Creative Ways People Kept Busy During Lockdown

2020 has been a year that’s changed the world as we once knew it. From the devastating bush fires in Australia at the start of the year that raged for months wiping out homes, innocent animals and land, to the Coronavirus pandemic that we’re still battling against that caused much of the world to effectively become prisoners in their own homes.

To say this year has been unprecedented, confusing, and terrifying at times is an understatement.

In the middle of all the chaos, though, a lot of good has come from this, and as much as we’re all looking forward to getting back to doing things we probably once took for granted, like going for a meal and travelling, this has forced us to take a step back and really consider what’s actually important in life.

Lockdown has been one of the key words of this year, and although things are starting to improve somewhat, we’re not completely out of the woods yet.

So, if you’re in one of the areas that is still affected by more strict lockdown restrictions or if you’re just trying to plan ahead in case it becomes necessary to go back into a full lockdown for a while, then here are some of the ways that many people were using this time to keep busy and even entertain their family when made to stay inside for months and everything on Netflix has been watched 10 times over.

Cooking:

At the very start of the pandemic and when word of lockdown started to get around, people started panic buying ridiculous things like toilet roll, but they also started stockpiling things like pasta, flour and other non-perishable goods.

Whilst panic buying is never a good idea and is completely un-necessary when you understand how the supply chain works, not to mention how selfish it is, one of the other reasons for the sudden popularity of flour was because people were starting to see that cooking from scratch and freezing meals was actually a better, and more cost effective approach than stocking up on a hundred tins of spaghetti hoops and baked beans.

Whether it was making their own pasta, or baking bread and cooking with their kids, the UK became a nation of aspiring chefs almost overnight, and cooking is a skill that’s never going to go out of fashion, so if lockdown is responsible for anything good, then cooking healthy meals from scratch should be given pride of place.

Home Renovations:

When lockdown was announced in the UK it was right before the Easter holidays and obviously rolled on into summer, so with a travel ban on any non-essential trips, people were forced to stay at home instead of going on their usual holiday.

Places like B&Q and Amazon saw a massive increase in their sales of things like paint and DIY goods as people started those projects around the house they’d been putting off and also had some money to spend on.

Another popular thing was garden furniture, especially since the UK enjoyed a particularly warm summer this year when we weren’t allowed to visit our usual sunny favourites like Spain and Greece, so anyone with a garden quite rightly wanted to make the most of the nice weather.

Decluttering:

There’s certainly never a bad time to have a clear out of things you don’t want and need that are lying around the house, but for most people, this is something that often gets put off for months and sometimes years, as it’s a time consuming task, and things like work, school, and just life in general will often take priority over decluttering.

For many people who had been furlouged or were forced to sel-isolate at the peak of the pandemic, this was something that helped them keep busy, but also feel productive and keep a good grip on their mental health.

The benefits of decluttering have been highly popularised in recent years through things like the book by Marie Kondo, The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up, so if you think you’re overdue for some decluttering, then this is definitely something to consider should we need to go back into lockdown for a while.

Quality Family Time:

Spending quality time with our families is something that’s been simultaneously increased and decreased during lockdown.

Not being allowed to go anywhere and visit other households meant that grandparents weren’t allowed to see their grandchildren and parents and children who didn’t live together weren’t able to see each other in person.

However, for those living together, there was pretty much nothing else to do but spend quality time together.

For those who suddenly found themselves with free time for their kids this hasn’t been the worst thing, as usually work and general life can cause this to be severely limited.

So, whether it’s revelling in glory as you beat your partner at yet another round of the dead or alive slot game at your favourite online casino, making scrapbooks with the kids, or having a family movie night, there’s plenty of ways to enjoy quality time with your family when you’re not able to go anywhere.

Self Improvement:

One of the biggest problems caused by Coronavirus has been to the economy with companies shutting down practically overnight and people losing their jobs all over the place.

Although a scary thing to happen, a lot of people decided to take matters into their own hands when they realised that job security is more or less a myth and used this time to develop their skills in a certain area, take up a new passion project or even start a new business that will change their life for the better as things continue to go back to normal.

Here’s hoping that the situation is soon going to be under control and that we won’t be faced with the prospect of another harsh lockdown as we had in spring, but if that is the case, then we hope that this post has given you some useful tips that will help you make the most of the situation and maybe even find being at home more enjoyable than you otherwise would.