75 things to do while you’re ‘stuck’ at home during the COVID-19 virus crisis
Published 5:28 pm Friday, March 20, 2020
- Family eating popcorn and watching TV in living room
OK, so you’re stuck at home (or at work with nothing to do) because of this whole coronavirus COVID-19 scare. Maybe you’re an introvert and social distancing is what you’ve been training for your whole life, or maybe you’re an extrovert and you’re already stir crazy 30 minutes into this.
Don’t fear! We have you covered. Here are some suggestions — some serious, some silly — of things to do while you’re stuck at home.
1 Work the crossword and sudoku puzzles in The Daily Leader.
2 Try a new way to make your coffee or tea — use a French press, or a percolator or boil it over a fire in the backyard. Like a fire in a firepit — don’t just set your backyard on fire in order to try coffee. Or tea.
3 Start a journal, blog or diary about anything you want to write about, even if it’s just for your eyes only.
4 Tune up that guitar or other instrument and learn something new.
5 Pick a website at random and see how many times you can find the word “canceled,” or something similar.
6 Download one of the many free classic movie apps on your phone or tablet and watch a movie you’ve never seen.
7 Call someone you haven’t spoken to in a long time and reconnect. If needed, make apologies or offer forgiveness if that’s why you haven’t spoken.
8 Write a haiku or a limerick. Read it aloud in your best Shakespearean accent.
9 Read a magazine cover to cover.
10 Learn some new phrases in a foreign language — like “Hast du Toilettenpapier?” in German (“Do you have any toilet paper?”).
11 Read one of the Psalms in the Holy Bible. Originally songs, imagine what the psalm may have sounded like when sung.
12 Pull out an old photo album (physical or digital) and flip through some memories.
13 Listen to an audiobook. You can download lots for free, or borrow for free from libraries, like the Lincoln County Public Library at https://www.llf.lib.ms.us/ebooks.
14 Write letters (actual letters or cards) to one or more people in the service industry, like the person who is still out there collecting your bags of trash.
15 Learn calligraphy.
16 Teach yourself how to write — or toss a ball or anything else — with your non-dominant hand.
17 Play a long board game with the people “stuck” at home with you.
18 Tell a story as a family. One person starts with a phrase or sentence, the next continues with an added phrase/sentence, and so on. Continue until a logical place to end. Make it a funny or scary story, or whatever your group enjoys.
19 Watch a TV show on mute. Create your own dialogue.
20 Sort out that junk drawer. Or drawers.
21 Organize your socks; see if you can finally find mates for them all.
22 Make sock puppets out of the non-matched socks, or ball toys for your pets.
23 Clean your pet’s aquarium or bed.
24 Bake a cake or some cookies.
25 Watch a movie in a language you don’t know.
26 Watch a movie that has been recommended to you.
27 Watch a movie that won a Razzie Award.
28 Learn how to sew on a button.
29 Rearrange books or movies by cover color.
30 Draw something, anything.
31 Color in a coloring book.
32 Take a relaxing shower or bath.
33 Set new goals for the month or year.
34 Dust.
35 Try one of those projects you pinned a long time ago on Pinterest.
36 Exercise.
37 Do some of those DIY projects you’ve been putting off.
38 Replace light bulbs.
39 Clean ceiling fan blades. Trust me, they’re gross and they need it.
40 Clean out the pan under the fridge and dust the coils on the back. See note on the ceiling fan blades.
41 Watch a YouTube video to learn how to do something unusual.
42 Balance your checkbook, if you have one, or organize your receipts.
43 Hold a pillow over your face and scream. Now, remove pillow and take a deep breath. Repeat as necessary.
44 Have more than one kind of whole coffee beans? Try making a new blend by mixing and grinding beans together. Keep track of what you do, just in case you really like it. Or hate it.
45 Find out what local businesses are still open and support them as best you can.
46 Call your neighbors — especially the elderly, those with small children or who have special health needs — and see if they’re OK.
47 Scroll through Hulu or Netflix or whatever you have, and mark things you want to see later.
48 Go back and pick one of those at random and watch it.
49 Make popcorn and watch “Home Alone.”
50 Try a new hair color.
51 Look up what movies are scheduled to come out later, in theaters or on streaming services, and read the book.
52 Check online for free books to download.
53 Send an ebook to a friend.
54 Update your will. Don’t have one? Write one.
55 Dance.
56 Put ice or heat on whatever you hurt dancing.
57 Close your eyes and take a virtual tour of a place you remember from your childhood that’s important to you, like your grandmother’s house. Take your time and try to remember details.
58 Learn how to make an origami animal.
59 Take a nap.
60 Update your resume.
61 Make a new board game with an old cardboard box or some paper. Make markers, cards or other pieces. Grab some dice from another game or make a spinner. Make up the rules as you go.
62 Make a hat or boat, sword and shield, or something else with old copies of The Daily Leader.
63 Call someone at random and tell them you care about them.
64 Have a scavenger hunt in your home.
65 Turn on a desk fan and talk directly into it, doing your best Darth Vader impression: “No … I am your father.”
66 Write a Letter to the Editor (see guidelines on page 4).
67 Groom your pet.
68 Pick up your copy of “50 People to Know,” published recently in The Daily Leader, and read about someone you don’t know. Make a promise to yourself to meet that person and get to know them better once the social distancing over COVID-19 is over.
69 Rearrange the spices or other items in your kitchen cabinets.
70 Memorize a poem, the US presidents, the preamble to the US Constitution, some Bible verses or your spouse’s birthday.
71 Clean your screens — televisions, phones, tablets, computers, etc., as well as your window screens.
72 Read a column by Sean Dietrich. There just happens to be a good one on this page, over there to the left.
73 Write an email to columnist Sean Dietrich through his website, SeanoftheSouth.com, on the contact page.
74 Finish your taxes.
75 Get lots of rest and stay positive!