Minimalistic Hygge lifestyle

In my earlier post, I mentioned that I have been trying to incorporate minimalistic Hygge lifestyle into my life. Ever since my son was born, I have had ZERO time for self care or for personal enjoyment. Yes, I do enjoy spending time with him but I sometimes want “me-time” too, where I just sit and do something that I love to do.

In order to get some free time, I started sacrificing my sleep. I would sit awake on my bed hours together reading books after he fell asleep. Now that he is little older, I am trying to bring back some of the other activities that I enjoy doing. I also followed the books I mentioned earlier to get some tips. These are some ways I try to spend quality time at home. I have seen a significant increase in my happiness level after I started indulging myself in these activities.

1. Hot water bath –

   I started taking hot water baths after I bought a bath bomb on impulse. I tried once and now there is no looking back. After the son and husband are asleep, I spend some time in the bath tub with a cup of hot chocolate or juice (depending on the weather) and a nice cozy book (something light and not too heavy like a YA or a humorous book) with an instrumental music in the background playing on my phone. It is the best way to relax after a tiresome week.
   

2. Coloring books and audiobooks –

   I did not get much time to try this regularly but the few times that I tried, it helped me relax. Listening to an interesting audiobook while coloring is something that I want to try more often.
   

3. Library visits, instead of visits to bookstore –

   My son loves the local library so we end up going there once a week or so. I spend that time to browse through the shelves and pick books for him. Instead of visiting bookstores, visiting a library is more relaxing for me as I can pick any book without worrying about the price. I am trying to spend less on books but it’s still not working as I end up buying on Amazon.
   

4. Watching favorite movies –

   I am trying to watch some of my favorite movies again at home after many years. Weekend evenings are usually reserved for movie watching at home.
   

5. Music and Movies on personal cloud –

   I bought a NAS device and loaded plenty of music and movies on it. Now I can stream the music that I own anywhere I want. I usually listen to them on the Bose speakers at home or on my Bluetooth speakers while taking bath or on my phone with a headphone while lying on the bed. I can even listen to them when I am outside. I can now also stream movies on my TV without owning a DVD. This way I can own digital copies and not bother buying DVDs or music CDs. This is the best step I have taken towards minimalistic lifestyle.
   

6. Personal care – Hygiene and Makeup –

   So until last year, I had no idea how to apply makeup on my face. I never cared for my skin or my hair and they both were a mess. Last year, I started taking care of myself and bought some stuff from Sephora and now I can say that I know how to apply makeup on my face. I feel and look better which has boosted my self-confidence.
   

7. Lighting scented candles –

   Scented candles are perfect for Hygge (as mentioned in the Hygge book), especially on cold winter evenings.
   

8. Cooking delicious and healthy food –

   I am trying to cook more healthy food and more Vegan food at home. This plan isn’t working very well because of lack of time. But we bought Rotimatic and now we hardly eat out. Even when we have no energy to cook, we just turn on the machine and make some hot rotis and dip them in pickle/spicy powder and gobble them up. We eat out only once in a week these days.
   

What do you do in order to relax after a stressful week?