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I don’t know about any of you, but there aren’t too many times when you’re forced to stay at home with nothing to do. Sometimes it’s just a rainy day and it will pass quickly. But, in unprecedented times like a mandatory virus quarantine, for instance, or waiting for the waters to recede after a hurricane, it is fairly important to stay busy in order to keep your sanity.

It would be very easy to get depressed or stir crazy in these situations, especially for very extraverted or social people, so here are a few things that you can do to help yourself emotionally and to be productive while you’re at it.

*This post may contain affiliate links. Please see full disclosure at the end of the post.

First of all, stay connected: If you’re doing therapeutic cleaning, call a friend to talk to on a headset while you clean. If you can’t get a hold of anyone, turn on your music playlist and sing along. If you have your people at home, enlist their help and chat while you work. They’ll feel better and so will you.

Now, I’ll admit: I’m a therapy cleaner. When I’m upset or the world feels out of control, I calm myself by cleaning and organizing. This helps me feel like at least my little corner of the world, my little nest, is a cocoon, safe from the worries of the world. But, you want to break it up into bite sized pieces so you don’t get overwhelmed.  Here’s a list of suggestions for keeping yourself busy:

• Make a maintenance punch list as though you were going to sell your house. One of my frustrations with our house is that we never seem to completely finish anything until it is going on the market to sell. Make a list (A PAPER LIST SO YOU CAN CHECK THINGS OFF AND SEE YOUR PROGRESS) with bite sized projects that you can chip away at while you’re confined to the house. Walk around the front, sides, and back of the house, note waiting projects/maintenance items, then go to each room and do the same).  This is a great time to do things like recaulk showers and bathtubs, etc. Don’t be afraid to let your kids help, I learned too late that they might surprise you if you let them help, my kids actually do a great job. It will make them feel good and accomplished when they help complete something.

• Get out your picture bin and sort your pictures. During Hurricane Florence we were at a relative’s house for a month. Luckily, I brought our un-sorted picture bin (I thought our house was going to be gone because they initially projected a strong CAT 4, so we brought everything non-replaceable). I also brought our picture organizing bins, thinking ahead so we would have something to do. This is a GREAT project to do with your kids… I was surprised how many pictures they had never seen and I got to share the stories behind each of them and talk about when they were really little, or show them pictures from when I was young (THEY LOVE THESE!!!). When I went through picture bins I kept my favorites out and started ordering canvas prints.

• Organize your DVDs and CDs. Yes, we still have an extensive DVD collection. And YES, they are alphabetized by category in the cabinet (kids cartoon movies, kids live action movies and family movies, humor, adult humor, action adventure and drama, series, chick flicks, and marvel- that gets its own section). Now that we have a place to house them, I figured out that years of my husband lugging cd cases back and forth on deployments had resulted in lost cases so we had stacks of CDs with no home (which we were then RE-purchashing on amazon if we wanted to watch). I bought a 100 pack of DVD case covers to complete the process of getting all of the movies into the organized cabinets.

• Clean out your medicine bins. I don’t know about you, but with five kids, we have quite the assortment of medicine in the medicine cabinet. Every few years I go through it when it starts to overflow, check the expiration dates (you’ll be surprised how many expired meds you have), reorganize it, and make it wonderful again. 

• Pull everything out of your pantry, throw away expired food, and reorganize what you have. This is a fantastic time to go through what you have in your pantry. I have awesome can organizers in my pantry that really help, especially with the overflow from stocking up for a hurricane or the odd quarantine here and there. You may find fun things to make like a giant can of yams (your kids will be excited to have sweet potato casserole when it’s not even Thanksgiving). Let them help you cook it. 

• Go through your tupperware bin. Pull everything out. If it doesn’t have a top, throw it in the recycle bin. Extra tops: go in the recycle bin. (PS: why are you still using tupperware? Pyrex makes amazing glass storage containers and they are all I use for storage. Trust me. You’ll love them).

• Go through the kids coloring stuff. I know. It sucks. It’s SO tedious. Make them help you. Let them test markers. Let them separate into markers and colored pencils. If you have a bin of crayons, let them pick out the broken ones. Find a fun project to do with them with melting crayons in the sun. 

• Go through your kids’ clothes. Bag up donations and watch for online retailer sales for next season and beyond! Chances are, if you’re stuck at home, there’s probably a good sale going on.

• Go through your clothes. Bag up donations and check for sales going on! Just don’t let your spending get out of control. 

• Take out everything under your sinks and re-organize. You’ll be amazed what you’ll find.

• Make sidewalk or driveway art with your kids. Sidewalk chalk is super cheap and is a great passtime as the weather grows warmer! The one below we used painter’s tape to line it out first and it came out really cool!

• Create an indoor herb garden! I’ve always wanted one of these, and the components all come from IKEA. With possible supply chain disruptions coming, I’m trying to keep our kitchen as self-sufficient as possible! You can find potting soil at any of your local hardware stores, or try the local nursery for one stop shopping. You can call ahead for plants and soil and do a transaction without ever getting out of your car! Many local nurseries are open and ready for business!

Most importantly: relax. Dig out some kid’s games and play on the living room floor. Candyland is actually really fun! Watch old movies your kids haven’t seen (Goonies!!!). Bake bread together. Paint together. If you have young children, they won’t remember anything about the current crisis except how you reacted to it, so have fun and don’t stress.

Don’t let your kids disappear and isolate themselves (even though I hate to admit that playing video games online is exactly how my older kids are staying connected to their friends). Stay together.

My father used to say something to me when I was growing up, at the times when I was soaking his shoulder in tears: “This too shall pass.” It’s all going to be okay.

What are you doing to stay busy?

Cheers, friends, and stay safe!

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