I knew the end of September would be a mad rush, with two short breaks planned (including my 30th Anniversary trip to Amsterdam!) but I didn’t anticipate quite how busy work, leisure and daughter could keep me!

My apologies: I just couldn’t keep up with the posts and get ready for life, the universe and everything. As a kind of conciliatory gesture, here’s a list of all the finished posts I managed to write, and a completed list of the days that I never made it to Internet access, took no photos or had no time to do more than blink an acknowledgement of how lucky I am.

September Small Things:

Day One: Starting a New Page in the Planner

Day Two: Apples From the Market

Day Three: New Slippers

Day Four: Coffee

Day Five: Rediscovering an Old Friend of a Book

Day Six: Water

Day Seven: Finding a New (To Me) Artist

Day Eight: The Joy of Good Pairings

Day Nine: Snail Mail

Day Ten:

Day Eleven: When Even the TV Trolls Me

Day Twelve: Work That Suits Me

Day Thirteen: Favourite Comfort Films and Piles (Of Stuff)

Day Fourteen: Posh Dresses, Posh Houses, Posh Dinners. We were at Chatsworth House for a proper Dinner because Peter is a Notary Public. It was posh all the way.

Day Fifteen: Caves. Stalagmites, stalactites and a personalised tour of Poole’s Cavern in Buxton.

Day Sixteen: Delivering Supplies. We called in at Nottingham to make sure Sarah was well-stocked before the new term started.

Day Seventeen:

Day Eighteen: Quiz Monday. Only Connect and University Challenge makes for an evening of Quiz Hygge.

Day Nineteen: Exciting Adventures: Planning an itinerary. I spent the evening on Tripadvisor planning Amsterdam and making notes.

Day Twenty: Mothers are soft. I spent the afternoon clearing, cleaning and rearranging my red welsh dresser. Now it’s clear, it makes my heart sing.

Day Twenty-One:

Day Twenty-Two: Friday Night Is Movie Night! The re-release. We’ve decided to set out to watch a classic movie every week as a family. Between all of us, we have a list of 100+ classic movies we want to watch.

Day Twenty-Three: Slow Living Calls For a Slow Cooked Classic. In which I make slow cooked pulled beef brisket for tea.

Day Twenty-Four: Shopping For Food. It’s a small thing, but the ease of buying food, medicine and more in a supermarket or shop cannot be underestimated.

Day Twenty-Five: Yarn, thread and all things fibre. I never made it to Yarndale, but I did get some new wool out and start a shawl/coat for the Autumn.

Day Twenty-Six:

Day Twenty-Seven:

Day Twenty-Eight: New Cookbooks by Old Favourites. Apples for jam author, Tessa Kiros, put her new book out.

Day Twenty-Nine: Exciting Adventures: My first flight for 15 years!!!

Day Thirty: Gezelligheid, Genever and Glasses of Beer. Amsterdam deserves a post all of its own.

What did I learn from September Small Things?

That taking time to stop and take note of the small things makes life feel better. The month had some ups and downs: the fact I took a page in my planner and jotted down just one thing most days made a difference. Rushed and hectic at work? Appreciating my daily pot of coffee helped slow me down. Time-stressed about packing for holidays? Taking a night off to start a new crochet project helped. Jotting them down 365 would be an imposition: the time limited nature of September Small Things means that I can commit to the list.

And, of course, it sets me up for October, November and the run into Christmas.

How to Hygge the British Way is my gift to the world. I don’t get paid for writing it, I’m not in it for the kudos, financial rewards, to become an influencer, work with brands or otherwise make any money from the blog. That’s why there are no ads, and any products I mention and recommend have either been gifted to me or bought by me with my everyday wages or donations from supporters. Every book I review has been bought and read by me, unless stated otherwise.

I do get a couple of pennies each time someone buys from the Amazon links on my page, as an Amazon Affiliate, but otherwise if you’d like to support me, I like to give something back in return. That’s why I write books. It always feels good if you get a book back in return for some money. You can find a full list of my books at my Author’s Page on Amazon, but especially recommended for this time of year are:

Cosy Happy Hygge: Setting up a rhythm to life and rituals to enjoy it to make for a more balanced life that handles waves and storms better. Lent is a season of rituals and resets. The book has small and easy ways to make your life flow with grace and happiness, which lead to more hygge.

Happier: Probably my most personal book, it’s the story of how I used hygge and the little things in life to help boost my happiness. I still go back and reread to remind myself what I need to do to be a happy human. And it’s always the little things.

Is it too early to think ahead? My Christmas books are always available: Have Yourself a Happy Hygge Christmas is a good place to start, on how to make the season cosier, happier. Celebrating a Contagious Christmas was written during covid year, but has useful advice on celebrating when times are hard anyway and Enjoying a Self-Care Christmas is a short e-book on keeping Christmas simpler, easier and better for you, your waistline and your budget. It even includes 25+ suggestions for self-care activities over Christmas, as simple as sipping tea, keeping a list journal or lighting a candle. Bigger is not always better for Christmas.

I’m currently working on two book projects: I have a hankering to rewrite 50 Ways to Hygge the British Way, so it’s not available at the moment, but even dearer to my heart and my next stated aim is to finish and publish my next book, Simple Plus Cosy = Hygge. It will be about homemaking and how the home we create shapes the hygge we have. Hopefully it will be finished by the end of summer/autumn/winter.

If you’d like to support me, but don’t want to buy a book, I have a Paypal.Me account as Hygge Jem. Every little helps, so even a few pence goes towards the books, goods and courses I use and recommend on the site. I’m grateful for every little bit that brings me closer to my dream of full-time writing, and I know I couldn’t still be writing if it weren’t for the support of many readers and friends out there. Thank you all for every little bit of support, emotional, physical and financial, you give me.

If you’ve enjoyed this article, don’t forget to share it or save it so others can enjoy reading, thinking about and living hygge as well.

The photo between post and promotions is a photo I took in Amsterdam. Every day at about 4pm we stopped sightseeing and found a Brown Bar, small pubs in the city that sell a wider range of beer than we see in most bars here. A small beer each, a view through the window or just people watching. It was a real chance to slow down. My only issue now is how to capture that feeling without the beer in this country. Coffee? Afternoon tea? Home or coffee shop? I’ll find a way.