Recently, I shared a picture of my kitchen on my social media. I shared it because of the sun streaming through my windows in the late afternoons as the days grow longer thus showing every fingerprint, all of the dust, dirty cupboards, and making every imperfection clearly visible. It caused me to deep clean it all. Spring seems the time to deep clean and maybe this is why! The sun shows us that our homes need it.

Invariably, one woman made an unkind comment on this post. “That beautiful, big kitchen from only the husband’s income? without you needing to work???” I decided to ignore it as I do many of these kinds of comments. Later, one woman responded to her in this way: “You don’t know how much her husband makes. You don’t know if she saved and saved and saved to be able to afford this kitchen. If you zoom into the kitchen, you can clearly see that her refrigerator is white. It’s an older model too. Her microwave is white. If she was an extravagant spender, she would have stainless steel or one of the other popular finishes.”

I thanked her! I have never been into extravagant living. Most of the furniture in my home is hand-me-downs from my parents or bought from Craigslist which is used furniture. We keep all of our appliances until they are broken and unfixable. Our microwave is 25 years old. Our fridge and ovens are old too. The ovens came with the house so they’re 25 years old too but work great! We had to replace the dishwasher several years ago since it was broken. Instead of completely replacing our wood cabinets, we painted them since we didn’t want to live without a kitchen for weeks and the cost was high to replace. We bought new countertops years ago since the old ones had cracked. I put in wood floors when we bought this house since I love wood floors and they last for many years. We haven’t had to do anything to them yet!

I love for my home to be uncluttered, tidy, and comfortable. These are my priority. I don’t care about having the newest and best of anything. I don’t care about having a model home. I am not saying any of this is wrong unless it causes you to go into debt or your husband doesn’t like you spending so much money. It’s just the way I have chosen to live. I strive to be content and if you have a roof over your head, food in your belly, and clothes on your back, you are to be content (1 Timothy 6:8). Most of us have far more than this! We have much to be thankful for.

I love my home. I am thankful for it. I am thankful that I have a husband who has worked hard to provide for me. I am a homebody and spend a lot of time in my home. I have no desire to travel or be away from it. I love having my grandchildren and others over to my home. Our homes are blessings from the Lord! It’s the joy, love, and peace that make a house a home, not extravagance or a bunch of stuff. Focus on what’s important.

But godliness with contentment is great gain.
1 Timothy 6:6