A comfortable house is a great source of happiness. It ranks immediately after health and a good conscience.

Ordinary physical comfort matters more to daily mood than people like to admit, and putting it third is an unusually honest ranking. Where you sleep, whether the place is warm, whether it holds together: these press on you every day in a way that grander concerns do not. Anybody currently short of stable housing knows this better than anybody writing about it.

Whatever your circumstances allow, small improvements to where you live pay out daily. Fix the thing that has been broken for months, or make one corner properly comfortable. That is not a trivial use of a weekend.