I shared on Twitter the other day that I downloaded an app (Habitica – feel free to check it out but that’s not what this is about, nor is it my favorite thing. It works though.) to track some of the daily habits I really want to accomplish. Habits, goals, and little to-do lists all rolled into one. Everyone is approaching this weird time in our lives in a different way. Chris works in manufacturing and, as of right now, is still considered essential. I am thinking there will be some time off in his future (fingers crossed), but right now I’m alone in quarantine, working from home each day. He doesn’t get to join in in the craziness of actually being home 24/7, which sucks for both of us frankly, but there are still some quarantine-ish things he has to deal with anyways.
Daily Habits
I thought I would break my goals down into some categories, expand on them to include broader “during quarantine overall” kinds of things beyond the daily habits I want to keep. But, the main things I plan to do EVERY day are:
Get outside
If it’s nice out, this means spending some genuine quality time on the porch, going for a walk, or on the front step. Even if it’s horrible, rainy, and cold out, I need a minute or so of outdoor time still. That could be greeting Chris on the front porch under the awning or walking to get the mail.
Be active
I would love to do 30 minutes of a workout or physical activity per day, but I know it’s not as realistic for me. I’m a lazy person and only had recently started going to the gym before all this started. I have apps and YouTube videos I will get going on soon. I usually can kill two birds with one stone by taking a 30 minute walk on the trail near my house – outside time and active time! On rainy days, I will do an indoor workout, yoga, stretching, etc.
Make progress on a book
This is pretty self-explanatory as a book reader and bloggers, but I do want to dedicate time every day to reading a book. This could be in audio form or physical/Kindle reading.
Enjoy another hobby
We recently cleaned our Lego room so I hope to work on projects there soon. Otherwise, Chris and I enjoy watching wrestling/shows/movies, put together puzzles, play video games, etc. There are plenty of other activities we can do – ideally not JUST watching TV, but I don’t mind calling “making progress on a show” something productive.
Clean/tidy a space or room
I’ve been trying to get in the habit, because we don’t have a dishwasher, of washing dishes right after I use them while things are cooking. It’s not always easy! This counts as tidying a space, in my eyes. If Chris does it (which he often does) that doesn’t count as ME cleaning up. I want to organize and deep clean parts of the house, do laundry, and tidy up things we’ve left out. A little every day 🙂
More Specific/Long-Term Goals and Rules
Next we’ll look at some of the more specific goals that I would want to accomplish over this time, or general rules I hope to follow in my daily routine/schedule.
Get back on track with my Goodreads goal
I’ve given myself some grace on reading; this year has been weird AF so far. I’m happy that I’m back in a reading groove now! I hope to be on track with my Goodreads goal (currently 3 books behind) by the time all this is “over” to some extent. I’m aiming to be on target – maybe even ahead – by summertime.
Lean in on mood reading and ARC progress
I’m thinking the best method for me is to just follow my whims and read what I’m in the mood for after April (and even some parts of April because I have flexibility within the OWLS Readathon to read whatever). I just know the best way for me to keep my reading motivation going is to read whatever I want while focusing on the egalleys I have. There are plenty across genres and pub dates, so I’ll always be able to read something I’m in the mood for.
Walk away from the computer for 5-10 minutes each hour
During a work day in the office, I’m sure I spend a lot of time socializing with others, making coffee/tea, talking to my boss IRL (more than we do now on the phone while at home), and just getting up for breaks. I decided it’d be a good idea for me to get away from my screen for 5-10 minutes every hour. This could be to do a few dishes, switch laundry over, read a bit in my book, and just get my eyes away from the harsh light of the computer.
Develop and use a cleaning schedule
I feel like everyone else is doing this (aside from just the “wiping down groceries” process). I deep cleaned the house the first week this all became “real” and hope to keep up with a regular cleaning schedule like Hannah has been doing. I have a small house so it’s easy to clean but I’m SO lazy.
Finish organizing the Lego room and declutter everywhere else
We have a lot of things we don’t need. I’m not really a pack rat necessarily (half of our stuff is still in storage from when we moved a while ago though…) but I’m bad at getting rid of random things. They just take up space and clutter everything up. So, I hope to really focus on decluttering and tidying areas of the house, and be a bit more ruthless with getting rid of stuff. We also need to finish up the Lego room so it’s a usable space instead of just a storage room.
Cook and bake new recipes; meal plan like crazy
Chris and I have really been leaning in to the cooking and baking during quarantine. I’ll probably do more food posts during this time as well because most ingredients are simple! I’ve also developed a big schedule for meal planning to make sure we have plenty of food to stretch out. When I do shop, I’ve been spending a LOT of money on food to avoid the store as much as possible.
I’ve been trying to do a lot of these things, too, although I try not to be too hard on myself if I don’t get everything done. Even though I have tons of free time, it doesn’t mean i have to use it all productively! But it is nice to have extra time to get some decluttering and deep cleaning done.
A lot of our goals for this time in quarantine and for the future are very similar! Living in Colorado, we have the weirdest weather so it’s been hard to get outside some of the days I’ve been home but it’s something I’d like to do as well. I also really need to step away from the computer more. It’s so hard to distance yourself from work when you’re working from home 24/7!
I have been SO LAZY since the shelter in place has started when it comes to cleaning (although trying to give myself grace because I don’t think it’s “typical” laziness, it’s more “being crushed under the weight of constant anxiety and dread” laziness lol. Honestly just disinfecting our groceries takes SUCH a long time I am exhausted after!
I’m hoping to catch up on my GR challenge too (currently 6 books behind, haha) because I got like NO reading done in Feb really and then the world went to hell in a hand basket. I love your point about leaning into mood reading because that’s what I’ve been doing and it’s 100% making a difference in keeping me more motivated to read!
I love this so much! I’ve definitely hit that part of quarantine where I just need to do something and I’m also trying to find balance. What I’m doing right now is I have very few daily things that are done every single day. (Making the bed is one of them.) I pick three household chores that I want to do and three blog tasks that I want to do. Then I do one of each in the morning, afternoon, and evening.
I haven’t been doing long enough to really say if it works or not so we’ll see how it goes. 🙂
Sounds like a great plan. I hope this is working out for me. A special shout out to going outside every day.
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