I wrote yesterday about how a change up in scheduling at work has meant that I am only scheduled to work two eight hour shifts over the next month. (I normally work two shifts per week.) Sure, I could put the word out among my co-workers that I’m looking to pick up shifts, but instead I welcome the opportunity to take a break from my job as a labor and delivery nurse. I also plan on challenging myself to make an extra thousand dollars reselling stuff and doing side work. (Although I will lose out on more than a thousand dollars, but money is not my main motivator in life.)
During my month off, I would like to see myself finishing a few household projects, such as getting our bedroom in order, (it has become a catch-all for crap) and repainting the living room. I also want to put a focused effort into my writing and work on an eBook. I’m also looking forward to restarting a routine of going for daily walks and getting together with friends.
Which brings me to this question:
What would you do if you had a month off from work? Do you have projects to tackle? Friendships to rekindle? Naps to take?
Please share your thoughts in the comments section below.
Katy Wolk-Stanley
“Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without”
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{ 24 comments… read them below or add one }
Actually…I’m in the opposite situation. Having been out of work for the majority of the last 18 months means I’ve gotten way too good at napping, reading, blogging, reading, walking the dogs, reading, and did I mention the amount I’ve been reading?
Enjoy your time off, use it productively, just don’t forget to enjoy going back to your job that you love!
I’m feeling like that too! I spent 11 months of last year unemployed so I don’t think I’d like a month off at all! I found I definitely wasn’t that productive 🙁 Unemployment doesn’t suit me, apparently!
Finish a couple of big house and personal projects, volunteer some time at the local food pantry, take a couple of long weekend trips, do some hiking with girlfriends.
Well, I’m an early retiree whose used up her savings and is going back to school. That said, I’m the kind of gal who can never be bored at home and who generally always figured who has time for a job. I would quilt, read, quilt, volunteer more at the outreach center I help staff, take some day trips (my kids are older), quilt, see a couple of movies at the 11 am three buck price, quilt, do some home improvements, quilt some more, can some jam. Oh, and quilt.
I think my list would include things like naps, reading, going to see my best friend, and some decluttering.
Nothing too stressful…I would do my best to treat it like a (frugal) vacation.
After doing two days of nothing, i would write the biggest to do list possible and start doing what i felt like off the list. I would make sure to visit my grandmother who is in an alzhiemers home. I would spend time with my dogs because i feel like i will never be able to fit a lifetines amount of love in their short lifespan. And i would finally finish my book!
A month…a glorious month. I would take the family out the country and live economically for a month in maybe a South American county. Part of the dream is to immerse the kids, and us, in different cultures.
The summer heat of 105+ has kept me in a lazy daze on my time off. However, I do swim every day and am making a bedroom into a guest room furnished from shopping in my apartment plus refashioning urban foraging finds for my college student’s new apartment. At then ther eis my newest addiction Pinterest….oh my! I can’t stay away from the wonderfulness here!
Oh, that’s easy.
Get rid of the carrotwood roots in the back yard, tidy up the boysenberries, and replant the front yard.
Clean the garage and rebuild the earthquake supply kits to be compact and functional.
If I have more time after that, work on some of the fun stuff. (:
Yoga, twice a day.
Weave.
Cups of tea in our new yard, on our new porch, on the couch.
Weave.
Putz in the studio.
Cook good food.
Go berry picking
canoe the river
Take a bath with lavendar salts.
Of course, if that were the case what I SHOULD do is:
finish painting house
build bookshelves
finish unpacking
build closet
floor for porch
insulate arctic entry
insulate generator’s conex
split wood
stack wood
build indoor firewood box
dig in and mulch over begining of next years start of a perrenial bed
scrape and stain exterior logs of new home
sew insulated curtains for all windows.
🙂
I agree with the first part of Marianne, 2 days of doing nothing. I probably would stretch it into 3 though.
Then I would go room by room and make a to do list. Then I’d start in 1 room and finish everything in that room and move to the next. And everytime, cross off the item on my list. I love the satisfaction of crossing things off a list and if I had actual time to cross items off my list, I’d have an almost perfect house.
I’d also like to learn about selling some stuff on Ebay, so I’d work that in there too.
Good luck with your time off. And enjoy it!
I would have my yard sale!
Also, I’d visit a few friends who live a few hours away, so an INSANE amount of thrift-store buying for my side business, tackle some craft projects I never seem to have the time for, finish writing thank you cards from my wedding (it was several months ago and I fell terrible for not being done), go to a coffee shop for the afternoon because I can, and maybe even start a blog.
Keep in mind that I still have to run the household and manage kid stuff/school stuff/kid drama.
So I guess it’s kind of like being a SAHM of teenagers.
Katy
I also have two teens at home, and I often find that the days I’m home are busier than the days I work! I typically work 3 to 4 days a week, and sometimes those days are more peaceful.
If I had a month off, I think I’d work on decluttering the house, take some continuing education, cook and exercise more, nap, read, and spend more time with my dog and family.
I’d stick around home so I could get a couple of minor-ish home improvement/repair projects outsourced and completed, and I’d get a TON of painting done, some refinishing projects, organize that file cabinet that has papers just shoved into it. And maybe, just maybe, conquer Mt. Laundry.
I really like that people here would use some of the time to actually relax and enjoy the simple pleasures of being at home!
I have had a month off (I work term time only) and I’ve visited friends, meet the man’s family down in London, knitted, trips out to museums, parks, train rides, lunches out, etc. It has been very nice indeed. And yes, some decluttering happened as well.
I would go room by room and organize and clean EVERYTHING, make lots of schedules, lists, pre-make menu plans, anything that could get me ahead so I wouldn’t have to worry about it when I was working.
I get a month “off” every year about this time. My kiddos go back to school, but I don’t start teaching until September. It is a great time for me to catch up on projects around the house. Like reclaiming my dining room table. But seriously I do finish lots of unfinished projects that lanquished over the summer, those projects I used to do before kids, now I spend my days with the kids during the summer. For now I am going to continue to enjoy my time “off”. Until mid September when I start back.
Refinish the nightstand, antique high chair (my Dad’s…he’s 85) and drop leaf table that have been lingering in my garage for so long it’s embarrassing; sew; can some jam and pickles; sew; clean out my basement storage room; sew; clean up and organize our home office; sew; get my annual Oktoberfest party menu and invitations ready, shop for the nonperishables for same; sew; work on our basement remodel project; sew…I think I need two months, haven’t even gotten to selling on Craigslist whatever is unearthed in the basement clean up that’s worth the effort, drop off donations to the DAV store and library booksale …oh yeah, seriously glean my bookcases…and closets. Last year I took a week of vacation to work on “feathering my nest”…finally finished refinishing our bedroom furniture, painted and wallpapered the bedroom, sewed new curtains, got the better half to put in a ceiling fan…I love that room now, and every time I walk in it I realize I should have taken a vacation for that purpose much sooner. It made all the diffeence in the world to have nine dedicated days…would have taken us several months of bits of weekends to accomplish the same project.
Considering the timing during harvest season, I would do a ton of canning, especially tomatoes as we never seem to have enough to last a year. I would also go volunteer picking vegetables at the farm down the road.
I would spend time with my husband, go for walks with friends, and mulch the gardens. I would also clean the house top to bottom, as I only managed to do half of the spring cleaning this year. A month off seems like an enormous amount of time, but I can imagine it will fly by!
Oh…the idea of that is so appealing I could just cry. I would sit in the quiet…a lot.
Of course, I could only stand about a week off since I’m a stay-at-home mom, then it wouldn’t be fun anymore.
Oh and after about a day of peace and quiet and nothing I would write, write, write like crazy. I love it and have no time for it. I’d go see at least 3 movies. Ditto reason given above.
Oh, and I’d touch up paint here and there around the house so I didn’t feel like a complete slug.
yes i could, I have many projects and things I would like to get done.
but make sure you make a list and get done what is on it. It too hard to fall into a lazy mode and nothing gets done!
I get time off in the summer every year with my teenage kids at home. I spend more time reading, hanging out with the kids and napping. Summer is also the time when I tackle projects around the house. I usually start the summer asking myself what I would regret not taking care of once school starts back. I make sure I take care of those projects and anything else is just gravy.
As non-stop busy as I am at work, I always amaze myself at my ability to waste time in the summer 😎
I suppose if I had a month off that means someone else would be cleaning my house, taking care of my four year old (at least until the others get home from school) and maintaining my daily duties as a SAHM? That would leave room for me to organize and maybe even scrapbook that big box of pictures chronicling my children’s lives. I would read and write to my hearts delight. And maybe just maybe I would shower, comb my hair, and wear lipstick everyday! Maybe…