Hygge

Winter is a time of cozy nights spent fireside, hot cocoa, and warm blankets. Unfortunately, it can also be a time of chilly drafts and cold toes! Staying warm during the winter months doesn’t have to mean spending a fortune on portable heaters or turning up your thermostat – there are plenty of ways to keep yourself bundled up without breaking the bank.

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From making sure your windows are properly sealed to using layers and layering materials, here are 9 tips for staying cozy this winter:

1. Seal Up Your Home

Cracks and gaps around doors and windows can let in a lot of cold air. Use caulk or weatherstripping to seal any openings that might cause breezes in your home. You can also use a rolled-up towel or blanket to block drafts from entering underneath your door.

2. Layer Up

Layering different fabrics, such as wool and cotton, can help trap heat in your home and keep you warm on chilly days. Use heavier blankets on top of lighter ones for extra warmth, and make sure you cover up with an extra layer before bedtime!

3. Invest in Insulated Curtains

Insulated curtains are great for keeping out drafts and providing an extra layer of insulation over windows that don’t have weatherstripping. They will also keep the sun’s rays from coming through during the day, helping to reduce energy costs.

4. Wear Slippers Indoors

Cold floors can be uncomfortable and make it hard to stay warm. Investing in a good pair of slippers or wool socks will help keep your feet warm while indoors.

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5. Place Rugs on Floors

Rugs are great for insulating cold floors, especially if you don’t have carpeting throughout the house. Place rugs near doorways, windows, and high-traffic areas to help capture heat and keep your home warm.

6. Layer Your Clothing

When venturing out into colder temperatures, remember to bundle up! Wear thin layers that trap heat close to your body as well as thicker outer layers to protect from wind chill. Hats, scarves, mittens, and a warm coat are essential for staying toasty!

7. Get Some Sun

While it might seem counter-intuitive, sunlight can actually help keep you warm in the wintertime. Opening curtains during the day will help to heat up your house with natural light and warmth from the sun.

8. Indulge In Comfort Food

Nothing beats the chill like a warm, hearty bowl of chicken vegetable soup or a cup of hot cocoa. Make sure to keep your pantry stocked with comforting winter staples that will help you stay cozy and full when temperatures dip.

9. Keep An Extra Blanket Handy

Additional blankets are essential for staying warm in the wintertime. Keep a cozy blanket (or two!) near your couch and bed to make sure you’re never too far from extra warmth when needed.

There You Go

With these tips, you’ll be ready to face winter with confidence! Remember that layering fabrics and materials is the key to trapping heat in your home, and don’t forget to bundle up when heading outside. With a little effort, staying warm this season can be easy – and enjoyable!

Life can get very stressful, and there are some days when you feel that you may struggle to relax and unwind. When you are having one of these days, you may find that your overall wellness and health can suffer too. To ensure that this does not happen to you, then you must be proactive. Look at what wellness trends can help you relax, and see how you can build them into your daily routine.

Filling Your Home with Houseplants

The greenery and the life that comes in houseplants can help you relax, unwind, and recharge. Lots of houseplants are known to purify the air. Cleaner air can help you relax a little more too. Also, you may find that caring for and maintaining your houseplants gives you the much-needed downtime and relaxation time you need. Houseplants can allow you to feel closer (and more connected) to nature, and this again can bring you peace and relaxation.

Meditation and Mindfulness

How mindful of you of your actions and behavior? How often do you pass through the day without really stopping to think about what you are doing and why? Practicing mindfulness is important, especially if you want to relax a little more. Being aware of what triggers your emotions and moods and learning when to take a break is important. When you can master mindfulness, you can then turn your attention to meditation. Having time to meditate, clear your thoughts, and recharge your energy in the morning, or at night, can be hugely beneficial to your mental health and wellbeing.

Focusing on Stress and Anxiety Relief

Unfortunately, you will find that stress and anxiety are everyday features in daily life. However, this does not mean that they have to consume you. Taking control of reducing stress and anxiety is important. A trend you may wish to follow is that of vaping. With a Nectar Hive CBD Vape Pen, vaping is easy. You can vape CBD at a time and place that is convenient to you. CBD can help relieve stress, and it can help reduce anxiety. Vaping when you feel like your stress levels are going through the roof may help you stay as calm and as relaxed as possible.

Mindful Plant-Based Eating

How often do you pay attention to what you are eating, and where it came from? Just as you practice mindfulness, you should also practice mindful eating. Focusing more on a plant-based diet will allow you to develop a deeper connection to nature. Cleansing your body of heavily processed foods, and even looking at detoxing – together with mindful eating may just be a wellness trend you adopt for good. When you are mindful of what you are eating, you will find that you eat less, and stop eating when you are full. Mindful plant-based eating will help you to relax, and actually enjoy the food that you are cooking and then eating. , rather than keep wanting more all the time.

Please note, this post is sponsored by Diamond Bloggers. All opinions expressed are my own. Thank you.

When I began traveling to France over 15 years ago, I fell in love with so many aspects of the French culture. From the food to the perfume, there was something new and exciting everywhere I tuned. Everything was magical. Things ran at a slower pace. I learned what cultivating a life for yourself meant.

This was in no small part due to the French believe in Joie de vivre. The joy of life, the joy that can be derived from simple acts such as conversation, eating, and simply existing.  Joie de vivre is all about possessing joy through one’s whole being.

An idea that I have tried to adapt to my adult life these many years later as well. Which is no small task? Being Americans, we are constantly inundated with media portrayals, consumerism, and cultural backlashing that tells us that modern technology and networking trumps friendship, connection, and experience.

Even our language has not been able to escape this trend. For American English over the past 20 years has become a cornucopia of abbreviations, pointless emoticons, and falsified expressions. Thanks in no small part to the simple, artificial act of laughing out loud.

What is Hygge?

We also love our shortcuts. We like everything fast. We eat fast, work fast, live fast, and relax even faster.  Such as simply living. A way of living that often leaves me feeling tired and drained in more ways than I care to admit. This is why when I came across the Danish term, Hygge, (pronounced hue-guh), the Danish terms used to describe a feeling or moment, whether alone, with friends, or at home, of extraordinary coziness and charm, my Joie de vivre deprived soul sang out loud. 

Moreover, this same concept plays well into my minimalist moral compass. Hygge doesn’t require learning to buy anything. As it is simply the acknowledgment of one’s relationships, surroundings, and comfort.

Why Hygge is so popular?

Hygge is less about learning and adopting and more about feeling and promoting self-care.

Hygge is also life-affirming. A mindset based on affectionate compassion. Consider the harsh, cold, bleak Scandinavian Winters. Days that are dark by mid-afternoon. Hygge allows Danes to make the best of abysmal conditions.

After attending to necessary home improvements, including eco-friendly touches like tankless water systems, heated floors, and energy star appliances, including touches like Energy-Efficient Windows in the Baton Rouge area, pulling together a home with friends and family is a cinch. With small touches, such as beautiful candles, comforting foods, and drinks, houses become homes. Allowing the soul can be recharged and reaffirmed. It’s a change in perspective. A mindset reversal. A true, social game-changer. After all, have you ever felt your worst sitting by the fire, sipping tea, around your nearest and dearest?

I cannot tell you how revolutionary this idea has been to my life. How I love using Hygge to embrace the things I love at home. Especially in winter. Which is why I’d love to share with you 9 ways you can naturally, minimally, and affordably bring the spirit of Hygge into your home this season too:

Make your house a home: Starting the path of Hygge most often begins with a simplified interior design. A design that is both cozy and function for you and your family. Turning your home into an oasis can be simple. Starting with pairing down belongings that do not bring you joy, displaying the things that do, and learning to know the difference. There’s also something to be said for adding quality products and features in your most-used rooms at home. Especially in the bathroom. As adding natural mats and easy-to-maintain flooring options such as Kohler LuxStone. Cosmetic home improvements will put you at ease when you will be hosting family this season by creating a statement of who you are within your home.  As small improvements can speak volumes about your home.

Buy with a purpose: Danes are nothing if not thrifty. Favoring the idea that it’s better to save up for that favorite furnishings in lieu of buying something they don’t really like just because it’s cheap. Bring items into your home only if they are both beautiful and bring purpose and utility to you and your family’s week.

Cultivate that matters: Your home deserves respect a sense of respect in your children for the home you have built and the things that help make that house a home. In many Danish homes, kids don’t run the household. Parents dictate behavior. Allowing kids to have designated play spaces, meal stations, and smaller, decluttered bedroom spaces. All done in a way that allows kids to enjoy their childhoods and parents to enjoy stylish, cozy interiors. It’s all about letting them know early on that a home needs to be shown some respect. An idea that permeates well into their adult years, too.

Be a great host: Treat others in your home the way you would want to be treated. Always ask your guests, upon entering, if they want food or drink. A show of great manners is the first step to being a cozy, caring, warm person.  Because you set the tone and temperature of the atmosphere within your home.

Learn to linger: This lesson was one of the hardest for me. As an American, we are often rushing out the door eating or are in the process of cleaning up from a dinner party before our guests have actually started leaving our homes! Dinners and meals, in general, can be made to feel more hygge when you start seeing the act of breaking bread as less a chore and more a celebration. That meals are to be mindful. That company is the premium. That nourishment is the truest expression of love. None of us are so busy that we can’t make time to enjoy being with those whom we love. Slowing down will be difficult at first, but if you practice mindful eating, you will learn to love lingering. And this intentionality will love you right back!

Be grateful: The grass will always be greener in your neighbor’s pasture until the day you stop to see how green your fields already are. A home filled with Hygge is already as green as the owner desires it to be. Sure, you may desire new things, but you cannot lose sight of the bigger picture. A sense of contentment is important. Perfect is boring. A life of gratitude is superb. 

Share: In a Hygge home experiences are shared. Guests bring food. Hosts allow help in the kitchen. The family entertains one another. Every thought, idea, and expression is equally validated. No one needs to internalize sentiments or tear others down to make their points known. Coziness is knowing your opinions, customs, beliefs, and traditions can be safely shared. 

Light candles: Candles can turn even the smallest and most dank spaces into a warm and inviting oasis. Each evening, light a candle. They instantly create a mood and can transform your senses.

Embrace who you are: Learning to love who and what you are, is one of the easiest and most important ways to bring Hygge into your home. Embrace your humanity. Give yourself the grace to know when you need to be still and quiet. Give yourself the option to unwind and relax. You deserve to take time out each day just to have some tea, do yoga, read a chapter of a book, whatever works best for you. This is the very essence of what Hygge is. A pause. A moment for yourself. A time to let your soul catch up to your body. A time of self-care you should give yourself today!

While there are so many more things that I could add to this list, these are just some of my favorite ways to embrace Hygge in your home this Winter. I hope this list will inspire you to think outside the box when it comes to embracing a home, mindset, and lifestyle reflective of love and self-care for yourself, and others, this season. 

Now I want to ask, what’s your take on Hygge? Do you have any favorite ways to add coziness to your home and life? If so, I’d love to hear all about them below!

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Everyone wants an attractive home; a place where you can feel relaxed and feel happy to have visitors over. Creating a home that perfectly matches your tastes and also looks immaculately presented is not always easy. Sometimes, changing your home into your perfect living space can be met with challenges. For many people, the cost involved with improving their property is the most significant barrier to them creating their dream home. 

The great news is that you don’t need to spend a fortune to get your home looking great. Instead, you merely need to look for creative solutions that will help you to perfect your home without spending stacks of cash. Living frugally and in an eco-conscious way doesn’t mean that you have to go without a perfectly presented home. In fact, rising to the challenge and thinking creatively about transforming your home is a big part of the fun.

Working hard to carefully create a home that looks impressive without spending your life savings on it will give you so much satisfaction. Working on your home becomes a labor of love, with each room receiving care and attention. It is so much more rewarding to carefully curate a room and improve it yourself, than merely going out and buying every item new. When you shop carefully and consciously, you will find that the items that you choose will hold more meaning and have a story behind them, which brings extra character into your home.

Want to know how you can create a home that never fails to impress guests, and brings you joy every day? Here’s how you can create a home that looks great without overspending:

Make a Plan

To make a noticeable change to your home, it is crucial to make a plan. Spending time gathering together some interior design inspiration is an excellent idea, plus it’s a lot of fun too! Looking at photos of other home makeover projects can help you to form a clear idea of what you want your home to look like, and crucially, what you don’t want it to look like.

Creating a plan for your redecorating project will help to guide you through the process. Having a plan is especially crucial if you are someone that finds it hard to get started on a job. Working to a plan breaks down your jobs into more manageable tasks which can help you to stay motivated. Think about the jobs that need to be completed, are they renovation jobs, or merely redecorating tasks? Establishing what needs to be done will help you to prioritize your tasks.

Take it Slow

While finding the motivation to get started is obviously the most critical step in your project, it is a good idea not to try and get the project complete as fast as possible. Taking things more slowly and focusing on one room at a time will help you to get each room to the best standard, and looking exactly as you want. Taking a slower approach also gives you the time to find the perfect décor and furniture for the room, without needing to compromise because you are in a rush to get the room finished.

Consider Your Color Scheme

A change of color scheme is one of the fastest and easiest ways to update a room. Repainting a room in a new color is also one of the cheapest ways to make a significant change to a room without spending too much money. Choose your paint color carefully and think about that way that your chosen shade will make the room feel. 

A room that is painted all-white or cream is a super simple way to make it look fresh and give a more spacious appearance to the living area. Alternatively, sticking with a color palette that consists of just two or three complementary shades and using these throughout your design scheme is an excellent way to create a big visual impact. The reason that choosing a color palette consisting of a few shades works is that it helps to create a stylish, uncluttered look, which then helps the room to look more expensive. You only need to look at the popularity of monochrome schemes in upmarket hotels and restaurants to see the visual impact and vibe that a carefully curated color scheme creates.

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Upcycle and Restore

Re-using and repurposing your existing items is an excellent way to save yourself some cash, and reduce the impact on the environment. Think about ways that you could incorporate your current pieces in with your new décor. Perhaps, you could keep your current chairs but re-upholster them in a fabric that better suits your new scheme. Or, maybe you could transform a long-forgotten piece of furniture and give it a whole new lease of life with a lick of paint? 

Upcycling and restoring home items is a great way to reduce waste in your home and to make use of items you already own.

Buying preloved items to restore and upcycle will also help to reduce the number of items that end up in landfills. Staying on the lookout for preloved items for sale when you are out and about is an excellent way to pick up some unique finds which you can then improve.

Shop With Care

When you are trying to save money on your home makeover, and also trying to complete the project in an environmentally responsible way, you need to shop with care. Do your research to find the best sources for things like furniture and paint.

If you are buying new items, because you cannot find anything suitable that is pre-loved, then it is essential to consider both the quality and the price of the product. Choosing brands such as Ashley bedroom furniture will enable you to buy new pieces that are both excellent value and high quality. 

Furniture is something that you will want to ensure lasts for many years, so from both a financial and sustainability viewpoint, it is vital that the furniture that you choose is high-quality. Buying poor quality furniture because it is cheap is worse for the environment, and will ultimately cost you more in the future.

Keep Things Simple

Keeping things simple in your home is a sure-fire way to keep it looking good. If you clutter your rooms up with too much stuff and crowd your room with ornaments and furniture, then you will be making so much more work for yourself. The simpler your home, the easier it is to keep clean and tidy, and the more relaxing it will be to spend time in it. 

Choosing to include a few meaningful decorative items in your room will have a greater visual impact than cramming it full of mass-produced ornaments. It is so easy to accumulate tons of stuff over the years that you don’t need. Your home makeover is the ideal opportunity to make a fresh start and only buy what you need, which will benefit both your bank balance and the environment.

Get Creative

One of the most surprising things about redecorating a home on a budget is the things that you learn. When you need to carry out almost every task yourself, you will find that you develop a whole new set of skills. At times, the learning curve may be pretty steep, but nothing beats the satisfaction of completing a project yourself.

Redecorating your home is the ideal opportunity to let your creativity run free and to acquire even more new skills. Making items for your home brings a truly personal touch to your living space, so why not consider giving crafting a go and see what you can create? 

There are loads of different creative projects that you can attempt around the home. Perhaps you could learn how to use a sewing machine and then have a go at making pillows to match your new color scheme, or maybe you could repaint your picture frames to freshen them up. When it comes to crafting and getting creative around the home, the possibilities really are endless, and the only limit is your imagination.

Keep Up With Maintenance

After spending so much time and effort on making your home look at its best, it is vital that you try to keep it that way so that your work does not go to waste. Maintaining your home is crucial to not only keeping it looking amazing at all times but also to save yourself money. 

Without care and maintenance, your home can run into problems that have the potential to be expensive to fix. A well-maintained home will always look neat and clean, so keeping on top of those maintenance jobs is vital. Simple things such as keeping your home well-ventilated, cleaning the rainwater guttering, and protecting your woodwork from pests and mold will ensure that your home stays looking great for many years to come, and will also help you to avoid costly repair bills further down the line.