Whether you’re practicing social distancing or just want to stay in, keeping busy doesn’t have to cost a lot. In fact, we’ve compiled a list of free things to do at home to save your sanity and your wallet.
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Review Email Subscriptions
Tired of your inbox filling up with subscriptions and newsletters that you no longer want? One free thing to do at home includes unsubscribing and deleting all of those emails currently bogging down your inbox.

Fill A Bag of Clothing to Donate
Another option for free things to do at home is also a way to give back to help those less fortunate. Go through your dressers and closets for items you haven’t worn in the past 6 months. Some charities will even come to your house to pick up you donations. It’s amazing how good it feels to have that extra space back! Added bonus: these donations can be deducted on your next years taxes.

Deep Clean Your Fridge
I am definitely guilty of not doing this enough! Just think of all the jars and condiments in your fridge that are long past their expiration date. Now is a great opportunity to clear out that old stuff and sanitize the shelves while you’re in there!

Bake With What You Already Have
One of my favorite free things to do at home is bake with what I have on hand. My go to recipe is easy butter cookies. All you need is butter, sugar, 1 egg, flour, salt and some vanilla extract. You can find the recipe I follow here.

Take A Free Course
Would you believe if I told you that you can take an Ivy League course from home? It’s true! Classes range from Classical Music to Structural Engineering to Poetry. Courses from Class Central make our list of free things to do at home because you can take any number of courses for FREE! Check out the list here.

Organize Your Junk Drawer
NPR calls a junk drawer, “an accidental time capsule”. Filled with scissors, ticket stubs, magnets, receipts, spare change, etc., ours always seems grow in size. If you’re looking for free things to do at home, look no further than this scrapheap of memories!

Create A Bucket List
If you don’t already have one, now would be a great opportunity to write a Bucket List. All the things you’d like to do before you figuratively “kick the bucket”. Climb Mt. Fuji, see Machu Picchu, visit the Grand Canyon, or write a book. Think of all the things you’d love to do someday and write them all down. Soon you can start checking them off!

Sell Stuff Online
Just think of all the items you have hanging around your house. Believe it or not, you can sell your unwanted items online. Poshmark is a great place to sell your high end clothes, shoes, and handbags. ThredUp is a great place to sell your family’s clothes. And eBay is where you can sell everything else. Some things I bet you didn’t know you could sell include empty boxes, old manuals, box tops, unwanted gift cards, and more.

Deep Clean & Sanitize
One item that definitely can’t get overlooked on our list of free things to do at home is a deep clean of your house. It keeps your family healthy and maintains your home. We used to use a manual checklist but now we’ve switched to an app. The app we personally use is Tody. With Tody, we can track what we’ve done and what we still need to do. We even have custom chores added for shampooing our carpets, replacing the AC filters and cleaning behind our stove.


Organize Your Photos
If you’re anything like me, you have a box full of photos and thousands more on your phone. These days, there are awesome apps, like FreePrints, that help you take those memories off your phone. But what do you do with them once they’re printed? A great free thing to do at home is organize those memories. Every so often, I like to collect my favorites and create a beautiful photo book with Blurb.com.

Scan Important Documents
Most homes have stacks of important papers somewhere: In a file cabinet, in a box, or piled up on a table. Some of these documents are very important. Not only will scanning and uploading them take up less space, you can also help the environment by opting to go paperless in the future. You can even sign up for a cloud service and access your files anywhere in the world.

Clip Coupons
One option on our list of free things to do at home can actually save you money! Think of all those mailers you get with coupons. Now is a great opportunity to sit down and clip coupons for the products you were already planning to buy. You can also take this chance to clip a coupon for an item you’ve never bought and try something new!

Binge Your Favorite Movies
Are there any movies that you’ve been meaning to watch? Or movies you love so much that you could watch again? A fun thing to do at home is binge those movies you want to watch. Whether it’s a tearjerker, comedy, or action-packed thriller, sometimes nothing beats curling up on your sofa with a good movie.

Have A Game Night
A list of free things to do at home isn’t complete without a game night! Regular time each week can really reconnect your family. And you can play for free with the games around your house. Whether it’s video games, board games, or hide & seek, the more time you spend with your family, the better.

Tackle DIY Projects Around The House
While it might not always be free, one item we’ve added to our list of free things to do at home is tackle DIY projects. Now is a great time to tackle all those little tasks like re-caulking around windows or cleaning out the gutters. One project we recently did was to create a sofa table with outlet. Now we can charge our devices and set down our drinks. The link to how we did that can be found here.

Face Time With Your BFF
If you’re stuck at home for an extended time because of social distancing or with a sick kiddo, you’ll soon start to crave contact with others. Video calls and Face Times are a great option to connect with your loved ones. A quick, 15 minute call can go a long way in relieving any feelings of isolation.

Check Your Free Credit Scores
I’m sure you already know that your credit score holds a lot of value when you’re buying a home or car. But did you know that some employers or insurance companies even check your score? It’s very important to sit down on a regular basis and review your credit report. You want to make sure it is accurate. Be sure to dispute anything that’s not! Your financial future depends on it.

Watch A TED Talk
If you haven’t heard about them before, TED talks are a great way to improve your general knowledge. TED is a nonpartisan nonprofit devoted to spreading ideas, usually in the form of short, powerful talks. TED began in 1984 as a conference where Technology, Entertainment and Design converged. Today, these talks cover almost all topics — from science to business to global issues — in more than 110 languages. You can pick from literally thousands of topics that interest you, and learn even more.

Write Down Everything You’re Grateful For
Life can get extremely hectic sometimes. It’s often easy to overlook how much we have around us to be grateful for. Our final item is to create a list of things you’re grateful for: your family, your health, your pets, etc. Look for all the things you’re grateful to have. You might be surprised with how long the list becomes!
