Pass Time at Home

Often, when life is hectic, you think of all the things you would like to do or that you need to do if you could. Now that you actually have some free time at home, take advantage of it by either getting caught up or working on something brand new. Think about how best to use this time, then roll your sleeves up and get started. When you’re finished, you’ll be able to pat yourself on the back knowing you actually accomplished something worthwhile versus resorting to being a couch potato.

Steps

Redecorating Your Home by Spending Little or No Money

1. Use old paint that’s been stored. Perk up a door, a table or a wooden chair that has seen better days by painting them. Try painting a concrete floor, perhaps in the basement laundry area. You can also use painter’s tape to make stripes to create borders on your walls. You are only limited by your imagination when redecorating your personal space.
   • Unify your home with white paint. If the upper cabinets in your kitchen are different colors from either separate cabinet pieces, chairs or other pieces, think about painting everything white to bring them all together.
   • Painting a room a different color than white, though, can really bring a space to life. Don’t let a fear of color make you choose beige, white or off-white all the time. Dark hues, for example, add depth and texture to a space. This is especially true if you have a large room with a high ceiling. Conversely, if you have a small room, lighter, brighter colors can really open up the space and make it look bigger.
   • However, when painting, consider keeping the ceiling white or painting it a light color. Ceilings that are lighter help a room appear more open and larger.
2. Rearrange the furniture. Sometimes just moving your couch at an angle or into another corner can make a big difference in how a living room looks and feels. Think about how you can reposition the pieces you have to make a new look, even moving them into different rooms. Why not move that big, overstuffed chair into your bedroom near the window for a cozy, new reading nook?
   • Before you rearrange, though, be sure to clear the clutter. Any disorganization in a room distracts from its beauty. When a place is cluttered, a person’s eye goes directly there, so all you’ll see is a pile of papers on the counter, laundry in the corner and toys on the floor versus your beautiful couch or amazing table.
   • Figure out the focal point in each room. In some rooms, it’s a set of windows, a fireplace or a bed. In other rooms, it’s the television. Once you determine what it is, arrange your seating around it. You basically want the furniture to gravitate towards the natural focal point of each room.
   • For rooms with more than one doorway, draw an imaginary line that angles through the room from opening to opening, creating a straight trail between the furniture. This keeps the dynamic arrangement of the furniture, but it also directs people through the space.
   • Choose a face-to-face stance. Place two couches (or a couch and a pair of chairs) directly across from one another with the focal point at one end. Positioning furniture in this way is one of the best ways to facilitate conversation. If the TV is the focal point, then that’s also within eye’s reach but there’s still an emphasis on guests talking with one another.
3. Decorate with candles. Candles look best with they’re all together, particularly on a large surface, like a dining room table. The larger the surface, the larger the candles should be. Also gather any small to medium-size mirrors that you’re not using, and place them underneath the candles for a nice, elegant look.
   • Create a nice vibe in the eating area. Use a group of candles as a centerpiece on your table or even on your light fixture. Also using the same colors as the furniture pieces can help greatly in unifying a room.
   • Group them together in a corner of your bathroom. Use vivid colors to brighten up a monochromatic bathroom, or match candles to the color of the walls.
   • Create a warm glow with candles in the bedroom. Light them on a windowsill, a side table or add lovely sconces to create a nightly glow and a beautiful ambience. Candles almost always add an old-age appeal and a little whimsy to even the most modern and contemporary rooms.
4. Add plants and flowers to your space. Greenery is a great way to liven up a home. Enlist the help of your friends or neighbors by asking them if they will divide up one of their plants up and give it to you. Then find a planter around your home for your new, organic friend.
   • Think about moving any potted plants that you have outside, inside, and place them in a stairway, a windowsill or in a dreary corner. You also don’t have to go for the usual vases and pots. Chances are that your recycling bin has some cans in it. Take out a few, add soil and a young plant or two, and you’ve got some beautiful planters.
   • Use clear, small glasses of different shapes and sizes for holding cut flowers, and group them together on a table to make an inexpensive and stylish statement.
   • Save counter space by planting different herbs in mason jars. Then think about mounting them near your kitchen. This unique wall decor will really stand out when friends and family come over.
   • Fill an awkward space with a planter. Put a large plant in a colorful container in a bare area of one of your rooms. Small ideas like this can really make a difference.
5. Find beauty in new and unique ways. Take a look around for items that have visual appeal. Whether it’s an old kimono or your collection of boots, displaying them in a conscious way will boost both the objects and the room. Even that wicker chair with a hole on the seat can be covered with a tray and put next to the bed for a shabby chic, night stand.
   • Think about adding a cheeky piece of furniture to a room. Consider putting a playful, swinging seat in one corner of a room. It’s comfortable, fun and it’s the very thing people’s eyes will focus on when they come in.

Using This Time to Get Caught Up

1. Get rid of clutter. One of the reasons you may not be as productive or as creative as you may want to be in life is because you have too much clutter. Things you can do to get more organized include removing books you’ll never read from your bookshelf and deleting the apps that you’ll never use from your Smartphone. Not only will you have done some housecleaning, but also they will give you the motivation to move on to the next larger de-cluttering task.
   • Also consider writing down the activities that take place in each room. Walk through your home with a notebook and pen, and jot down the different activities. Note your desired use for each room, and remove anything that doesn’t relate to the activities for that space.
   • Pick an organization to donate to. Getting rid of things is easier if you can visualize someone benefitting from them. The rule of thumb is that unless it’s something that you only use once or twice a year, if you’ve haven’t used it in more than 6 months, then you probably don’t need it.
   • The next time you’re putting away laundry, grab some of the clothes that you haven’t worn in a while, and try them on in front of a mirror. Put the ones back into circulation that you still like and that fit you well back into circulation, and donate the rest.
2. Take 30 minutes to think about your professional and personal goals. If you don’t have a list of goals, begin one. If you already have one, review them. Write down a list of action steps you can take over the few weeks to bring some of these goals to fruition. The more you focus on them, the more likely they are to come true.
   • Also be sure to do your goals as early in the day as possible. If you study highly productive people, you will find that a large number of them accomplish many of their goals early in the morning.
3. File your paperwork. If you’re on top of your game, you do it immediately. Or, if it’s not your thing or you’ve been really busy, you may have a bunch of files and documents lying around. Just doing this one task, especially if it has built up, will make you feel that you are controlling life versus it controlling you.
   • Be colorful. Files with different colors for your tabs and labels can not only turn your organizing system into a work of art, but they’re also a lot easier to find.
   • Put important papers in a place where you know they’ll be safe. Keep your documents in a safe place, but also make sure that you can easily get to them when you need them.
4. Eliminate your concerns. Are you worried about something in particular? Is it getting in the way of how productive you are? Deal with the issues that are keeping you from spending your time as well as you probably would otherwise. By removing as many stressors as possible, your headspace will be a lot clearer to focus on other more positive aspects of living.

Learning New Skills

1. Teach yourself how to draw. Many people will tell you to take art lessons if you want to learn how to draw but that can be a little intimidating if you’re a complete beginner. So why not learn at home? If you browse on the Internet, you’ll see that there are lots of great websites offering free and paid lessons, and also YouTube has thousands of terrific videos on the subject.
   • Have patience with yourself. Even for skilled artists, the beginning of a drawing can look frightening. But it almost always can be corrected. You’ll be surprised, too, at how well a drawing will turn out to be when you’re finished with it.
   • Practice drawing a pet or roommate. Draw Charlie, your pit-bull dog, when he’s sleeping or when he’s playing in the backyard with a ball. Or, if you have a roommate, start sketching the person while they’re making dinner. Once they leave the room, then finish the drawing from a photo that you have of them. Consider enlarging it so that you can see the person or animal’s features better.
   • Experts say that it takes about 10,000 hours of doing something before you become expert at it. If that amount of time overwhelms you, don’t let it because you have to start somewhere.
2. Learn how to sew. One of the best things you can do is buy a good beginner’s book. Look for one that has clear, step-by-step instructions. You also want it to have simple patterns for some basic garments and home decoration items as well. Look for real pattern paper in the book, too. You will also need a good machine. There isn’t anything more discouraging when learning to sew than on a temperamental sewing machine. Vintage machines are actually some of the best but zig-zaggers work well, too.
   • Start with small sewing projects. It’s a lot more fun to sew something simple and do it well then tackling something too advanced and being disappointed with the results. You’ll learn either way, but it’s easy to get discouraged when the results don’t match what your expectations were.
   • Like any other skill, you’ll need lots of practice. After a while, sewing tasks that seemed difficult at first become second nature.
3. Get into yoga. It’s best to begin learning how to do yoga under the guidance of a qualified teacher; however that can either be by taking classes in your community or by watching videos from teachers who you know are highly qualified, along with being certified. The reason you want them to be qualified is to avoid possible injuries. Be sure that the teacher or video that you find provides gentle, warm-up exercises first. This is very important, as it helps to loosen up the body and prepare for the actual yoga set.
   • Even if you’re someone who can’t touch their toes, it doesn’t mean yoga is not for you. Actually yoga is for everyone regardless of how tight their body may be. In fact, yoga is even more for people who feel tight in their bodies. Yoga is a process of uniting with oneself, using breath, body and mind. With some practice, you’ll find that you become a lot more limber, too.

Tips

• Clean up! You know you don't want to, but it is a good way to spend free time instead of doing nothing. Besides, everyone wants a clean house!
• Try to use things around the house instead of buying things.
• Have a power nap if you can't find anything to do; it will refresh your mind.
• Cooking can be fun! Try learning a new dish, or experiment with new ways of making an old one.

Related Articles

• Enjoy a Quiet Time Alone
• Make Time Go by Faster
• Pass Time when You've Got Nothing to Do

Sources and Citations

See also

• Avoid Being Bored When You Have Nothing to Do
• Overcome Boredom
• Do Something when You're Bored
• Cure Your Boredom Online
• Kill Time
• Entertain Yourself Without a Computer
• Have Fun Without Electronics
• Have Fun at a Mall
• Cope with Being Bored
• Entertain Yourself Without Objects

Read more ...