Sitting at home, and need something to do? Check out these tips for How to Stay Busy at Home!
In desperate need of some epic things to do at home… right now? You’ve just hit the jackpot!
From playing games to learning new skills, and organizing to making money from home, these tips for How to Stay Busy at Home are great for you and the whole family! There’s something fun for everyone!
So here’s everything you need to do to have fun and keep busy at home this week…
How to Stay Busy at Home – Fun Things to Pass the Time:
#1: Read That Book You’ve Been too Busy to Read
Grab that good ol’ novel off the shelf, and get reading! Relaxing on the couch with a good book is a great way to pass the time. Don’t have any books on hand? Go to the Kindle Store, and get a free or cheap ebook.
#2: Have a Water Balloon Fight in Your Backyard
No explanation needed. If you’re wondering why this is a good way to pass the time, instead, ask yourself, “why not?!” Unleash your inner child, fill up those water balloons, and… splash!
#3: Solve Your Rubik’s Cube
Get your creative juices flowing, and solve that pesky little Rubik’s Cube that’s probably been collecting dust for however many years. Now is the time to finally solve it!
#4: Have an International Dinner Night
Actually, this is a great way to shop from your pantry and work with ingredients you already have in the house! Here’s some ideas:
- Whip up the pasta and cook up an Italian extravaganza.
- Make chicken, Spanish rice, refried beans, and salsa and make some epic tacos or burritos.
- Or whatever you have to work with on hand!
- Need some more inspiration? Check out these Easy International Recipes by Country!
#5: Create Something Epic
Pull out the Legos or Lincoln Logs, and create something epic! Seriously. Why not bring the family together to build a mini city within your home?
#6: Take an Online Museum Tour
I know, nothing beats a good adventure. But since Bucket List Trips aren’t an option right now, why not explore museums from the comfort from your own home? There are actually several museums doing this! Take a look at some of these below:
Guggenheim Museum – New York*
National Gallery of Art – Washington DC*
The J. Paul Getty Museum – Los Angeles*
British Museum – London, UK
Musée D’Orsay – Paris, France*
The Louvre – Paris, France
Pergamon Museum – Berlin, Germany*
Rijksmuseum – Amsterdam, Netherlands*
Van Gogh Museum – Amsterdam, Netherlands*
Uffizi Gallery – Florence, Italy*
Modern Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art – Seoul, South Korea*
Museu de Arte de São Paulo – São Paulo, Brazil*
National Museum of Anthropology – Mexico City, Mexico*
*For these museums, you’ll need to download Google’s free Arts and Culture App to take the tour. There are also many, many more tours on the app, too!
#7: Teach Your Dog New Tricks
They say you can’t teach an old dog new tricks, but what do “they” know anyway. 🙂 And besides, no matter what your furry friend’s age is, teaching your dog some new tricks is a great way to pass the time.
Here are some fun ones to start with…
- Shake Hands
- Roll Over
- Stand on Hind Legs
- High Five
- Give Kiss
- Wave
- Spin
- Back Up
#8: Binge-Watch a Movie or TV Series
If you have a strong urge to binge watch The Office, The Lord of the Rings, or whatever series you love or need to catch up on. Now’s the time to do it. Because in all seriousness, watching Frodo’s exceptionally long journey to Mount Doom is an awesome way to pass the time.
#9: Get an Adult Coloring Book
For a easy, relaxing way to pass a few hours, give an Adult Coloring Book a try. Frankly, they’re awesome!
#10: Have an All-Out Game Day
There’s nothing quite as fun as a family game day! While everyone’s sitting around home, you may as well have an epic day of…
- Board games
- Card games
- Sports and Games in the backyard
- Video games
- and more!
#11: Paint a Room
Got some spare paint on hand? Why not put it to good use, and spend a couple of hours painting an accent wall or room?
#12: Watch Free TV!
Watching TV is an age-old way to pass the time… but, did you know that there are a few ways to get free TV?
- Stream several channels for free with Locast Tv.
- Get a Netflix 30-day free trial.
- Sign up for an Amazon Prime 30-day free trial.
#13: Go Camping in Your Backyard
Want to get away without leaving home? Set up a Tent or string a Hammock in your backyard, and go camping there!
While you’re at it, go check out this ultimate list of Creative Camping Meals.
#14: Rearrange a Room
Want to make your house feel brand new again? Rearranging a room is a quick fix, and and nice way to spend some time! The fresh feel of the room will be so much fun!
#15: Have a Scavenger Hunt
Want to keep the kids occupied for a while? Create a scavenger hunt around the house and yard! Create 8 or 10 different clues, placed in different locations, having each clue lead to the next, and finally to the ultimate prize.
How to Keep Busy at Home – Learn a Useful Skill:
#16: Try Some New Recipes
With restaurants closing down for the foreseeable future, it’s time to move beyond just take out. Whether you want to grill an oh-so savory burger, whip up some fiery Thai, make a flavorful Mexican lunch, or an easy dump cake… it really is time take your cooking and baking game to the next level!
First of all, cooking doesn’t have to be so hard. With the right mindset and the right recipes, cooking is actually pretty easy! Go check out this ultimate list of Easy Recipes you need to try to get started.
#17: Level up Your Photography Game
Are you ready to take your photos to the next level? Learning the art of photography, is really no different than learning any other skill. With daily practice, and always looking for ways to learn from others, your photography skills can begin to advance rapidly!
The best part is, you can practice from home, or in isolation.
- Architecture/Building: take photos around your home!
- Portrait: take photos of your family members.
- Landscape: Go take a hike to an isolated area, and practice there.
Go check out these Phone Camera Photography Tips to get started.
#18: Learn to Take Awesome Videos
When it comes to making videos, there are so many great YouTube tutorials and online courses that’ll help you advance your videography skills. Don’t forget… you’ll need a tripod, too!
#19: Learn Photoshop and Video Editing Skills
If you’re going to all of the work to take awesome photos and videos, you’ll need to learn photoshop and video editing skills! Once again, check out online courses on Udemy or Coursera, and YouTube videos to learn these skills.
#20: Learn a Second (or Third, or Fourth) Language
Up until recently, learning another language meant traveling to the country for an immersion stint, or shelling out thousands of dollars for expensive college courses. But did you know that it’s possible to spend very little money to reach a conversational level, or even a high level of fluency? Here’s how:
- Buy a Pocket Dictionary and Grammar Book, and use those as referencing points.
- Start off by Googling to find some free word frequency lists online. Search for “1,000 most common _____ words.” For example, here’s the 1,000 Most Common Spanish Words, and the 1,000 Most Common French Words.
- To supplement your learning, you could use Duolingo, a free, popular language learning app that uses a translation based method. I’ve been casually using it for the past few weeks to work on my Spanish.
- There’s a lot of YouTube Channels that are great for working on listening and pronunciation skills. Also, Forvo is also a terrific place to learn word pronunciations.
- For speaking and conversational skills, give Italki or HelloTalk a try. Italki has online paid tutors, or you can do free online language exchanges. HelloTalk is only for language exchanges, where you help someone learning your native language and they help you learn their own. Mutually beneficial, right?
- And finally, download the Anki app for spaced repetition flash cards – that’ll help you learn and retain vocabulary. And if you’re learning a language like Arabic or Mandarin Chinese, which relies on good calligraphy skills, you can find some good tutorials on YouTube.
These should get you started in the right direction on your language learning journey!
#21: Whip Out That Old Guitar
As long as it doesn’t bother the neighbors, why not grab out the dusty guitar and string a few chords? Or, you could practice any other instrument for that matter. Creating a makeshift home band is an epic way to pass the time!
#22: Practice Your Calligraphy
While not exactly the most useful skill on the face on the planet… you have to admit, perfecting that John Hancock is a pretty awesome skill to have! All you need is a pen and paper to practice, as well as some free tutorials online and on YouTube.
#23: Learn Graphic Design
Graphic design is a terrific skill to have, especially if you run your own business. Knowing how to make your own logos and images will not only save you money down the road, but can be a useful skill for freelance work, too.
#24: Learn Touch-Typing
If you haven’t learned touch typing already, or would like to better your skills, you should definitely do it! By spending several hours working on it, you’ll be able to type much faster and save time for the rest of your life. Not a bad trade off.
TypingTest.com has some great tutorials and tests to get you started.
#25: Learn to Code
Code runs the web and the world, so purchasing an online course or using CodeAcademy to brush up on that Java, C++, or Python is a great move for self improvement and advancing your career.
#26: Try Out a Different Art Form, Like Drawing or Painting
If photography just isn’t your thing, you could always try out sketching, drawing, painting, or whatever from of art you’ve been itching to do! Sit back, relax, and let those creative juices flow!
#27: Hone in Those Writing Skills
Have the perfect idea for the next Great American Novel, or simply want to give journaling or blogging a try? Hone in those creative writing skills and begin working on something epic! You could even put those calligraphy skills to use. 😉
How to Keep Busy at Home – Work on a Project:
#28: Start Your Own Blog
Itching to write about what you love? No matter if you love food, travel, fashion, music, languages, gardening or whatever – having your own blog is the perfect platform to share it with the world! And with all of this newfound free time on hand, now is the perfect time to start one.
Go check out this tutorial for How to Begin a Blog today to embark on your blogging journey!
#29: Start or Expand Your Garden
With grocery store shelves getting emptied out in America and around the world, self reliance has never been so important. It’s time to turn your backyard into your very own grocery store, by planting whatever fruits and veggies you love to eat! Here’s my next salad I’m working on…
#30: Take Surveys
More than ever, having extra cash on hand is so important! And no doubt, the easiest way to start making more money today is by taking surveys.
Simply share your opinions by taking surveys online, and get paid in PayPal cash or FREE gift cards! Talk about EASY!!
Some of the best companies to work with are:
Swagbucks
Survey Junkie
#31: Make Your Own Sanitizing Wipes
If you’re out of disinfecting wipes, don’t worry! You really won’t believe how fast and simple it is to make your own!
Check out this tutorial for how to make DIY Sanitizing Wipes.
#32: Organize the House
The beauty of having a rare break from normally fast-paced lives is that… ironically, we can get so much done! It’s time to get every room organized. Go check out these Small Space Organization Ideas for organizing any space well.
And check out these RV Organization Hacks for all of you full-timers and weekend warriors out there. 🙂
#33: Do a Woodworking Project
Want to make a planter box, pergola, treehouse, or furniture? It’s time to put those woodworking and carpentry skills to good use! You can even order some supplies online from Home Depot or Lowe’s to get started!
34: Tackle Some Spring Cleaning
Is it time to declutter the home, and put a good minimalist mindset to use? Take advantage of free time to get rid of any stuff piling up that’s of no use anymore. Then, order some Baskets online to organize whatever you decide to keep!
#35: Finish up Your Home Projects
Got a rundown patio, overgrown trees, or messy laundry room? In addition to organizing, now’s an excellent time to whip the abode back to its former glory.
So, now that you’ve seen these tips for How to Stay Busy at Home, check out these tricks for earning money from home…
Making Money From Home
Don’t miss out! Follow along with Never Ending Journeys for more fun Travel Tips and Ideas!
What are YOUR favorite tips for How to Stay Busy at Home?
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Michelle says
Wow! This is a great list! Some of these I never would have thought of. We’ve been working on home renovation and homeschool, so those take up a lot of time. At least we’re not bored! 😀
Never Ending Journeys says
Thank you so much, Michelle. Good luck with the renovation and homeschool! 🙂
Christie says
These are great tips to share on how to stay busy at home!
Never Ending Journeys says
Thank you, Christie, I’m glad you like the tips!
LetsCurry says
What a comprehensive list and very well compiled. With home schooling taking a toll, doing even a fraction of this list will allow my girls to relax. Thank you for this post, good timing!
Never Ending Journeys says
Thank you so much! I hope these tips can be of good use.