Things to do at home

As the world is being asked to self isolate at various levels of severity in order to control the virus, many will be wondering what to do in our shared downtown. Let’s be realistic, even the most loved up couple or family will struggle at being together for so long without a personal goal other than for the greater good. There is a limit to the time we can spend together and thankfully there are plenty of other things to do, like visiting this website!

We’ve seen what happens in reality TV shows like ‘Big Brother’ and ‘Survivor’ in its  various guises but they are games and the result is relative fame and fortune. Our stay at home and social distancing regime is not by choice and the is only the satisfaction for us is the knowledge that we’ve prevented a greater calamity to our civilisation ‘warts and all’. Human lives above money seems to the basis of what our governments are doing but underlying that is of course managing the financial impact.

Stopping the world is difficult and that results are financial which is how we ultimately measure things. Until the basis of our physical existence, the focus on money is changed I don’t think we can really move on. It would take great economist to work out the framework for the ‘new economy’ and possibly find the answer to the universe and ‘everything’.

Anyway for me it’s time to ponder on the situation, navel gaze and write about things like this: a list of what to do during when you’re stuck at home (with explanations).

1. Call and not email friends that I haven’t spoken to in a while.
2. Realise how inadequately prepared, my usual ‘just in time’ shopping was inadequate in an emergency. Ie. 2 rolls of toilet paper and only 1 packet of pasta and no chocolate or cake mix in the pantry!  So I plan to prepare a list on essentials to keep for me and make sure I top it up every time I shop. I think I’ll keep 2 weeks worth of non-perishable food and supplies because any more would be a bit weird at this time…
3. Clean and organise the pantry. I have a lot of expired food and non-food related stuff like empty jars in there. This includes batteries, bulbs, fast food towelettes!
4. Clean and declutter the house. Minimalism is one of  the latest trends but that’s not why I’m cleaning up.
5. Write some more articles to post that I’ve been thinking about.
6. Organise finances. My own job in finance is in demand but a the business does not have any sales I won’t be in a job. While I have been good at saving and investing over the years the sudden lack of a regular pay check is not a major concern, at least for a short while. (I hope it won’t be for too long as that will cause problems.) That is what saving is for – emergency situations like this. However I will spend the down time analysing all my expenditure, do some budgeting and share with you the methodology.
7. Add more items to this post.