Realistic and Inexpensive Ways to Fill Up Your Quarantine Time

During this unusual time, many of us are stuck at home and have already gone through all of our typical pastime activities: we’ve caught up on our favorite shows, tried a couple of new ones, and baked enough banana bread to feed a village. So to help us all fill up our time a little better I offer to you a list of quarantine hobbies that are unique, cheap, and entertaining. 

1. Learn how to press flowers

Pressing flowers has sprung up as a trendy new hobby, but few people actually know how to do it. These flowers make for beautiful and eco-friendly decorations. Just add a little washi tape to the stem and your bedroom walls will instantly look more chic. Thankfully, the list of supplies is very brief: books, baking paper, a pair of scissors, and glue. Here’s one last tip: you’ll want your flowers as fresh as possible for a vibrant outcome. Check out this YouTube video for further instruction.

 

2. Start a book club with your friends

My friends and I have a little book club with each other over every school break and quarantine has presented us with the perfect opportunity to add another one into the year. While we tend to choose from an assortment of genres, it may be fun for your group of friends to try out specific themes for every month or week, depending on how much you’re willing to read. Many of us, myself included, can get too caught up in technological forms of entertainment, so switching off and reading for a while can be very soothing and book clubs can provide us with an opportunity to keep in touch with our loved ones while we can’t be with them in-person. 

3. Learn a dance or two

While TikTok is all the rage right now and is a great platform to learn a quick dance, there are actually many other mediums to learn fun and easy choreographies. For example, on YouTube you have free access to infinite styles and genres of dance: from Kpop to Bollywood to Irish folk. One of the great things about learning on YouTube is that you can put your laptop in front of a mirror to have the dance automatically flipped for you (so the dancer’s right arm doesn’t look like the left one when you look at it); this makes the entire process much easier. Also, if you adjust the playback speed on a video you can slow it down to break the moves down more, or speed it up as a fun challenge for yourself. Some channels like 1 Million Dance Studio have even been hosting free dance workshops, so you get to learn the moves from the professional choreographers themselves. 

4. Sell your clothes online

With all of us being stuck at home all of the time, it can make it even harder to ignore the piles of junk we have laying around our homes. Due to that, many people have been turning towards online shops to make a profit off of their old belongings. Setting up your own shop can be as simple as creating an account on Depop or Etsy and as long as you have access to a post office you should be all set. There’s no point in holding onto those jeans anymore if they don’t fit, so why not sell them? Just make sure to give everything a good wash before you send it out! 

5. Try your hand at cooking

While many people have turned to baking as the leisure activity of choice during quarantine, cooking can be a more practical skill to learn and it’s just as fun. Unfortunately many young people are not the most equipped in the kitchen, however quarantine is a fantastic opportunity to learn some useful recipes from our parents, whether you’re at home with them or far away– as long as they’re handy enough with FaceTime. Even without your parents, there are countless YouTube videos and food blogs that will offer you great help– if you’re patient enough to scroll past the novel-length introduction most of the recipes come with. 

 

Let’s be real: most of us aren’t going to learn a new language or invent any world-changing device while we’re stuck in quarantine, but that doesn’t mean we can’t be a little bit productive in our own ways. Even if we’re not being productive, I think anything that gets me out of bed and off of my computer is a pretty good success. Hopefully this article can offer you a list of activities you’re actually inclined to try out since they’re inexpensive and not over-done. 

 

• diy
• hobbies
• quarantine