productivity

12 Productive Things To Do When You’re At Home

May 5, 2020 by Kim O'Bier Leave a Comment

Staying in your house might have you feeling bored, uninspired, or looking for fresh ideas. These practical tips can help you find purposeful and productive things to do at home.

At our house, we are constantly adding to a “mental list” of things to fix, do, or try for when we have extra time at home. However, when we actually get that time, no one can seem to remember what those things were to begin with.

So, I’m sharing a few of the activities my family is doing to keep the ball moving forward while we are spending time at home.

This post may include affiliate links. You can read my full disclosure policy HERE.

Sort and Edit Photos

Most of us have tons of photos on our various devices. Now is the PERFECT time for editing and sorting them.

I like to do all of my digital photo editing in PicMonkey because of how simple it is to resize pics and add all sorts of graphics, texts, and effects. And in just a few clicks you can download or share to just about anywhere you like.

I use PicMonkey on mobile AND desktop pc.

Got boxes of actual photos? Pull them out and sort, label, or put them in albums so you can enjoy them!

Hang Pictures or Artwork

Use this time to personalize your home by creating a decorative gallery wall or updating family photos in existing frames.

Things to frame and display:

family heirlooms
family portraits
kids’ or your own artwork
dried flowers and other natural elements
art prints or paintings
artistic photographs

I find that Amazon has great prices and selection for picture frames. Some styles come in value packs, which is great if you need a bunch of the same design.

And if you don’t love the thought of putting nails in the wall, these command strips are the thing. Just be sure to get the right ones for the weight of your frames and they will hold perfectly!

Practice a Fitness Routine

We all know that exercise is important for our minds and our bodies. But, if we’re accustomed to organized classes or fancy gym equipment, it can be hard to motivate ourselves to get moving at home.

Thankfully, there are at-home exercise options that are cheap or free. YouTube has tons of free content like walk-in-place routines, arm workouts, pilates, yoga, the list is endless. Yoga with Adrienne is one of our faves!

Other totally free activities include jumping rope, throwing and catching a ball, walking, and house/yard work.

(disclaimer: please check with your own doctor before beginning any exercise routine or using fitness equipment)

PIN FOR LATER:

woman writing, get things done, stay productive at home

Try New Exercise Equipment

My family has REALLY been enjoying this mini-trampoline (rebounder).

Rebounding is supposed to help with building bone mass, burning calories, and lymph drainage among other things, but mostly it is just fun and gives you a great, energizing workout.

A few other things I use on the regular are my yoga mat (this one), yoga block (this one) and these hand weights.

Some other ideas:

punching bag (we’re going to try this one)
weight bench (ours is too old to link, but you can find a selection here)
treadmill (again, mine is no longer available, but you can look here for a great selection and reviews!)
yoga ball

Organize Your Closet

I did a full-on KonMari style closet clean out a few years ago. It felt so good to get rid of clothing that wasn’t serving me. But lately I’ve noticed that it’s starting to get crowded in there again.

So I’ve been going through and pulling out things that I no longer wear, or pieces that make me feel “blah” when I put them on. I’m putting them aside to donate.

At the same time, I’ve moved some seasonal clothing around and reorganized some things to make them more accessible.

Catch Up On Home Maintenance

Keeping up with maintaining our homes is important for our family’s health and safety. And it can help save money.

Start by doing a walk-through, and make a list of things that need attention in your house.

A few suggestions:

the dryer – clean the vent hose where it connects to the wall and where it enters the machine using a dryer vent brush to get into the hard to reach spaces. This is supposed to be done yearly. It’s a fire hazard!
replace HVAC filters. About every 3-4 months is the recommendation, but we change ours every 2-3. We find these to be the best at filtering without putting a strain on our HVAC system. Be sure to order the size that fits your return.
clean refrigerator coils – using a vacuum cleaner and a coil brush (which also doubles as a dryer vent brush). This saves on energy and extends the life of your fridge.
check smoke alarms and CO detectors

Do Some Deep Cleaning

Things can get REALLY cruddy when you’re busy and don’t have time to clean them. So when you’re hanging out at home, it’s a good time to catch up on the deep cleaning. Here are some ideas to get you started.

ceiling fans
baseboards
windows and window sills
vacuum the air vents
under the beds
refrigerator
high shelves, tops of cabinets

Have a big mess and don’t know where to start? Read: How To Clean a Really Messy House When You Are Overwhelmed By The Mess

paint roller on wall, productive things to do

PAINT SOMETHING

Could the paint in (or on) your house use a freshen-up? If the answer is yes, this could be a very good use of your time at home. Around here there are baseboards and walls to be touched up, two bathrooms that need a complete painting, and a kitchen island that I would love to transform. That’s not even HALF of the list.

DIY CLEANING PRODUCTS

Try making your own home cleaning products. There are tons of recipes online and you might have the ingredients for most of them already. A quick recipe to try for glass cleaner is 1 part white distilled vinegar and 1 part water. It’s easy, non-toxic, and cheap!

DIY LAUNDRY DETERGENT

I was excited to find this laundry detergent recipe from CarolineVencil.com. It saves serious money, is SO EASY to make, and it works great!

MEAL PREP

You will thank yourself when meal time rolls around and half of the work is already done. Cutting up veggies is my favorite do-ahead task and it takes just a few minutes.

Other things you can do to meal prep include browning ground beef, cooking rice ( I do mine in the InstantPot), making dressings and sauces etc.

Try my free meal planning tool here: Simple Master Family Meal List with Printable

woman with mug reading,things to do when bored

Catch Up On Reading

Have a stack of books just waiting to be read? Take some time for yourself and enjoy catching up on them. It’s good for the soul!

And, if you’re looking for some new reads, then you might want to check out Kindle Unlimited for their great selection of e-books. They are constantly adding new titles in fiction, self-help, business etc. With Kindle Unlimited, you will NEVER run out of things to read!

Also, you can check with your local library to see if you can check out e-books and audible books for free! Our local library uses several apps to provide this service and gives instructions on how to access them on their website.

Bonus Idea!

Start a blog! Blogging is incredibly popular and the free resources for HOW to start a blog are unlimited! It is a great way to share your passion with the world and make money while doing it.

The first step is to purchase your own domain and hosting. You can take care of both of these steps at Namehero.com.

I have been with several hosts and have settled on Namehero.com based on the advice of a highly respected tech service provider.

Namehero.com is reasonably priced and has the best customer service that I have experienced with a host, which is really important to me as a non-techy person.

For a FREE course and TONS of up-to-date tutorials on how to start a profitable blog, I recommend that you check out Suzi at startamomblog.com (you don’t have to be a mom to get the benefit of Suzi’s experience and expertise!)

Don’t forget to enjoy your time at home. And, don’t feel like you ALWAYS have to be productive. We all need to wind down and have fun once in awhile.

Also read: 5 Simple Habits for a Cleaner Home

5 Simple Habits for a Cleaner Home

January 5, 2020 by Kim O'Bier 2 Comments

Keeping a home comfortably clean can be a challenge. But, it is possible! Use these 5 simple everyday tips to help you keep your house cleaner and more organized, so you can relax more and “emergency clean” less.

You know that panicky feeling you get??

The one when someone drops in, and EVERYTHING in your house is a complete and uttter disaster?!?

The racing pulse. The sweaty palms. And the mad dash to hide the clutter and catch your breath before guests reach the door…

I am WAY too familiar with that harrowing experience.

Some some people can’t relate. For them, keeping a home clean and organized just comes naturally.

But, for the rest of us, it can be a struggle.

We want a cleaner home, but we just don’t always know how to make it happen.

But the good news is, it CAN happen! Trust me! If I can do it, than it is completely, 100% possible for you too.

(This post may include affiliate links. You can read my full disclosure policy HERE.)

So, how CAN you keep your home cleaner on a regular basis without spending all of your time keeping house?

Here are some practical tips that can help.

1) CLEAN UP MESSES AS THEY HAPPEN

Do you ever spot a mess, then walk away and think “I’ll get to that in a minute.”

And three days later, you’ve walked by the same mess so many times that you can’t even see it anymore?

Like that dust bunny that has been on the floor so long the kids have given it a name?

Around here, we seem to have trouble with those hand-wash only kitchen items. No one wants to wash them. So, they just sit, and sit, aaand sit.

And multiply.

Then, I think how much easier it would have been just to wash them right away to begin with. Not only are they harder to clean, but they’ve been cluttering up the counter this whole time.

Then, there are the times I think “well, it’s just a small mess and it can wait.”

But small messes add up to big messes and that adds up to overwhelm.

Try to pick-up, wipe, and clean-up messes as you see them. If you practice it, it will become habit.

2) GET RID OF STUFF

One way to keep your home cleaner and more organized is simply to have less stuff.

Cluttered spaces never look or feel clean. And too many “things” make it impossible to keep things tidy.

You don’t have to become a minimalist. But, if you have things sitting around that currently serve no purpose, just get them out of the way.

Around here, we purge clothes and shoes, kitchen items and housewares regularly. There is almost always a “thrift store bag” or two by the back door ready for the donation center.

In the past, we had an insane amount of toys and junk everywhere. There was a nearly cataclysmic event that caused us to rethink the whole “more is better” mentality. That is a story for another time.

Just try cleaning out a few things at a time. Lightening your load feels so good.

It will quickly become a habit to re-home things that aren’t serving you and your family.

3) MAKE “SHORT LISTS” OF TASKS

Making a manageable list of housekeeping tasks will help you to keep your home cleaner and more organized.

I find that short lists are easier to tackle than a full-on to-do list. So, it’s more likely that all of the things will get done.

And, our brains tend to thrive on the reward of having finished something.

You can pull tasks from a longer to-do list to make up your short-list, or you can jot things down as you think of them. My list is normally a mixture of both.

I like to these 3″ x 3″ size super sticky notes. You can fit just the right amount of to-do’s on there without it being overwhelming. Plus, the colors make me think of sea glass and tropical island beaches while I’m wiping counters and washing dirty dishes.

For me, getting a few of the next day’s important tasks down on paper the evening before helps to take my mind off of the next day’s to-do’s. Which, in turn, makes it easier to relax and enjoy the evening, rather than worrying about things that need to get done tomorrow.

4) DIVIDE AND CONQUER

You are gathering an armload of towels from the bathroom hamper when you notice that the counter needs to be wiped down.

And the tub. THAT will take awhile. Oh, and you can barely see yourself in the mirror.

“When will I ever find the time to clean that bathroom?” you wonder.

So another day goes by and the grime builds up.

But what if you did ONE of those tasks at a time?

Breaking big jobs into smaller chunks works infinitely better than not getting the job done at all.

Here’s how I break it down for my bathroom:

I do the shower one day ( usually as I am showering.) The counters and sinks another. The toilet gets cleaned randomly several times a week when I have a spare minute.

The tub is actually my least favorite so I do have to schedule that in sometimes so that it gets done. But you get the idea.

If I had to wait for a large enough time block to do the whole thing, it might never get done.

5) START A DAILY ROUTINE

If strict schedules aren’t your thing, I’m with ya!

But, it’s probably fair to say that people with clean houses generally have more routine built into their day than people who have…ahem…less than clean houses.

An evening routine of tidying the kitchen and the living spaces, plus a little prep work, can give you an amazing jump start on the next day.

Have a set of productive tasks that get done early each morning. For me, that includes making my bed, loading the washing machine and unloading the dishwasher. It feels good to get things checked off the list and it helps set the tone for the rest of the day.

Author James Clear writes in his book, Atomic Habits, “We often dismiss small changes because they don’t seem to matter very much in the moment.“

So, don’t underestimate the impact that these “small changes” and new daily habits can have on your home.

What habits or small changes have you made that have had a positive impact on your home?

habits for cleaner home, cleaner home,keep house clean,how to clean house,how to keep house cleaner

5 Things That Have Changed My Life as a Homemaker

December 31, 2019 by Kim O'Bier 2 Comments

Keeping up with cleaning, organizing, and running a home can be a challenge. These five practical tips will help you to be less stressed, better organized and more productive as a mom and homemaker.

baking supplies on counter,how to keep up with home,how to be better homemaker

Homemaking used to be a constant struggle…

Clutter, dishes piling up, not being prepared to fix dinner…these things caused me stress and anxiety.

How could I be a LITTLE MORE organized? Or keep the house clean (presentable, at least)?

And was it EVEN POSSIBLE to get a decent meal on the table, on time, (almost) every night?

Well, with patience, perseverance, and a lot of prayer, I have found strategies that have helped me in ALL of these areas.

Without them, I would probably still be stuck in that sorry pit of despair. (and uncontrollable messes!)

(This post may include affiliate links for your convenience. Read my full disclosure policy HERE.)

1. FIND A ROUTINE THAT WORKS FOR YOU

If a strict schedule doesn’t work for you (raises hand here), try a “routine” instead.

Because routines are flexible, you can easily shift gears if the day doesn’t go as planned. And things often don’t go as planned.

Simply start by making a list of the top priority tasks that need to happen for the day. Include meals, feeding pets, tidying, work at home, etc.

Next, arrange the tasks in the order that they should occur. For some of us, this is enough to keep us on track. If you are working towards a more structured schedule, this is a great place to start!

Having this written “framework” for your day can alleviate the anxiety that happens when you don’t know what to do next.

One thing that helped us A TON was to put a whiteboard in a central area of our home for listing out chores and appointments. This lets everyone knows what is going on and makes is easier for them to get on board.

A whiteboard is also great for quotes, affirmations, and Bible verses to encourage yourself or your family during the day.

Obviously, routines take time to figure out, so be patient with yourself and others as you establish what works.

I promise you. It’s worth the effort and will help to bring peace and calm to your home.

(For more inspiration, visit 7 Encouragements For Struggling Homemakers)

2. PLAN YOUR MEALS

Meal planning used to really intimidate me.

It felt restrictive. Like I could ONLY COOK what was on the list each day.

But I’m going to let you in on a little secret:

A meal plan does not have to be written in stone to work MIRACLES!

In fact, I often change up our meal plan. But having it in writing reminds me that dinner needs to happen each day. And that works for me.

A super simple way is to start by writing down four or five meals that you want to serve for the week. (I like to check my freezer and pantry first, then make a list of what I need to pick up at the store to complete each meal.)

You can make reminders on your meal plan page (aka notebook paper, back of junk mail, etc.) to take things out of the freezer, or to set your Crockpot or Instant Pot on time. I can easily forget if I don’t have those things written down.

Most of my meals center around the Crockpot or Instant Pot because these are appliances that I can set and forget while they do all the work for me.

Breakfast and lunch are normally ffy (fend for yourself) since my kids are older. And I rarely plan out weekend meals as we often do easy things like pizza or oven nachos if we are home.

If we have perishables or leftovers in the fridge that need to be eaten over the weekend, I will make note of those on the meal plan page so everyone knows what is available. Because refrigerator blindness is a real thing y’all.

woman cleaning counter,busy homemaker,busy mom cleaning

3. CLEAN ON THE FLY

I used to think that if I didn’t have time to complete a task to absolute perfection, there was no point in starting it. Honestly, I wouldn’t even wipe the bathroom counter if I didn’t have time to clean the whole bathroom.

Crazy, I know, but that’s how it was. When I figured out that this mindset wasn’t serving me, I adopted a more “cleaning on the fly” strategy.

In our home, cleaning and picking up on the fly means basically just taking care of something when you notice that it needs attention. This can be especially strategic when you don’t have large amounts of time to block out for house cleaning.

For instance, I rarely have to schedule time for cleaning the shower. Once a week, I take microfiber cloths in the shower with me and give it a good cleaning before I get out. DONE!

A few of times a week I clean the toilet right before I get in the shower. Same with the bathroom counter… I just wipe it down as it needs it during the week. It only takes a minute and then it’s done.

You can use this strategy in other areas of your home. It can be a little bit challenging for messies at first. We tend to look beyond the mess in front of us, especially if we have programmed ourselves that way in order to deal with things that are beyond our control.

It helps for me to put sticky notes around to remind myself of tasks until they become habit.

The Chaos Cure and Sink Reflections, both by Marla Cilley a.k.a. “The FlyLady”, are easy reads that contain tons of helpful ideas for getting and keeping things clean and organized. She discusses a similar method of keeping things clean.

Marla is also a messy by nature, and I can relate to her practical advice. Her books have been helpful and encouraging for me.

4. DISCOVER YOUR PERSONALITY TYPE

Learning more about yourself and what makes you (and others) tick is truly LIFE CHANGING in so many ways.

In my life, discovering my personality type has helped me to understand why certain organizational skills elude me. It has helped me to know what approaches will work when it comes to completing tasks and why I was never successful at using planners and schedules designed by other people.

Also, now I know that it’s normal for people with my personality to be overwhelmed by huge to-do lists. And I know what I can do instead.

And the BIG BONUS in studying personalities has been learning to relate to my children AND my husband on a level that I never thought was possible. So things are more peaceable on the home front. And more peace is always welcome in our home!

In fact, my whole family has gotten involved in personality discovery and the impact on our relationships with one another has been amazing!

If you have never taken a personality quiz before, or if it has been awhile (especially if it was high school or college), I would highly recommend it.

You can take this one free at 16personalities.com . Personality tests aren’t always completely accurate, so it’s a good idea to do a little reading, either online or with a good book, to make sure that you have landed on the right one.

This book, Type Talk: The 16 Personality Types That Determine How we Live, Love, and Work, is a wonderful read and will give you a better understanding of yourself and what makes you tick.

woman sleeping,get more sleep,better homemaking

5. MAKE SLEEP A PRIORITY

The house is finally still. Even the dog is quietly tucked away. You push “start” on the dishwasher and head to the bedroom where you hesitate before entering.

And, that’s when you hear it…the telltale sound. Either husband is watching Ford vs Ferrari or he is seriously asleep!

You contemplate catching up on cleaning. Starting a DIY project. Shaving your legs. The possibilities are endless!

I think many of us can relate to sacrificing sleep for things like housework, business, or quiet time.

I have certainly done my share of it. There’s just something so lovely about that late night solitude , when everyone else is asleep.

Admittedly, it was hard giving that coveted time to myself in the late night and into the early morning hours, but there are bigger payoffs.

Since changing my sleep schedule and getting to bed at a decent time, I feel better during the day. At night I am tired and fall asleep more easily.

Consequently, I get so much more done, as those morning hours are when I have the most energy.

Best of all, my husband and I are way more connected because we are sharing a similar schedule.

As far as quiet time, I am able to enjoy some solitude in the morning, before everyone else is up for the day.

What habits have you adopted that are crucial for keeping the stress and chaos to a minimum at your house?

Need a boost? Read: 7 Encouragements For When You Are Struggling as a Homemaker