How a House Flood Improved the Quality of my Life

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Five months ago, I woke up to it raining on the inside of my house. Yes, you read that right. I woke up to my house flooding like Niagara Falls was up in here. Water was gushing down the hallway from the upstairs bathroom toilet and pouring down through the ceiling onto our living room and kitchen. It had been doing this for hours while we peacefully slept. One half of my house was completely destroyed by the time I woke up that morning. Before we go any further, the last thing I want is pity in any way, shape or form. What we got out of this experience, besides half of our home getting a remodel, is completely life changing. I want to share with you how a house flood improved the quality of my life.

Before our house flooded earlier this year, I had been slowly dipping my toes into minimalism. Sure, I had done minimalism challenges with Maria, decluttered my wardrobe a little, donated old toys, and stopped overbuying crap, but I still didn’t really get the whole concept on a deeper level.

I didn’t get how a minimalist lifestyle could make me a healthier person on the outside and inside. I didn’t get how a minimalist lifestyle could make me a better parent. And I certainly didn’t get how a minimalist lifestyle could improve my quality of life.

Well, that all changed after my home flooded and I was forced into minimalism.

Be Careful What You Wish For

Now that we just completed the home remodel, I can look back in awe at what actually transpired over the past 5 months. Looking at the bigger picture, I have to smile and laugh a little.

I wanted to simplify our home for years but was too overwhelmed by the amount of stuff we had. So, I just did surface level decluttering, while ignoring the drawers and bins that could hardly shut they were so full. I wished for my family to eat dinner around the dining room table instead of at the kitchen bar with the TV on, but I let it slide because I was tired. As a nature lover, I wanted my kids to go outside more and watch less TV, but I often used the TV as a babysitter so that I could get things done. I wanted to branch out and make new friends but didn’t know how and was too afraid.

I wished to cut back on every aspect of life and be more present with my family, but I would always find another project to work on to keep busy. Well, I literally got everything I wished for, just not at ALL how I thought it would happen.

Let me explain…

Quality Over Quantity

Let’s talk about the obvious one: “the stuff”. Half of our home was destroyed, and that included half of our stuff. Every drawer had to be emptied, every cabinet had to be cleaned out, the kitchen had to be dismantled, the bathroom gutted and the kids’ bedrooms had to be emptied for the long drying process. I was forced to look at all of our stuff, including the amount of clothes we all had, and I didn’t like what I saw.

So, I made the executive decision to completely get rid of most of our belongings while the house was in the drying and cleaning process. The damaged stuff was obvious, it was thrown out. Then the clutter in the drawers, cabinets, bookshelves and toyboxes was simplified. I donated most of it, threw out some things, and only kept items I use almost every day or that my kids loved. Then, I did a major overhaul of the clothes and donated more boxes than I’m comfortable admitting. I scaled down our “stuff” by less than half of what we had. It was amazing.

At first, I thought my kids would be upset when I donated almost all of their toys, but they weren’t. Actually, they now LOVE their rooms, because they are clean and they only have a few high-quality toys to choose from. I even notice my kids taking better care of their toys because there’s only a few of them to play with. Also, cleaning their rooms only takes a few minutes now.

To minimize our family room, I sold or gave away a few large items that took up a lot of space and were rarely used such as a wine hutch, an old record player, a rocking chair and a large racetrack. I scaled down the family room to include just a small reading corner and one shelf with bins for a few toys. I can clean the family room in about a minute now. It has become a “flow room” with all the newfound space. We have room to play, I can do yoga, do board games with the kids or sit and quietly read.

If this inspires you to get your own home in order to improve your quality of life, check out this article on ways to make your home happier.

Quality Family Time

What mom doesn’t want her family to eat dinner together around the table and discuss their day? I know I did. We had gotten into a bad habit of eating on the go or eating with distractions. Because of the water damage, our kitchen and living room both had to be torn out and remodeled. This meant no more eating on a bar stool with the TV on in the background. We were FORCED to eat every meal around our dining room table, because it was basically the only piece of furniture we had left.

I know what you’re thinking:  How did you cook your meals and store your food if your kitchen was torn out? Luckily my in-laws let us park their motorhome on our property until our home was put back together. So, we could use the kitchen in the motorhome if needed, but often the power to the motorhome was turned off for the contractors. We had to get creative about what we ate and plan it around what project the contractor was working on (i.e. did I have an oven that day or not). It was tricky and we ate far too many meals from a bag, but sometimes you just have to do what you can do.

I’m happy to report that we are still eating our meals around the table, even though the remodel is finally complete. I can tell that the kids really like the quality family time together, and so do my husband and me.

Increased Quality of Gratitude

I have always loved my gratitude practice. I do regular gratitude journaling and pride myself on being grateful every day for my blessings. Well, just when you think you have mastered something, you are shown that there is ALWAYS room to grow.

Did I mention that the water damage included part of our garage which housed our hot water heater and furnace? They both had to be pulled out and replaced from the “dirty water” damage. This process took a while due to unforeseen delays. So, for a few months, we were without hot water, heat and air conditioning. It was a challenge with two kids to say the least.

Luckily, my parents offered their home for showers until we could get the motorhome dialed in. Then we would take turns showering kids in the motorhome, which had about 10 good minutes of hot water for a shower. Let me tell you, we got really good at the essentials.

We also had to get used to not having air conditioning and heat, which I realize is a total “first world problem”. This forced us outside during hot days to play in the sprinkler and enjoy the shade under a tree. When it was cold, we all hunkered down in our master bedroom (which was the only bedroom not affected) and turned on a portable heater. It wasn’t bad at all, just a little outside of our comfort zone.

When we got our hot water heater and furnace up and running, I had never felt more grateful to simply wash my face with warm water. I felt deep gratitude for cool air when it was 90 degrees outside. I was thankful to have warm water for washing dishes… yes, I was thankful for washing dishes.

I will never, ever take for granted little comforts like warm water, heat and cool air. I’m so grateful for this experience because my quality of life now is even more abundant than before. I have learned to be grateful for this horrible experience, not just because our home got a remodel, but because I learned just how I want to live my life- grateful as ever for the little things.

Check out this informative article on the benefits of a gratitude practice if you want to learn more about how gratitude can impact you.

Quality Connections

It is because of the house flood that my faith in humanity has been restored. I cannot tell you the amount of support and love that was given to us, but I’m going to do my best so you can also see how powerful the human connection is. The moment I told all of our parents what happened that morning (which includes 3 sets of moms and dads) we were flooded 😉 with support.

So many family and friends offered their homes up to us, offered trailers or motorhomes, came over and brought us meals, offered to take the kids, and genuinely wanted to help with the cleaning process. People want to help in situations like this and it was such an honor to get to see it in first person. I saw just how kind people can be, and it made those connections even deeper.

We also started going to the gym more than usual, not just because our home was out of commission, but because we were improving the quality of our lives and it was a natural step in the right direction. Now that our home is done, we still have the same commitment to our respective gym classes, if not more. More time at the gym and off the couch has fostered new friendships and strengthened old ones.

Lastly, and most importantly, our connection as a family gained immense quality. With so many screens and distractions in our homes, a solid family connection takes work these days. This is what I am most grateful for. We played games together instead of watching TV, we were outside together pretty much all day, we ate every meal together and leaned on each other when it got hard. I know that even though my kids are only 4 and 7, the last five months will be something they probably won’t forget.  

I hope that they look back on our house flood and feel gratitude for how much it strengthened our family bond. I knew we were a scrappy group, but even I was surprised at how resilient we proved to be.

Final Words

It would have been easy to just put all the stuff in boxes, sit around until the house was done and then put all the stuff back without even blinking an eye. That was actually very tempting, especially given our busy schedules. But here’s the deal, I spotted an opportunity… an opportunity for a new way of living.  

I chose to take the house flood as a wake-up call that I was living a life that was lower quality than I wanted for myself and my family. I wanted us to thrive and be healthy and happy. In order for this to happen, we had to make a change. So that is what we did. We put in the work now so that we can have quality instead of quantity as we move forward.

For some people, adapting a minimalist lifestyle is as easy as finding out if things “bring them joy” or not. For others, it takes a disastrous house flood to wake them up to the low living standards they were allowing. Minimalism looks different to everyone, so do what works for you and your family.

May you never go through something like this, but if you do, I hope that you are able to switch your perspective and use it as a catalyst for improving your quality of life.

For more information on increasing your quality of life, read this popular article on habits for a long quality life.

Join the Discussion

Have you ever had a home disaster like a flood, fire or even burglary? I want to hear your story below in the comments.

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Author

Sara Halcumb is a registered nurse, wellness writer, mother and wife.