It has been depressing being confined in the house. However, I have never stayed at my house for so long for the past 10 years as I always went out to work on weekdays and went to shopping malls during the weekend.
I am adjusted already after my second month. I do think we need a to do list or schedule to accomplish what we want to do for the day or the week. Like I need to have a check list to remind me to drink water more and to do weight lifting for my flabby arms. Because time really flies if we don't focus on the things we need to do.
I realized my routine has changed. There are new things I picked up during this pandemic period. Here are the things I do during the pandemic.
1. Pick up indoor gardening
I started with my existing money plant (golden photos). I propagate them in water. I managed to sold one plant in a glass vase with white pebbles for $4 at carousell. Which i was quite surprise some one bought it. I also tried germinating seeds. Everytime I eat soto or other food where has lime, I squeeze the lime and keep the seeds. I managed to grow many lime trees.
The hobby gradually shifted to other plants. I bought daisy (gerbera), micro arrow head, strawberry begonia, venus flytrap, airplant and waterlily. I still have many plants I want to have but I just have not purchase them, like caladium family, calathea family and monstera family.
2. Improve our house
When you don't stay at home for long period of time, you have no time to think what need to improve. It could be de-clutter your house, do furniture shift, repair some part of your house, deep cleaning or repainting the walls to refresh the look of the interior.
Actually my first point support this. My plants kind of decorate one new corner I newly created for them. I sold many things via carousell. Cheap is fine. they may find new home which they can be more useful.
I also bought a coffee table for $28 dollars from carousell. It doesn't fit the rest of the furniture I have at home. But I think it does the job as a coffee table as the existing Ikea table is very wobbly. I put up the Ikea table on my carousell once the new one came.
3. Pick up new skill
I self-learn how to do video edititng and animation from youtube. I am still beginer level. I also tried to make youtube video for Marco. He always watches Youtube and he was so excited when I told him I was going to record him and upload it in youtube. So we did few videos of him assembling the Legos.
I also picked up some other knowledge about financial matters, like insurance and investment. I self studied and joined the exam. Well, there is nothing to lose.
4. Exercise (reshape your body)
I always want to be slimmer and more toned. Well, I am just lazy. It was only the 2nd month of the pandemic I diligently went jogging. Then I stopped for months. I started again recently, but the drive is not there. I may be too tired of studying and working. I met one person who told me he lost 8kg because he walks everyday for 10K steps. I was amazed and it inspired me to lose weight also.
5. Cook at home
We are busy people. Most of our time spent in office. When I come back home, I just want to rest. During lock down, it is a best time to try many recipes. Eat real food. Not instant food.
6. Read books
We have extra time in a day now because we don't need to commute to work. So this time can be used for reading. I like to read popular psychology book. Learning human psychology helps me understand other people.
7. Spend more time with your loved one
I spent more time with son during lock down period as no school during that period. he is at home all day. Got one time he was under stay home notice too for 5 days. He couldn't get out of home. However he seemed enjoy staying at home.
I also sent few letters to my mother and auntie at Jakarta. My auntie cried when she got a mail. Inside the envelope when she opened, got Marco's drawings and our photos. I know we can always send drawing and photos digitally via whatsapp, but the presence of physical things somehow create more impactful effect.
8. Seek other opportunity
There are few money making opportunities during this period. I did make some money from doing my meatball business and selling other stuffs.
9. Tidy up your porfolio
During peak period, you won't even have time to tidy up this. So now since you have more time at home, this is the best time to relook into your portfolio and see whether you need to update it with recent projects.
10. Relook your finance and investment
For those who never record how much nett asset value (NAV) they possess, this is the best time to list down and rethink whether you need to rebalance it. Sometimes they are imbalance, e.g too much cash component. So since stock market is also not doing well, it may be a good time to enter. Well, I am not an expert. However logically speaking when things recover, the stock market may bounce to where it was.
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