For most people, your home is meant to be the place where you can go to escape the madness and chaos of daily life. Sure, work might be a nightmare, the kids might be going crazy, and you might spend all day running around like a headless chicken, but once it’s all over you’re supposed to be able to relax and unwind in a pleasant, calming atmosphere. But what happens when you can’t do that? What do you do when your home is the thing that’s making you more stress than anything else. There’s nothing worse than the place where you’re supposed to feel the most comfortable making you feel tense and frustrated. However, it doesn’t need to be that way. Here are three of the most common ways that your home might be stressing you out, and what you can do about them.

It’s untidy

It really is true that having a tidy home creates a tidy mind. If you’re surrounded by mess, whether it’s dirty dishes, children’s toys, papers, or anything else, then you’re never going to be able to even think straight let alone feel comfortable enough to actually relax. Sure, you might sometimes feel too tired to bother tidying up, but it’s always best to get it out of the way. That way you can just get on with doing the things that you want to do without piles of mess constantly sitting in your peripheral vision making you feel stressed and tense.

It’s not comfortable

There’s nothing worse than trying to get comfortable and not being able to. If you go to someone else’s house and they have a lumpy bed or couch, then you’re going to notice that right away, but a lot of people don’t realize that their own home might be pretty uncomfortable too. If you want to be able to properly relax in your home, then you’ve got to be able to get comfortable. Replacing the padding in your couch can be a great option, but you can also think about trying some more relaxing furniture options like a recliner or a bean bag chair. There’s nothing quite like being able just to sit back and find the perfect, most comfortable position to relax in.

It’s cluttered

There’s nothing wrong with filling your home with figurines or souvenirs. After all, what’s a home without a little personality? However, if you’re not careful, personality could spill over into the territory of full-blown clutter. If your home is really cluttered, then it’s going to feel busy, cramped, and untidy no matter what you do. This is going to make it far more difficult to relax and unwind. If you want a calming space at home, then you need to be able to create some space. If every surface is filled with junk, then that’s going to be impossible.

Hopefully, once you’ve been able to deal with these issues, your home can get back to being the haven of relaxation that it was always supposed to be.