Being productive whilst most of us are still spending large amounts of time at home is hard – I get that. But there’s only so much binge watching of Netflix and Zoom’ing you can do before boredom sets in.  

So why not give productivity a go with some ‘at home’ activities and start feeling a bit smug? I’m not saying go crazy – but you know…try one of those jobs that you always seem to put off ‘for a rainy day'.

For a bit of inspiration, I put my thinking cap on and came up with 33 productive activities while you’re stuck indoors.

1. Sort out your photos!

At the last count I had over 30,000 photos on my camera roll (I know right!), and goodness knows how many more on my Macbook. About a year ago a nice ‘Mac man’ came round (to sort out my Macbook) and told me that I really should sort my photos and put them into albums. He was right of course as photos become much easier to find when put into albums. Be prepared that this might take you the best part of a day to sort out, but when you do you’ll feel victorious!

2. Back it up!

Talking of computers, when was the last time you did a backup and save to either the cloud or a hard drive? If you’ve got photos on there you don’t want them lost forever, so make sure you do your research and get your computer protected. The same goes for your website if you have a small business or a blog. WP Manage is a great plugin – there’s a free version and you can set up automatic backups!

 3. Do a lockdown clean

You’ve heard of the spring clean, but why not dig out all your cleaning products and start a deep lockdown clean? Start small – one drawer, one cupboard or a corner of a room. And once you get the cleaning bug, you might well find it hard to stop. The key is not to be over ambitious – make the goals achievable and you’ll be glad you ticked this one off the list.

4. Plan your next holiday

Ah a holiday – remember those? Well, now that we’re being forced to stay in, there’s no reason why you can’t dream of foreign shores – or even staycations on our own shores. So pick a destination, get researching and start planning. And then when lockdown is over you’ll have something brilliant to look forward to!

5. Do your admin

Paperwork piling up in the corner? Now’s the time to sort it. You can pick up some great folders and dividers and start getting those bills filed and certificates put away in a safe place.

6. Get your finances in order

When you’ve finished sorting out the admin, plan for half a day when you can go through the last four months of your bank statements. Make sure you can account for every transaction that has been taken out – and if it’s things you no longer use – a magazine or gym subscription, make sure you cancel it.

7. Sort out your wardrobe

There’s something really therapeutic in having a wardrobe clearout and sorting everything into seasonal wear, types of garments or even colour coded.  Before you throw anything out, ask around if local charities want your donations (or clothes banks) – and if it’s new and you think you can sell it, when not list it on eBay or Facebook marketplace?

8. Defrost & sort out the freezer

Lockdown presents a great time to defrost and organise your freezer. Try to organise your food so that you can work through it in date order (what needs to be consumed first). An easy way to do this is by shelf order – what should be eaten first on the top shelf and working your way down to the bottom.

9. Get your lockdown laundry done

I’m not talking your everyday clothes, bed sheets and towels; when was the last time you washed your curtains, cushion covers, tablecloths and hallway runner? It’s those sort of items that get forgotten about, so now’s a great opportunity to dust off the cobwebs and get them gleaming again.

10. Look after your appliances

If you live in a hard water area, chances are you’ll need to descale your appliances from time to time. Set aside a morning to do this – you can also buy products to descale your washing machine and dishwasher – but when you’re doing your kettle make sure you tell the rest of the household so they don’t poison themselves making a cuppa!

11. Pair up the odd socks

Everyone’s got odd socks lying around – or perhaps like me you’ve got an odd sock hanger that you have to go through every now and then to see if any of the socks match up. Life in lockdown means you have time to go through them. As a rule of thumb, I tend to throw out odd socks if the other one hasn’t turned up within a couple of months. And when you’ve paired the socks, why not take half an hour to look at fixing any holey ones with a needle and thread?

12. Batch cook & freeze

Lockdown presents a great opportunity to batch cook and freeze meals for when you can’t be bothered to cook. You could even dedicate a ‘batch cooked’ shelf in your freezer to your kitchen creations! Here's a great book for batch cooking; if you spent a couple of hours on Sunday batch cooking you could feed yourself and the family for half the week.

13. Venture into the loft

When was the last time you went up into the loft? For us it’s normally twice a year – once to get down the Christmas decorations and the other in the summer to get down the fans for the bedrooms. Sorting out your loft space is a huge job and will no doubt take you much longer than a day – it’s more likely to be a weekend job, so maybe save this one for when you’ve exhausted other options!

14. Look after your wheels

Turn your attention to the car and give it a mini once over and a bit of TLC. Check the tyres, your oil levels, windscreen wiper liquid etc  – and finally, give it a good old clean inside and out. The next time you jump in the car to do a supermarket shop you’ll be pleasantly surprised!

15. Get your thinking cap on

Over lockdown I set myself a challenge to learn all the capital cities of the world by 31^st July. I’m well on track to do so (I’ll probably add it to my YouTube channel to prove I did it!), but it’s great to be able to learn something new and challenge yourself. This could be anything – from learning how to bake a fabulous Treacle Tart to learning a new language – there’s so much choice out there – and if you look hard enough, most of it is free!

16. Trace your family tree

Ever wondered where you came from – and who your ancestors were? Now’s the time to find out! There are plenty of ways of tracing your family tree – this book's a great place to start . Who knows – you could even be related to royalty!

17. Clean your makeup brushes

Cleaning makeup brushes is one of those jobs that we know we should do regularly, but we only get round to once in a while. Today’s the day to add it to your ‘to-do’ list. If you fancy planning ahead and making life a little easier, then there are (believe it or not) automatic make up brush cleaners that do it for you.

18. Start a new hobby

From bird watching to starting a new blog, the world really is your oyster. If you’ve always wanted to set aside more time for crafting or doing some sewing – anything new or that you used to do, lockdown life gives you a great chance to experiment and discover what you really enjoy doing.

19. Clean the oven

Forget the professional oven cleaners – you can do this! Yes, it’s a messy job, but imagine the smugness level once you stand back and admire your handiwork. There are a couple of products that will really help ease the job – this handheld steam cleaner which I’ve got (for the au natural cleaning option!), otherwise there are plenty of chemical cleaners that will do a great job.

20. Get yourself fit

Another activity I’ve been doing during lockdown is improving my fitness. From Monday-Friday I’m committed to doing Joe Wicks’ workout with the kids – and I have to say, I’ve noticed a HUGE difference in both my fitness levels and the strength in my muscles. I can now confidently hold the plank position for a minute – at the start I couldn’t even manage 20 seconds! There are loads of great apps to try if you don’t fancy a home workout including the Couch to 5k which I’ve heard a few friends mention.

21. Marie Kondo your home

I’ve read a few books over the lockdown period including Marie Kondo’s Magic of Tidying. And after I read it, I was raring to go – and pretty much decluttered the whole house in a week. It worked wonders for my mental health and helped reinforce the message that I didn’t need material goods to live happily. Try streamlining your belongings that you no longer need or use and start appreciating the things you have that you depend on.

22. Pimp up your podcasts

Sometimes it’s great just to kickback, put your feet up, close your eyes and listen. I’ve enjoyed a number of podcasts over lockdown including various business and self-improvement podcasts, plus my new favourite – Katherine Ryan: Telling Everybody Everything. There are so many podcasts to try – but be warned, once you start searching you’ll be going down that rabbit hole and will probably lose a couple of hours.

23. Learn a new skill

Have you ever wanted to learn a new skill? What about something really obscure like tying knots or coding? Or perhaps you’d like to start up knitting or upcycling furniture. There are plenty of free courses out there – or you can watch some YouTube channels to get the basics of a new skill to get you started. And the good news is …the government has launched an online learning platform to help boost the nation’s skills while people are staying at home. Free courses are available through The Skills Toolkit platform, giving people access to free, high-quality digital and numeracy courses to help build up their skills, progress in work and boost their job prospects.

24. Have an email detox

How many emails do you have in your inbox? Too many probably! A great productive lockdown activity is having a mega clear-out – respond to those you need to get back to and put those you need to keep into folders – and then try to keep on top of it if you can.

25. Learn a language

With VIP being a language teacher, he’s a huge fan of learning languages – and the origins of words. Duo Lingo is one of his favourite apps for language learning – and it’s free. Even if you just learn a few words of a different language, it will put you in good stead with the locals when you go away.

26. Get appy!

How many apps do you actually use on your phone? Why not take a couple of hours to sort through them, delete the ones you no longer use and organise the rest into folders. When you’ve worked through your apps you can move onto your music library and then your notes etc…

27. Update your garden

Summer is on its way and wouldn’t it be lovely to be able to relax in the garden and admire your handiwork on a nice sunny day? If you put in the hours now, you’ll be reaping the benefits later. So do the weeding, plant a few flowers and plants and keep the lawn looking trim and by the time summer’s here there’ll be plenty to admire. Oh and if you’re introducing plants to your home, check out Patch Plants – they’re a favourite of mine! (Use the code ‘Lauretta Wright’ at checkout when spending £50 or more and bag yourself a free plant!)

28. Get your skincare regime sorted

You don’t need to use chemicals on your skin to get results. Fact. Tropic offers 100% naturally-derived active ingredients that are GOOD FOR YOU! You should be looking after yourself regularly – cleansing, toning and moisturising at the very least.

Tropic’s ABC Skincare Selection is a great place to pimp up your routine and get your essential skincare items. As I’m so passionate about Tropic – because the products are non-toxic, vegan and cruelty-free – it was easy for me to say yes to becoming a Tropic ambassador. If you’re ready to take your skincare to the next level – visit my little shop!

29. Get the snagging sorted

A great productive lockdown activity is to sort through your home’s ‘snagging issues’ – that broken radiator cover, the missing skirting board, the chipped tile…the list goes on. Research what you need to get the job done, watch the YouTube videos to learn how and get it sorted in lockdown – the anticipation is usually worse that the actual job itself!

30. Clean the windows

You might have a window cleaner that does the outside of your windows, but when was the last time you cleaned the inside? My go-to item for cleaning windows is my trusty Karcher window vac. Otherwise, if you prefer a bit of elbow grease, I can recommend Method's glass cleaner and a microfibre cloth. When you’re cleaning your windows do it on a cloudy day so you can spot the streaks more easily!

31. Sort out your coins

The only time we really come to sorting out our coins is when we’re heading for a fun day at the amusement arcades or going abroad on holiday. So why not take the time in lockdown to sort them out once and for all? You can buy separate containers to house your coins – old, new and foreign or you could try selling them if you need a bit of cash.

32. Learn basic first aid

Knowing basic first aid is a great skill to have – and could one day save someone’s life. It’s something that I believe should be taught in all schools, but better late than never as they say. Check out this free introduction to first aid course so you’re better equipped to deal with an emergency if it arises. It might just save someone’s life.

33. Meditate

Spending just 10 minutes a day ‘being present’ can really help kickstart the day with purpose, intention and direction. I use the Headspace app in the morning when I wake up and can highly recommend it. There’s a free version to get you started, but I always find when I do, I have a much more productive day and manage to meet my objectives.

34. Tackle the odds & sods drawer

Everyone’s got an ‘odds and sods’ drawer, cupboard or box and we keep all sorts in it – from watch batteries, safety pins and buttons, to oyster cards, spare keys and a bag of nuts – if it’s remotely obscure, the odds and sods drawer is where you’ll typically find things. So go ahead and either organise the odds and sods space – or find more permanent homes for the items you find in there. You never know, having a clear out might mean you might come across that badge you were looking for months ago…

So there you have it – 34 productive lockdown activities for you to get your teeth into – and when you’re done with a few (or maybe just one), make sure you put your feet up, relax and give yourself a pat on the back. We all deserve a bit of R&R from time to time – and what better excuse than at home with family and surrounded by your creature comforts?

What have you been up to during lockdown – and have you managed to start a project that you thought you’d never get round to doing?

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