Something for Sunday

So, I'm reading this book as part of an online photo course I'm taking. It's called My Hygge Home. I know how you are pronouncing that, but you would be wrong. It looks like high gee (like tee except with a soft g). It is actually pronounced: Hoo (like boo with an h) and ga (like duh with a hard g). If I don't know how to pronounce something properly when I'm reading, I stumble over the word every time--it takes away from my enjoyment of the book. I need to know. I cannot just gloss over it!

Anyway, this book is about establishing comfort and contentment in your home. It's based on the fact that Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Iceland, and Finland are the happiest places on earth to live. The people there are very happy in their homes and actually thrived during Covid. 

When you consider how we spend our time, you can see how important it is to have a nice home. In a year, based on a 24-hour day, these are the places we spend the following amount of time:

1.8% in bars/restaurants ---158 hrs. 

5.4% work--473 hrs.

5.5% car--482 hrs.

7.6% outdoors---666 hrs.

79.7% home---6982 hrs.

The number one thing you need to have for a comfortable and content home is a nice window view. It's been proven that an unattractive window view contributes to increased depression by 60%. A pleasing view contributes to good mental health. I guess that's why I don't like my backyard neighbors even though I've never met them. They cut down all the beautiful trees that lead to my contentment! 

I'm pretty lucky to have good views from just about all the windows in our house--not that I sit and stare out the window. Well, I did do that when we had the family of hawks last year. I'm really glad I did since they didn't come back this year.

Here are a few of my views:

From my kitchen window.

This one is from my bathroom window in the middle of the night. Yes, I had gotten up to use the bathroom and saw that it had snowed. We don't get much snow around here. I love this so much--it looks like it's black and white, but it's not. I had it blown up and framed. Gotta' love a picture that is taken through a window and is still so good---with my little 'ol iPhone too!

And then this one from the beach last week. My sister-in-law, Sharon took this one. We have lots of beautiful sunset shots, but this is the first purplish one.

This book also talked about another study---how many rooms per person is optimal in a house. The average Danish and British households have 1.9 rooms per person whereas the Russians have less space at .9 rooms per person. Canadians have the most rooms per person at 2.6. European and North American average 1.9 per person. Now I don't know if they consider the bathrooms as rooms in this percentage. One thing is for sure, Butch and I have a higher than average room per person ratio--not counting bathrooms (we have 6), there are 13 rooms in this house. It's true that we do not need this big house. But the fact remains that we have nowhere else to go without spending an arm and a leg. So, we'll stick with feet--square feet that is! 

That leads to the next study. People who average 800 square feet per person in their homes have the highest satisfaction in their lives. That is true for 74% of the population. Those who have less than 800 feet per person in the home have significantly lower satisfaction with their lives. However, if you live alone, you are happier in a smaller home rather than a big one.

One thing I've always known is: that mess causes stress! There's nothing that can ruin my day faster than when I leave the house in perfect order and come home to a mess. Obviously, this sort of thing happened more often when the kids were at home. Now it still happens, but to a lesser degree. If I leave the house in perfect order, it goes through me to come home to dishes in the sink. So the bottom line on this is if your home is cluttered--regardless of the size, it's going to lead to dissatisfaction. 

Everything about your home is meant to be a warm and cozy, sheltering place. We are meant to want to be there. Make it so! And add a scented candle while you are at it!