I was thinking about the 80-20 rule yesterday. You know the one that says for most people they wear 20% of what's in their closet 80% of the time... the formula works in other areas too, and that's what I was thinking about.
For example, how much waking time do I spend in each area of my home?
I am seated in front of this computer screen a whole lot on a work day. But in my office, I use about 20% of it most of the time (that is my desk and chair area).
The rest of the day, I spend a huge quantity of time in the kitchen. Planning meals, prepping meals. cooking meals and eating meals. Being the stay-home, I prepare 3 meals a day in there! (However T usually cooks breakfasts on the weekend for everybody - YAY!)
After the kitchen is cleaned up we usually spend an hour or so as a family down in the TV room watching our favourite channel - Discovery!
Then there is the bedtime routine for the boys -- washing up, brushing teeth, story time and tucking in. Bathroom-livingroom-their bedrooms, and I am the focal point of that still too.
I know my husband uses different areas of the house more heavily (like the double garage and the laundry tub). And my kids use even more space (playing a lot in the living room). The dining area is absolutely essential to having family over for dinner, we use it at least once a month and appreciate it.
If I look at as return on investment for time/money, this house is giving us a whole lot of bang for the buck with not much waste! That makes me feel very good. We are not paying a huge mortgage on a space we barely have time for. After all, my office is just big enough to feel like a real office and located perfectly in the house for me to feel central. The kitchen is cozy for a family of 4 but perfectly proportioned for MOST of the meal prep work that I do. So long as everyone is seated when the dinner comes to the table, no one gets hurt. T's garage is big enough to get things done (but only barely -- too many bikes!). And I LOVE having the TV separate and far away from the eating areas. (Sometimes I miss watching HGTV while cooking, but otherwise....).
If I were going to change anything, just for me..... the two things I really wish we could figure into our home would be 1) a
decent area for guests to stay and 2) a mudroom to transition from outside to inside. We may be able to get #1 through carefully planning and finishing of our large laundryroom/storage room. But #2 simply cannot exist in this house. We have one entry into this home from the front, that's it, that's all there will ever be while we live here. I know T has other wishes, but this is a selfish post here.
I have covered what I feel about my inside living space and the R.O.I. with it. Now for the outdoor areas. I like my back deck -- I mean really like it! It's generous size and east facing exposure directly off the kitchen are used all the time (weather permitting). Though the DOG has made a mess of it, and that makes it less appealing, but since we have no other way to let him into the backyard.... well I have to live with it (another argument for a mudroom.... with adjacent dog-run perhaps?). My tiny patch of lawn back there is a mess thanks to the dog too. I used to use it a lot more than I do now. NOWADAYS I prefer the side yard where the veggie bed is. (A happy Southern exposure, and lots of rewards come from that bit of dirt),but it's not a space for relaxing. The front steps are the lounge area, sitting there watching T in the driveway, my boys riding in the cul-de-sac and neighbour socializing. I love the front steps, catching the late afternoon rays on the west side of the house.
I also get a lot of enjoyment from the neighbourhood itself. There are lots of hills, but it is nevertheless very WALK-FRIENDLY with ample trails that loop around a few marshes around here. I can choose to walk 20 minutes up to 2 hours (or more) and not walk the same trail twice. Unfortunately that will be changing in the next 5-10 years as the land has been slated for a HUGE development. Historically, that area has been logged, mined and neglected long enough to have a significant forest growing all over it, but you can still see evidence all over the place of it's industrial past, so I can't cry too much. But it will definitely take something away from my own definition of the value of my home.
So as it stands this neighbourhood gives terrific R.O.I. too.
Good location, quiet, safe feeling and we know the neighbours.
Now here is where it gets trickier.... the R.O.I. on my belongings. I KNOW that I only use about 20% of my stuff 80% of the time (it may even be worse than that!).... so what am I going to do about it? Do I hang onto all that crap for the SOMETIMES that it MAY come in handy? Or do I toss it, and toss the pressure that goes with owning it? A terrific example: I have 2 sewing machines, I haven't sewed in years, but I WANT to sew -- where do I draw the line?
A place for everything and everything in it's place.... even better would be an easily accessible and logical place for everything that I love and use, and no place for anything else! But that may be a bit ambitious.... baby steps.
PS I am going to look at a house in the valley that just came on the market. It looks very similar to ours but is right across the street to the trails, flat driveway and looks like it MAY have a mudroom -- don't laugh, I am just LOOKING!
"O-Socka" is a companion now, and his brother loves his "Bun-Bun-Destruction" just as much! (I think the name is hillarious, because bun-bun is wearing a pink flower button!). 
Aren't they sweet?!