5 Things To Do At Home on a Rainy Day

published Sep 28, 2015

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(Image credit: Sarah Gerber & Fay Johnson)

With fall in full swing in the Northern Hemisphere, many of us can look forward to quite a few rainy days ahead. When it’s cold and wet outside and you just can’t be bothered to leave the house, use your time inside well. Here are five ideas beyond “Netflix binge” (though hey, no judgement) to keep you busy on those rainy days.

(Image credit: Sophie Timothy)

Water Your (Indoor) Plants
So, this task probably won’t take up an entire rainy afternoon (unless you happen to live in a greenhouse), but this is a great rule of thumb: when Mother Nature is feeding the plants outside, you do the same for the ones inside. As someone who pretty much ignores her houseplants, rainy weather is just about the only time I remember to give them a drink; thankfully I live in England, so I’m reminded pretty often.

(Image credit: Ashley Poskin)

Clean or Organize Something Really Well
This isn’t the most fun suggestion of the bunch, but it’ll make you feel great afterwards. A few hours of enforced indoor time is the perfect opportunity to scrub your kitchen cupboards, sort through the linen closet, or apply the Dewey Decimal System to your home library.

(Image credit: Kim Lucian)

Start a Rain Project
What’s a rain project? Something you’ve always wanted to do, with no time limit, that you can work on incrementally. It can be home-related or not, anything from stripping wallpaper in the spare room to coding your first website. Whenever it rains, you’re gonna work on it; you might even find yourself looking forward to the forced productivity.

(Image credit: Jose Campos and Oliver Herbert)

Exercise
Say what?!? I know this goes against everything your gut tells you about rainy days: you should be chilling out, not working out! But on a day when you’d prefer to be outside but just can’t face the weather, an hour of yoga, a quick exercise video, or just some dance-cleaning (it’s a thing) can help keep cabin fever at bay.

(Image credit: Lucy Hewett)

Stock Your Freezer
Rainy days are made for the kitchen, and a full freezer of meals and to-go snacks will make the nicer days ahead that much more enjoyable. I often make and freeze unbaked scones and cinnamon buns for morning emergencies and trays of mini frittatas for my workday lunches.

What’s your favorite way to spend a rainy day at home?