To ask what on earth a bored SAHM can do?!

[MamaCub]

4 month old baby. Cold and rainy outside. Only ideas are to go shopping but I go at least twice a week and my bank account needs a rest!

Any tips before I lose my mind?!

@Springwalk maybe the list of tasks you describe are boring for some? At least they are for me all day everyday, especially in the rain.

Oh my goodness

Read, sleep, Netflix, do your nails, do a crossword, have a bath, organise a drawer, PlayStation(or whatever consoles you have) phone a friend, Mumsnet! Coat on and walk in the rain (you won’t melt), bake cookies, rearrange a room, cull your wardrobe.

Yoga!

With a 4 month old on a day like this I'd be making myself something lovely to eat (I'd probably bake), snuggle on the sofa with baby and watch films.

Wish I'd done more of that while mine was that age, instead of feeling I had to be up and about doing activities!

Have a look at your local library to see if they do any nursery rhyme or story groups for babies.

Either you’ll enjoy them, or (like me) you’ll hate them so much that it feels like a treat to walk back through the front door into an empty house.

Win-win either way.

keeping on top of the paperwork.

How much paperwork do you have?

Google all the local mother and baby groups and activities, make a list by day, and then work your way through them until you find good people to hang out with.

Babies are cute and all, but I wouldn't want to be on my own with one five days a week. I made good friends on maternity leave, and once you have that set up there is always something to do, which is especially useful as the babies get older.

Do a distance learning course on something you love?
Join a reading group?

Netflix - watch something like the Destinations programme going travelling round the world.

Put some music on and do some aerobics / have a dance round / just chill on sofa. Best to close curtains first

Plan your next holiday. Cuddle a pet if you have one assuming it likes cuddles.

Phone a friend and go round for coffee and cake.

If you ask your Health Visitor she should be able to put you in touch with other mums with similar age babies (mine did).

We used to take it in turns to go to one another's houses one morning a week (there were four of us).
We'd chat over coffee and set out an area for the babies with toys etc.

Another morning we'd all go to a baby group together.
Then a group at the library which involved nursery rhymes!
Or we'd meet in one of the cafes for coffee and cake.
In the better weather we'd have picnics in the park.

Then we'd organise a night out once a month and get the dads to babysit.
Sometimes we'd go to the theatre or cinema.
Other times we'd go out for a meal.

Church playgroups. Always someone to hold the baby while you drink tea and eat biscuits

Cinema - some have baby friendly showings

Museum/library

Netflix/podcast

Go to parent and baby groups and make some friends on mat leave too.
Go to places that you find interesting to wonder around, like a gallery or museum. Invite new friends. Soon, you won’t be able to with a toddler running around in all directions.
Do an exercise dvd
Watch films
Listen to the radio
mumsnet

That was pretty much it for my mat leave.

bitchfromhell
It might be boring, but given the fact I had a baby that didn’t sleep for the first three years. Some days the effort of putting one foot in front of the other was more than I could manage.
The idea of being bored is not something I am familiar with, and op is very fortunate to be in that position.

Stick on a good playlist and have yourself a dance about whilst you clean and tidy and spruce so it's all done and you're good to go out the first sunny decent day we get.

I love it when it's absolutely slashing with rain though it'd be hat, scarves, gloves, wellies and a wander with the little fast asleep.

Me pushing a pram in the pouring rain giving it a bit of Travolta.

"Look out give that woman some room she's taking over again..."

saxa ten years ago we didn’t pay bills automatically, and we had two houses so lots of paperwork and lots of bills!

God I miss mat leave. I'll never ever get that time again now, even if I have another baby, because I'll have the older one too!

I'm a huge introvert so I think an excuse to stay indoors and snuggle all day was just brilliant for me.

Soon, you won’t be able to with a toddler running around in all directions.

Good point. And it goes for making friends too - all the good friends I made from playgroups (and we still see each other at least weekly 4 years on) were made in the early days, when you actually get to talk as adults. It is much harder to build meaningful bonds when you have to keep yelping and diving across the room to stop your kid braining someone.

I only have a few weeks left of mat leave and I am planning to just chill with my little one rather than try to rush around doing activities like I did to start with! Lots of good advice here - I agree with Netflix, read a good book if you have one as I haven’t managed to do that for ages!! Sometimes I like to ‘shop my house’ and move stuff from room to room for a free refresh?! Maybe that’s just me being a bit weird though... make something nice for lunch or tea, bake something, go to a drive through so baby sleeps but you don’t have to get out of the car, ikea is great for babies as loads for them to stare at but just be restrained with the buying!!!

Make soup, bake a cake, clear out a cupboard

Go to the library or bookshop and get some books. I will never be bored all the time there are books I haven't read.

Listen to podcasts of BBC radio dramas. They do some fantastic plays, and for some reason I find radio drama more engaging than tv drama.

There's also a lot of good comedy on radio.

Omg I retract my advice SleepingStandingUp has the best one! I love baby smell! just the thought I'd the smell makes my tummy wibble in a nice way. DS didn't smeel like that for so long, he smelt like unwashed hospital baby 😭😭 I want a new one to sniff, you hear that ovaries?? Pull in your big girl pants and make me a new one to sniff!!!!

Springwalk: op is very fortunate to be in that postion
tbf you had several properties to manage so I'd say your more fortunate to be in that position than a Mum whose finally on top of the housework for once and now doesn't know what to do.

Springwalk I have a 5 year old, a 3 year old and a 9 week old. I haven’t had a full night’s sleep in nearly 6 years. I still get bored at home with the baby/DC, even if there is always something I could theoretically be doing! I also never had a baby who would just snuggle while I watched TV... current baby DS only naps while in the car or while being pushed in the pram so we have to go out regardless.
OP after the baby’s immunisations we’re going for a coffee and slide of cake the to B&Q to pick up some paint testers for the bedroom so no help on the ‘interesting activities’ front

Update your tech skills and keep in contact with the outside World as a bonus.

I did quite a lot of photography when mine were wee and then learned to use all the editing software etc.

Read a few books and caught up with a lot of sport on TV. Helps that I am very anti-social.

My week looks like this:
Monday: Breakfast with my mum and sister, swimming
Tuesday: Soft play with friends (DD is only 4 months but I can talk to my friends)
Wednesday; Baby Yoga and big housework day.
Thursday: was baby massage, now we do baby sensory and have lunch with a friend.
Friday: Waterbabies then I meet my mum and baby niece and we go to soft play or something similar.