Need a distraction? Looking for ways to keep busy at home? Then here’s 20 different things you can get stuck into when it comes to how to keep busy at home.
This includes – the jobs that you’ve wanted to do for a while, but haven’t found the time for. Plus, the tasks you haven’t thought of doing before, but which will benefit you.
See, doing ANYTHING is always better than doing NOTHING when you find your mind running wild.
In fact, research shows keeping busy after a breakup can have a placebo effect on healing broken hearts. Likewise, if you’re feeling stressed or overwhelmed in a relationship, distracting yourself with a separate task at hand can help to clear your mind and re-visit the issue with a new light.
So these tasks to help to keep you busy at home, really can come in handy!
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20 Tasks To Help You Keep Busy At Home
So, what have we got? What are our top 20 recommendations for things you can to to stay busy at home? Well, in no particular order, you could…
1) Clear Out Your Old Clothes
Out with the old, and oh-so-ready for the new!
This is a great task to do if you’re looking to feel confident in the way that you look, or re-create yourself with a new image that better reflects you.
Get rid of the old clothes you never wear, or the ones you actually just don’t like. Bag them up and get ready to give them to a charity shop… someone will appreciate them I’m sure!
2) Re-Arrange Your Wardrobe
Once you have more space, work through your wardrobe.
Make it easier to find things, get it tidier, put different outfits together (ready for when you have a social life again!)
It’s makes it clearer what you’re lacking, and what you really don’t need to buy more of.
If you need a little more space, this clothes organiser is pretty handy. It comes in both black or white.
I also use these drawer organisers to organise my draws – it’s super handy to stop you losing all those odd socks!
And trust me – you’ll feel so SATISFIED once this is all done!
3) Create a New Filing System
Whether you’re working from home now and find the paperwork mounting up, or just get a lot of post – systems are a lifesaver!
Something as simple as this will make your life so much easier. See what you can come up with and then breath a sigh of relief!
4) Design a New Room
Change is a good thing. Places get tired and outdated. So pick a room and have fun redesigning it.
Go as bold and brave as you like! There’s no better time to make your house a real home.
5) Do Some Redecorating
It can be something simple like moving around furniture, repainting a wall, changing the handles on a dressing table or door.
Or, you can bring your latest interior design ideas to life in a full blown project! Either way, it’s a great way to keep busy at home.
6) Learn Some New Recipes
Now’s the best time to get your culinary skills up to scratch!
Pick some new recipes you like the sound of and try a couple every week.
If cooking always used to feel like a chore, see if you can find some of the things you do like making, to bring that enjoyment back into not only eating, but creating!
7) Try a Bit of Baking
Similarly to my last suggestion, why not try some baking? If sweets aren’t really your thing, you can always cook up a batch of healthy snacks. The options are endless!
8) Clear Up The Garden, or Make Your Own Urban Garden
If you’ve got a garden, now’s the best time to give it a little TLC if you want to keep busy at home.
Mow the lawn, get rid of the weeds, trim back those plants or plant news ones.
Gardening has shown to have both immediate and long-term positive effects on mental health, so it’s well worth it for more reason than one.
No garden? No worries. You can create your own one! No matter what space size you’re working with. See, apartment gardening is even a thing!
9) Grow Your Own Fruit Or Veg
This is a nice way to keep busy at home, as even if you feel like you’re stuck right now, you can still see something flourish and grow!
Get some little veggies, plant them in pots and then harvest them in weeks to come. There’s something about home-grown food that makes it taste so much better too!
10) Create a Personal Development Bucket List
Unsure on the best way to spend your time at home?
Then why not take a step back by pulling together your very own personal development bucket list… You can then work through your new list, one by one!
(As I’m sure there will be plenty you can get stuck into!)
On a similar note – you may also like to craft a Happiness Plan, which is always a great use of time. That too, will help you think of different things to do!
11) Create Something New In Your Home
There’s plenty of things you can make, create or build in your home.
A great starting point? Storage space! We all need it and luckily there’s lots of creative ways to make it. To get the ideas flowing, have a read of this with 53 storage space hacks.
Pretty cool right? If storage isn’t needed, see what else you can create at home. Think outside the box. Do something different! It’s not about decorating, but about creating!
12) Have a Deep Clean
Get those rubber gloves on, as it’s time to get your home GLEAMING!
This is actually damn good exercise; not to mention one of the simple things to make you feel good!
Just make it more fun by blasting out your favourite music as you scrub away… And be aware with what things are best cleaned with what; particularly when it comes to the common Cleaning Code S fabrics!
Feeling overwhelmed? Then don’t! Just focus on one room at a time, but each room – do it properly.
So if we’re talking about the kitchen – clean out the oven, tackle your fridge / freezer – make that refrigerator smell fresh(!), get everywhere GLEAMING, tackling one part of the kitchen at a time until you’ve completely transformed it!
You might not even recognise the place by the time you’ve finished… Then you’ve just got to try to keep it that way! (Which is the harder part, right?!)
13) Scrub the Skirting Boards
Whilst we’re on our cleaning mission, it’s good to focus on areas that often get neglected… one of which is definitely the skirting boards.
Put some elbow grease into it, and – if you need to – you can even give them a lick of new paint. This leads me onto my next suggestion…
14) Get Those Windows Gleaming
Who needs window cleaners when you’re stuck at home? Go around the house and clean all windows – inside and out (be careful!)
The goal? No streak – you want it to look like there’s nothing even there!
In all honesty, I could write a whole list of cleaning ideas or household chores which would certainly make you keep busy at home… but that would be BORING. S
o have a scan around your house, see what needs doing, then add it onto your list!
15) Clear Out a Cupboard
Do you have a draw or cupboard that kind of just becomes a dumping ground for little bits and bobs? Then now’s the time to sort through it!
And yes, I know, it’s not the most exciting task on this list, but it will sure keep you busy… and you’ll actually feel a little sense of satisfaction once you’ve finished!
Which draw is your worst? Start with that one! That’s the best way to beat procrastination.
Talking of which – you could even create a Procrastination Challenge, full of house tasks… That would certainly keep you busy at home!
16) Get Fixing
That light bulb that’s been out for ages, the door that’s creaky, the marks on the wall that need painting over. I’m sure you can find a few things!
But what better time to get them done than now?
I actually find the most satisfying tasks are the ones you don’t usually do. It makes you feel independent!
So get out there and surprise yourself with your DIY skills. This leads me onto my next suggestion…
17) Give a Home Decor DIY Project A Go
There are literally loads of suggestions on the internet, that are also both cost-effective and fun.
From bird-feeder wreaths to pebble place-mats, book side tables to pillow pockets… It’s actually awesome.
I warn you now however, once you start creating, it gets kind of addictive! Enjoy!
18) Start Creating
If you’re the artsy type, you could even go one step further and create something for your home.
And if you’re not that clever with the paintbrush, there’s heaps of alternatives… like paint by numbers (for adults!)
These are some of my favourite designs, perfect to add into different spaces within your home: Sunset Blue Sea Waves , Waterfalls, Watching You Lion, Cat To Tiger Reflection , Forest Elephants, Rose Glass Art. (I’m slowly working my way through these!)
It really gives your home that extra homely feeling when you display something that’s yours… whether that’s in clear sighting or kind of hidden.
And hey – you may find that you enjoy it, and this turns into a new hobby of yours!
19) Sort Through All Your Favourite Photos
Do you ever find you take loads of photos, only for them to get lost on social media or stuck on your phone? Well if you want to keep busy at home, why not make time to sort through them?
Pick your favourite ones, get them printed and put them places where you’ll actually see them every day. It will bring all those happy memories back to life again!
Yep, you can thank me later for this suggestion!
20) Create a Memory Box
Too many photos to know what to do with? No worries, then go one step further and create a memory box!
I’ve got this Bamboo Photo Cube Box. It’s only £12.99, is a little bit different from most designs on the market and allows you to have photos both outside and inside.
The Low Down
If all else fails, and you’re starting to feel a little disconnected, then there’s actually also a whole world you can tap into online… live streams, podcasts, videos, online training.
They even have live webcams which can take you to some of the places you’ve dreamt of going!
Don’t miss out on all the things that are available online at the moment, because it could fill not only hours, but days – with different things too!
Anyway, there’s a few more things that should keep you busy for the time being. I hope this has helped to fill you with more ideas!
Wishing you all the best.
Love,
Ell_xx
I’ve looked at decorating a room and started to try making new foods. Love the list! Going to work through some others now, maybe starting with the storage space idea. Thanks!
I’ve done so many of these already but you’ve given me some great new ideas Thank you!
Love this! This is a time that we can all take to make some positive changes and stay productive! It’s important to remind ourselves of that! Thanks for sharing, some great ideas – Danielle