I’m sure i’m not the only person is this position as many people across the UK have been furloughed during this lockdown period and although it’s quite nice to have some time to yourself, it’s also hard to fill your time without going stir crazy. I thought this would be a great time to share some things that i’ve been doing for the past couple of weeks, to hopefully inspire you in some way and to fill your time whilst on furlough.
Things to do whilst on furlough…
I’m coming into my third week of being on furlough leave now and all in all it’s not been as scary or daunting as I first expected it to be. Sure it’s weird to essentially have a job that is still paying you, but you’re not actually doing any work?! So i’ve found that during this time, rather than being full on lazy that I should spend this time doing things that i’ve been putting off for a while, or things other bloggers/youtubers etc have inspired me to do.
Clean
For me this was the most obvious one and essentially the first thing I did. Day one of furlough saw me give me my bathroom a much needed deep clean and I mean I went all out. I treated the drains to an unblock treatment, I mopped the floor, bleached and wiped every tile, surface, you name it, it got cleaned! Even if you’re a pretty clean person, there is no doubt something that needs cleaning. Whether it be your kitchen cupboards or just giving the house a good dust. It seriously helps to pass the time and not gonna lie, my room hasn’t looked this clean in a long time!
Organise
As well as cleaning, organising has been the second thing that I was doing the first week of furlough. Organising my bathroom storage cupboard, my makeup storage, wardrobe, under bed etc. Like me i’m sure you don’t really get the opportunity to organise very often, so when you do it ends up being a full weekend job which you could do without. So like me, take this time to get yourself and your things organised. As well as physically organising my bedroom, i’ve also organised things like my car MOT as that is due is May and also ringing my bank to discuss a few things i’ve been meaning to query but haven’t been urgent. Just organising those few things killed a few days and left me feeling really accomplished!
DIY Projects
One thing that I have seen a lot of is people taking up new DIY projects with things that they already have in the house. Whether it’s painting your kitchen with some old paint, or fixing up something that broke. For me I’ve been spending some time doing a couple of DIY projects, which if you follow me Instagram you will have potentially seen my stories on these projects. The first project I started was upcycling some old shelves, as i’ve wanted shelves in my bathroom for such a long time and I randomly had some old shelves in the loft from my old bedroom. The only issue was that they were way to long, so I set out on a little DIY cutting them down, giving them a few coats of paint and finally attaching them to the wall to style. I’m pretty impressed with how they turned out not gonna lie! You can watch my IGTV all about my shelf DIY if you want to see the project start to finish. The second DIY I decided to do, was to create my macrame wall hanging piece as I love the look of them and I assumed they wouldn’t be that hard. With the help of a few Youtube videos I’m hoping to make a wall hanging that is good enough to hang on the wall, but i’m currently waiting on a few supplies!
Update your Portfolio/CV
If like me you work in a creative industry, one thing I haven’t updated since university is my portfolio and they always say you should try to keep it up to date regardless of whether you’re looking for a new job or not. For me it is just a major cba because I know that it will take me a fair while to update it as it doesn’t represent me, or my skills what so ever. However, if it is something that you could easily update then i’d say go for it, it’ll take up a bit of time and if you are looking for a job it’ll come into use big time. If you aren’t in an industry that doesn’t require a portfolio, then spending this time updating your CV is the next best thing.
Volunteer
Lastly, one thing that I know a lot of employers are encouraging employees that have been furloughed to volunteer within the local community where they can. I fully appreciate that we’re in a lockdown, but there are still people out there that need help. Whether it’s offering within your neighbourhood to help anyone who can’t get out to get their shopping. Also just doing a quick google search of volunteering opportunities in your local area will no doubt give you some other options. My local council have a whole section on their website, so i’m sure most other councils will have something similar.
So those are a few ideas on things that you can do during furlough. I have already shared some previous suggestions on adding wellness into your routine, and all of those can apply during this down time so be sure to give that a read.
Have any of your been furloughed during this time?
