What do you do with your days when you don’t work or if your not in work?

[Tropicaliyes]

So I’m curious how everyone spends their days?

especially when you don’t have a job or when you have time off for whatever reason what does your day look like?

I am looking for things to do, I’m a homebody due to long term health issues however as imagined it’s incredibly tedious waking up to do the same thing day in day out.

I live in London and find there isn’t anything to do. I’m not someone that goes shopping for clothes or other stuff and even so that’s not a daily activity.

I have a dog and so have looked far and wide for things to do with him and in the summer found canoeing and my partner and I took our dog and we all enjoyed that, however it was expensive and now it’s cold I’m less likely to put up with being cold and wet (and pregnant).

I also somehow ended up with feet issues at the beginning of last year when I decided to take our dog on daily 2 hr walks in the wrong foot ware now causing long term foot pain even with the thickest insoles I can find (which gives me about half an hour of walking before the pain kicks in). So those walks don’t happen now and even at the time the same route over and over was starting to get to me as not many walking routes are okay where I am because of main roads, motorways or many dead ends (most people take their dogs to the local park and just keep walking in circles!)

Id love to find something to do when I am going out as I hate leaving home without a purpose, at the same time when I am at home I’m feeling cooped up, trapped, irritated with the endless cycle but at the same time I’m loosing motivation to keep trying to conjure up things to do.

what do you do?

Have you considered a move? I moved from London to Manchester 12 years ago and it was the best decision of my life tbh. I own a lovely 3 bedroom house for less than a relative paid for a 2 bed apartment in south london, there are green spaces within 20 mins on the train. It basically has everything London has but it doesn't take a hour to get from one side to the other. I also don't drive and have found the public transport, as long as you pick your location well, is very good.

@Fuwari Im glad you can u can understand where I am coming from, I don’t want to sound like a cheapskate but at the same time having the ability to go to a museum (or similar) EVERY DAY just isn’t cost effective even if my health permits. Just living in London and having to use public transport for all these “trips” adds up and are far from cheap if you add busses on top!

I think the only way to keep cost down is to cycle and walk if you can.

Also I wanted to add, I never stated that my health was the barrier to stopping me from doing things or finding things, I said not being able to find things to do was the barrier. My health comes in slightly as It may limit what I can do, like a lot of sports stuff but many of them I’d have to stay away from during pregnancy anyway. My health effect working if I have to go to a physical place because they want you to have a schedule, rota and for you to be able to stick to it, if your sick that’s not something you can promise you can manage.

finding things to do means I can do it in my own time, when I feel I have the ability to and if I can’t or don’t feel like doing it, no biggie I can do it another time.

I can’t wait until i can join in on toddler groups and kiddie stuff, I can find things to do then as my family had a lot of kids so had a lot of child orientated activities but there was never adult stuff they did.

@LivingDeadGirlUK In fact I have been looking to move for what seems like the longest time now! I’m on Homeswappers and looking into mutual exchanges however just like a lot of council homes, they allowed it to get to a state of disrepair so I’m not In the process of fixing things up enough to be able to take pictures and get people interested. Asking the council to fix what is their responsibility seems like it will never happen so I’m willing to put a little money into this just so we can get out. We are also in a one bedroom but with a baby that will make 3 of us so we need the space! This year is the year for change for us! I’m adamant.

It depends on what I feel like doing and what the weather is like on the day.
Some days I take the dogs for a drive out and a walk for a change from walking locally. Other days I might be pottering around the place.
Equally I might book a flight for later that day to visit my parents and friends back home if the mood takes me, although it's not unknown for me to jump in my car and drive over.
One thing I won't be doing is shopping for anything. I hate it.

Start a family tree! I am part time, but spend most of my days off doing housework and errands. When I get time I spend it researching my family history - you should be able to access a lot of digitised records online at your local library.

Our library has loads of groups from book clubs to crafts, all sorts. I often think I'd go along if I had the time.

Adult DC, married, work PT.
On my days off do maybe an hours cleaning then walk the dog, catch up on a box set or read or knit.
Catch up with family and friends , maybe go round the charity shops.

Crochet
Yoga - can do very gentle moves even chair yoga
Jigsaws
Tidying / sorting

If I had time I'd love to volunteer in a school to help listen to kids read.

You could become a telephone befriender? Maybe Age Concern run something?

Re your repairs, I found the housing disrepair helpline to be good. I'm in an HA property and had a leaking roof they weren't fixing (always some excuse!). I called these people and they got it sorted and I got a small amount of compensation.

School run, food top up shop. Housework takes up a few hours day, then I'll sometimes make that night's dinner and stick in the slow cooker, walk dog, watch about an hour of TV then before I know it it's time to go and pick the kids up.

@OUB1974 a family tree? I remember when I was a kid my aunt was trying to go through the ancestry website just to trace relatives but then when she realised it was going to charge her, she tried to convince one of us to do it instead so she could get the answers for free… Its safe to say.. she didn’t find anything 😅. I didn’t know the local library would have family records though? Is that still the case if your family are not from here? If it’s online is it only accessible through the library or can it be accessed from anywhere?

there isnt too many activities at our local library, mainly ones for kids that I can see but there is no harm in checking.

@Mentalpiece what country do your parents live? What do you do with your dog when you get a last minute flight? I’d love to just drop everything and go but that’s always easier said than done especially with animals.

@FusionChefGeoff telephone befriender🤔 where would I find something like this? It’s not getting me out the house and would mean sitting at home on the phone but it’s still something to do.

@Fuwari ooh thank you for that, I checked out their website and it says if it has been more than a month since reporting the issue, I haven’t made fresh requests for the repairs so I will do that this week and get ready to contact these lot when they don’t respond yet again.

food shops I usually get online and can get everything needed so I never have the need to actually go to the shops now, I did over the Christmas period which was useless because the shelves were empty.

I have realised from this thread I need to take up learning to knit again, maybe find some local clubs with new interest's, find some new hobbies (I use to draw, write and sing but not anymore) and maybe bite the bullet and travel out of the city.. I don’t have a garden so gardening is off unless it’s indoor plants which my cats will eat. Maybe go out for a meal with my partner occasionally. I already cook so much that I don’t find it enjoyable anymore.

I work part time from home and have 2 year old, so not a huge amount of free time. However things that I do at home recently:

Gardening - loads to do all year.
House renovations - I managed to get an old chest of drawers and wardrobe recently and am up cycling, so sanding, filling, painting. Also painted old tiles in downstairs bathroom.
Cooking - i like to make some kind of cake, and a bread each week if time. Plus dinners fancier sometimes if time.
Volunteering - not much. But I pop around elderly neighbour each week for cup of tea and help her with various tech related paperwork.

Once you have your baby, you will have very little spare time. I couldn’t have done an online uni course with newborn, mine barely slept and fed every hour for about a year. I used to put milk in the cupboard and tea in the fridge as couldn’t even think straight, let alone study. But walked a lot, babies often only sleep in moving arms

If you’re pregnant now, it won’t be very long before you’re very busy with a baby. I think you have to sometimes accept that being bored is OK.

Reading, cross stitch, knitting, crochet, walking, decorating, yoga, Pilates, library groups, housework, are all good uses of time.

I just went back full time last year - but up until then I had two days off a week. Mostly spent walking the dog, meeting friends and doing housework.

I don’t work because my health is what I’d call fragile and it doesn’t take much to make me feel really ill. I’ve got a bad back now too🙄. I do find it terrible for my mental health to be stuck at home but I don’t seem to have much time in my routine to do anything exciting.

I spend the morning walking the dogs and then I do yoga (a beginners Ashtanga class). Then I have lunch and do a bit of housework. Then I have a couple of hours of reading and faffing about on here and then it’s time to walk the dogs again (no garden). Then it’s time to start dinner so I do that, clear away and then do my bath/shower routine. It probably sounds nice and it is in a way but I’m horrifically depressed.

What I found when I managed to keep up daily Ashtanga for a few weeks was that my feet felt much better. I’d torn something (not sure what but it tore and I had a numb area) several times in different areas. Those injuries disappeared and my feet looked slimmer and nicer which was very unexpected. But do be careful because it was bad shoes and careless yoga that caused the injuries in the first place. Just be very cautious with downward dog.

I’m trying to work my way through the BBC top 100 books and occasionally I decide that I’m going to research lots of different subjects on YouTube. Then I’ll be able to hold a conversation on any subject (with my dogs).

I had a few months off between jobs earlier this year, in London, and went to a lot of theatre, art galleries and museums. I use Today Tix or a seat filling site for tickets, to find cheap deals. That's my default if I have time off as I want to make the most of living here where so much is readily available. The hopper bus fare is £1.65 if the tube is unaffordable and you can always take coffee and something to eat from home to keep costs down.
I also watched lots of telly, did some half hearted decluttering at home etc too so plenty of more low key stuff too.

I live in London and find there isn’t anything to do

You're having a laugh. If there's one thing I'll miss about London if I ever decide to move, it's that I could spend another lifetime here and not exhaust the possibilities, whatever my interests.

They're in Germany. My eldest has my dogs while I'm away, unless i go away for just a couple of nights, then they go to a doggie hotel.

I don't work (MH issues). I try to set myself a to-do list for the day. Self care is vital, as is routine. I have a dog so take her out. I try to do housework (and usually fail). I craft as a hobby so do that too. Sometimes I go and meet other people for coffee, and to get out a bit further than the local park.

I do house work. I enjoy housework and find it therapeutic

I would swim, run, read, watch tv, do housework, jigsaws, write poetry or stories, sing, learn piano, walk, visit museums, go shopping, cook, study, volunteer, phone friends or family, take train rides... if I had a bit more time.

I think advanced dog training or dog agility or something like that might work for you. You'd get to meet other dog lovers and your dog would also benefit from the extra exercise and stimulation.

Telephone befriender . I'm sure Age UK and others do similar.

But there are masses of volunteering opportunities out there.
From what you say about all the outdoor activities you seem to enjoy, why not volunteer with Scouts ?

Or what about volunteering at your local foodbank ?
Or Warm Space / Place of welcome ?

Or your local hospice - there are so many ways you can volunteer, from gardening, to serving tea, from manning reception to joining a fundraising committee.

Many charities would love support with things like bucket collections - which are occasional and ad hoc so don't commit you to being somewhere at the same time each week.

There are literally thousands of ways to volunteer if you are looking to occupy yourself.

I sort of get where you're coming from. Proper days out to a museum or gallery feel too much of an event for me to do on a daily basis, but it's easy to feel I'm wasting my life if I'm just pottering however content that makes me feel.

I'm quite horrified at how easy it is to lose your time to household tasks and feel like it was necessary. People who work also manage all the housework and admin so really should carve out some time to feel like I'm doing something!

It's also quite easy to feel like a failure if you have all the time in the world and don't have a perfect house, all the admin done, stay fit, cook everything from scratch, etc.

For me it's extending my hobbies to have more goals. I ensure I'm progressing or doing new things in my physical hobbies. When reading I like to include factual books so I'm learning something, or self help books and actually make an effort to apply it. I think if I was off work long term I'd have to do some sort of education or training.

I try to find hobbies that can occupy me and take up as little space as possible. I do cross stitching and have recently started felting. Weaving is a lot of fun but takes up more space, especially warping the loom. I’ve tried knitting and crochet but never got any good at that!
I like to sit and read. Jigsaws are fun too. I write fiction and enjoy journaling. I also like to have time slob on the sofa watching YouTube, or playing something on the Xbox but I enjoy the non-screen options when I’ve been working all day staring at a monitor for 9 hours!
In dry weather I love cycling cause I can explore further by bike than on foot. I enjoy gardening as well, although I’m far from ‘good’ at that!

How pregnant are you, when is baby due?
Keep an eye on your mental health, it can take a hit during pregnancy due to the hormone fluctuations.
I do think it sounds as if you have a negative state of mind atm, lack of interest and enjoyment in doing things can be a sign of depression.
Maybe talk to your midwife about it at your next appointment.

(I could make lots of suggestions about what to do but you've had lots already, and I suspect that's not the problem, you seem unlikely to be enthused by much atm. Forgive me if I'm wrong.)