Anonymous wrote:As a mother with two kids in braces and another with complex medical needs I spend so much time doing appointments - at least once per week

Anonymous wrote:
If you have time, here are the things you can do -
- Declutter your house and embrace a minimalist lifestyle
- Declutter and organize your garage, fridge, freezer, pantry, dressers and closets, basement, attic.
- Get rid of clothes, paperwork that you do not need
- Try and purge at least 30% of stuff from your house
- Make a Will and get your financial papers in order
- Clean and store away your winter gear
- Get your cars serviced and cleaned
- Host people. Make a list of people that you know, group them according to their personalities or interests etc, then start planning formal and informal get togethers. I am sure you need to reciprocate to people who have hosted you.
- Take a look at the syllabus of what your kids are studying in school. Find them a team of educators, tutors, coaches for their education and EC activities and start putting these activities on calendar. You have been given a chunk of time so please use it to educate your children.
- Schedule all the family members their annual medical checkups for dental, eyes, derm, PCP, specialists - while you still have medical insurance.
- Start teaching adulting skills to your children. Cook, clean, do laundry, hang a picture.
- Start teaching workplace skills to your children.
- Start teaching academic skills to your children.
- Watch documentaries and expand your brain.

Finally, improve your professional credentials so you can find another job.

Anonymous wrote:I was recently laid off and decided I would give staying home with the kids a try. It has only been 2 weeks but I am finding that I am really bored and miss regular adult interaction, so trying to figure out how to structure my days a bit better.

So far, my typical day is as follows with my kids being out the door by 8:30am:

- straighten up the house (30-60 mins depending on what needs to be done - laundry, load dishwasher, organize)
- go for a walk or do a workout video (30-60 mins)
-shower and get dressed (30 mins)
- prep and cook dinner (1 hour)

All of the above gets me to lunch time and then I have a few more hours until pick up. A couple days a week I have errands to run like groceries, returns, dry cleaning, but that takes 1-2 hours max isn’t every day. We have a weekly cleaning crew so they typically do a deeper clean.

What else are people doing regularly to fill the time between 8:30-2:45pm essentially?

Anonymous wrote:When my kids were older and in school - after I finished with cleaning, laundry, cooking, exercise, grooming, catching up with friends and family on phone - I spent my time in researching and making enrichment lesson-plans for them for when they came back from school. I also planned their weekend activities, did prep work for hosting our friends, found out opportunities for my family and DH&I, worked on planning our vacations and trips, managed our finances, shopped for clothes etc, managed out home remodelling and improvement projects and managed our landscaping needs etc.

When my DH came back, there was no major chores or 'honey do' lists for him. He just had to spend time with the kids and me. My kids came back and had to spend time playing in the neighborhood, in their EC classes, instrument practice, and then sit with me or DH for enrichment/acceleration for one or two hours during the week.

I also squeezed in a nap for myself each day.

Anonymous wrote:I workout most days with either a neighbor or a friend. My retired neighbor and I ride to the pool together (mentioning this to say you could branch out beyond people in your same situation and phase of life).

I go meet my working friends for lunch at their workplace, or meet my work-from-home neighbors for a lunchtime walk.

I volunteer a lot, and I also spend a lot of time doing the things other people outsource (cleaning, gardening, etc.)