100 things to do whilst in lock-down
24th August, 2020
What’s there to do while stuck indoors? Here’s 100 suggestions to help make your time quarantined as interesting – and perhaps even as productive – as possible
1. Complete a puzzle
2. Start a journal or blog
3. Dust off that old instrument and practice
4. Text your friends and family
5. Write poetry
6. Watch all the really long movies you’ve avoided until now
7. Teach yourself a foreign language
8. Read
9. Meditate
10. Treat yourself to a 10-step skin care routine
11. Look at pictures of puppies
12. Put together the most attractive charcuterie board possible
13. Paint
14. Write actual letters to family and friends
15. Dance
16. Finally read the rules to those long and intense board games you’ve never played with the family. Encourage the family to play
17. Put on a soap opera
18. Have a space in your home where all of the tupperware goes? Organize it and actually match lids to containers
19. Try on all your clothes and determine whether they “spark joy” á la Marie Kondo
20. Better yet, go through this process with your junk drawer and supply shelves
21. Have a roommate meeting about how to be more considerate of one other, especially while you will likely be spending more time together. Bring baked goods
22. Bake those goods
23. Watch the films that won Oscars for best picture
24. Watch films that won Independent Spirit Awards for best picture
25. Watch films that critics say should have won those aforementioned awards
26. Read all the magazines in your house
27. Watch every Tom Hanks movie chronologically
28. Knit or crochet
29. Use Skype, FaceTime, Google Hangouts or Marco Polo to video chat with your long-distance friends
30. Try out at-home aerobics or yoga videos
31. Look at yourself in the mirror. Attempt a self portrait with pencil and paper
32. Take a bubble bath
33. Make a classic cocktail, from negronis to Manhattans and aperol spritzes. Don’t forget the garnish
34. Coloring books
35. Take time to reflect: What have you accomplished in the last year? What goals are you setting for yourself in the next year?
36. Write a short story or get started on that novel
37. Actually try to reproduce something you see on Pinterest
38. Clear out the family room and camp indoors with all blankets, popcorn and scary movies
39. Finally get around to fixing that broken door knob and loose tile or cleaning scuffed up walls
40. Acquire a foam roller and treat yourself to some physical therapy
41. Pretend you’re 13 years old and fold a square piece of paper into a fortune teller you put your thumbs and pointer fingers into. Proceed to tell fortunes
42. Learn how to braid (fishtail, French, etc.) via YouTube tutorial
43. Throw out all your too-old makeup and products
44. Interview your grandparents (over the phone, of course) and save the audio. Can you create an audio story or book with that file?
45. Go through your camera roll, pick your favorite pics from the past year and make a photo book or order framed versions online
46. Go on a health kick and learn how to cook new recipes with ingredients you may not be using already, from miso to tahini
47. Create a Google document of shows or movies you’re watching and share it among family and friends
48. Make a list of things for which you are grateful
49. Have your own wine tasting of whatever bottles you have at home
50. Work on your financial planning, such as exploring whether to refinance your loan or ways to save more money
51. Perfect grandma’s bolognese recipe
52. Make coffee, but this time study how many beans you use, which types, how hot the water is, how long it brews and whether any of that makes a difference
53. Buy gift cards from your favorite local businesses to help keep them in business while we quarantine
54. Watch “Frozen 2″
55. Write a book with your family. Pick a character and each member writes a chapter about their adventures. Read aloud to each other
56. Have a Scrabble tournament. Or Bananagrams. Pictionary, anyone?
57. Get into baking with “The Great British Baking Show,” but your technical challenge is baking something with the ingredients you have on hand (that you didn’t already use in the charcuterie board).
58. Indoor scavenger hunt
59. Alternate reading the Harry Potter series with your kids and cap each one off with the movie
60. Dye your hair a new color
61. Read Robert Jordan’s 14-book “Wheel of Time” series before it streams on Amazon starring Rosamund Pike
62. Write a play starring your loved ones. Perform it via a video call app
63. Go viral in the good way by making a quarantine-themed TikTok
64. Rearrange your sock drawer
65. Stop procrastinating and do your taxes
66. Make lists of all the museums, sporting events and concerts you want to visit when they finally reopen
67. Get into comics with digital subscriptions on your tablet, like Marvel Unlimited
68. Rearrange your furniture to make it seem like your home is a totally different space
69. Practice shuffling playing cards
70. Organize your spice rack alphabetically or get crazy and do it by cuisine
71. Teach your dog to shake. Hand sanitizer optional
72. Memorize the periodic table. You never know when that will come in handy
73. Order and put together some IKEA furniture. Time yourself
74. Get a free trial of a streaming service and binge-watch as much as you can before it expires
75. Pick up a new skill online
76. Learn a new style of dance via YouTube, from bellydancing to breaking.
77. Update or write your will and organize your affairs. Yes, it sounds melodramatic and morbid but let’s face it: This is a task many of us avoid because we never have the time. Now we do
78. Livestream a concert or parade
79. Bring out the Legos. Build your house inside of your house
80. Watch the “Star Wars” movies in this and only this order: Rogue One-IV-V-II-III-Solo-VI-VII-VIII-IX.
81. Two words: Coronavirus beard! Grow it, moisturize it, comb it, love it
82. Learn the words to “Tung Twista.” Get them so ingrained in your brain that you can rap them as fast as Twista can. Impress everyone
83. Been meaning to get some new glasses? Try on new frames virtually
84. Attempt things with your non-dominant hand, from writing to brushing your teeth. Prepare to be frustrated
85. How many words per minute can you type? See if you can get speedier by taking a typing course
86. Prepare to verbally duel a bully who wants to discuss the evolution of the market economy in the Southern colonies, by memorizing Matt Damon’s “Good Will Hunting” speech
87. Learn origami. Make cranes for your loved ones
88. Stretch. Work on your flexibility. It’s possible to get the splits back, right?
89. Try to speak in pig Latin. Or, “ig-pay, atin-Lay.”
90. Talk to your plants. How are they doing? Make sure they are getting the amount of sunlight they should be. Check their soil. Water if necessary
91. Deep condition your hair
92. Consider donating to help families struggling to get meals
93. Write a song
94. Study the art of beatboxing
95. Try moving in super-slow motion. It’s OK to laugh at regular speed
96. You know how there are dozens of ways to wear a scarf, but you only wear it the one way? Learn the other ways
97. Learn Old English words. Pepper them into your conversation. Wherefore not?
98. Try on a new shade of lipstick. See how long it takes your partner to notice it
99. Take deep breaths, in through your nose and out through your mouth
100. Sleep. Get lots of it