Hyggering that won’t cost the Earth: that’s a great ambition.

I’m busy today, but I grabbed a few minutes at lunchtime to trawl the internet looking for resources (books, videos, websites) that will give me a great start on my year of bringing less in to get more out of life. Some of the books I have already: greening my life has always been an interest, and getting serious about it this year is just another step along my path.

Books I have or that look good, and websites as well:

Zero Waste Home by Bea Johnson. Seriously, this lady started as a blog for a year to see what was possible and now has her rubbish down to a jarful per year. If greening your home had a chief guru, she’d be it. Her book is very good, showing how she did it with a family of children and a husband, but she also has a Zero Waste Home website, Instagram and Youtube channel.

101 Ways to go Zero Waste by Kathryn Kellogg. I’m cheating with this, as I only bought it this weekend and I don’t know what the book is *actually* like, but I’ve read the website enough to know it has useful information and gives good guidance on how, and why, to reduce input as a way to reduce output (waste).  Her website, Going Zero Waste, is bookmarked on my computer and I’m following on Instagram, Pinterest and Youtube as well.

Earth Day Tips: Earth Day is the day every year when we stop being self-sufficient as a planet and start using up more resources than we really have. It tends to be some time in July or August (mine, if you remember yesterday was in June so I am a really bad user of resources!). The aim is to get as close to one planet’s worth of resources a year as we can. This single webpage has quite a lot of ideas that can act as starting points to make a difference. If everybody across the planet changes one small thing, there would be a massive change. It’s not rocket science, we need the small changes (which become big changes, which become a sustainable working planet….)

The Art of Simple website by Tsh Oxenreider. Especially this post. Tsh is a minimalist, clutter-free, eco-living guru. Simply is. It’s no coincidence that simplicity, minimalism and ecological choices very often go together. Don’t be shocked, but Marie Kondo is in my list of lifestyle gurus as well, because our lives should spark joy. Tsh has an Instagram page, and I did try to choose just one of her books to recommend… but that’s like picking just one child, really, I love them all.

The Sustainable Edit website, by Jen Brownlie is a feast for the eyes as well as the heart. Simple living with a hygge twist? I’m in. I’m working my way through the backcatalogue and loving the feel, palette and style of it already. Jen also has Instagram and Pinterest. The only thing I have to keep stopping myself from doing is reading the title of the blog as The Sustain A Bleed It. Do you know Jen? Tell her I love her blog, and is she in The Hygge Nook yet?

That’s my free time used up today. Hopefully, I’ll be back later this week. I need to sort of plan how to approach greening my life. What do you think? Do it all in one vast blast, or little incremental changes over time? Or a mixture? Have you greened your life? Was it an overnight conversion or a slowly simmering pot? Let me know in the comments below.

And now a word from our sponsors.….

I don’t monetise my blog. I don’t run adverts, take sponsorship for writing posts or use affiliate links. I want everything I do on this blog and in my hygge life outside to be truthful. If I promote a book it’s because I’ve read it and like it, if I  point out an item it’s because it’s impressed me on its own merits and not because the publicist has talked me into it. It does mean I don’t run giveaways and I’m not chasing followers, but the drawback is that I need to find a way to support myself.

That’s why I write books. My thoughts are that if I ask you to buy a book not only does it support me, and let me keep writing as an independent writer, but you get something back for your bucks. I’ve written several books, some on hygge, some on Christmas. If you like what you read here, or in the Hygge Nook, and you’d like to support a struggling writer, would you please consider buying a book? Ebooks give you the best value, since for 2 or 3 pounds you get the whole content of the book without paying the extra for paper production, but I’d be a pretty poor writer if I didn’t appreciate the beauty of a real book in the hand. If you buy just one book, it all adds up in the end to support me, and I’d be so grateful.

If you already have my books, or just want to support me as an independent writer, you can always just send me the price of a cup of coffee as a friend, to paypal.me/HyggeJem . I tend to use a lot of my spare cash on books that I review for the website, so every penny donated goes towards building my happy hygge life.

My first three books are hygge related, 50 Ways to Hygge the British Way  was my first book, and is available in Paperback and Kindle version. It’s a simple look at ways to feel more hyggely in life and at home even though we’re not Danish and don’t have it in our DNA.

How to Hygge Your Summer, in Paperback and Kindle form, has lots of good ideas for the summer months. I strongly believe that hygge is so much more than throws and warm drinks.

Happier is my fourth book. It’s about how I boost my own happiness levels. It’s full of hints, tips and ideas for you to use and adapt to suit your own situation. It is available in ebook and paperback version from Amazon.co.uk and Amazon.com.

I have three Christmas books,

Have Yourself a Happy Hygge Christmas was released in September 2017 and is available again in paperback and ebook version. It looks at keeping the Christmas season warm and cosy, with ideas for activities and routines to keep Christmas happy.

A (Hygge) Christmas Carol is my look at Dickens’ immortal classic and the many lessons we still learn from it today. It contains the full text of the book as well as hyggely thoughts on the story.

Enjoying a Self Care Christmas is only available in ebook version. It’s about keeping Christmas simple enough and healthy enough to keep you sane in the process.

If you buy any of the books through the links on this page, I get a couple of extra pence per copy, in Amazon vouchers which go towards buying more books to review for the blog. I’d really love it if you’d support me monetarily, but I quite understand that cash is tight for many people, and I just love having your support via reading and commenting as well.