Skip to Content

10 Projects for When You’re Stuck Indoors to Simplify and Declutter Your Life

10 Projects for When You’re Stuck Indoors to Simplify and Declutter Your Life

10 PROJECTS FOR WHEN YOU’RE STUCK INDOORS TO SIMPLIFY AND DECLUTTER YOUR LIFE

If you’ve got to stay inside but want to be busy and productive, here are 10 projects for when you’re stuck indoors to simplify and declutter your life.

STAYING PRODUCTIVE AND ACTIVE WHEN YOU’RE STUCK INDOORS

For a variety of reasons, we can be stuck indoors. The weather might be bad, finances may be tight so we want to save money, we’re recovering from illness or health issues, have a new baby, caring for a loved one or suffer from social anxiety and just prefer or enjoy being at home. At the extreme, the world can be affected by a global pandemic and we’re ordered to stay at home.

Whatever the reason, sometimes we’re just house-bound. Having some simple projects to do around the home can help us feel productive and useful, and get organised for when we’re back up and running, willing and able to be out in the world again.

These projects are also a good way to avoid FOMO (the fear of missing out) so that perhaps you can transform this into the JOMO (the joy of missing out)!

Here are some simple projects for when you’re stuck indoors. You can fit them around your schedule, your kids and anything else that you need or want to do. They can be done quickly if you only have a few minutes, or take your time if you have longer… and they’ll help declutter your home and simplify your life or make it a little more fulfilling than just binge-watching TV (as appealing as that is sometimes!).

SIMPLE PROJECTS FOR WHEN YOU’RE STUCK INDOORS

Here are 10 simple projects for when you’re stuck indoors and looking for tips and inspiration to keep you busy and productive!

1. Sort your finances

Go through your bank statements, receipts and credit card statements. Make a simple table or spreadsheet of all your income and expenses, even just some written notes on a piece of paper.

Identify any outgoings for subscriptions and memberships that you don’t use, track your spending habits and see if there’s any way you can save more and spend less. Automate payments to go out by direct debit and set up online banking so it’s easier to manage with less paper clutter.

For more ideas, check out this post on how to simplify your finances or these tips on how to deal with paper clutter.

2. Declutter your wardrobe

Make it easier and quicker to get dressed each morning knowing that your wardrobe is only full of clothes that you love to wear and make you look and feel your best.

Sort through your clothes, make piles of the stuff that you want to keep, donate/recycle or throw. Only keep the pieces that you really enjoy wearing and do actually wear. Put them back in your wardrobe, neat and tidy.

Check out this post on how to declutter your clothes in 10 easy steps or this article on the benefits of a capsule wardrobe.

3. Meal-plan in advance

Take a look at your calendar so you know what’s happening for the following week or month. Plan what meals you need based on that, including breakfasts, lunches and dinners for everyone in your home.

Decide on which meals you’re going to cook, write a shopping list for what you need and order online for home delivery at a time that’s convenient to you or go to the shops if that’s a better and available option for you.

Meal-planning means less food waste, better use of your ingredients and therefore less waste of your money. It also helps reduce your stress at mealtimes when you’re hungry, tired and can’t decide what to cook (let alone check if you’ve got the ingredients you need!).

For more help with this, check out my ideas on meal-planning and meal prep.

4. Tackle a difficult-to-declutter area

Some rooms, areas or types of item in our homes are much more difficult to declutter than others. Think about your garage, loft, old photos, heirlooms and children’s artwork. If you have a little bit more time on your hands, use some simple strategies to help you start decluttering and tackle these areas which you normally don’t have time, motivation or energy to declutter.

Projects for when you're stuck indoors

5. Learn a new skill

There’s so much you can learn from the internet these days. What about learning to sing, trying your hand at baking or speaking a foreign language. Now might be the time to learn something you’ve always fancied having a go at but never got around to because busy life keeps getting in the way!

6. Grow your mind

Join an online course, check out a new podcast, read a book… Use the time to expand your learning and knowledge.

If you’ve got cabin-fever or are feeling anxious or lonely, your mental health might need support if you’re stuck indoors. Here are some tips for positive thinking which you might find helpful.

7. Re-decorate a room

Paint a room, renovate some old furniture, swap your existing furniture around or change the layout. Sometimes a change is as good as a break so give yourself a new view at home, change your home’s internal scenery and see how you feel!

8. Sort through your digital clutter

Sort through the photos on your phone. Delete the fuzzy ones and save the good ones to your computer or cloud drive. Delete unused apps on your phone and re-arrange the ones you use most often onto your home screen.

Sort through your computer, declutter the desktop, save important files in a clearly labelled filing system.

Go through your emails, clear your inbox of unwanted emails, action the ones that need dealing with, set up folders so you can sort through them all easily, empty the trash and archive the rest.

Digital clutter builds up so quickly and easily in this digital age and it’s time-consuming getting on top of it. Now might be a good time!

9. Challenge yourself

This could be anything from completing a jigsaw, giving up sugar, trying a week without TV or doing a yoga workout every day for a month. Set yourself a task and give yourself an incentive or reward when you’ve completed it!

Being stuck indoors and at home for a while might be a good time to establish some good habits and routines for yourself and your home. Habits take a while to become embedded into the flow of our day and for our bodies and brains to learn new behaviours through time and repetition.

You might enjoy this article on 11 microhabits that can change your life or this article on setting up useful household routines to maintain your home with minimum effort.

10. Deep-clean your home

Clean the things that you normally don’t get around to cleaning. What about the curtains, the cushion covers, rugs or carpet, the sofa covers, throws and blankets? These are the jobs that often get left out when we’ve only got a certain amount of time to get the home clean. We stick to the basics and bare necessities and the other areas get left for another day. Maybe today could be that other day?

There are some great mental health benefits to spring cleaning, detoxing your home is better for both your own health and the environment, and you could even find ways to enjoy a clean home whilst actually making housework quicker!

EVEN MORE IDEAS

I couldn’t just stick at 10 ideas. Here are some other quick ideas and projects for when you’re stuck indoors.

  • Phone, email or message your family and friends
  • Tend to your indoor plants
  • Try an adult colouring book and rekindle your childhood
  • Get baking
  • Have a picnic in the garden
  • Tidy up a junk drawer or the kids’ toys
  • Cook a three-course meal
  • Tackle that DIY project you’ve been putting off
  • Do some exercise with a home workout or Yoga practice
  • Give yourself a manicure or pedicure
  • Take up painting or another creative hobby
  • Practice meditation or mindfulness
  • Binge watch a series on Netflix

SHARE YOUR THOUGHTS…

I hope these projects give you some ideas on what you could do with your time if you’re stuck indoors. Let me know if there’s anything else that you can think of which we could add to the list!

YOUR NEXT STEP…

If you’re looking for some more projects to keep you busy then check out my list of 100 things to get rid of right now.

It’s packed with simple tasks to clear the clutter in your home and generally make your home a nicer place to be! And give you a project to focus on whilst you’re stuck at home!

Pop your details in the box below to get your free copy…

DON’T MISS OUT!

I’m Antonia and on this blog I share practical inspiration to simplify your home, time and life. Follow me on Instagram, Facebook and Pinterest! You can also subscribe to Balance Through Simplicity and receive regular simplicity tips straight to your inbox for free. Make sure you never miss an article plus you’ll get a copy of my free Declutter Starter Kit as a welcome gift!