1, 2, or 3?? @balielf making me feel pretty today 1, 2, or 3?? @balielf making me feel pretty today in all these gorgeous colors! 😍
#ad This past weekend I decided to do something re #ad This past weekend I decided to do something really fun for the kids and create a scavenger hunt for them with Kinder Joy eggs at the end! They had so much fun going throughout the house and the yard finding their clues and a special surprise was waiting for them at the end! They had so much fun putting their Jurassic World Dominion surprise together (David is obsessed with dinosaurs 🦖) as well as exploring the app that comes as a download from the Kinder Joy egg! Fun little surprises like these go such a long way and making the kids feel special 💗 
#KinderJoy #JurassicWorldDominion @kinderus
Now that we still have some sunlight hanging aroun Now that we still have some sunlight hanging around after the kids go to bed, my new thing is sipping a glass of wine on the back patio while making small talk with Josh and praying the kids stay in bed.
 
I've been obsessed with cleaning our house recently but I've been so good about it, I have nothing left to clean or tidy right now and I'm left to face the things I don't really want to think about like the fact that I miss my kids when they're at school or how I really want to fill this house up with some more of them 😅 

At any rate, one of my simple pleasures in life is decluttering and purging unused things and I feel like I've accomplished a lot!! What about you?
I've been DIYing my hair for five (?) ish years no I've been DIYing my hair for five (?) ish years now and while I can't claim I've always done it perfectly, I've found a great routine that works for my hair and saves so much $$$ in the process!! Are you brave enough to DIY your hair??
Being a mom has always meant so much to me. Growin Being a mom has always meant so much to me. Growing up, I thought it was pretty much all I was cut out to do, which ended up being false. But even though I've learned that I'm capable of so many other things, being a mom is still one of my highest aspirations. As we're getting our home ready for fostering, I can't help but think of how the little one(s) entering our home will feel but also how David and Evy will feel. How will they react if we parent slightly differently? Will they understand that we're working to build trust and connection or will they feel indignant? These are the things I pray about and also speak to the kids about in the days leading up. We're all excited but I have the feeling of heaviness that we don't and won't understand the burden until we're all already carrying it together.
I think this hairdo is perfect 👌 for anything y I think this hairdo is perfect 👌 for anything you want to do without getting your hair in your face: eating hot wings, riding on a boat, working out, the list goes on. Plus, you can wear it up ⬆️ or down ⬇️
Wife, mom, runner, writer, artist, or just the cle Wife, mom, runner, writer, artist, or just the cleaning lady?? ​😜
Josh is an old soul 🥰 and tonight he and I are Josh is an old soul 🥰 and tonight he and I are going to get to see a band from the 70s that he loves!! Any guesses who it is??
^^ Here's a fun hairstyle for a (date) night out 🌃
I think a sleek pony is honestly so cute for date I think a sleek pony is honestly so cute for date night OR work! I'm always wearing my hair up anyway, right?? Might as well make it cute 🥰
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Marriage, Relationships · July 16, 2015

Habits of a Happy Marriage

Habits of a Happy and Healthy Marriage

1 Give your significant other the benefit of the doubt

We, as women, will many times roll our eyes or begin a fight because we know exactly what our significant other is going to do. Here’s an example: I ask my husband to not drop his backpack in the middle of the kitchen for the MILLIONTH time. He says “Ok I’ll move it in a minute, Chels.” I lash “Ugh, no you won’t.” Then I roll my eyes and move it myself before he has the chance to follow through. To be fair, we know our significant others pretty well. But how would you feel if you were always being judged on what you were probably going to do based on past experiences? Always allow the opportunity for change, even if it’s not likely. If you don’t you’ll be inviting a lot more nagging into your relationship than you want, trust me. This brings me to my next point.

2 Do. Not. Nag.

Not nagging can be as easy as simply rephrasing how we say things to our spouse/significant other. Example:

Nag: “Josh, why do you always forget to put your socks in the wash?”

Not nagging: “Josh, try to remember to put your socks in the wash.”

And if he says “Ok, ok, I will…” refer back to point 1.

Also, remember that we are here to serve our husbands and marriage is not 50/50. Many times you will need to do more than “your share” of the work, and that’s what we signed up for when we said “I do.”

3 Be kind

To make things pretty simple, “A man who is kind benefits himself, but a cruel man hurts himself (Proverbs 11:17).” also “A gentle answer turns away anger, but a harsh word stirs up wrath (Proverbs 15:1)” These two truths really say all that’s needed to be said. Wouldn’t you rather stop a fight sooner rather than later and not have to deal with so many apologies later?

4 Don’t forget to have fun!

Sometimes I can get into severe busy-body mode when I get so caught up in getting things done and needing my husband’s help and bla bla bla that he’ll sometimes make a joke and I completely forget that I can laugh. When busy, I am almost always, by default, on edge. I need to consciously remind myself to not take myself so seriously, to slow down, and remember that I can be busy and still have fun. Being able to laugh with your significant other will strengthen your friendship and ultimately protect your relationship from complacency. It’ll be great in the good times and bring you closer together in the hard times.

5 Quick forgiveness

There will be times when our significant other messes up. There will be times when we are clearly wronged. In those times, it is best to forgive, and forgive quickly. Don’t get me wrong- this is not easy. Everything in us demands justice and vindication- but marriage isn’t about justice. It’s about humility (just as apologising is humbling, so is forgiving), it’s about service, and it’s about love. And in the times when you find it the most hard to forgive, repeat this to yourself until you can “Just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you must also forgive (Colossians 3:13).”

6 Unconditional Respect

Emerson Eggerichs writes in his book Love & Respect, “We asked 7,000 people this question:  ‘When you are in conflict with your spouse or significant other, do you feel unloved or disrespected?’  83% of the men said ‘disrespected.’  72% of the women said ‘unloved.'”

We many times assume that in marriage our husband owes us unconditional love, even when we are at times not very lovable. On the other hand, however, our husband needs to earn our respect and, in that case, can lose it in an instant. According to Dr. Eggerich’s statistics, men need to feel respected just as much as women inherently feel the need to be loved. Not sure how to help them feel respected? Refer back to the previous points for help.

7 Unplug

I’m not going to go into detail here. Basically, you know what you should do. If you find yourself “hanging out” with your spouse just staring at your phones, tv, laptops for an extended period of time- just give it a break. Put your electronics in another room. Go on a walk. Get some coffee. Have a conversation that is not circumstantial together. You won’t regret the time missed on your phone, trust me.

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In: Marriage, Relationships · Tagged: family, happy, healthy, husband, joyful, love, marriage, relationship, wife

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Comments

  1. Sue Oberg says

    July 16, 2015 at 12:47 pm

    I love this list!! And I just want to mention two things that have helped me in my marriage about picking up after my husband over and over. One, I am so glad those shoes (or whatever) are there to pick up and that it means he is in my life. Two, it is an act of service for me to do this for him. If it is bothering me, then I will do something about it that will not cause conflict between us. I am not saying we should encourage sloppiness, but there are different ways we can choose to look at this. 🙂

    • Diana says

      January 18, 2017 at 7:21 pm

      Love your point of view! Totally true.

  2. David Damon Sr. says

    July 17, 2015 at 4:16 am

    Very good stuff daughter in law. My son is a fortunate man indeed. I love you both. You are doing very well it seems. Keep up the good and hard work of marriage with the guidance of the one who makes it good!

  3. Kate says

    September 21, 2015 at 5:42 pm

    I could be better at all of these!

  4. Kara Benz says

    September 24, 2015 at 3:31 pm

    You’ve got some great tips here! I definitely need to work on being less of a nag sometimes… it’s SO hard! 😉

  5. Kristen @ A Mind Full Mom says

    September 24, 2015 at 10:41 pm

    Number #1 is my go-to! I know my hubby loves me and his heart is good, but he is human and will mess up–just like me. I want him to extend me grace on my bad days, so I try to do the same for him. Great post!

  6. momwithfive says

    September 25, 2015 at 3:21 pm

    Super tips I got from your post. Thanks for sharing.

  7. Stacey @ Stacey Homemaker says

    September 25, 2015 at 5:44 pm

    THESE ARE GREAT TIPS TO LIVE BY! I’M REALLY WORKING HARD ON #2. SOMETIMES, I FIND MYSELF REPEATEDLY ASKING TRAVIS TO DO THE SIMPLEST THINGS, SO IT’S HARD TO OT COME OFF AS NAGGY, BUT I’M REALLY GOING TO WORK ON GENTLY REMINDING HIME AND NOT NAGGING!

    SOMETHING ELSE WE’VE BEEN WORKING ON, IS NOT RAISING OUR VOICES DURING A DISAGREEMENT. WE WANT TO HEAR EACH OTHERS WORDS, NOT OUR VOICES.

  8. Johnny says

    September 27, 2015 at 6:56 am

    Good advise that many could take up.

  9. Linda @ Mixed Kreations says

    September 27, 2015 at 1:24 pm

    These are all really great tips. We pretty much do everything together and I try really hard to watch how I say things so he won’t think I’m nagging. But we do probably need to practice # 7 a little more often.

  10. Allison Jones says

    September 27, 2015 at 2:09 pm

    These are great tips! My husband and I live by most of these, but we definitely need to do a lot more unplugging. We are planning a no electronics allowed trip for next summer and I can’t wait.

    LiveLifeWell,
    Allison Jones

    • Chelsea says

      September 27, 2015 at 2:48 pm

      That sounds great! I’ve been wanting to do that also!

  11. Diana Elle says

    September 28, 2015 at 10:09 am

    I agree with all of these points, very necessary to be happier together!

  12. Betsy @ Happily Ever After, Etc. says

    September 30, 2015 at 3:45 am

    Marriage is not 50/50… I needed to hear that! Most days I preach that it should be while expecting 80/20 (on his side) and feel like I’m doing 80/20 (on my side) when I’m not! Definitely something to work on.

  13. Chrissy says

    October 21, 2015 at 2:15 pm

    Great post – awesome tips! I guess we can all use a little help here and there to make it easier on ourselves. The nagging one, yeah, I think I should go back and reread it! haha

  14. Danielle says

    October 21, 2015 at 4:33 pm

    These are great, especially number 1. It’s hard for me not to act based off of what I know my husband will do or not do. I’m trying to get better though! Thank you for posting 🙂

  15. dixya @ food, pleasure, and health says

    October 21, 2015 at 8:12 pm

    while im not married, i do feel like i am nagger esp when it is something i need it done. thanks for sharing these tips.

  16. Karen says

    October 21, 2015 at 9:25 pm

    And I’d like to also add to choose your battles… and I mean that you really need to think if this is actually a big deal. Most of the time, its not. I’m always so grateful for my husband that I forget the small stuff!
    xx, Karen
    Glam Karen

  17. Kelsie says

    October 21, 2015 at 9:57 pm

    Yes yes yes, these are huge! Thanks so much for sharing! Loving your content lately 🙂

    • Chelsea says

      October 22, 2015 at 2:52 am

      Thank you Kelsie

  18. Jill @ RunEatSnap says

    October 22, 2015 at 1:35 am

    I love #6 – men need to feel respected while women need to feel loved. So true! I recently read “Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus” and it was very eye opening the differences between men and women!

  19. Crazy shenanigans says

    October 22, 2015 at 2:38 am

    All good points!

  20. jessica says

    October 22, 2015 at 3:33 am

    I think I must be stubborn…I need to work on all of this.

  21. Natasah says

    December 11, 2015 at 3:32 pm

    Thank you.

  22. Sam says

    March 9, 2016 at 9:58 pm

    Awesome points!…I would only add one small tip…Don’t assume you’re talking to the wives on some of these point!…Many of us husbands do most of the cooking and house work etc…and we can fall into the victim mentality also….So thanks for encouragement:)….adhd and hoarding exists…

  23. Sasha says

    October 21, 2016 at 7:59 am

    Are you serious….?!? ‘Serve our husbands’ Eeewwww!!!! This is 2016 my dear, apart from the fact that generally speaking both ‘partners’ now work with careers even though home duties is usually more hours… it is a two way street… and couples that keep it closer to 50/50 are certainly being more geniune! Given that it’s not 1930!

    Closer to 50/50 for the most part, but the world still has a fair way to go regarding equality.. Not to forget that plenty of (Australian) Men at least are doing far more of the house work and child care these days. Or, perhaps men of any Nation without these outdated thoughts on the matter!

    I am seriously sorry for you, as you seem to be quite young.

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Hi! I'm Chelsea and we're the Damon's. We spent the last two years in WA state paying off student loans and just bought our first house in SC! I love a smooth black coffee, Josh's first love is the Seattle Sounders. Our kids are huge dorks and constantly make us laugh and we all love spending as much time outside as possible.

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Now that we still have some sunlight hanging aroun Now that we still have some sunlight hanging around after the kids go to bed, my new thing is sipping a glass of wine on the back patio while making small talk with Josh and praying the kids stay in bed.
 
I've been obsessed with cleaning our house recently but I've been so good about it, I have nothing left to clean or tidy right now and I'm left to face the things I don't really want to think about like the fact that I miss my kids when they're at school or how I really want to fill this house up with some more of them 😅 

At any rate, one of my simple pleasures in life is decluttering and purging unused things and I feel like I've accomplished a lot!! What about you?
Being a mom has always meant so much to me. Growin Being a mom has always meant so much to me. Growing up, I thought it was pretty much all I was cut out to do, which ended up being false. But even though I've learned that I'm capable of so many other things, being a mom is still one of my highest aspirations. As we're getting our home ready for fostering, I can't help but think of how the little one(s) entering our home will feel but also how David and Evy will feel. How will they react if we parent slightly differently? Will they understand that we're working to build trust and connection or will they feel indignant? These are the things I pray about and also speak to the kids about in the days leading up. We're all excited but I have the feeling of heaviness that we don't and won't understand the burden until we're all already carrying it together.
Doing my gosh darned best to manifest spring over Doing my gosh darned best to manifest spring over here and I think it might be working 😉 Today the kids had TWOsday at school and they were so sweet. David wore a tie (I don't exactly get how it tirles in to Twosday but the kids were happy so..) and Evy "twinned" with a couple of sweet friends in her class. It's so sweet when you see your own kids building their own friendships. It just loosens a little piece of anxiety I've had about parenthood since David was still in my tummy. How did you spend your TWOsday??

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Today was a sweet day. Woke up at 8:30 next to Jos Today was a sweet day. Woke up at 8:30 next to Josh in a quiet house - the kids slept over my parent's last night. Got up, raced to clean the kitchen as fast as I could while my coffee was brewing. The coffee won this time. 

I recorded a Reel while getting ready. Went to the place where we were going to meet my fam a bit early so Josh and I could get in a walk. Then we got coffee, went to a huge antique store (sadly left with nothing but took pictures of my faves so I can remember to come back) and went to lunch with the kids and my parents. Love easy-going and fun days like these 🖤

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1, 2, or 3?? @balielf making me feel pretty today 1, 2, or 3?? @balielf making me feel pretty today in all these gorgeous colors! 😍
#ad This past weekend I decided to do something re #ad This past weekend I decided to do something really fun for the kids and create a scavenger hunt for them with Kinder Joy eggs at the end! They had so much fun going throughout the house and the yard finding their clues and a special surprise was waiting for them at the end! They had so much fun putting their Jurassic World Dominion surprise together (David is obsessed with dinosaurs 🦖) as well as exploring the app that comes as a download from the Kinder Joy egg! Fun little surprises like these go such a long way and making the kids feel special 💗 
#KinderJoy #JurassicWorldDominion @kinderus
Now that we still have some sunlight hanging aroun Now that we still have some sunlight hanging around after the kids go to bed, my new thing is sipping a glass of wine on the back patio while making small talk with Josh and praying the kids stay in bed.
 
I've been obsessed with cleaning our house recently but I've been so good about it, I have nothing left to clean or tidy right now and I'm left to face the things I don't really want to think about like the fact that I miss my kids when they're at school or how I really want to fill this house up with some more of them 😅 

At any rate, one of my simple pleasures in life is decluttering and purging unused things and I feel like I've accomplished a lot!! What about you?
I've been DIYing my hair for five (?) ish years no I've been DIYing my hair for five (?) ish years now and while I can't claim I've always done it perfectly, I've found a great routine that works for my hair and saves so much $$$ in the process!! Are you brave enough to DIY your hair??
Being a mom has always meant so much to me. Growin Being a mom has always meant so much to me. Growing up, I thought it was pretty much all I was cut out to do, which ended up being false. But even though I've learned that I'm capable of so many other things, being a mom is still one of my highest aspirations. As we're getting our home ready for fostering, I can't help but think of how the little one(s) entering our home will feel but also how David and Evy will feel. How will they react if we parent slightly differently? Will they understand that we're working to build trust and connection or will they feel indignant? These are the things I pray about and also speak to the kids about in the days leading up. We're all excited but I have the feeling of heaviness that we don't and won't understand the burden until we're all already carrying it together.
I think this hairdo is perfect 👌 for anything y I think this hairdo is perfect 👌 for anything you want to do without getting your hair in your face: eating hot wings, riding on a boat, working out, the list goes on. Plus, you can wear it up ⬆️ or down ⬇️
Wife, mom, runner, writer, artist, or just the cle Wife, mom, runner, writer, artist, or just the cleaning lady?? ​😜
Josh is an old soul 🥰 and tonight he and I are Josh is an old soul 🥰 and tonight he and I are going to get to see a band from the 70s that he loves!! Any guesses who it is??
^^ Here's a fun hairstyle for a (date) night out 🌃
I think a sleek pony is honestly so cute for date I think a sleek pony is honestly so cute for date night OR work! I'm always wearing my hair up anyway, right?? Might as well make it cute 🥰
I video called Josh last night with this hair in a I video called Josh last night with this hair in and he asked, "Are you wearing pigtails??" And I was like, "No! .. well. Kind of."

I thought this style was super cute!! And a really quick way to do something *different* with everyday hair. Would you try it??

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