5 Reasons Why Not All Home Advice Works For You (& What To Do About It)
Home advice is everywhere – but if you’re finding it never seems to stick, there’s a few reasons why that could be. Discover these here, and learn the tricks for what to ask yourself before starting – so that it DOES actually work.
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A while back you saw a Pinterest article all about something to do with sorting out your home, and it became your next project.
You set it up and it looked great, but if you’re totally honest, it still felt ‘off’ in some way.
Whether it was how it looked in your home, or how hard it was to use – there was an issue that ultimately led to it not working for you.
And before you knew it you were back to square one. Only now you were a little more fatigued, and a little more dubious of trying something else in case the same happened again.
Worse still, you may be blaming yourself – wondering what, exactly, is wrong with you, because why couldn’t you make it work when it did for others?
Well – I’m here to tell you right now that absolutely nothing is wrong with you.
The actual reason you’re where you are is that the advice you were following just wasn’t complete.
And once you understand that, you’ll stop blaming yourself and start looking for what actually DOES work for you instead.
You see, there are several reasons why the vast majority of well-meaning home advice keeps missing the mark for you, and when you know these reasons, you’ll be able to check against them next time you want to try something new.
By doing this you’ll save yourself time, energy and stress before trying the wrong things again. So let’s get going, shall we?
1 – It Was Created For Someone Else’s Life
Every piece of home advice has been written by someone specific – with their own specific circumstances, needs etc…
And because they’ve found that this thing works really well for them, they’ve excitedly shared it with others.
The trouble with this is that often it’s worked so well for them because it’s been created around their own home life:
- That game changing cleaning schedule? Works fantastically if you have the same time available as they have. Otherwise you’ll be fighting against what you DO have capacity for, and always feel like you’ve come up short.
- That stunning food cupboard – labelled and decanted into matching containers? Fabulous for the aesthetic, and most people living alone or with a partner only. Less easy to maintain for a big family, or when you’re struggling to find the space for it at all. Again – best intentions, but feeling like you’re coming up short in comparison.
That’s the issue.
Specific home advice is written for a specific person. And you *may* find that something works well from it, but it’s more out of chance than good planning.
After all, if you try enough things then you’re bound to come across someone with similar enough circumstances so that what they’re suggesting DOES work for you too.
It follows then that advice built around 1 person will always fit most people imperfectly.
The question to ask: Before trying any new home advice – whose life was this designed for? How similar is that life to yours? You can either find someone who has very similar circumstances to you, and keep with their advice (but know that your lives may not keep along the same path all the time) OR you can take home advice from wherever you like, but know that, to make it truly work for you, then you may have to adapt it slightly so that it DOES match what you actually need.
2 – It Doesn’t Account For Where You’re Starting From
There’s a big difference between advice for someone who’s overwhelmed and avoiding entire rooms, and advice for someone who looks pretty sorted but is struggling behind the scenes.
There’s also a difference between advice for someone whose home runs smoothly but at the cost of carrying the entire mental load herself, and advice for someone who just wants to refine what’s already working.
Truth is, most home content doesn’t make that distinction. It fires the same advice at everyone, regardless of where they are.
Let’s face it, if you’re in overwhelm, being told to ‘create a weekly home maintenance routine’ is going to feel like way too much, and not a great place to focus right now.
Conversely – if you’re at the refinement stage, being told to ‘just start with one drawer’ is so far away from where you are now that it’s not relevant at all really.
Fact is – advice that doesn’t meet you where you are won’t work – and that’s the advice’s fault, not yours.
The tweak: Think about where you actually are right now. Overwhelmed and avoiding things? Frustrated that nothing sticks? Running everything but exhausted by it? The right advice looks completely different at each stage.
3 – It Was Designed To Look Good, Not Live Well
A significant chunk of home content you’ll find online is, at its heart, visual. It’s designed to be photographed, saved, shared. The aesthetic is the point.
There’s nothing wrong with wanting your home to look lovely. But a home that photographs well and a home that functions well are not necessarily the same thing.
That pristine open shelving looks beautiful but in reality it collects dust at an alarming rate.
The matching storage boxes look cohesive but can make it almost impossible to find anything at a glance.
The streamlined kitchen? It actually has nowhere to keep the stuff that gets used every day.
Truth is – if the advice prioritises form over function, it’s usually going to be hard work to maintain.
Because you live in your home. You don’t just look at it.
Do this instead: Start with the function of a space. Make sure it works for your everyday life – and THEN add in any aesthetics you want. Never do it the other way around…
4 – It Treats Home As A One-Off Project Instead Of A Living Thing
A lot of home advice is written as though sorting your home is a one-time event. Get it right once. Set it up properly. Done. As if your home is a static thing that, once fixed, stays fixed.
But your home is alive in the most inconvenient way. It changes because YOU change.
New job, new routine, new hobby, new baby, new phase of life etc..
And as such, what worked perfectly two years ago might be actively wrong for you now.
You see, a home isn’t a project you complete. It’s something you need to consistently tend to because it evolves with you over time.
This means that when you take advice that doesn’t build that flexibility in – the advice has an expiry date.
You’re not failing when the system eventually stops fitting. You just grew out of it. That’s normal – and it’s fixable.
The tweak: When did you last actively update your home setup? Not just tidy it, but actually review whether it still fits your life right now?. If it’s been more than a year, that might be the answer. It needs to evolve to keep up with you, that’s what will ultimately make it feel good.
5 – It Gives You The ‘What’, But Not The ‘Why” – So It Doesn’t Stick
Tips are easy. ‘Always put things back in the same place.’ ‘Declutter seasonally.’ ‘One in, one out.’ Fine. Great even.
But if you don’t why they work, and how they connect to YOUR home and YOUR habits – they’re just one off things to try.
These are great when set up, but when life happens, they can sometimes start to fray at the edges.
Setting things up for you properly, on the other hand, is where the magic lies. When you understand why a system works for you, you can adapt it when you need to.
When you understand what your home actually needs, and why, you make better decisions without having to think about it – not just when you’re in the mood to try something out.
Advice that only gives you the ‘what’ is advice with a short shelf life. The ‘why’ is what makes it yours.
Do this instead: Next time advice resonates, ask why it works well for you. If you can explain the reasoning, you’ll be able to adapt it when your life changes. If you can’t, it’s just a tip with the potential to feel less and less right for you over time.
So What Does That Mean For You?
Advice that actually sticks starts with you. Where you are right now. How you live. What YOU need.
Not something that looked great in someone else’s home – but what is good for yours.
Things that are built around your actual life, your actual home, your actual capacity. That’s the only version that lasts.
And the first step is knowing where you’re actually starting from.
My free Homebird Type quiz takes just a couple of minutes and gives you something generic advice never can – a clear picture of exactly where you are on your home journey right now, and the specific next steps that will actually make a difference for you. No more following advice written for someone else. 💛
