How to Reduce Costs of Living The start of this post was a conversation with a friend. What can we all do to combat the costs of living? Well, a lot actually. We can reduce rising living costs while still living a healthy lifestyle. You can make your electricity bill smaller and your wallet thicker with savings. The tips here are practical and you can implement them where ever you are. We all are struggling with the costs of living, food prices and petrol prices. If we can implement even imperfect actions we can reduce costs of living and actually have a happier and healthier life. Budget ..read more

I have been talking about my book-writing journey with my email list for a few months now. I wanted to write a post to explain why I am writing my Nordic Lifestyle book. When taking some podcasting courses and had a one-on-one call with my podcast coach Karly Nimmo a few years ago. She said to me, and I can still hear her words in my ears, ‘There is a book in your podcast Susanna.‘  I agreed. But until that point, I had not been able to get the book idea to materialize and actually write the book. Did I start writing the Nordic Lifestyle book that I was dreaming? No. I shelved my though ..read more

I realized that I have not written about minimalism for a while. Perhaps because I live a minimalistic life, I had no need to talk about it anymore? Or perhaps everything I had said was enough? Well not exactly. I have been busy listening to podcasts and reading blogs about minimalism. I came across Joshua Becker a while back and have been a great admirer of his work and books ever since. He was talking about minimalism life in Helen Russell Podcast How to be Sad. Helen Russell was a guest in my podcast the Nordic Mum where we talked about the same name book How to be Sad. If you did not kno ..read more

I get asked lots of times what are the best books about the Nordic lifestyle? What should I read to understand the Nordic life and culture better? Well here are my recommendation of books to read. They are the best books about Nordic Lifestyle out there. They explain a lot about us people from the north and answer some of the questions you might have. I have read them in recent months. Some I have read twice. That is how good they are. These six books I have selected look into how the Nordic lifestyle is lived. There are cute pictures, recipes, and explanations of words in these books. How t ..read more

There are many people worldwide, including myself, who seek out what is known as “Nordicness“. It is maybe because there seems to be something special about Nordic culture. For a number of reasons, Nordicness can also be found here in Japan. Not only the beloved Moomins, but there are many other aspects of Nordic culture loved by the Japanese. If you pay closer attention, it seems that Japan and Nordic countries have a lot in common even though we are 5000 miles away from one another. But, what Nordic things attract Japanese people? Japanese Versus Nordic Culture, so Different, and Yet so ..read more

Traveling to Sweden with kids is easiest done by renting a car, taking the train, or flying. It all depends on what destinations you are planning on visiting. If you stick with the main cities like Stockholm, Gothenburg, and Malmö, taking the train might be the best way for you to get around. It is easy, convenient, and kind of fun for the kids. When we came over to visit Sweden from the US, especially when the kids were little. As far as transportation went, the flight was not the highlight of the trip. It was the local bus and train that was most exotic and fun for them. Sweden is a very f ..read more

 Nordic Countries Are The Happiest Fourth Year Running Finland is the happiest country on Earth fourth year running. Those of us who have been either born or lived in Finland are not surprised. The World Happiness Report has been colliding data slightly differently this year due COVID. And COVID and how countries have managed the pandemic and what effect this has had on human lives were part of the research this year.   Taking all in consideration Finland tops the charts again. But so do all the other Nordic countries. All the Nordic countries are in the top ten. They have been o ..read more

Every country has a unique feature in their school system that the others can learn from, even from first world countries who have excellent and eminent policies.  I am from Finland and went through Finnish schools.  We now live in Australia, and my eldest son started school here a year ago.  I am often asked which schools are better between these two.  So, for today, I’ll happily discuss this and give you first-hand information on the similarities and differences in the educational systems between Australia and Finland. To give us a structured discussion, I outlined the ..read more