My partner Matt has had to start working from home. He’s been doing this for the past three or four weeks. Honestly they’re all blending together a bit. In the past week he’s only left the house once. For someone like me that’s like a dream come to true. For someone like him, it’s akin to physical and mental torture.
While we see more of each other right now, Matt has started to get a little bit…stir crazy, I think is a nice way to put it. So while I’m ready to sit down and lose myself in writing or a show or game, he wants to…do stuff. He has taken it upon himself to create a to-do list of things around the house which I will share with you now.
Gardening: The lawns and gardens had gotten a little out of hand the past few weeks. Getting them back under control gave Matt a good opportunity to get some fresh air and sunshine without actually having to leave the house. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not keeping him chained up, but his idea of getting fresh air is going for a drive with the windows down.
Cleaning out the garage: Since he started working from home Matt has cleaned and reorganised the garage twice. He’s done some work on his car so I guess his tools were out of place? If we had more stuff in there or even things that needed to be organised than I would say that it’s an awesome way for us to clear out the junk and make space (which it might be for many others). A few months ago it was insanely messy, there were paint tins and tools piled up against the walls so we decided to get some shelving from Bunnings and that cleared up a lot of floor space and just made the place so much tidier. 10/10 would suggest new affordable shelving units for anyone who’s garage is in need of an organise.
Ironing: Since he hasn’t had to go into the office for a while, Matt has about a dozen work shirts that haven’t been ironed and have instead been gathering in a laundry basket with all of the other clothes that require ironing before being hung up. I had of course planned on doing this ironing at some point…that point probably would’ve been the night before he went back to work and it would’ve taken me half an hour to an hour depending if I did them all. However he decided that he was going to take all of his clothes, work and normal, out of the wardrobes and de-fluff and iron them all. He keeps his work clothes in a wardrobe in the study so that cats don’t get their fluff on them but anyone with a furry pet knows that that doesn’t work out. This took him five hours and his side of the wardrobe looks great…maybe this weekend he’ll do mine 😉
General De-clutter: Now some of you might have the same problem that we do, if you’re like my mum, you don’t. Our problem is this; we de-clutter an area BUT we don’t actually get rid of the non-essential clutter, we just move it to other spots in the house. For example the dining table. I’ve been using it as my office space for the past few weeks because it’s close to the food and the TV. The table was covered in note books, coasters, random pieces of mail and receipts that neither of us had been bothered to throw out over the last two months. We removed all of these things, even the decorative glass rose candle holder and now the table is completely clear and clean.
We threw out the receipts that we didn’t need and that was about it. Everything else was just moved to different areas of the house where they either serve a function or are going to stay there until we find a new storage spot.
I do not advise this method and neither does my mum. She is notorious in our family for ruthlessly throwing out anything that was unnecessary or broken. We still have our scrapbooks and a lot of toys from when we were kids, sentimental value and all, but a pack-rat that woman is not. I am more like my dad though now that I have my own house I’m starting to realise that that doesn’t work very well and I can already hear her yelling out triumphantly.
Moving right along.
Tidying up the outside of the house: His next goal is to clean the fences and all the windows around the house. He really likes to spend time outside and he really likes things to be clean and tidy (doesn’t always do it himself but lock down will do things to people I suppose). I think for him it has the same effect as having a clean and tidy room to work in. While I don’t currently take a lot of notice of the outside of the house (I’m at work all day and then by the time I get home it’s getting dark) I can’t wait to look outside and see the paving all finished or to be cooking at the stove and see the wall garden that I have planned out.
For Matt he can’t wait till the outside is done and he can eat lunch outside in the sun. Kid loves his sun. I on the other hand can’t wait to sit outside when it’s cold and raining, all snuggled up in one of his jumpers with a hot coffee and a notebook.
Home Improvement: Painting. So. Much. Painting. From what I saw of Bunnings when I drove by a few weekends ago, Matt is not the only one doing some projects around the house. My dad for one is working on my mum’s new sewing studio, which he was doing before all of this COVID-19 started. People are starting their own backyard veggie gardens and building sheds. Honestly I’m loving these creative outlets people are finding for themselves…If they could manage to stay a little further away from each other as they go down the aisles I’d love it even more.
If like Matt you are a perfectionist, you might get frustrated when things don’t look right or they aren’t working the way you imagined they would. He has gotten frustrated with painting the spare toilet because the walls have little bumps sticking out. Barely noticeable. He thought it was from the roller so he changed it but it kept happening. He was losing his patience. It wasn’t until I took a closer look that I saw it was just bit of plaster that hadn’t been sanded away properly. I think with a little bit of coaxing I’ll be able to get him back in there with the roller. Or I can wait it out and he’ll find his way back on his own. Either way he’ll be much happier when it’s done.
All of these are things that most people are able to do and unless your house is 100% clean and perfectly finished in which case I also have suggestions for you, I think they’ll help to curb the boredom and clear the mind of everything that’s going on in the outside world.
Now for those of you who have no more cleaning or home improvements left. I really hope you like TV shows, games and books.
Streaming: If you are financially able I wholeheartedly suggest a streaming subscription. My family and I have the family plan for a few services and split the costs between us so we’re effectively just paying for one service but getting many. However if you’re looking to just have one service and that’s it then depending on what genres you enjoy depends on what will work best for you.
Stan: Stan has a lot of the old favourites for Sci-fi. I’m currently on season eight of Stargate SG1. It also has Will and Grace (original and reboot), Friends (been quoting this since I was four), RuPaul’s Drag Race (I love hearing Ru Paul telling them to sashay away). It’s also got Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Scrubs, Fraiser, Charmed, The OC and one of my all time favourites to re-watch; Veronica Mars.
Amazon Prime: The Marvellous Mrs Maisel. Good God I cannot wait for the next season. I finished watching season 3 and just started it all over again at season 1. Prime also has Picard, The Good Omens (if you love David Tennant than well…here you go, go forth and enjoy). Matt and I are also re-watching Supernatural because the final season is coming out and I kind of like seeing him cry when his favourite characters die. No, I’m not a monster…maybe. I just like knowing that I’m not alone in my sadness.
Netflix: Gilmore Girls. Need I say more? The Umbrella Academy. Lucifer. One day at a time. Grace and Frankie. Also it has the first two seasons of Wynonna Earp. Love. Her. She’s like the female Dean Winchester if the wild west was actually what he wanted it to be. Also there is the Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, The Witcher, Fuller House, Big Mouth. You can also have Netflix parties with friends or family and watch movies together while being separated. I haven’t done this myself as of yet but I think it could be fun.
Disney +: Well…it’s Disney. Everything Marvel, Pixar, Disney, Star Wars and National Geographic. It’s all there.
All of these platforms are adding more shows and movies as time goes on, and some of the content does switch between platforms so if you’re wanting to just get one platform, find the one with the shows that are exclusive to that platform that you want to watch the most and just wait for the other shows to make their way around.
I’ve talked about what books I’ll be reading this year in a separate blog post 2020 Reading List and I’ll make another post about my recommendations for video games (it’ll probably be a long one so buckle up kiddos).
For now I hope this has been helpful and or inspired you to find something that helps to clear your head and bring you some peace whether you’re stuck working from home or just stuck. We will get through this.
S.J Smith Books 