Stay-at-Home November: Cozy Ideas and Activities for Being at Home

The days are getting shorter, it’s getting darker and colder outside, and the weather isn’t always the best either. Paired with ongoing lockdown measures in several countries in order to fight the COVID-19 pandemic, we thought we’d take this opportunity and give you some ideas on how to sweeten the time spent indoors.

#SelfCare-Saturday

When was the last time you really focused on yourself and dedicated a full day to your physical well-being? Well, now is the time to do so.

Why don’t you take a nice hot bath (or a shower, in case you don’t have a bathtub), light some scented candles, listen to your favorite music, read a book or sip a glass of wine while you dip into the foam? You can also buy fragrant bath salts in the next drugstore and get yourself some facial masks to nurture and moisturize your skin. We recommend also buying your favorite sweets and putting this full day under the motto “treat yourself.”

Home Workouts & Meditation

Although your gym might be closed, this is not an excuse not to stay active. If allowed in your region, try to take at least one short walk per day to get some fresh air or go for a run outside if you feel like you need to reduce any excess energy.

If you want to work out at home, there are many cool and free home workouts available online, so definitely make use of the different offers available. Our favorite YouTube channel to keep yourself fit is the one by Pamela Reif, who shows a lot of different exercises you can easily do from home.

In case you are not the classic sporty type, we also recommend checking out the online offers for Yoga or Pilates as finding your inner peace and connecting your body with your soul is even more crucial in times like these. There are also great tools for meditations online, so you will definitely find a real gem if you are looking for inspiration or guided meditations.

Learn Something New

You should not only take care of your physical needs but also your mental needs. Is there something you always wanted to learn but never had the time for it? Did you want to learn a new language or wanted to deepen your knowledge in a specific field? Go for it now, you won’t be missing out on anything outside currently, and once the next summer is here again, you can enjoy the nice weather while holding even more knowledge than in the previous year.

For learning a new language, you can either start to try to learn it with a free app or sign up at an online platform if you prefer to study in a group or with a teacher.

If you want to gain more insights into a specific topic, feel free to check out the free classes offered by various universities. Ivy League Universities such as Harvard provide free access to classes since the first lockdown at the beginning of the year, which is a unique chance to acquire knowledge from top-notch institutions for free.

We also recommend checking out the education and training offers by Google. Did you know you can obtain legitimate Google certificates when completing one of their free classes? It definitely pays off to check out their offers.

Bring Out the Best of Your Home

Now we can tick off some physical and mental needs from the list; take a look around you while you are home. Does your apartment or house maybe need some tender, love, and care too? Whatever cleaning task it is that you’re always dreading, go for it! It doesn’t matter if it’s cleaning the windows, the whole kitchen and fridge, or your closet; make productive use of your time spent at home.

While cleaning, you can also start to re-arrange your apartment a little bit. Maybe you feel the need to re-arrange your furniture or get some cozy decoration to make the time at home more enjoyable.

You can also think of new ways of organizing your apartment. You could try out a new approach, such as the Marie Kondo approach, or simply get rid of stuff you don’t need anymore. To separate from things you don’t need can also be cleansing for the soul, and you could donate whatever you don’t need anymore (clothing, shoes, furniture, etc.) for a good cause.

Cook, Eat, Sleep, Repeat

We don’t know if you’re a big fan of cooking or enjoy the eating part more (like we do), but as you spend more time at home now, why don’t you use it to work on your cooking skills? Plus, there is always (hopefully) delicious food at the end of cooking, so it is a rewarding task through and through. Dare to try out new recipes and let yourself be inspired by the endless options out there. We have linked our favorite website for trying out new recipes as well as our favorite food blog.

Tip: Christmas is coming closer! Why don’t you spare yourself the last-minute Christmas gift shopping chaos and bake some Christmas cookies for your loved ones? It is said that love goes through the stomach, and who isn’t happy about delicious cookies?

Virtual Sightseeing

If you’re still longing for traveling and just want to experience different sights and sounds in a different place or country, even if it is only virtually, we have the perfect offer for you. Our audio guides, which are usually your companion to discover a foreign city, can also function as remote guides. Just download them to your device and listen to insider tips as well as local history or culture of a city from wherever you are. Another benefit is that you can keep the guides forever once you’ve downloaded them. So start planning your next city trip now! Download your guide, listen to it now, get mentally ready for your next trip, and then re-use your guide on the spot when you actually get the chance to visit your destination of choice again.

We hope we could give you a little inspiration today on what to do when you have to stay at home. However, if all those tips are too much for you, you can also just take it easy, relax and catch up on some sleep. Too bad us humans can’t hibernate as some animals do😉.