Spring is (hopefully) not too far off, and we could not be more excited for more sunshine, time outside, and the beauty and hopefulness of budding trees and flowers. This time of year represents renewal and new beginnings. As such, it’s a great opportunity to create some fresh habits in your home that will bring peace and joy into your life.
In today’s stressful world, it’s more important than ever to prioritize staying healthy and finding a sense of calm in the midst of the chaos. And there are small habits you can establish in your home that will help you stay healthy, maintain motivation, and feel more rested.
Keep reading for 15 healthy habits that will spark joy and help refresh your home for the spring season—and beyond!

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1. Make Your Bed Every Morning
Taking the time to make your bed every morning can help you start your day with a sense of accomplishment. And doing one task helps build momentum for subsequent tasks, making doing the next task (and the one after that), easier. The simple act of making your bed can lead to better productivity, a sense of pride, and lower stress levels. (Plus, it’ll make going to bed at the end of the day feel so much better—talk about making your bedroom feel more like a wellness retreat!)
How to Establish This Habit
To help remind yourself to make your bed, start doing it right before you get dressed in the morning, which will help make it part of your routine. If you hate making the bed, keep things simple by not cluttering the bed with throw pillows and extra blankets. Make it easy for yourself with a minimal set-up!

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2. Boost Your Morning Drink Routine
The ritual of drinking morning coffee or tea can spark joy and start your day on a good note. Both coffee and tea have both health and wellness benefits—from more energy and less stress to promoting that cozy, familiar feeling that makes your day more enjoyable.
How to Establish This Habit
Carve out a hot beverage center or coffee nook in your kitchen or dining room where you can easily make yourself a cup or coffee or tea. Display your sugar or tea bags in a pretty jar or bowl, and stock your cabinets with stylish mugs. By creating a pleasing environment, you’ll be more likely to take time to sit down and really enjoy your drinks before the rush of the day begins.

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3. Maximize Natural Light
Exposure to natural light helps our bodies produce Vitamin D, improves our circadian rhythms and sleep patterns, helps us to focus, enables us to get more done, and even makes us happier. Ensuring we get enough of this vital resource is key to our physical and psychological well being.
How to Establish This Habit
Each morning, pull back your blinds and curtains, and even open the windows if the weather allows. In the spring, swap out heavy drapes for sheer ones to let in more sunshine. (Need help finding the right ones? Check out our guide on how to choose curtains.) If you live in a cloudy area, try investing in a sunlamp, which helps activate the same parts of the brain as sunlight and promotes focus and mental clarity.

4. Keep a Pitcher of Water on Your Desk
We could all benefit from staying more hydrated. After all, staying hydrated keeps your energy levels up, allows for clearer concentration, and improves sleep. But many of us are more likely to grab coffee, tea, or soda rather than water. So, you have to set yourself up for success!
How to Establish This Habit
Get yourself to drink more water by keeping a pretty pitcher or glass carafe of water near your desk! Having water readily accessible and in your sightline will make it much more likely that you’ll grab some water rather than a different beverage. Make it part of your morning routine to fill it with water, ice, citrus, or whatever you want to make it more enticing. Put it on a tray with an accompanying cup and keep filling it all day until the pitcher is gone.

5. Diffuse Essential Oils
Did you know that scents can impact your mood—and certain scents can even lower stress levels and benefit your mental health? Different oils have different benefits, and diffusing them in your home can promote calmness, ease stress, boost your mood, and even improve mental clarity.
How to Establish This Habit
Buy a diffuser that’s pretty and fits into your home decor. Add it to a shelf or surface area in your home where you want to fill a room with scent. Keep a variety of essential oils on-hand to transform your mental state and give yourself whatever you need each day.

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6. Tend to Your Plants
The benefits of indoor plants are extensive—from cleaning the air, purifying smells, and boosting your mood. They bring in the outdoors and add a zen feeling to any space. And caring for your plants by watering and pruning them can ground you and act as a meditative, calming activity. Spring is the perfect time to give your plants some love!
How to Establish This Habit
Choose new plants to add to your collection or refresh your existing ones with new soil and pretty new planters. Add plants to spaces you wouldn’t normally think of, like the bathroom to add joy to all areas of the home. Set a weekly reminder on your phone to water your plants and embrace the meditative benefits of taking care of a living thing!

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7. Set Aside Time to Read
Reading improves brain function and memory, and reading novels can reduce stress by pulling you into another world helping you disengage from the daily grind. Reading in the evening can also help you fall asleep more easily than if you watch TV before bed, since it doesn’t stimulate your brain in the same way.
How to Establish This Habit
Make reading a more enjoyable activity by creating a cozy reading nook—like a corner with ample lighting and a big chair. Establishing a physical space to read each day will help you develop the habit of reading. If you prefer reading in bed, set up your bed for the activity; keep your book next on your nightstand, get good pillows to prop yourself up and support your back, and make sure your bedside lamp offers enough reading light!

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8. Move Your Body
Our bodies and minds are very connected. That’s why doctors will often encourage patients dealing with depression or anxiety to exercise along with any medication as part of their treatment plan, as it helps activate chemicals in our brains that promote feelings of well-being. That’s right—movement is good for your body and brain. But most of us don’t get enough movement in our day-to-day lives. It’s far too easy to go straight from our desks to the couch after work! But introducing even a little movement into your daily routine can have a profound impact on your physical and mental health and well-being.
How to Establish This Habit
Create a space in your home that will give you a visual cue to move your body—whether that’s a full home gym with a bike or treadmill, a yoga mat in the corner of your living room, or walking shoes right next to your desk that you can put on as soon as you close your laptop. When establishing an exercise routine and creating a home workout space, make it a visually pleasing space so you want to utilize it daily. You can also find equipment that folds up or is easily stored away for mixed-use spaces, like home office/gym combos.

9. Take Care of Your Clothing
Wash, fold, and put away clothes with appreciation for your items. This will not only keep your bedroom tidy (and therefore help you feel more calm)—but taking care of items you use daily sparks positivity and a deeper connection to your home. It can even give you a sense of pride and self-confidence.
How to Establish This Habit
Make your laundry room a place you enjoy being in, so that doing laundry doesn’t seem like a daunting or unpleasant task. Then, create organized spaces for your clothes, utilizing your dresser and closet to give every article of clothing a proper space. Don’t have space for all of your clothing? Maybe it’s time to pare down your wardrobe and donate unused items! Need a little extra help? Check out our best home organization hacks.

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10. Take Your Shoes Off at the Door
When entering your home, leave your shoes at the door. This not only keeps dirt and germs that are trapped on your shoes from tracking through your home, but it also caters to a more zen home.
How to Establish This Habit
Add a mat or shoe rack near the front door or in the coat closet to encourage yourself and guests to leave shoes at the door. If you don’t like going barefoot, you could also invest in a pair of slippers or house shoes. That way, you can take them off by the door before putting on your shoes, and then they’ll be ready for you to switch back into when you get home!

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11. Journal or Meditate Daily
A daily habit of meditating, journaling, or simply taking time to intentionally assess and engage your emotions can help promote a sense of calm in your body and mind. Both journaling and meditation have countless benefits—such as gaining a new perspective on stressful situations, building skills to manage your stress, increasing self-awareness, and grounding yourself in the present moment.
How to Establish This Habit
Like developing a reading habit, with meditation or journaling, it helps to have a physical space that you return to each day for this activity, which will help give you a mental cue that it’s time to slow down. Set up a comfy chair that you can sit in and journal or carve out a space on the floor to listen to a guided meditation. Wherever it is, make sure it’s quiet and comfortable to help eliminate distractions.

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12. Unplug from Technology
Unplugging from technology (yes, your phone, the TV, and the internet) are vital to balancing your mind and reconnecting with your own thoughts. Spending time every day without technology around can bring peace and bring about positive thoughts.
How to Establish This Habit
Find a place to put your electronics away for an hour or two each evening—like a drawer or a tray. Get the whole family in on it by encouraging everyone in your household to put their phone away for family dinner or even removing the TV from your living room to create a family space that isn’t centered around technology.

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13. Take a Bath
Help your body recover from the physical strain of the day by taking a hot Epsom salt bath for 15 to 20 minutes in the evening. Magnesium sulfate—the scientific name for these salts—has been shown to help muscles relax and reduce inflammation.
How to Establish This Habit
Creating a spa-like feel in your bathroom will make taking a bath feel more alluring. Deck out your bathroom with candles, plush towels, ambient lighting, and even candles for a space that encourages relaxing.

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14. Do the Dishes Every Night Before Bed
The kitchen is a pretty central place in the home. So, when it feels messy or in disarray, it can make your whole life feel overwhelming. One small thing you can do to reduce stress is doing the dishes before bed each night. And it can help with more than stress! A Florida State University study found that students who practiced mindfulness while washing dishes by focusing on the smell of the dish soap, the texture of the bubbles, or the temperature of the water not only saw a decrease in their stress levels but also a boost in inspiration!
How to Establish This Habit
Make the chore of washing dishes more enjoyable by creating an aesthetically pleasing environment around your sink. Put your hand and dish soap in a beautiful, reusable glass bottle instead of the plastic bottle it comes in—and be sure to pick out a scent you love! House your sponge in a pretty bowl, too. You can even arrange all of your dish-washing items on a nice ceramic tray to corral it all together. If you have a window above your sink, decorate it with a plant or small vase of flowers for a little extra mood boost. Finally, add a cushy rug in front of the sink to make standing there more comfortable. And don’t forget about an aesthetically pleasing dish drainer!

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15. Get on a Sleep Schedule
Going to bed and waking up at the same time every day is very important for your body and mind. Routine aids in establishing a positive outlook and boosting memory and productivity. Try keeping a sleep schedule every day of the week, including weekends, for full benefits
How to Establish This Habit
Keep a notepad in your bedroom, by a reading nook or in your nightstand. Spend five minutes before going to bed planning out the next day’s tasks to put your mind at ease. Plan to start each day with something joyous to make you more excited to both go to sleep and wake up. Once your mind is at ease, you can enjoy crawling into bed and will be more ready to relax. Freshen up your bedding to make crawling into bed an alluring activity. Consider switching to a more luxurious material or higher thread count to simplify the sensory experience.
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