10 Ways to Spend Your Free Time in Quarantine
Many of us having nothing but free time in quarantine these days. The widespread shelter-in-place has left us stuck at home abandoning our social lives and interactions with the outside world. Not to say the quarantine isn’t necessary because it has had major impacts on the spread of this virus! But it can get very boring spending so much time at home so it can be tough to figure out what to do with all this free time. Here are 10 ways you can spend your free time in quarantine!
1. Read More Books
Reading can be a great way to spend all this extra free time during quarantine. The great part about reading is that there are so many different kinds of books out there for anyone to enjoy. Whether you like sci-fi adventures, murder mysteries, or learning about World War II there’s a book (or 100) out there for anyone on these topics and more! You can use all this free time to learn as well with books on writing or computer science and really take advantage of sheltering-in-place. If you haven’t read it yet, the Harry Potter series is an incredible adventure and is definitely worth a read even if you’ve seen the movies.
2. Exercise More
With all this extra free time during quarantine you can take advantage of it in terms of your fitness! Getting outside and getting some sunshine while you go on a long walk, bike ride, or jog can be really beneficial to both your physical and mental health. If you were waiting for an opportunity to lose weight or get in shape in general then there’s really no better time than the present.
3. Learn an Instrument (Guitar)
Learning or practicing an instrument can also be a great way to spend all the extra free time these days. Bring out that dusty guitar and use the many available resources online to sharpen your chords! If you’re sheltering-in-place with others then maybe you can start a garage band and jam out until you annoy your neighbors. Or take a newer-age approach and take a chance on mixing songs and producing music with your computer; it’s easier than you might think!
4. Study a New Skill or Learn New Language
You can also utilize all this free time from quarantine for learning a new language! There are so many resources both from books and online. There are many apps and websites that can help you slowly move through lessons and levels and learn almost any language! It would be quite a pump-up to your resume if you could say you’re proficient in Spanish after this quarantine. It would be a very beneficial way to spend all this extra free time these days!
5. Start a Garden
Gardening can be a great way to spend your free time in general so all this extra free time due to quarantine is a perfect opportunity to either work on your existing garden or to start one! Gardening is a fun hobby for your free time as you get to spend some time outside and also grow some great plants! You can grow your own fruits, vegetables, or spices to use in the kitchen. You can also just get some attractive plants and have a garden that all your friends are jealous of! Show off your green thumb and spend all this extra free time building a lush garden!
6. Purge Some of Your Things/Clothes
Another way you could spend some of this free time during quarantine is by, how my Mom describes it, purging old clothes. Go through your closet and wardrobe and see just how many old pairs of jeans or unworn shirts you have laying around. Now is the perfect time to use all this extra time to donate some of those old clothes! Go through your shirts and see which ones you haven’t worn in the last year or so, and then stick them in a trash bag. Once you’ve collected all the clothes that you don’t wear or don’t fit anymore then take them on down to a clothes donation box or Good Will or whichever place you’d prefer!
7. Break Out Those Board Games
If you’re lucky enough to be sheltering-in-place with family or roommates then you’re probably getting tired of endlessly watching Netflix. Another option for all this free time can be to break out those old board games! Gather everyone together for a seemingly-endless game of Monopoly, Risk, or Settlers of Catan! There are lots of fun games out there that can provide lots of fun (or at least kill time) during all this extra free time in quarantine.
8. Find Some New Music
You can also use this free time during quarantine to update your music library! Reach out to some friends and see what they’ve been listening to lately. If you have Spotify they also offer lots of different playlists and such with new music that they think you may like depending on your currently-liked songs. Soundcloud can also be a great way to find new music through mixes or following certain accounts!
9. Play Online Games with Friends while Video Conferencing
If you like video conferencing with your friends to stay in contact then you might enjoy spicing it up with some online games! If you’ve ever played Cards Against Humanity, the adult version of Apples to Apples, then you know how fun it can be with a group of your close friends. Due to quarantine though, we’re not supposed to get together for in-person hanging out or activities. So if you’re willing to spend some money one person just needs to get a JackBox Party Pack on Steam or another website! Once you run the game you just share your screen while Zooming or whatever video conference tool you are all using, then your friends join in with their mobile phone on the Jackbox website. You can play a game very similar to Cards Against Humanity with ridiculous prompts then you fill in the answer with anything you want and then everyone else decides between your given and another person’s answer. It’s a really fun time and the great thing is if you get bored of that game then there’s many more offered in the JackBox Party Pack!
10. Find a New Show to Binge on Netflix
A fairly obvious activity to do during your free time in quarantine is to watch Netflix. It can be a great time though to find a new great show you’ve been waiting to watch or heard about and finally have the free time to binge it!
What are your favorite things to do in your free time during quarantine? Share them in the comments below!
Featured Image Source: Photo by Joshua Rawson-Harris on Unsplash
