How to spend your time productively during this lockdown period?

While the whole world is pretty concerned about the global outbreak of the deadly coronavirus, the government authorities have resorted to isolations and social distancing as their last line of defence. As a result, lockdowns have become the common norm thereby leaving us with tons of time left in our hands. So why not utilize it productively for the benefit of ourselves? Here we are about to explore a few of the proven ideas worth trying out as below:

1.       Organize your emails:

We recommend you to spend at least a minimum of 15 minutes for deleting unwanted emails. By making it a regular practice, you will be amazed to see how much you can lighten your inbox within a shorter period.

2.      Arrange your laundry:

Wash your old winter coats, hats and gloves that are launderable. Also, segregate apparels that your family members have outgrown for donating to others and properly arrange the rest. In this way, you can make your home look a lot more organized. You can also wash the backpacks of your family members and reusable bags of your household to stay away from infection at this crucial juncture.

3.      Plan your food preparation:

Homemakers can breathe a sigh of relief since they don’t have to rush their children to school or send their husbands to office. With the ample time left, you can allot 20 minutes once a week to plan the forthcoming lunches and dinners. This ensures that you get all your raw materials stocked well in advance and that too particularly at this lockdown period, while shops are running out of inventory due to panic shopping.

4.      Wipe your vehicles:

Be it a car or a motorcycle or even a pedal cycle, a clean wash is needed once a while. An additional perk of this activity is that you get some time to hang out outside amidst fresh air. Start by taking everything out and then wipe down the seat surfaces. Finish by cleaning the tyres, windows etc. Your kids too will enjoy this activity for sure…

5.      Clean up your kitchen and other home furnishings:

With modular kitchens making their way into every new age homes, it is high time that you maintain them quite responsibly. Take things out of your cabinets and drawers and then thoroughly wipe down their inner sides. Ensure that the doors of the cabinet work smooth and apply any oil if needed. Finally, put all the things back and wipe the outer side of the doors and all of the pulls. Seek the help of your other family members to move the living room furniture and then clean underneath. Don’t forget to take the cushions off the chairs and sofas and vacuum them. Spray some sanitizers and disinfectants to keep them free of any possible infections too.

6.      Cook your favourite food:

Cooking can act as a great stress buster for the quarantined people. Further, you can involve your other family members too in various cooking-related activities such as buying ingredients, washing the veggies, slicing meat, preparing the frying pan etc., so that the whole process of food preparation becomes very enjoyable. Not only will it help them to pass the idle time, but it will also reduce your burden through the collective efforts of your family. Indulging in your favourite cuisine ever so often will keep your spirits high and boost your mood. Further, it will avoid you from binging on unhealthy sweet treats. It would always be good to fancy a little bit of what you desire as it offers the much-needed balance in your diet.

7.      Read a lot:

As rightly pointed out by our Prime Minister, this is the time to stay healthy both physically and mentally by gathering a lot of knowledge and keeping our mind fresh all the time. Now is the time to read a lot of books, novels, journals and newspapers. This also serves as a much-needed distraction from this stressful situation.

8.      Track your goals:

If you have not yet devised your list of goals for the current year, it is the perfect time to make one. In case if you already have some, use this time to analyse its progress and make necessary revisions as required. A few of the noteworthy goals could be related to larger home projects, family goals involving your kids and career-based goals.

9.      Streamline your payments:

If you are still paying all your monthly bills via offline mode, this spare time could come in handy to convert them into online payment mode. Utilize this time to enter all the essential information about all your payees, which in turn would save an innumerable amount of time in the future. Suppose if you are already paying online, check your recipient list to make sure that they are updated and correct and the need for adding more vendors to the list. You can also call the concerned companies to explore the possibility of setting up an automatic payment facility as well.

We all would have longed for some free time amidst our daily hectic work schedule. Since we have it at this moment, we can use it effectively to perform a lot of cleaning and organizing related activities. Not only does it make you feel more in control, but it will also save a considerable amount of time later after the Corona lockdown. And to top it all, you will also gain a sense of renewal and accomplishment indeed!