20 Inside Projects To Do During Lockdown

Modern humans are not accustomed to searching for entertainment. The best way to battle things like depression and cabin fever is to stay busy and occupied. Cleaning is something that many of us struggle with in terms of time. Now, many of us have more time than we know what to do with. Here are some ideas of some things to do that will keep us busy, keep our minds off of stressful situations, gives us a shot of endorphins in our brains, and provides a healthy environment.



Some of the tasks on this list may be things that are tended to more or less often than others, but they still need to be done. Others are just projects that will help us feel accomplished and a little more at home. The top health officials have stated that keeping clean environments and hands are crucial for fighting the COVID-19 that has spread around the world. And let’s face it, at this point, cleaning is the cure for boredom as well.

1. RE-POTTING INDOOR PLANTS

Many people may know that it’s important to re-pot plants. There are two main reasons for this. The first is that the roots of the plants outgrow the pots. When roots are too confined, the plant won’t be able to efficiently collect food and water from the soil and you might run the risk of things like root-rot. The second reason for re-potting plants is that plants get their food and nutrients from the soil. If there is only so much soil, there are only so much of the necessary food and nutrients in the soil. Eventually, there is nothing left for the plant to consume. The plant can starve and die. Re-potting helps to prevent this from happening.

2. INDOOR MAINTENANCE

This one is simple. Everyone that has a home has maintenance that needs to be done on a regular basis (daily, weekly, monthly). Did you know that a person can expect to spend anywhere from 1% to 3% of the value of their home every year? This maintenance is meant to prevent more serious problems from occurring. For instance, if a person has a home that’s worth $300,000, that person can expect to spend a minimum of $3,000 annually. The monthly expense of that is $250. This money is supposed to be for things like supplies and repairs. An example would be that, Bob knows that winter is coming. He knows that he needs to get new seals for his windows. Any money that’s used to replace the seals is part of the annual maintenance costs. If the seals aren’t replaced, Bob runs a risk of higher utility bills during winter, or worse, leaky windows that can ruin anything around the window. These scenarios will likely cost Bob more than $250. Best to do this stuff before extra costs are accumulated through unnecessary damage or neglect. For information about what maintenance should be done each month, check out our articles on monthly home maintenance procedures.

3. CLEAN FRIDGE / DEFROST FREEZER

With many of us being stuck inside right now, the last thing that any of us need is our fridge or freezer to stop working. Get some hot water in a bucket, some soap, a cleaning towel, a dry towel, and some elbow grease. Check the seals to ensure that they’re sealing properly and are without damage. Check to make sure that the temperature inside the unit is set to between 37⁰ and 40⁰ degrees Fahrenheit. Remove everything from the freezer. Wipe down all surfaces with the wet towel until all the ice and any debris is removed. Wipe down all surfaces with a dry towel until everything is dry. While you’re removing or returning the food to the freezer, might as well check the dates. Follow the same procedure for the fridge.

Pull the fridge/freezer away from the wall. Clean the outside of the fridge, including coils or filters. If you need instructions, look up the make and model of your fridge online to see if there are special instructions for your unit, or check your manual if you have it. Efficiency can be increased by keeping the fridge full. “Thermal Mass” is increased with more food by keeping the fridge from having to work as hard. When stuff is surrounded by cold things, that stuff stays colder, which equals less energy usage and a longer-lasting fridge.

4. REARRANGE FURNITURE

Rearranging furniture is a great way to deep clean a home. Make sure that as you’re moving things around, you clean in, on and around the item being moved. Let’s look at the living room. When you’re moving entertainment centers, dust all the electronics, wipe down all the surfaces, and dust off anything that’s sitting on the entertainment center. In addition, clean the wall, trim, floor, and floorboards around the center and any other furniture that’s moved. After the furniture is cleaned and relocated, place everything back where it was (unless you want to relocate that stuff as well). When rearranging furniture, we’re able to get to places that don’t normally get cleaned. That dust and dirt gets circulated to other areas of the house. Rearranging on a regular basis allows us to keep our homes cleaner overall.

5. WIPE DOWN BLINDS / WASH CURTAINS

This is a project that many people don’t look forward to. Wiping down blinds is very tedious. However, the more often that it’s done, the less effort is needed to get the dust off the blinds. Dust comes through windows. That dust settles on our blinds and curtains. When we open the blinds and curtains, that dust is disturbed and is flung into the air which we breath. It is very important to keep window areas clean if we don’t want all the dust and dirt in our lungs.

6. WIPE DOWN CEILINGS / WALLS / MOLDING

Walls, ceilings and molding get surprisingly dirty. Sometimes food or grease film makes its way to the ceiling in the kitchen, or dirt buildup on the ceiling of a bathroom. The molding around a home is often forgotten during regular dusting routines. The walls can have more on them than most people would think. For example, when a person sprays hair spray, body spray or cologne, the spray that doesn’t make contact with the hair or body goes somewhere. Usually, the walls and items around the locations of where that product is sprayed are riddled with spots. When people sneeze or cough; anything that’s not caught by a sleeve or tissue goes somewhere. Especially with this virus going around, it’s crucial to ensure that things like walls, doorframes, and doorknobs are wiped down on a regular basis.

7. SHAMPOO CARPETS

This task can be tricky if you live in an area that’s too cold to open the windows quite yet. If you’re in a location where opening the windows to allow the carpet to dry would be too cold, just wait until it’s warmer. When shampooing carpets, it’s important to plan for the drying. You don’t want to shampoo the carpet and then put furniture on it before it dries. The furniture can get ruined and/or the carpet can become moldy where the furniture was placed. It can take anywhere from an hour to 24 hours for a carpet to dry. Make sure that the room you’re shampooing doesn’t need to be used for about a day. When shampooing, keep the windows open so that some ventilation can assist in the drying process.

8. HIGH SHELVES

Many homes have vaulted ceilings and/or high shelves for all that decorative stuff. The stuff on high shelves doesn’t usually get dusted as often as the rest of the home. When things don’t get dusted, they begin to develop a film that’s significantly harder to break through than normal dust. To prevent this from happening, make sure to dust all areas of the home about once a week. This includes the tops of cabinets, shelves and the items placed on them. To prevent dust from being kicked up while dusting, use a lightly spritzed towel to wipe instead of a duster.

9. CLEAN FANS / LIGHT FIXTURES

When fans are dirty and gets turned on, like the blinds and curtains opening, the dust is flung around the room and we breath whatever is in the air. When lights are dirty, the amount of light is limited. This can strain our eyes if we don’t have enough light. When lights are dusty, the dust can burn, leaving a more difficult film to remove. While you’re dusting the fan and lights, might as well hit up the switches or remotes for those devices.

10. CLEAN OUT KITCHEN CABINETS

Keeping kitchen cabinets cleaned and organized can be quite the challenge, depending on the number of people that are helping to clean and put away dishes. Dishes are often thrown into cabinets wherever they can fit. Overall, this isn’t a good way to keep cabinets or our dishes in good condition. When dishes are thrown in cabinets, they have a tendency to get tossed around more than if they were neatly stacked. Dents, dings, breaks and wear and tear are all increased when dishes are not put away neatly. Organize your dishes. Check the food in any cabinets to ensure that they haven’t expired. Wipe down the inside and outside of cabinets and drawers. While you’re at it, check for any loose screws or hinges that need replacing. Check for any leaking or water damage under the sink.

11. FLIP MATTRESSES / VACUUM

If you have a mattress that can be flipped, it’s a good idea to vacuum and flip the mattress at least every 6 months. This prevents the mattress from sinking in the middle, and from getting over-weighed with dead skin. When dead skin is cleaned from a mattress on a regular basis, it’s less likely that bed bugs will find your mattress a suitable home. Vacuuming your mattress also limits the amount of dust and/or particles that a person inhales while sleeping.

12. GO THROUGH STORAGE ROOM

The storage room is too often the place that “I’ll get to later” items usually get tossed. This process is much like dishes getting put away, but not organized. Stuff can get broken when we’re forced to rummage because we’re not organized or less so than we could be. Move stuff in and out of the storage area in an orderly fashion. Put boxes with like items close to each other. Holidays and seasons always happen at the same time every year. If these items are stored in an orderly fashion, it’s not only easier to find them when the time comes, they’re easier to move in and out of storage, and less likely to obtain damage.

13. VACUUM / WIPE DOWN FURNITURE

When cleaning couches and fabric chairs, take off the cushions and pillows, vacuum the outside (including back and bottom), vacuum the cushions and pillows. When dust accumulates on furniture and we sit on the furniture, loads of dust get flung into the air. When cleaning non-fabric furniture, use a slightly damp cloth to get the tops, backs, bottoms, sides, supports, and legs of the furniture. If the furniture is wood, it might be better to use some kind of polish or vacuum.

14. CLEAN STOVE TOP / OVEN

The oven is probably one of the most disliked cleaning tasks around a home. If you have a self-cleaning oven, all the better. Just follow the instructions for self-cleaning. If you don’t have a self-cleaning mode, get ready for a workout. You’ll want cleaning gloves, oven cleaner of some kind (hot water depending on what kind you use), and persistence. Follow the directions on the cleaner you’re using. It’s a good habit to check for overflow when cooking, and then cleaning any mess sooner rather than later. When food gets burnt over and over on any surface, it’s almost impossible to remove without doing damage to that surface. It’s always the case that the cleaner something is kept, the easier it is to clean. If you dust your blinds once a week, a quick dusting with a duster will do the trick. If you dust your blinds once a year or two, they’re going to need to be hand washed with hot water and soap. It will also take 20 or 30 times as long.

If you have an older stove, the top likely lifts up from either the side or the front. Check to see if your manufacturer has a manual online that you can find, and follow the instructions to maintain your stove and oven. If you can’t find one, make sure that burners are removed, lift the top and wipe down the surfaces. Food can sometimes fall to places that we can’t see and becomes a fire hazard if they’re not removed. The underside of the stovetop is good to check for fallen food on a regular basis.

15. CLEAN OUT DRAWERS AND CLOSETS IN BEDROOMS

We spend, on average, a third of our lives in our bedrooms. How much of that time is spent ensuring that it’s cleaned and organized? People don’t tend to clean their bedrooms as often as other places in their homes. Our bedrooms can become just as disorganized as every other room. When you’re cleaning out drawers and closets, ask yourself how often you use the item, and if that amount of usage justifies keeping it. Store anything that you don’t use very often. This concept could be used for almost any area of the home. As always, check for anything that needs to be repaired and fix it as soon as possible.

16. CLEAN OUT WINDOW SILLS AND TRACKS

It’s important to clean windows on a regular basis to allow the maximum amount of light to illuminate our homes. Along with this being done, the sills and tracks also need to be cleaned. Buildup should be removed from the sills. Wash the windows, inside and outside. Dust off the screens (while holding them away from you and hold your breath). Open the window and clean the inside of the tracks. When we open and close our windows, little bits of debris are able to enter the tracks and accumulate buildup over time. This ultimately decreases the efficiency of seals in the windows and our utility bills can increase. If the buildup accumulates enough, water could come inside the window because the window is not sealed properly. Might as well check the seals while you’re cleaning the tracks.

17. SORT THROUGH PAPERWORK

If you’re a person who has a “pile of papers” sitting on your desk, counter, table, or in that corner that you have been meaning to get to, now is the perfect time. A pile of unsorted paperwork can happen easily. A piece of mail comes in, you don’t have time to get to reading it, signing or returning service, and it gets put in the “pile of papers” to be tended to later, which ultimately means - forgotten. File what’s not necessary to keep out, and keep a quick file for things that need to be gotten back to.

Here are some quick tips for sorting through receipts. If you have a copier, copy the receipts and throw the originals away. Then store the copies in a 3-ring binder befitting the size needed to store the amount of receipt copies there are and how you’re organizing them (by the month, year, personal, business, etc.). Storing receipts this way provides loads of space and are more easily referenced. A bonus to having a copy of a receipt is that the print generally lasts much longer than the print on receipt paper does. If you put the copies into page protectors, they last even longer.

18. CLEAN OUT GARAGE

No doubt, if your garage is like any other garage, it’s a pass-through location. As in, you pass through it to get to somewhere else, not to linger. Garages are generally not as sealed as the rest of the home and for this reason can be pretty dirty. If you store items in your garage, make sure to go through the storage and organize seasonal or similar items together. Dust any hidden areas. Wipe down any cabinets or sinks. Check for repairs. Throw away any garbage and sweep and/or mop the floors. If you have sealant on your garage floor, just use water when moping.

19. RE-RUN ELECTRONIC WIRING

It’s a good idea to get in the habit of checking the condition of electronic wires and cords throughout your home on a regular basis. If there are any exposures on the wire, it could be a fire hazard. Sometimes wires can become worn from being walked on if they’re between doorways, or can become tangled when rearranging occurs.

20. TAKE INVENTORY OF BELONGINGS

Since we’re all going to be in our homes more than we’re accustomed to for a while, we might as well take inventory of our stuff. This can be done by taking one room at a time throughout the home and documenting the items in that room. Make sure to put the value of the items on the list if possible. This process can be done by making a list of items, taking pictures, or both. Ideally, a person would have the name of the item, the value of the item and a photo. In the case of a fire, evacuation, earthquake, a robbery, or an emergency of some other kind, the documentation serves as proof of property and value. Making claims on property is so much easier with documentation.



Hope you enjoyed this list and that this gives you plenty of productive tasks to do while you’re at home. Maybe even some good habits for the future.



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