Top 5 Things To Do While You Stay At Home

How has everyone been? Depending on where you live, many of you may be under “stay at home” or “shelter in place” orders (and for good reason!) I hope everyone is doing the above so we can all work together toward suppressing this pandemic! But what does one do now that our routines are disrupted? Many of us are working from home, some of us are jobless as places of employment close. Regardless of the work situation, all of us have extra time at home and the question is, what to do?

I think I may fall into the minority where I constantly have so many things that I didn’t have time for before that I’m now eager to do. Trust me, I am not going to be running out of things to do anytime soon! Ha! But today I want to talk about the fun things to do while we stay at home to keep boredom at bay and your sanity intact!

Disclaimer: if you have kids, this whole stay at home thing is a completely different animal and I have so much respect for you parents! I tried to add a kid-friendly option under each thing to hopefully keep everyone entertained.

Read

Okay this seems like a no brainer, right? We’re bookworms – we all have towering TBRs. But sometimes we all just get distracted by our phones – social media, news, etc – that we don’t actually PICK UP the book. I do this too! My suggestion: set aside a specific time to read. Put the phone on silent and away from you and sit down with your book/kindle/reading device.

(I really like the app Bookly not just for the fun stats but also you can start a timer when you read and it generates stats from that like how long it’ll take you to finish the book.)

Have kids? Read something together! Or designate that reading time where you each pick a book and spend a certain amount of time reading. Gather “read in” materials: make some popcorn, grab a blanket and pjs (or maybe don’t change out of them??), snuggle up and read! I loved read ins in elementary school!

Bake

I really like cooking and baking and actually find baking very calming. There’s a set of ingredients and instructions and if you follow them, you get a tasty product at the end! Stress baking and stress eating go hand in hand! 😛

However, I know groceries are hard to get and can be crazy pants out there right now. And we are trying to stay in as much as possible so I’d recommend adding key ingredients to a weekly (or even bi-weekly) trip. Just put one large grocery delivery order or grocery pick up order together. You can always bake something with key pantry staples: flour, eggs, butter, oil. I always have peanut butter, honey, rolled oats and chocolate chips on hand as well (they keep and I use them regularly enough that I always have these things stocked). If you are getting groceries, apple sauce and cocoa powder keep well and can increase the variety of things you bake!

Have kids? I know I loved baking fun as a kid. Depending on the age, you could even toss in some academia and have them practice fractions with the baking ingredients! 😀 If you have icing or sprinkles, cookie decorating would be a fun activity as well!

Animal Crossing / Video Games

Are you playing Animal Crossing? I used to play it on the Nintendo DS waaay back in the day and I’m loving playing it again now on the Switch! It’s very soothing to just fish and catch bugs and set up my island. <3 I don’t get as many playing hours in as what I see others putting in (like I said, so many things to do!) and feel behind! Ha! I just got my museum and it’s beautiful and I’m so excited.

Any other video games in general. I mean, we can have a little self control and not let the video game hours take over your life– eat, go for a walk, rest your eyes! (I sound like my mother.) But what better time than now to finally play through a game you’ve been meaning to but didn’t have enough time for?

Have kids? Worried about too much screen time? Set a timer and when it goes off, time for a new activity! My nephew recently got a Nintendo Switch and he has specific times he can play / not play. I think those rules have been getting bent as my sister’s been trying to work from home and watch the kids but rules and time limits at least set a guideline!

Puzzles / Board Games

I have always loved board games from a young age and still love them now – the heavy strategy ones to the fun party games. Please do not invite friends over for a big party game!! But if you don’t live alone, board games can be super fun. Quick favorites that can be played with just two people: Fluxx (I’ve really enjoyed the Marvel edition and the Firefly edition as I’m a huge fan of both), Splendor, and 7 Wonders Duel are some fantastic options. And my husband and I recently discovered some REALLY fun “escape room” games called Exit: The Game – they’re pretty cheap and have very cool puzzles to work through. Best part is you can play Exit by yourself as well! They have a huge line of them to choose from and we’ve done three so far. Each one has been unique with very interesting themes!

Have kids? So many kid friendly games! Have older kids who like strategy games? Camel Up, For Sale and Azul are some really fun great intro to modern board games. Younger kids? My First Carcassone, Ticket To Ride: My First Journey and Catan Jr are some great versions of existing strategy games for adults geared for the younger kids! Of course there are the popular standbys: Monopoly, Sorry, Candyland but those can get old fast. Mix it up with some of the aforementioned ones! Way more fun for the adults too 😉

Finally Binge Watch That Show Everyone Kept Telling You To Watch But You Never Had Time For

There is ALWAYS that show (or shows plural) that you’ve been meaning to watch or that people always reference and you never get the references because you haven’t yet gotten to it. Now is the time! Also… I’ve been seeing this Tiger King show that everyone has been watching? I’m not trendy enough to know what the heck this is but apparently everyone is watching it.

I recently finally finished Season 3 of The Dragon Prince on Netflix and would HIGHLY recommend! What an amazing fantasy show with very cool world and magic system, dynamic engaging characters and unique story. I can’t wait for them to announce a fourth season even though that will be awhile I’m sure with the pandemic… however, check it out if you haven’t already! Great for kids too.

I personally have MANY options of shows to catch up on: Stranger Things, Outlander, The Good Place, Great British Baking Show… the list could go on. 😀

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Tell me what you’ve been doing at home so far to keep entertained and also tell me how you’re doing! What’ve you been reading or watching? If you have questions or comments about the board games I mention, hit me up here in the comments or on twitter!

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