11 Productive Things to do when Bored at Home (Self Isolating)
School is over. Work is paused or very limited.
Millions of people around the world are wondering what to do when bored at home during self isolation.
We can only sit around doing nothing for so long, thankfully there are plenty of productive things to do in your house during this crazy time in our lives. Some of the benefits of these include:
- Learn something useful that you can keep or apply later once isolation has lifted
- Activities that are proven to reduce stress and keep you healthywhen stuck at home
- Doing something that will help others in your household
What to do when bored? Pick an activity.
Learn a craft or skill
Start writing a book
It’s often said that everyone has a book inside them, just waiting to be written.
If that’s true, and we think it is, then what better time to kick off your novel than by sitting down at the writing desk during self-isolation? Writing a book requires peace, quiet and concentration, all things that are in healthy supply when you're at home with lots of free time.
Your average novel is anything from 80,000-100,000 words long , so if, during your self-isolation, you can put down 1,000 words a day, your book could be finished in as little as three months!
If writing a book isn’t your style, or if you find it a bit too daunting, or you would simply rather relax and get lost in a good story, why not use the self-isolation time to finish off that book you’ve always meant to read?
It takes on average...
Days
Learn a craft or skill
Learn a craft
What better time to finally pick up that crafty hobby you’ve always wanted to pursue than during a period of self-isolation?
If you’ve got the materials, learning a craft is a wonderfully productive use of the time – there are an infinite number of things things to make when bored. You will also have something to show at the end of your time at home.
There are so many crafts you can learn with the online resources that we have available in the digital age and a great number of them can be done with normal household items.
Cooking is a great place to start, along with other straightforward crafts like calligraphy, painting and website design. Calligraphy in particular is a good choice, since it can be done with minimal materials and only takes two hours to learn the basics, but two months to master.
It only takes
Day
Learn a craft or skill
Learn a language
If you’ve ever thought about dusting up on your high school language skills for an upcoming trip you might have been planning, there’s no better time to start than right now.
There’s plenty of resources out there to practice some key phrases in dozens of languages, so why not try and pick up some useful bits of lingo to impress the locals and potentially get you out of some sticky situations?
If you choose to learn with an online service like Babble for example, you’ll be able to learn the basics of Spanish in three weeks and that’s at just 15 minutes a day – perfect for your spell under self-isolation.
It only takes
Days
Learn a craft or skill
Make music
Many houses across the UK are home to musical instruments that were bought in car boot sales or in charity shops.
These are often used briefly by beginners and then cast away in attics or basements to gather dust and to go out of tune. Learning a musical instrument is one of the most productive things to do in free time at home that almost certainly will be a lot of fun as well. So boot up that digital keyboard, polish the piano keys, and try the valves on your trumpet and bring music into your home.
Even if you do not have an instrument try your hand at using some digital music making software.
Whether you’re a beginner or a veteran learning a tough piece, now is your time to shine. If you choose something like the guitar, which has lots of learning material available, and you spend half an hour a day practicing, you can expect to learn enough chords for basic songs in just two months !
It only takes...
Days
Practical things to do
Start spring cleaning & Sell what you don't need
What else can you do when you're bored? Practical things around the house! Spring is nearly upon us and with it comes the decluttering, the spring cleaning and the domestic renewal that characterises the season.
If you’re in a period of self-isolation, this can be an ideal time to get the cleaning off to a head start with the added bonus that you’ll have the time at home to enjoy your newfound clean and tidy surroundings.
Use the opportunity to get rid of stuff that you don’t need or no longer want as well; you can always collect any items worth anything and sell them online, using sites like eBay or Gumtree. Generally, a seven-day auction period on eBay is thought to be the best auction timing so if you put up two listings a day, by the end of two weeks you’ll have (hopefully) sold 14 items!
You can sell maybe...
Items
Practical things to do
Decorate your home
Let your inner interior designer out whilst in self-isolation and rearrange your home
If you’ve ever wondered how your bedroom would look with the bed up against the other wall or if you’ve considered moving the television to a position outside of the window’s sunlight, now’s the time. It doesn’t have to be a complete restructuring either – it might be something as small as hanging some family photos on the wall or switching cushions around.
It’s up to you, but this is a great time to make some refreshing interior changes. Home decorating can take as long as it needs, but we’d say, set aside an hour to get it all done.
It can take around...
Days
Practical things to do
Gardening
Why not help the family by doing the gardening
What to do when you're bored at home and don't have a garden? Plants in pots can still count as gardening, think creatively and you can produce some amazingly green displays. It can easily get you down, being isolated in the house, especially now that the weather is starting to get warmer and the flowers are starting to open up and bloom.
Getting some fresh air is a must, and there are few better ways to do that than by upgrading the garden yourself. So gather up your rakes, trowels and spades and spend a few hours out in the garden.
Some simple weeding will have your flowerbeds looking smart, and for an injection of colour in the summer, now is the time to try your hand at planting some flower arrangements. If you want to grow a classic spring flower like a tulip and if you’ve bought pre-chilled tulip bulbs, you’ll get two to three weeks of looking after your flower project until it blooms.
It takes around...
Days
Practical things to do
Get into shape
Good things come to those who sweat.
Not only does exercising pass the time easily but considering how immobile we are getting with self-isolation - it's an even more important time to get the body moving.
The benefits are huge, you maintain a healthy condition of the body as well as numerous proven mental benefits including stress relief.
Need some motivation? Try following a live fitness class on Youtube or get a trampoline in your garden! If all that is not to your taste you can always set up a treadmill or exercise machines in front of the telly so you can watch Netflix to help ignore the pain
It's recommend to have around...
Minutes
Practical things to do
Do some DIY
Everyone has them – those DIY jobs that we all put off for a rainy day.
Then the rainy days swing by and we find we’re too busy or we’ve got places to be and things to do. Thanks to self-isolation, you’ve finally got a reason to put up that wonky shelf, to paint that rundown shed or to oil the hinges on a squeaky back door.
As long as you’ve got the household tools and requisite material, a brief shot of DIY will have your house fixed up in no time at all. If it’s just you at home, painting the walls can be a fun and straightforward DIY job for you to tackle.
You can even get your kids involved for smaller DIY projects
For the average bedroom, it’ll take around 5.5 hours or around half a working day .
It takes around
Hours
Entertaining or Social
Catch up on TV or Videogames
Maybe this is not so productive but after all of the hardwork above - you deserve it!
While self-isolating, you can always fall back on the old reliables. Entertaining things to do at home when bored include that long list of TV programmes to catch up on and with streaming services like Netflix and iPlayer, good content is never more than a click away. Bunkering down in your home during self-isolation means you finally have an excuse to catch up on that season you never finished.
It’s a good way to pass the time too – if you watched regular favourite The Office (US), you’d be able to get through the entire run in two days and 18 hours. For those who have nearly a month to spare however, watching every single episode of Doctor Who will take a staggering 20 days and eight hours!
The same principle applies to video games and with the emergence of cloud gaming this is easier than ever.
If you ever thought you didn’t have enough time to complete that platformer, FPS or RPG, then you’ll have plenty across your self-isolation; fantasy epic Skyrim will take you nine consecutive days to finish completely .
A game like Skyrim takes...
Days
Entertaining or Social
Reconnect with old friends
Self-isolation can leave a lot of people feeling lonely, especially for all the extroverts out there
Our solution for those with the isolation blues is to reach out to old friends and to just have a chat over the phone or over video chat. How else can you socialise when stuck at home? Things like group video calling, writing letters or sending postcards are all coming back.
Often it can feel like our lives are far too busy to keep up with all of our past acquaintances so time spent at home can give you the time to catch up and reminisce.
Alternatively, if you’re more into your written communication, write someone a letter or a postcard. It all helps to keep those connections alive.
