Hygge (pronounced hoog-uh) is the Danish concept of living with coziness and contentment. Basically, creating a home and life that is filled with things that make you feel good.
Clutter is the opposite of that. It’s the idea of having a home filled with too much stuff, which makes you feel bad.
When you think of Scandinavian home design, you probably think of IKEA, a Swedish company. Clean lines, efficient, simple use of pattern and color… it’s a pretty uncluttered design style. But it doesn’t drum up a sense of coziness and snuggles.
Think of IKEA and clean, Scandinavian as the foundation of your home. Hygge is then the body of your home. It’s the personalization of the space you live in.
WHAT IS HYGGE?
The dictionary defines hygge as “the feeling of coziness and contentment evoked by simple comforts, as being wrapped in a blanket, having good conversations, enjoying food, etc.:”.
But that’s a pretty limited perception. It would be better described as mindset. A way of living focusing on slowing down, enjoying the moment, being present and finding contentment in everyday moments.
In your home this looks like finding ways to create a cozy atmosphere where you can celebrate and enjoy the present moment. Words you can think of as you look around your home considering how to bring hygge into your life are: charm, happiness, contentment, comfort, kinship, connection, simpleness, homey, inviting, etc.
This is a concept created by a nation that has long, dark winters with nights lasting as long as seventeen hours.
When life is dark you can either give in and let it consume you, or you can counter it with something like hygge.
Fill your home with things that bring you joy. Have furniture you want to sit on. Have décor that fits your personality. Colors you love. Textures that feel right.
Create a home you love, in which you can live a life you love.
CLUTTERED FEELINGS IN A CLUTTERED HOME
It’s hard to do all of that when all of the things you love are hidden under things you tolerate, dislike, or even hate.
Clutter drains all of the coziness, charm, and comfort from your home. Clutter drains the senses of connection, happiness, and simplicity from your life.
Clutter brings up words like: overwhelmed, shame, helplessness, ugly, dirty, messy, isolation, disgust, horror, numbness, etc.
Yuck.
To get to hygge you may have some feelings to overcome that are churned up by your cluttered space. This is what holds most people back from having the uncluttered, organized, and, yes, cozy, home they want. Your stuff can come to feel like it’s a symbol of who you are. If you have clutter and feel badly about it, you may feel like that means there is something wrong with you.
Separate your feelings about your stuff from your feelings about yourself.
If you don’t have the skills to create the systems that keep a home tidy, that doesn’t mean you are inherently damaged. But if you don’t have those skills your home can get out of control and it can feel like there’s no way to get it back under control. But, again, that doesn’t mean there’s something wrong with you as a person.
FROM CLUTTERED TO HYGGE
As you let go of the things in your home that make you feel badly, you’ll immediately begin to feel hygge. You’ll feel relief, calm, and pride.
When you’ve cleared a space or room to the point that you can begin to organize it with sustainable systems you’ll feel hygge. You’ll get a sense of comfort from the simplicity of knowing where things go and where to find them.
When you’ve gotten that space or room decluttered, and set with systems, you’ll use what you already own that makes you feel good.
That snuggly throw blanket you aways use when you sit on the couch? It’ll be the only one you own, and those old, scratchy, stained, pilled, and plain ol’ blah, throws that have sat in a pile never getting used will be gone.
If you need more throw blankets for the rest of the family or guests, you’ll now only buy the type of blankets you love. You won’t take free blankets from events you go to just because they’re free. You’ll appreciate, but not keep blankets given as gifts that you don’t actually like.
Now apply that to everything in your life and home.
Get rid of the stuff you don’t love or use.
Put organizational systems in place that will help you keep your home decluttered.
Use the things you love.
Only bring things you love into your home from here on out.
THE TAKE AWAY
Creating a sense of hygge in your own life and home is a journey that requires you to face the things that may feel uncomfortable. Facing those things will help you remove the things that no longer serve you and, in fact, hold you back.
Once you remove the things that keep you isolated and discontented, you can fill your life with connection and satisfaction.
Hygge will look and feel different for everyone. Whatever things, actions, relationships, etc. that feel comforting to you will be your own hygge.
The journey through those uncomfortable feelings and clutter, to a life and home filled with the homey joy of hygge isn’t a simple or easy one for most people.
This is where Decluttering Coaching can help you. Together we can face what needs to be faced, create a plan unique to you and your stuff so you can finally declutter and create space for your own hygge.