We know it’s difficult to keep kids busy when it’s too cold or too rainy to go outside or, now, with the pandemic being an increasing struggle. However, it can also be tricky to keep ourselves busy and active when we are stuck at home for extended periods of time. However, there are ways to enjoy our time at home, even when it is extended time at home!
Here are five great ideas to keep busy at home!
1-Declutter
Decluttering may not be the most exciting thing to do, but it can be stress relieving. and give us a sense of accomplishment.
Since you have a little extra time on your hands, you might as well be a little productive. Getting rid of things that you no longer want or use helps to declutter. Do you really need so many shirts? When was the last time you wore those one pair of dress pants? This also reduces stress in the future since there is less clutter and life feels a bit more organized and manageable when we are less cluttered.
The same goes for mental clutter. Take some time to organize and declutter life a little. Maybe you need to organize your schedule a little better, check a few things off your to-do list, or maybe your mind just needs a little bit of a break. No matter where the mental clutter comes from or how long it’s been there, it’s good to take some time to reorganize a bit to reduce future stress.
2-Donate
For most of us, it feels good to be able to help other people. While we are decluttering our homes, we can put the items we no longer need to good use by donating them to a local charity. Someone would be very thankful for those clothes that you no longer need. Maybe your pantry is overflowing and turning into such as mess you can’t find what you need. If that’s the case, it might be good to see what you have (that’s unopen of course) an are not longer going to use and donate to a local food bank.
There are other ways you can help others out as well while you are stuck at home. For example, most nursing homes are happy to take cards for residents that don’t get many visitors. You can make cards or give used cards a makeover to make someone else’s day a bit brighter. If you have kids, having the kids make cards for others is a great way to have fun and teach them about the importance of helping others.
3-Movie Marathon (or Binge Netflix)
Besides being productive with your extra time at home, you need to have some fun too! Having a movie marathon of your favorite movies from when you were a child or your favorite series of movies (I enjoy the Avenger and Harry Potter series of movies) is a fun idea! You can also watch your favorite television shows on Netflix or any other streaming service.
You can make these movie or television marathons even more fun by including friends (either in person or virtually). You can also make some popcorn or movie-themed treats to enjoy while watching your shows! With movie marathons like Harry Potter, the themed treat ideas can be endless and fun to make!
You can always make a birthday cake to go with this scene from the first Harry Potter movie!
4-Reconnect with Friends or Family
As you are looking for ways to keep busy and active when stuck at home, reconnecting with your favorite people life is a great way to spend your time. It’s often difficult to stay connected with others when the normal life tasks and stressors are consuming us. Because of this, it’s good to take the extra time we have to spend with others in our lives.
If friends and family are no close by, then you can connect with phone calls, texts, or the wide variety of virtual conversation platforms that are now available. You can keep in touch with one person or a group of friends all at the same time. You can even get everyone involved with Netflix Watch Part, to enjoy your favorite movie or show with family and friends even when they cannot be in the same room.
You can also connect with those living at home with you. Take some time to play with the kids, pull out the old board games gathering dust in the closet, or just chat. This is also a good time to spend some quality time with your significant other! Have an in-home date night, make breakfast together, or head to bed (not sleep) a bit early.
5-Self-Care
Everything we have talked about can definitely be self-care. Decluttering home and life, helping others, relaxing, and spending time with friends and family are all great ways to take care of ourselves. However, there are so many other ways to take care of ourselves as well
Self-care is also just doing things you enjoy and spending your time the way you want to spend your time. Take some time to read. Enjoy a long bath. Have a glass of wine. Craft. Bake. Exercise. Dance. Sing. Do whatever makes you happy. For me, I enjoy planning and I love traveling, so spending my time planning my next vacation with my husband or with my family is fabulous self-care for me! Not only do I get to think about my future fun, but I will also actually be able to enjoy those amazing experiences in the future!
If you need a kick start into figuring out how to start on a productive self-care journey, you can check out this amazing 5-Day Self-Care challenge to kick start a new self-care routine, starting with prioritizing self-care! It’s a great way to start making self-care a priority in life!
Check out more great self-care ideas here!
We’ve done so much decluttering and donating during the pandemic, so I’m thankful that has been an ongoing “thing” recently.
We have too and I started my second round this weekend!
These are all great suggestions! My kids are grown with families of their own. We do stay very connected. At home though my favorites are watching movies and Netflix and working on goals. I practice a lot of self care too. Actually…I don’t mind being stuck at home!
Those are all great things! It’s definitely good you enjoy being home, especially with all 2020 brought to us!
The only thing I have not done on this list this year, is to prioritze self care. When we first went into lockdown in March, I started to do this. Then it fell to the wayside, unfortunately, when we went into renovation mode!
Renovation mode is still a good thing (and hopefully a fun thing too)!!
Great ideas. I always love decluttering. I feel so accomplished when I’m done.
I agree with that completely! It’s such a good feeling!
I’ve done all of these! Lol! You nailed it. And with the holidays here, we’ve been decluttering more than usual!
That’s the perfect time!
These are excellent options and choices! We usually binge-watch Netflix twice a week!
Thanks!
I’ve definitely been trying to do all of these, but decluttering has been my #1!
Yes! It’s such a good feeling!
I have definitely been able to ‘spend more time’ with my mom via phone calls with being forced to be at home more 🙂
That is one positive of all of this quarantine time!
Perfect suggestions. We did quite a bit of de-cluttering over the last 2 weeks being stuck inside during our family Covid isolation. Thankfully everyone is feeling better and is back to work, and we have some good momentum going to continue the process with lots of items to donate too.
Glad everyone is feeling better! It’s good you felt good enough to get some things done while you were off!
Great ideas! I REALLY need to declutter!!!
Don’t we all!?!?
I think the best thing that has come out of being stuck at home is reconnecting with family and friends! Great list thanks for sharing!
I agree with that! It is definitely good to be home with family!
I am very guilty of putting self-care on the bottom of my priority list. Thanks for giving ideas of what I can do!
Unfortunately, I think most of us put self-care too far down the list!
Great list! Yes! We are all experiencing the need to have this list handy!
Thanks! I’m glad it’s helpful!
I kind of love being stuck at home haha. I’m a home body though. And these ideas are all great, I love a good de-clutter/purge session.
I try to do a purge at least once a year. I’m planning on starting off 2021 with a good purge and cleaning weekend!
Good tips for at home during pandemic. I’ve already started the decluttering and getting organized – just need to do more!
Yes!
Ooh, decluttering and donating are my top things to do when I have some time off. It’s crazy how quick things can pile up.
I know! It does pile up quick!
I am so sick of being home I actually went and rented a cottage over on the beach about 5 minutes away. I just needed to get out of here!
That is such a fun idea! It’s good to get away…even if “away” is not so far away!
I seem to have a never ending to do list! Maybe I can add “do nothing” to that list for self care! haha
That is me too! I’ve learned that I need to add leave my house (ex. quick day trip somewhere or some fun activity around town) as part of my self-care. If I’m home, I feel like I need to be doing laundry or something else!
I have been decluttering and organizing and donating a lot these last couple of months!
That’s such a great thing!
Great suggestions! I love it when I hear that someone has taken owners of their life, learned a new hobby, taken up exercise (even better yoga), taught themselves to cook from scratch or anything that “brings it home”.
Yes! That’s great! It’s always good to expand our knowledge!!
Great ways to stay busy and productive at the same time! Binge watching Netflix has been a go to in our house.. we need to try some of these!
I enjoy being productive! It’s such a good feeling to accomplish something.