Sometimes we find ourselves trapped in our homes, completely at a loss for how to use our time. Maybe we feel that we have too many options to even begin to pin one down, or maybe we feel that we have too few due to a lack of time or resources. The fact of the matter is there are a great many number of ways we can entertain ourselves at home for free or on a budget. Having fun does not necessarily mean forking over tons of money. Here are is a creative list of ideas for you have a good time without leaving your house.
- Watch a program on Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime, etc.
- Read a new book. Half of the fun of reading a new book is finding it. eReaders are a great resource for browsing scores of contemporary titles, as well as free classics, such as Tales of the Brothers Grimm.
- Reread an old book.
- Watch YouTube animal videos.
- Exercise (It’s free and it’s good for you).
- Turn to Pinterest for D.I.Y. and inspired upcycling ideas.
- Play your favorite music and get up and dance. Tom Cruise did it in Risky Business.
- Write reviews for your Amazon purchases. It’s oddly addictive to do and helps your fellow buyers.
- Write a poem. Turn to the internet for how to write haikus, limericks, ballads and more.
- Draw, if you are artistically inclined.
- Take some photographs around the house or of the world outside your window using either a stand-alone camera, or the one built into your phone.
- Skype or Face Time with someone you don’t normally see.
- Start an Instagram or Twitter for your pet.
- Try out a new cocktail recipe with ingredients around the house.
- Bake some cookies.
- Create your own nut butter, be it almond, peanut, or walnut. Get creative!
- Create your own pesto with a fresh green (basil, spinach, arugula, etc.), olive oil, your nut of choice, fresh parmesan, and salt and pepper.
- Make a collage with magazines and newspapers sitting around the house. Frame and hang it for cheap, D.I.Y. wall art.
- If you know an instrument, play it.
- Go window shopping online. It’s like window shopping at the mall, but the multiple checkout steps are a deterrent for actually buying anything.
- Make a sock puppet with an old sock and odds and ends around the house.
- Brew and enjoy a cup of coffee or tea. Take time to savor the beverage, and pick out flavor notes.
- Run diagnostic, clean up, and maintenance tasks on your computer, such as running an antivirus software and making sure your computer is completely up to date.
- Collect clothing and nonperishable food items you no longer want for donation. This idea is double duty: You are giving to those in need and de-cluttering your home.
- Take online quizzes on websites like Buzzfeed.com.
- Explore your phone or tablet’s app store and make use of free apps.
- Create a blog on a website such as blogger.com or wordpress.com.
- Organize a cluttered area of your house, such as your closet or your junk drawers. It’s cathartic and sometimes fun going through your belongings and paring down to only those that you need and use.
This is a solid list to get you started. Entertaining yourself sometimes takes loads of creativity. Next time you are bored, take a look around your space and find something you haven’t used for a while, or something that needs to be organized and get to work. And with a plethora of free and cheap entertainment options on the internet, there is no end to the ways to entertain yourself at home.
