Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Only the apps you allow.

Meet the Other Phone.
Only the apps you allow.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To wonder how often you leave the house?

345 replies

Mouseandashrew · 25/08/2021 13:58

Would you say once / twice a week is normal?

OP posts:
RobinPenguins · 25/08/2021 18:36

@lazylinguist

Is everyone who barely leaves the house doing exercise at home? It must be really difficult to hit the recommended activity levels if you never walk anywhere.

Surely you must be aware that most people don't 'hit the recommended activity levels' though?
But yes, it's also perfectly possible to get plenty of exercise in your house if that's what you want to do.

Yes I am aware of that, but I don’t think it’s a good thing. Just speaking from personal experience, I have to try a lot harder to move enough now during a busy day working from home, whereas before it was all just part of doing other things (e.g. commuting by cycling, jogging at lunchtime because my office was next to the park). Thrilled to hear people have large swimming pools and home gyms so they don’t struggle like me.
Driftingblue · 25/08/2021 18:37

If I leave my house, it is in a car. There is nothing I could reach on foot.

lazylinguist · 25/08/2021 18:45

Thrilled to hear people have large swimming pools and home gyms so they don’t struggle like me.

Grin I was thinking more in terms of people doing zumba or yoga videos in their front room or putting a cheap exercise bike in the garage, but sure - a large swimming pool or a home gym would be nice!

toffeeghirl · 25/08/2021 18:47

I have social anxiety so weeks/ months sometimes. I've really been trying to get out at least once a week now.

Onthegrid · 25/08/2021 18:50

This is something I was thinking about last week. Pre COVID I left the house Monday to Friday to go to work for at least 9 hours and felt I was never at home, then every Saturday I went to the local town to run errands, get food and often went further afield to shop at malls and department stores. I never had a hectic social life but did do things at the weekend.

At the beginning of COVID I had no idea how I would cope and made sure I left the house everyday to exercise, the house was full with my 2 adult D.C. back from uni/furloughed and DH wfh. I too started to wfh.

Now my life is quite different my 2 DC have moved out and are getting on with their lives, my DH goes out to work most days and I still work from home and have been told I always will. I have also had issues with my leg so I am not as keen to exercise.

Monday to Friday I may only leave the house once or twice, I combine working, domestic life, keeping in touch with family & friends and online shopping during the hours of 8-8, I get fresh air from my garden and after dinner I relax and watch TV. If I do need to go out I try to combine errands.

Weekends I go out to see people, or to do things with a purpose or we go away to visit or DC and family. I don’t go shopping or just go out for the sake of wandering around.

Next up following some treatment will be more gentle exercise, some will still be done at home on my bike and Pilates mat, but short walks will also come back, but I am not really sure they count as leaving the house if you area just doing a circuit.

Hillary17 · 25/08/2021 18:52

Once or twice a week? I leave the house about twice a day! A potter to the shop, walk around the block, visit the gym etc. I start to go a bit mad if I’m inside too long though so maybe mine isn’t normal…

NaToth · 25/08/2021 18:57

No DC at home now, not currently working, but it's leave the house at least once a day, every day, to go for a walk. I get a bit stir crazy if I don't.

Mindyourbusiness22 · 25/08/2021 19:01

I go for a walk or two every day.

Nsky · 25/08/2021 19:05

Not much in early retirement, then have eye condition, and awaiting appointment and treatment.

cricketmum84 · 25/08/2021 19:12

WFH and newly disabled so not massively confident in my wheelchair yet. I've gone 3-4 weeks not leaving the house. It's driving me insane. Was easier when DH was WFH as he would take me out for a wheelabout on lunch breaks.

Tealwarrior · 25/08/2021 19:12

What are people doing that they dont leave their house

For eg - I’m a keen Gardner but growing vegetables during our winter months is my absolute pleasure. It means that from late September when I start potting the seeds to perhaps mid April I can spend hours everyday working away. I grow Mediterranean type vegetables as well as a variety of salad leaves and this year I think I had about 140kgs of various tomatoes. I divvy it all up and my children rarely buy salad stuff in the winter. Then there’s the batch cooking and freezing that I do with what I produce and that keeps me busy in the winter months as well - I’m still eating things I picked from the garden 5 months ago. And This month although it’s still very hot I’ve started preparing the ground for next month so that’s kept me busy as well.

I also babysit a grandchild a couple of days a week as well as look after one of my children. And because I’m getting a bit older and I’m trying to keep my brain active I usually have a language on the go that I do via online classes. Then there’s day to day life in general and I can usually be pretty sure that at least 5 days out of seven at least one of my children/grandchildren will nip in. I’m never lonely.

Outside of the winter months and the summer in particular I’m usually busy sorting out home maintenance and any other big house project that I keep for the summer due to the heat. I also do voluntary work (pre covid) and I’d spend a day or so every week preparing the activities we’d do with the people we spend time with.

Life is never dull and just as I really enjoy staying at home I also enjoy traveling and going out and doing lots of different things - today it was the monthly shopping and visiting my sister in law and yesterday it was taking 3 grandchildren to the cinema then to buy them school shoes before having our tea out. That said, I have no plans to go out for the next 5 days and that suits me just fine.

Tealwarrior · 25/08/2021 19:17

And just to add - I’ve had cancer recently, it was caught very early, but it has nothing to do with me enjoying being at home. It’s something I’ve always enjoyed.

BeauxRingarde · 25/08/2021 19:19

By the time it reaches the end of the day and everybody else is home, I can see why you wouldn't go out of your way to go out just for the sake of it, unless you needed something from a shop or are meeting someone else

Well that's the thing, surely you are meeting someone else or going to a shop? It's not normal to see no-one and order everything in

MirandaWest · 25/08/2021 19:29

I generally go out at least twice a day. Walk before work and at lunchtime and quite often go out somewhere else as well. I work from home and have done for the past 6 years - if I don’t go out it is easy to get into a rut.

Caspianberg · 25/08/2021 19:39

Although we go out every day, we could still ‘stay in’ a lot if you include your garden as ‘staying in’ and we would see lots of people as it only has low hedge boundaries and many people we know have to walk by to go anywhere. If I’m in the garden I often stop and talk to more people than if I went out!
My garden would also be a lot tidier if I went ‘out’ less.

Tealwarrior · 25/08/2021 19:57

@Caspianberg

Although we go out every day, we could still ‘stay in’ a lot if you include your garden as ‘staying in’ and we would see lots of people as it only has low hedge boundaries and many people we know have to walk by to go anywhere. If I’m in the garden I often stop and talk to more people than if I went out! My garden would also be a lot tidier if I went ‘out’ less.
Where I live people have very high walls around their homes and it means people can’t see into the garden.
FastFood · 25/08/2021 20:11

Got a dog so I leave my flat several times a day. If I didn't have the dog, I'd probably try and go to work from the office, or coffee shops.
I would probably have one or two days a week without leaving the flat though.
On the other hand, at the weekend I would be out all day.

(My dog is very very old so I can't leave him now)

Gwenhwyfar · 25/08/2021 20:49

"Work. I have to be at my desk 8-6"

8 to 6 is 10 hours a day so a 50 hour week if you work 5 days a week. I hope you take a lunch hour so that makes 45 hours a week, which is still illegal unless you've signed the opt out to the working time directive.

Thursa · 25/08/2021 20:51

2 or 3 times a month for me.

NotMyCat · 25/08/2021 20:53

@Gwenhwyfar

"Work. I have to be at my desk 8-6"

8 to 6 is 10 hours a day so a 50 hour week if you work 5 days a week. I hope you take a lunch hour so that makes 45 hours a week, which is still illegal unless you've signed the opt out to the working time directive.

I get 30 mins for lunch, and yes I'm opted out. My contract is 40hrs but currently doing OT due to business pressures
Gwenhwyfar · 25/08/2021 20:53

@RobinPenguins

Is everyone who barely leaves the house doing exercise at home? It must be really difficult to hit the recommended activity levels if you never walk anywhere.
Which is why wfh is so unhealthy.
nc8765 · 25/08/2021 20:58

Every day, multiple times a day. I have children and a dog. Probably spend more time outside my home than I do in (excluding sleep).

Belladonna12 · 25/08/2021 21:01

@Gwenhwyfar

"Work. I have to be at my desk 8-6"

8 to 6 is 10 hours a day so a 50 hour week if you work 5 days a week. I hope you take a lunch hour so that makes 45 hours a week, which is still illegal unless you've signed the opt out to the working time directive.

It's pretty easy for companies to claim that your working time is not measured and you are in control but give you so much work you end up working a lot of hours to complete it.
coronafiona · 25/08/2021 21:10

A minimum of twice a day; work, then evening activity- walk/shopping/gym class etc
I'd go mad if I was in all day everyday

LifeIsTricky · 25/08/2021 21:11

Every day, multiple times a day. It's my worst nightmare to be stuck in the house, so thankful I haven't had to isolate yet as I really worry how I would cope with it. Sometimes I even just go out to people watch, as I'd rather that than be in the 4 walls of my house. I love my house, but I don't love feeling "trapped". I have a disability, and spent a lot of my childhood stuck at home, now I use aids and make sure I can get out