Time On Your Hands?

Do you ever feel you have time on your hands and nothing to do? Below are five fabulous and fun things to do at home.

Plan a Make Believe Holiday

It can be absolutely anything at all. You could plan a ‘round the world trip, thinking about where you would like to stop off, places you would like to see. You might like to hire a camper van and travel around Europe, America, Australia. Or maybe you would like to go on safari in Africa? Map out a route, perhaps get a large map and put stickers or pins on where you would like to go. (I love doing this!)

Think about how you will get there, where you will stay. Hotel, apartment, camping, something else? Plan your budget: high end or on-the-cheap? Do you need vaccines, visas, is your destination safe? Who will you go with? What do you need to pack? This is a really fun thing to do even if you aren’t planning on going anywhere!

I spent two years travelling on my own going to Norway, Iceland, the Arctic Circle, Madeira, Spain, France, Portugal, Antigua, Barbados and several more amazing places. I challenged myself to see if I could do it for the same price as renting a small flat in England, and my living costs. If you want to see what I got up to, you can read about it on my blog. 

Start a Scrap Book

Scrap books can be about anything at all. You can create one for family, holidays, cooking, crafting, memories, collecting, animals, day trips, etc. Let your mind go wild and see where it takes you! You can add old postcards, letters, tickets, pressed flowers, certificates, stickers, rosettes, small mementos, even a spray of perfume! And anything else to make your scrapbook look absolutely amazing!

Use a large book and add all the things that you associate with your theme. For example, if it is about cooking, cut out recipes, add photos, ask family and friends to write a recipe down, include others’ comments. Add little tips and anecdotes about your favourite recipes. How did they turn out? What was the reaction of others who ate it? Perhaps you could give it a score, for example, taste 10/10, ease of cooking 9/10, compliments 11/10!

Write about anything that interests you, and add to it over the years, creating new memories and allowing your book to grow and evolve. It will be lovely to look back at it in years to come. Reminiscing is one of my favourite things to do. What a beautiful legacy for your family.

Research Your Family Tree

Finding out your heritage can be a really fun way to spend your time, and you never know what might turn up! There are many ways to do this, including using an online site, looking through newspaper archives, talking with members of the family, old friends, neighbours, teachers. Maybe go on a trip down memory lane and visit where you were born, the place you grew up or the school you went to.

Start with your current family and all the facts you know about them, names, dates of birth, marriage, deaths, divorce, and just work backwards. If you don’t know much about someone, put the details you do know and move on, they are quite likely to turn up as you continue your research. It can be really exciting, and very revealing!

This can be a lovely project to do with grandchildren, and it also leaves a wealth of information that other family members can add too in the future. I have seen family trees that have been embroidered and they looked absolutely beautiful. What a lasting gift to give someone!

Create a Mood Board

Imagine designing your dream room, or even your dream house, all by yourself! Find a large piece of card and create an interior mood board. It can be for one room, or the whole house. Think about the size and shape of the room as well as windows, doors, etc. Consider what lighting you have, both natural and artificial. Also, which direction are the windows facing? Do they have morning sun or afternoon sun?

Think about what the room is used for and the people who use it. Consider the atmosphere and ambience you want to create, the type of colours you would like to use, and what sort of furniture you would add. Do you want it minimalistic, cosy, contemporary, etc.? You can also add textures, fabrics, carpets, wallpaper samples, paint colours, etc. There are thousands of ideas and inspiration from online sites such as Pinterest and Canva.

The mood board could be a real one, and you turn your creation into reality, making your room or home look amazing. Or you could go all out and design a fantasy room/house for when you are a millionaire!

Learn a New Language

Learning anything new is really good for your mental wellbeing, and research shows that learning a language is especially beneficial. Keeping our brain active is essential for it to work well, particularly as we age. For those, like me, who didn’t like learning languages at school, there is some good news. It doesn’t have to be done like that! Forget about the verbs, the adjectives and all the other boring stuff for now, and just concentrate on picking up a few words and having fun.

Perhaps you are off to Italy or France for a holiday, imagine how good it will feel to order a coffee in a little cafe somewhere. YouTube is a really good place to start and there are many vloggers who teach you the basics for free. There are also online sites which offer basic to advanced learning for a subscription fee. Even just learning to say small phrases such as ‘How are you?’ or ‘Can you help me, please?’ is a great start and, if you continue studying, you could soon be talking like a native!

Time Spent Should Be Joyful

Time is so precious and is the one thing we can’t buy. Make sure whatever spare time you have is joyful and makes you happy. For me, researching my travel adventures was almost as exciting as actually going there :)

Let’s Start a Conversation:

How do you spend your spare time? Is there anything else you would like to do? What room in your house would you like to make over?