44 Simple Ways to Discover Delight, Peace, and Contentment in Your Home

(Will you please add to my list?!)

The Internet, the media, and our very own brains taunt us with unlimited ways we can be faster and better and smaller and smoother and happier. As a woman in my forties, I don’t have a chance at half of those things. It’s exhausting trying to keep up. I’m tired of trying to keep up.

So, I’m protesting. I’ve been practicing a new posture the last few years, one that values rest, and solitude, and Sabbath, and leaning into the littlest delights that shine the brightest. I feel so rebellious turning my alarm clock off and opening my Bible. What a bad a*#, I know.

I’m doing something different—and simple—these days. Something so basic you’re going to say, “Becky, this is so basic!” It’s true.

I’m not here because I think I’m brilliant. I’m here because I feel convicted to steward what God has given me, rather than entertain the lies the world and the devil are force-feeding me.

Convicted to get off my phone, to lay down my desires, to forage every ounce of goodness I can without clicking on another serum, without craving a life that isn’t meant to be mine. Sometimes, I want so badly for God to talk to me, to answer prayers. I’m like, “Hello? Are you there?” And he’s like, “Duh. Just waiting for a little room around here to get a word in.”

We’re over-committed, way too accessible, and absurdly distracted. We’re drowning out Jesus for the sake of checking comments on Substack. (The writer awkwardly looks around.) But that’s why I’m practicing these things. That’s why I wrote them down and hope, hope, hope(!) that you’ll practice them alongside me. Let’s give ourselves a chance to become who He’s created us to be rather than succumbing to whatever social media and social commentary is shoving in our faces.

We have a choice.

Let’s trade in the false promises of faster, better, smaller, smoother, and happier for the everlasting promises of delight, joy, peace, and contentment.

You in? Let me know!

Maybe even print this list and put it on your fridge? That way you don’t have to stare at it on a screen and your family can choose a few fun ideas together?!


44 Simple Ways to Discover Delight, Peace, and Contentment in Your Home

1. Read Psalm 46:10, Psalm 37:7, and Exodus 14:14.

2. Get up before your kid(s). Light a candle, meditate, do something for yourself before they wake up. Yoga. Reading. Writing. Drinking coffee in the quiet. These are a few of my favorite things.

3. Keep a notebook on your nightstand and one in the kitchen. Rather than reaching for your phone, reach for a pen the next time you have an idea or something you want to get out of your head.

4. Get a milk frother so you can have coffeeshop caliber lattes (for less!) at home. Froth your kid’s milk, too, so they feel grown-up and fancy.

5. Play “High, Low, Buffalo” at dinner, for intentional conversation. High of your day, low of your day, something silly that happened. (Got this from my friends at Coffee + Crumbs.)

6. Apologize to your kid(s). Let them know you make mistakes, too. Show them how to move on from an incident without it hindering your entire day.

7. Jump on the trampoline. No kids required.

8. Sketch together. Choose an object: plant, hippo, jungle. Everyone draws their own version and then you show what you made.

9. Learn something new. We’re loving Simply Piano.

10. Take a walk by yourself. Breathe in fresh air. No phone. No airpods. No responsibilities.

11. Take a family walk. Chat through your day. Work on spelling words. Search for snails. Drag beautiful dead branches home. See No. 12.

12. Forage on walks, at parks, or in the woods for free house decor. We love fallen branches, dried flowers (sometimes weeds!), pinecones, and acorns.

13. Create something beautiful for a neighbor with all that nature. Grab a straight stick, some greenery, and twine. Have at it.

14. Plant seeds in your garden or a small container or pot. Keep a log of when you see sprouts, leaves, and blooms.

15. Make a scavenger hunt for your home or yard. Take it up a notch and draw a treasure map. Invite friends.

16. Hand your kids an empty egg carton. Ask them to fill it up with materials for building a fairy garden.

17. Read The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry by John Mark Comer. Start driving the speed limit; stop bringing your phone into the grocery store.

18. Tell your kid(s) you’re starting a new thing called Afternoon Reading Time. Invite them to fill up a basket of books they want to read while you read yours. Quietly. Without demands. Thanks for this idea, Sally.

19. Buy a disposable camera. Take turns taking pics. Pile on the couch to look at the prints together. Choose a few to frame.

20. Listen to this podcast as a family.

21. Dress your pet in clothes. It’s hilarious.

22. Let your kid(s) paint your toenails. Even if you don’t want a blue, green, or messy pedicure. Say yes. See No. 23.

23. Say “Yes!” whenever you can, especially when they’re asking to explore, build, create, play, share, dance, or laugh. It’s worth the mess and inconvenience.

24. Go through kids clothes that don’t fit and let them choose who they want to give the hand-me-downs to.

25. Grab binoculars at dusk and marvel at the rising moon.

26. Gather scrap wood, nails, and a hammer. Create something together.

27. Teach your kid(s) how to set up a tent. Go camping in the back yard.

28. Declare Mondays as baking days. Banana bread is our favorite.

29. Make soup every Saturday for easy meal planning and yummy leftovers.

30. Gather your kids’ tiny drawings and tape them to pages of a special sketchbook, so you have them forever. Bonus: you get your kitchen counter back.

31. Get the watercolor paints out of the craft closet. Check out Brighter Day Press for resources and courses. Good for long, winter evenings.

32. Check local thrift shops or Facebook Marketplace for clothes, home decor, kitchenware, etc. before filling up your Target cart. Invite your kids to join you on the hunt.

33. Save empty creamer containers or Martinelli’s apple juice jars for the mud kitchen and outside creations. If you haven’t yet, make a mud kitchen!

34. Get my friend Kim’s book of poems, Small Steps, to acknowledge and bless the life you already have.

35. Encourage household values like obedience, flexibility, taking initiative, and kindness with a “gem jar.” Let your kids move a gem, marble, or pretty stone when they demonstrate your family’s values. When the jar is full, they get to pick something fun to do together.

36. Take your kid(s) to a cute coffee shop to play cards or board games, or just to chat.

37. Turn chores into family events like, “Laundry Party!” and “Singing and Dishes!” and “Let’s Race to Clean This Place!” where everyone helps. Bonus: Crank Forrest Frank and Josiah Queen while you clean.

38. Cut the grass, pull weeds, shovel snow. Use physical energy to steward your space.

39. Save paper milk cartons to make bird feeders. Cut a rectangle out the front. Leave a lip to hold bird seed in. Tape a popsicle stick to the bottom so the birds have a ledge. Decorate and hang from a tree.

40. Try Laura Rennie’s No-Spend Challenge.

41. Practice a Sabbath that works for your family. Try tucking your phone away or (even!) turning it off. Worship comes in all forms: singing, playing, creating, delighting in nature, etc.

42. Get a Tin Can so your kid(s) can call friends without being sucked in by a screen. It’s cute to see them twirl the phone cord the same way we did in the ‘90s.

43. Invite your kid(s) to set the table for a special dinner. Let them choose between drinking glasses or little jars and fill them with ice cubes and bubbly water. Sit together. Talk. Listen. Let everyone rinse and load their own dishes.

44. Wash your face before you fall into bed. Close your eyes. Remind yourself there’s no stage you need to accept an award from, only people you get to love.

How are you discovering delight? Instilling peace? Practicing contentment? Tell me in the comments!