Learning to Live Lagom with IKEA

Live Lagom is comes from the Swedish phrase ‘Lagom är bäst’ (the right amount is best), which means having enough of what you love, without taking more than you need. Not too much. Not too little. Just right.

Back in October I was contacted by social and environmental agency to see if I could Live Lagom with IKEA. They challenged me to become an ambassador for their UK wide campaign by revising my lifestyle choices to get things ‘just right’. Not too much energy waste, not too little food storage – just trying to live my life sustainably, in the middle lane. Getting things Lagom.

Like one of my favourite sayings in my bedroom goes… ‘If it doesn’t matter, get rid of it. If you can’t get rid of it, it matters‘.

I’m not gonna lie, I could definitely be a bit more Lagom. My parents educated me about fair trade from a young age and that led me to be conscious about my fashion choices – and it’s something I try to bring across to my vegan and cruelty free beauty product buys when possible – not to mention my vegetarian diet – but it’s something I could do with improving at home. Sure, I switch off the light switches when I leave a room and if I put the heating on I shut the window, but isn’t that just common sense? What can I really do to be more ‘Lagom’.

To find out more, I was invited to IKEA in Ashton, Manchester for the day to find out more about living a sustainable life. It was a collaborative process and as well as learning tips on how to reduce waste, increase food storage and be more energy efficient (I mean, do you KNOW how much energy you can save just by using LED lightbulbs?), we (other Live Lagomers and IKEA staff) shared our own ideas and reviewed sustainable IKEA products. Did you know that IKEA is the first major retailer to use 100% cotton from more sustainable sources?

A few weeks later, our Manchester Live Lagom leader (hi, Jordan!) and a Hubbub representative came over for a home visit. We sat together, had a cuppa and chatted over my own goals for the project. I was keen to make my home feel more ‘warm’, using sustainable material from IKEA; as you can see from my images, my house is pretty dark. I also thought this would help to make my decor choices more conscious and double up as a mechanism for stopping me switching the heating on right away when feeling chilly. I was also really keen to incorporate Sonny, my pug, into the project. Although IEKA don’t do any pet specific products (gap in the market, much?) I am keen to personalise some items to help me reduce dog food waste, improve food storage and keep recycling up.

The Swedish lifestyle is one I really admire. Not only is it chic but it’s socially conscious and responsible, creating one (if not THE best) standards of living in the world. I’d be lying if I hadn’t considered moving to Scandinavia myself – Sweden, Denmark, Norway: they’re the dream – but perhaps learning to Live Lagom with IKEA will help me bring a little bit of Scandinavia to Manchester.