Skip to main content

How to use our time at home

Image
By
Suddenly we're spending a lot more time at home. Sometimes we're unsure what to do with our time.

We didn't choose for this to happen, but we can choose how we deal with it.

Shutdown Schedule

Daily planner for extra time at home
Here's my daily planner template. It's flexible so feel free to move things around and put other things in. The main idea is that it gives you a default activity to be doing at any given time.

Click the image for a larger version to download, and see below for more details.

Key Actions

I've designed this to give us the things we'll miss while being at home all the time.

Purpose

Find a project that you want to work on. Time will pass quicker if you're working towards a goal. There are some suggestions in the planner. You may have some of your own.

Joy

Events and activities have been cancelled, but we can make our own fun. I've included some time for playing (or listening to) music, playing games (I still love Uno) or watching a movie. You might choose doing art or looking back on old photos.

Social interaction

There are two prompts to call someone. Not a text, or an email - though you can do that too - but an actual phone call. The sound of someone's voice and physically having a conversation is good for us at this time.

Exercise

For mental exercise I've included an hour for a podcast or reading a book (here are my book reviews). There's two prompts to do physical exercise. It can be a run, if that's OK where you live, some frisbee in the backyard, a work-out in your garage or even gardening. The idea is to get some healthy movement into the day.

Project ideas

If you are taking up the decluttering and selling unwanted items, here's my guide to selling items online. An average household could make thousands. Having less stuff can also save you even more again. See how decluttering is currently saving us thousands.

If you're now schooling your kids at home, here a some handy resources:

Learning something new

It might be learning a new skill yourself, particularly if future income is looking shaky. Or it might be a good time to look at having less expenses. I recently did an article on how to waste a year's salary (do the opposite of that) and another on how I got a month's free electricity. Even really small savings can really add up over time.

All the best

Hope this helps you make the most of your time and to stay healthy. For email updates, you can subscribe here.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

How to waste a year's wages

By
A friend recently asked me why it is that so many people (on good incomes) are struggling to save. Often the big three money areas are housing, transport and food. In one sense these are necessary items. But what we spend on them is often way more than necessary. I crunched some numbers on how much extra my wife and I could spend on these things - if for some reason we wanted to burn our money. 1. Housing Our apartment is fairly nice, but also cost-effective. I've mentioned how choosing it saves us $1,800 per year , compared to a similar one we saw. The high end of 2-bedroom apartments in our suburb is $305 per week more than our apartment. Not $305 per week. $305 per week more than ours is. I cannot get over that. Sure it's new and modern-looking, but that's a lot of money. It's an extra $15,860 per year above what we pay. 2. Transport The Australian Automobile Association lists the costs of owning and running a car. It includes many often-overlooked c...
4 comments
Read more

Colour me happy

By
One of the great things about reducing possessions is thing called 'helper's high' . It's that fuzzy feeling you get from helping someone else out. I got one recently by helping an old man lift heavy groceries into his car boot when he was struggling. But this is not about that. I was about to put some watercolour paints online for anyone who wanted them. Then I remembered a local community group where people do art therapy. I gave the paints to a contact who passed them on to the group. The next day my contact called me to say how much they were appreciated. One of the participants wanted to do some watercolour painting, but couldn't afford the paints. When my contact walked in with free paints the participant was overjoyed to be able to do her art. As far as 'helper's highs' go, this was a slightly removed one - I never met the actual person I helped. But still it was a buzz.
Post a Comment
Read more

The real cost of owning a car

By
It's been about 10 years since I've owned a car. My wife doesn't own one either. "You must save a lot in petrol" That's one of the frequent reactions when someone discovers we don't own a car. "Of course, but it's just the tip of the iceberg" is the usual theme of my reply. Many people I've talked to just aren't fully aware of the real cost of owning a car. Or even that there are six different costs of owning a car. Six? Really? Yes. Occasionally a work colleague or friend will boast their car only costs $X per week. Of course it turns out only some factors have been counted. Sometimes it's just petrol alone. To some people, that feels like the only cost they pay each week. Why does this matter? You might be questioning the need for a second car in the household (or even having one at all). Or you might just be choosing which car to get next. Either way, to make an informed decision we need proper information. So let's look at...
2 comments
Read more