I am sure that we can all remember the beginning of COVID loving the whipped coffee and daily family walks; we were hopeful for the end of COVID. Now, nine months into quarantine, the Tik Tok trends have worn off, we are no longer living at home with our families, and our day consists of endless zoom calls. Going into our ninth month of living in the COVID-19 pandemic, I have developed some small daily habits that have helped me live a more productive life while staying at home.
- Set the alarm every morning for the same time.
Setting an alarm in the morning has helped me slip into a routine. This helps me avoid oversleeping and letting the day get away from me. I have learned that when I wake up at the same time every day, I am more motivated to get up and get my work done. This stable alarm time has given me more structure in my routine, from what time I eat breakfast to what time I work out to what time I shower.
- Set a day for meal prepping and grocery shopping.
I have recently discovered that meal prepping allows for me to eat healthy for the week as well as decreasing the amount that I eat out. When I used to not meal prep, I would eat out way more because I would get too lazy to cook. I have also recently discovered ordering groceries online. I always dreaded going to the grocery store and walking up and down the aisles looking for what to buy. While at the grocery store, I also found that I wouldn’t actually buy anything I needed because my brain was too scattered to think about meal prep. Now, with ordering groceries online, it gives me more time to plan out my meals for the week and research recipes. Ordering online also decreases the amount of time you have to spend in a grocery store during the COVID-19 pandemic.
- Set a 20-minute timer every day to clean.
It is very easy to let our bedrooms and homes get cluttered and dirty every week from just simply living in it. Due to our new work from home and school from home lifestyles we are living a lot more in our homes. I found that setting 20-minute timers every day to tidy up a bit decreases the amount of clutter as well as decreasing the amount of time you have to deep clean each week. It is very easy to kind of pass over and ignore the mess because we get so busy during the day that we push it off, but with just 20 minutes out of your day, you can become cleaner and more organized.
I hope that these three tips and tricks were helpful, and I hope that you all can implement them into our new “pandemic” lives!