By: Godfreyna Canja
With the current situation unfolding around us and most countries already enforcing a lockdown and mandatory self-quarantine for people, and although this is definitely for our own and everyone’s good, for many, being stuck inside our houses for an indefinite period of time can leave us bored and with a lot of time in our hands.
Don’t fret, this is just a simple situation we can easily resolve. There are other people out there who have obligations and have no choice to just stay at home, and ought to be extremely safe outside. So, for those who can stay at home, let’s do our part.
For “beginners”, for those who are not used to staying home for long, there are a couple of things you could do to remain productive! Check out our 5 things you could do inside the house to be a homebody to love!
Clean! Clean! Clean! And Fix!
Bring out your brooms and mops and make sure your house is squeaky clean! The current health and safety situation is all the more reason why you should finally do your chores that you have been putting off for weeks! Make sure that all points of entry are clean and sanitized, you can mop the floors with water and diluted bleach or spray it with disinfectants afterwards.
Doing your laundry should also be a part of the cleaning routine! Make sure you separate your whites, colors and delicates to different loads in the washer, and use detergent and bleach!
You can also finally have time to fix some of the things you have neglected during the time you got busy! Decluttering your closet is a nice way to start! Round up all the things you need to throw away, the things you can give away and the things that need to be fixed. Maybe you have some shoes that needed fixing for months now, or maybe you can finally get the time to sew that loose button on your shirt. This is a great time to find broken things in your house and instead of just throwing them away, try and see if there’s a way you can fix them, it’s good for both the environment and your wallet!
Not only will you be doing something productive with your time but you’re actually keeping yourself safer from the virus— bonus time point is that you’ll give your mom a break from all the chores!
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Practice your culinary skills
With all the free time you have right now, maybe it’s time you can finally get some cooking practice done! Maybe start with that favorite dish from that restaurant you’ve always wanted to replicate! Try out different recipes from beginner to advanced levels. Just make sure you don’t waste those food supplies, so you don’t have to go out and buy more at the grocery store! Remember that you’re in quarantine and must avoid going out if it can be helped.
While you’re at it, make sure that the food you’re preparing are healthy and can boost your immune system! Our body needs to fight off those pesky diseases so let’s take it upon ourselves to keep our bodies in tip top shape and eat a healthy diet!
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Spend quality time with your family (and pets!)
This is the perfect time to catch up with your family! Sit down, eat meals with them and catch up with life, talk about the things that you haven’t talked about during your busy times and just spend time with your family! Also, if you have pets around don’t forget to give them all the pets and cuddles you missed when you were working or in school! Our doggos and cattos are probably psyched that their beloved humans are all home and free to play with! Just remember to wash your hands regularly and sanitize them after cuddling and giving belly rubs to your pets!
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Binge-watch all the shows or catch up with the books and games you’ve missed out so far
After all the chores you’ve done, it’s time now to sit back and relax! With our busy schedules and heaps of readings from school or work, we barely had any time to catch up on the latest shows on TV. Now that we’ve got plenty of time in our hands, make sure to list down all the shows you’ve been wanting to binge-watch! But make sure not to stay up late, remember that a healthy body requires enough hours of sleep!
There are also new online games you can try out at this time! If you have a good internet connection, you can try playing the new online games released! For one, the newly released Animal Crossing from Nintendo is getting a lot of buzz right now. Enjoy a fun social simulation video game with cute animals and villagers!
Reading all those books you bought from the last Big Bad Wolf sale can also be a good way to pass the time! You have probably stacked up a lot of books from being too busy or too tired to read, now is a great time to sit down and relax with a good book to read. Reading may also help you take your mind off the anxiety you may feel with all the things that is happening around us right now. Reading can become a good distraction for us right now, so pick up that book and let’s get to reading!
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Learn something new
We’ve all wanted to learn something new at one point but never really got to because of certain reasons. Now that we’re forcibly stuck at our homes, we have no reason to delay it anymore! May it be learning an instrument, learning a new language or even learning how to be more active and do yoga or aerobics, you can have enough time to learn all new stuff that you can when waiting for the quarantine to be over!
For starters, there are a lot of videos on Youtube you can watch to easily learn the basics of a new language, an instrument or a skill. If you want to do a project with the new skill you’re going to learn, why not try knitting or crocheting? You can make lots of easy projects for beginners and you might eventually become really good at it!
You can also try jumping in the bandwagon of TikTok! It’s probably the most trending app in the internet right now especially with a lot of countries on lockdown, the hype on the video-sharing platform grew even bigger. Why not try it with the rest of the world? It’s fun and can even make you a little more active!
Photo from Unsplash
With all the unfortunate news we receive every day, we may feel a bit down and anxious, we can use the free time we have right now as a good way to be productive and distract ourselves from the anxiety that we feel. Above all we must not lose our hope and keep our faith steady in times like this.
How would you cope with a long-term stay at home? Share with us your tips and suggestions below!