawn mower well maintained and the blades sharpened.
• Create a calendar for applying fertilizer and weed control.
• Know how much water your lawn and landscape requires for maximum health and growth.

6. Letting your appliances and systems break down before it's too late

Avoiding appliance and system breakdowns is one of the most important steps to reducing stress at home. The truth is, these kinds of major breakdowns aren’t always your fault. 56 percent of homeowners face unexpected home repairs after moving into their new homes, and more than a third end up spending more than $1,000 to fix these unanticipated issues.

Investing in a home warranty might be a valuable home solution to help you save time and money. While you can’t always avoid sudden home system and appliance malfunctions, you can take some steps to minimize them and to be prepared when they do occur:

• Stay on top of routine home maintenance. Have your air conditioning and heating systems professionally inspected and cleaned annually, and change the filters regularly for energy efficient operation.
• Clean the coils of your refrigerator and freezer frequently.
• Have a network in place of professional contractors who can respond quickly if you have a breakdown or malfunction.

Don’t worry, be warranty

Homeownership comes with its fair share of stress, and one of the biggest worries is the unexpected— those things you just can’t predict. With an American Home Shield® home warranty, you can breathe easier, knowing that major appliance and system breakdowns won’t drain your wallet or your peace of mind. The best way to reduce stress is to know you’ve got someone in your corner. Let American Home Shield® lighten your load so you can enjoy your home, worry-free.

AHS assumes no responsibility, and specifically disclaims all liability, for your use of any and all information contained herein.