5 Meaningful Projects to Tackle at Home During The Pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic has changed the working and living habits of many citizens. For example, you may find that working from home is much more productive for you professionally and is also helpful in your family life.

As we come out of the pandemic, it may be time to make some of these changes permanent.

Create a Home Office

If you have a spare bedroom you can turn into an office, you’re in luck. If not, you may need to alter a closet, or you could choose to hire a contract and add on to your home.

Working with a professional who can provide warranties on budget and timeline will lower your pandemic stress and improve your life over time.

You can also use cost estimating software to help you with minimizing your expenses.

While you may need to wait for spring to renovate, a home office in a closet or the corner of a bedroom is actually a simple fix for now. Add a folding screen and put noise-canceling headphones to work so you can focus until you can update your home.

Remove Unused Items

While the decluttering craze may be losing steam, we all know that getting rid of unused books, extra kitchen utensils and unworn clothing can free up physical space and create a calmer mind.

To successfully clear out unused items, start in the morning when your decision making muscle is strongest.

Take the following tools with you:

• black trash bags
• white trash bags
• cardboard boxes
• plastic bins

The goal of this exercise is to completely empty the closet or space you’re working in. If you’re cleaning out a clothes closet as part of a bedroom declutter, put all trash in the black bags.

Anything to be donated goes in the white bag. Items you want to sell can go in the cardboard box, and things you’re going to keep will go in the plastic bin. Wear workout clothes for this and be prepared to get sweaty.

Immediately load the black bags into trash bins and put white bags in your car to take to the donation site. List items for sale before you put them in the box, or send them to an organization such as ThredUp to immediately get them out of your space. Act so you can be cleared of excess.

Also read: Designing Your Dream Closet: Tips for a Custom Closet Makeover

Inventory Consumables

Go through your cupboards and cabinets to get a real inventory of your stock of shampoo, lotion, body wash and toothpaste. You may find that you don’t have to buy these products for quite a long time.

This exercise can help your budget and reduce anxiety. If you weren’t a panicked toilet paper buyer, it may have been because you knew what you had at home. Before you shop again, check your inventory.

Read also: How Decluttering Helped Me Be More Productive

Learn a Home-Enhancing Skill

Study YouTube tutorials or the how-to books in your bookcase and increase your DIY skills.

There are many simple ways to easily increase your pleasure in your home by managing some projects on your own. Even if all you learn to do is sew on a button, you can increase your confidence in managing that part of your life.

Once you’re good enough with a needle for buttons, you can start mending seam tears and even darning socks. Go through your stock of craft supplies and get busy creating items that will add value to your space.

Read also: 10 Productive Things You Can Do During Quarantine

Study the Lighting in Your Home

If your budget doesn’t have room right now for a renovation or a furniture upgrade, try moving around the lamps in your space. Changing up the lighting in your home can turn a “blah” living room into a conversation pit or change an old chair into a reading haven.

Use lamps to create pools of interest around your home. Overhead lighting is great for general viewing, but a pendant light over a counter is better for task lighting.

A hanging lamp near artwork will draw the eye of a guest to walk over and take a second look, which will make your home feel more interesting and more spacious.

Your home is always a work in progress. Tiny improvements in your skills and your space can lead to amazing changes in your quality of life.