As some of you know, Mike and I were quarantined for 3 weeks in 2019 with a respiratory virus (not COVID-19). At the time, we learned ways to make our small apartment feel bigger, have our own fun indoors, and stay sane during the quarantine. Because we’ve been there, we’re sharing our top 10 tips we learned during our 3-week quarantine.
Here are our top 10 tips for having fun at home and staying sane during the quarantine:
1. Explore with travel-related board games
Planning for no-screen time is so important during quarantine. Board games give you the opportunity to bond with the other people in your house, explore another world, and get out some of your competitive side. Check out this post for the best travel-related board games.
2. Join a virtual book club
Like board games, this is a great way to get some off-screen time. Put together a group of your self-isolating friends together through a Facebook group, email list, Slack, Nextdoor, or whatever you all want to use and pick a genre you love. Or, join an online book club to meet some new people! Audiobooks are also a great way to get some no-screen time.
Here are a few online book clubs:
- Girls Love Travel (must follow instructions for acceptance)
- PBS Books’ Readers Club
- EVERYONE Had Read This But Me (good for catching up from all those times you said you’d read that one book)
- Star Wars Book Club (had to put this one since I’ve read so many of the Star Wars novels – they are full of adventure from your living room)
Here is Nat Geo’s list of top travel books for 2020 to get you started.
3. Dive deeper into your skill development
There are so many educational institutions or platforms offering free courses throughout this quarantine time. It’s never been a better time to further develop your skills or teach yourself something new. Imagine coming out of this quarantine as a more innovative business owner or employee – for free. It’s the perfect opportunity to kick off the next adventure in your life.
For a list of some of the free courses we’ve been taking, click here.
4. Travel through food
Mike and I normally try to eat in so that we save money for travel. This quarantine is the perfect time to start experimenting with your cooking skills and to save money. Pick a dish that you loved while traveling and try to re-create it at home. We loved pintxos in Barcelona, so I made our favorite pintxo back home. We split a bottle of wine and were immediately reminiscing about all our travels.
Our other cooking tip is to use the InstantPot as much as you can. It’s easy to buy InstantPot ingredients ahead of time, making your grocery delivery/trips minimal. The Spicy Apron is our go-to for InstantPot meals! Here is the book we use and the course we took.
5. Transform a room or wall in your house
You’ve probably got the time and you might get sick of the setup of your house since you’ll be in it all day now, so why not mix it up? If you own your house, try painting a wall a new color that reminds you of a faraway place. If you rent, order some removable decals that will add a touch of motivation to your wall.
Change the furniture up so that a corner of your house is for inspiration – build a fort, add Christmas lights (we put ours back up!), order colored light bulbs, buy a bean bag for comfort… do whatever transports you to another place. Even small changes to a corner or wall of a room give you a great change of scenery.
6. Get into video games!
During our quarantine last year, I was so sick that I could barely leave my bed to make it to the bathroom, so the biggest adventure I had was playing video games. I was transported to another world without leaving my bed.
If you have a console already, try one new game that has a long storyline offline and another that involves a lot of action with other players. It’s good to have both depending on your self-isolation mood. Our preferred console is the Nintendo Switch because I was able to bring it with me to the hospital, we travel with it, and we play it at home.
Child of Light was my favorite calming game to play while under quarantine. We also love all the Super Mario games for multiplayer options. The Switch has many games for $1 or less in the ‘Great Deals’ section that you can purchase!
7. Mix up your fitness routine to stay sane
Think of this quarantine time as a way to experiment with new forms of movement. Many apps and online fitness services are offering free classes that you can do at home.
- CrossFit – check out our 20+ workouts you can do at home. Or, check out the CrossFit At Home website for other options you can do.
- The Peloton App (no bike needed) currently has a free 90-day trial. This app is awesome and has a wide range of workouts available.
- YogaWorks has free live streaming classes throughout this quarantine time.
- Orangetheory is posting on-demand workouts through the end of March (or until the end of the closure of their locations).
Many of these workouts can be done together as a group in your home with no equipment. The benefits of exercise to your brain and body are needed during this time of self-isolation, which you especially need to stay sane during quarantine!
8. Host a Netflix party!
Did you know you can actually watch movies and TV shows with friends when you’re not in the same room? This Google Chrome extension syncs the playback times and offers group chats so that you can be at exactly the same place in the show at the same time (lowers your risk of spoilers!).
We recommend creating your own movie marathon or choosing a show with many seasons so that you can stay hooked throughout the quarantine. Most shows that are still producing episodes have stopped filming during the COVID-19 pandemic, so choosing shows with several episodes will help get you through. We actually watch Hulu, Disney +, and DC Comics way more than Netflix, but take advantage of whatever streaming service you have available.
Recommended TV shows for the coronavirus quarantine: Grey’s Anatomy, Law & Order, Law & Order SVU, Brooklyn 99, Boy Meets World (such a great throwback), The Dog Whisperer, Friends, The Office, Desperate Housewives, Parks and Recreation, and The Justice League.
Recommended movie marathons for the coronavirus quarantine: Star Wars, Harry Potter, Indiana Jones (why not make it a Harrison Ford marathon?), Rush Hour, X-Men, The Chronicles of Narnia, Oceans 11, Pirates of the Caribbean, and Jurassic Park.
9. Attend live music events from your couch during quarantine
Because concerts and festivals around the world are canceled for the first half of 2020, many artists are hosting free live-streamed concerts. Check out your favorite artists’ social media profiles to see if they are hosting a free live-stream show or posting recordings of their past live shows! Think of this as a curated concert couch series just for you.
We’ll be posting our top 3 live music events each week. Some that we’ve already enjoyed include Lukas Nelson #Quarantunes, Dead & Company #OneMoreSaturdayNight #CouchTour, and Coldplay #TogetherAtHome.
10. Imagine the possibilities with arts & crafts
I heard on a recent news story that an arts & crafts business was severely struggling because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Right now, while you have time at home, is the perfect time to play with as many crafts as you can (we recommend the show, Making It, for inspiration! That corner you redid in your house to mix it up can be your new arts & crafts station and help you stay sane during quarantine.
We’ll be making our first ocean resin craft, tie-dying shirts for when concerts finally do happen again, and trying out wood burning for the first time. Neither one of us is particularly artistic, but it’s fun to do something together that we’ve never done before. After 7 years together, we still have so many firsts!
Just remember, arts & crafts don’t need to take up a lot of space. You can use things you already have in your house to make something new! We made orange zest, honey soap and aloe hand sanitizer using things we already had in the house. Think outside the box and experiment – that’s part of the fun.
11. Foster an animal in need during quarantine
This is our bonus quarantine activity that we could not have done last year. We don’t own pets because of our never-ending travel schedule. However, because we’re at home for an extended time, we decided to foster a dog that needs a temporary home before finding her forever home.
This is a new adventure for both of us, and we are so happy to be able to help this sweet girl out. If you think you’d be able to share your time with a pup in need, check your local shelter! It’s hard for animals to get adopted during the quarantine because people aren’t out and about looking for a new pet. If your shelter is unsure of how to do an in-home inspection, we did ours via FaceTime/Facebook messenger video calling.
Our first foster dog, Violet, really kept us grounded as we were trying to stay sane during quarantine. She helped us keep our daily routine, especially when it came to outdoor time.
We hope these 10 activities help you bring some fun and help you stay sane during your quarantine. Remember to use common sense and do your part to blunt the curve!
Subscribe for more tips to stay sane during the COVID-19/coronavirus quarantine (and travel-related tips after we do our part to blunt the curve).
