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 a craft or skill
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?
Learn a craft or skill
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.
Learn a craft or skill
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.
Learn a craft or skill
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 !
Practical things to do
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!
Practical things to do
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.
Practical things to do
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.
Practical things to do
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
Practical things to do
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 .
Entertaining or Social
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 .
Entertaining or Social
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.