12 Productive Things To Do At Home

Image by Anthony Tran (Unsplashed)

Life can be so funny. There are times where we work non-stop and seem to not have enough time for us to do the things we need to do. However, there are also times where we are too free sitting in our house, not knowing what to do, just let the day pass by. The feeling of being unproductive is not the best, it makes you feel useless. However, there are actually tons of things you can do to stay productive when you are too free in a day.

1. Clean and tidy up your house.

Although cleaning and tidying are tedious, more often than not, people would rather just relax and be useless than actually doing it. But you don’t even need to do this very often. If it has been a long time since you last clean up your house, then use the free day you have to give your house a clean-up and arrange things back to their original place. It might take up the whole day, but by the end of the day, you will feel accomplished and you will even feel better about yourself and your life.

2. Repair broken things.

There are always items in your house that are broken and are kept inside drawers, which you once told yourself you will fix them sometime in the future, but in the end, you probably don't even know which corner did you keep them in. If you are having some free time, then this is a perfect way for you to pass time. Find methods online or read through manuals and try to fix the items that are badly broken. You can brush up on your repairing skills, you can become more knowledgeable and independent, and you can even save some money as you wouldn’t need to buy another item or hire someone to fix it for you.

3. Do some planning for the coming week.

Planning isn’t always fun. You need to think things in advance, and sometimes you might even need to do research. As tedious as it sounds, planning things in advance can really save you lots of time in the future. Just take a weekend to plan out things for your school or job, your personal tasks, people you need to meet, or things you need to buy. When the day comes you’ll be grateful that you had things well planned. It can even save you more time to sleep in the morning.

4. Do some reading.

Reading is undoubtedly one of the best things one can do during their free time, but not many people can commit to making this a habit because they think reading is boring. If you do not enjoy reading as a way of pass time, then maybe you can try just reading occasionally. If you have free time on hand, just grab a book, it can be fiction or non-fiction, or you can even read articles or journals online, and just use the time to read it. By the end of the day, you’ll gain a whole lot more than just scrolling through social media.

5. Practice or learn musical instruments.

Learning to play musical instruments is one of the hobbies that can make you smarter, due to its mental challenge on coordinating your actions (arm movements) and your thinking skills. If you are not fond of playing musical instruments, then feel free to choose other things to do on this list. But if you had always wanted to pick up the guitar to learn a new song, free time is the best time to do so. Not only will you become better at that particular musical instrument, you can even train your brain to be more creative, which is what playing a musical instrument also benefits.

6. Improve your cooking skills.

Nowadays eating is so convenient. You just get out to a restaurant and order something, and the food will come right up to you, it's even better if there is delivery, right? However, why not skip the convenience altogether and start being the chef of your own. Find recipes from books or online and cook up something for yourself. You can definitely find joy in cooking, and in the future, you can even cook more for yourself and save time and money on eating out, at the same time being healthier.

7. Get rid of unnecessary things.

We often do not realise how many things we own until we started running out of space to store things. If this is currently happening to you, and just so happens you have some free time on hand, make full use of the time to do some decluttering. Get rid of things that you don’t want and clear off space in your house. By the end of the day, you will definitely feel much better, and your house would feel more comfortable.

8. Improve on your languages.

Have you realised that the languages we use nowadays are more simplified than it was before as if we had used the “lazy form” of languages instead of the original ones? It is important to keep your languages well-practiced, regardless if you would use them in real life or not. Practicing languages is a great thing to do as it helps strengthen your brain muscles, and research has shown that improving on a certain language can slow down one’s aging process! Use your free time to brush up on your language skills and make sure you are constantly improving on them!

9. Watch informative television programs.

We spend a lot of our free time going through social media, watching what other people are doing online, or more often than not we indulge too much in TV series that leaves us with nothing but a waste of time. When you have free time, why not try to watch some programs that are more beneficial to your brain? You can watch shows or documentaries on geography, or videos of motivational speakers, or things that would make you gain knowledge, instead of wasting all the time on meaningless things.

10. Pick up a new useful skill.

Very often we need to do things that we realise we've not acquired the skills needed, that's why you should constantly be learning new skills. If you have free time, try to find courses or videos online that teach you useful skills that you would need in your life sometime in the future, such as repairing skills, computer software skills, and so on. Even if you are learning certain skills that might not benefit you in the near future, learn them anyway. It doesn’t hurt to gain any kind of skills.

11. Plan your outfit for the coming week.

Many people are late for work or school all because of outfit problems. We all own too many clothes, but somehow we still never seem to know what to wear. We would try on several outfits, and until the last one works, we are already late for school or work. How about using a free weekend to plan out your outfits for the week? Not only can you save more time in the morning, but you can also get extra sleep in the morning during the weekdays!

12. Workout.

Working out is possibly one of the best things to do when you're free, but is also something everyone is always “too lazy” to do. You should always look at working out not as a method for you to lose weight, but rather for you to keep your body in a healthy physique. Sure, you should be consistently working out throughout your lifetime, making it a lifestyle. But if you’re someone who does not have time to work out on a daily basis, try to incorporate some activity when you have a free day. You will definitely gain a lot from it. You can feel more productive, useful, happier, and of course healthier.

As we all get older, we’ll realise that the days seem to be shorter, as we are filled with our jobs and responsibilities. So make use of all the free time you have, don’t take advantage of it. Time will not stop for you to do the things you want to do. Just do things that will make you feel proud of yourself, only then you can establish a productive life.

“If you have a painting in you, paint. If you have a song to sing, sing. Don’t judge your creation. Just create it. Banish doubt and fear, and step out of your own way if you have to. Write if you’re a writer, and invent if you’re an inventor. Do what you were born to do. Only then will you know a remarkable life.” – Toni Sorenson.