It has officially been four weeks since the state of California went into lockdown. We are so grateful for the place we have to stay since we have no place that is actually home for us currently. Unlike our friends with toddlers and jobs trying to work and manage sanity, we are trying to not go nuts from pure boredom. Everyone has a different struggle to manage through, but I’ve been super intrigued to see what a day looks like for people under these new conditions. I figured I’d share our thrilling weekday routine with anyone who is like me and likes to read these.
A Day in the Life of a Unemployed, Temporary AirBnB Tenant during Shelter in Place Orders
6:40 – Open my eyes and see that it’s light outside. It’s the main reason we keep the blinds open at night. I flip around in bed for a while and decide if I am tired enough to go back to sleep.
7:00 – Finally get up and start coffee. Scroll through Twitter mostly skipping over news and looking for new memes to make me laugh.
7:45 – Coffee is poured and I pull myself away from my phone for a while. I pick up my kindle and cuddle in on the couch. I love reading, but during this weird time, it’s been hard to focus. I’m lucky if I can sneak in an hour or two in the AM.
9:00 – Pick up phone and aimlessly scroll through Instagram. Two days a week, I check in with my grandma at this time and see how she’s doing. Living alone at 84, this time is weird for her too. She usually has some funny new insults for Trump and we laugh for a bit.
10:00 – Breakfast time. Justin usually makes breakfast. It’s some version of eggs. Our favorite has been egg sandwiches on brioche buns with veggie sausages mixed in. If there are berries left, we consume them, but those are one of the first things we eat after a grocery run.
10:20 – Round two of coffee and a little laptop time. I hit the usual job search sites and spend some time scrolling through to see if there’s anything new.
10:50 – Bored of scrolling, I move to my gmail account. I read through my horoscope for this week and click through junk emails trying to figure out what to unsubscribe to.
11:15 – After a few hours of sitting around, we are usually pretty antsy by this time. We have been finding different ways to exercise including yoga from different teachers online, cheesy YouTube videos from the 80’s or just a ridiculous amount of strength exercises we think of randomly. Even if it’s only 15 minutes, it’s required for sanity and to avoid us getting permanently stuck in the couch.
12:00 – Shower, teeth brushing (don’t judge me, I like waiting until after coffee), finally washing my face and putting on lotion and finding new clean lounge clothes to wear. Living out of a backpack is great when you are constantly moving locations, but now it’s adding to the boredom since I just rotate between five different outfits.
12:30 – Now comes the interesting part of the day – what do we do for the afternoon. Sometimes we pull out the art stuff and make things. Lately, I’ve been working through some Skillshare classes (get two free months here) and that has been keeping me entertained and helping my resume. On Thursdays, I like to listen to my favorite podcast, Hysteria, and work on a puzzle or clean up the house.
2:00 – Lunch discussion begins. What version of veggies + grains should we eat today? We have gotten pretty creative, but my favorite is always zucchini and white cheddar mac. When I’m feeling extra crazy, I throw in a Diet Dr. Pepper.
2:30 – Daily walk around the neighborhood. This is the highlight of the day usually because we wander up and down different streets admiring the flowers and plants, the amazing chalk work done by the neighborhood families and check out the little free libraries (making sure to sanitize everything when we get back).
3:00 – We either return to whatever we were doing before our walk or we make the decision to sit outside. Sometimes the family hosting us is playing a game or racing scooters in the alleyway and we can play along. Yesterday, Justin helped pull apart skateboards and fix things. I usually just throw the ball for the dog that lives here for as long as she’ll fetch it. She’s a Rottweiler/Mastiff mix and she’s a huge sweetheart.
5:00 – Depending on the day, this is the time that we settle in for a virtual happy hour with friends in the eastern or central time zone OR we go straight into the “what’s for dinner” conversation. These FaceTimes or zoom calls have helped keep up connected with friends and family and I love them. Some nights, we play virtual card games and sometimes it’s just a simple check in with my girlfriends for a half hour.
7:00 – After dinner and happy hour, it becomes TV time. Some nights, I can’t stomach anything serious so we alternate between Veep and Arrested Development. On the nights that we can handle something a little more, we are in season two of Ozark. I use this time to color, read blogs or organize travel photos. I have such a hard time just watching TV without doing anything else.
10:00 – Bedtime. Wash my face, brush teeth and go through the full nighttime routine. My skin has been extra happy with the extra attention. I’m usually asleep within 15 minutes of crawling into bed. Sleep has not been an issue for me during this which I am so grateful for. I’m usually tired around 10, but some nights, I stay up a little later.
Weekend Change Ups
On Saturdays and Sundays, we try and do things a little differently. Sometimes that means we have a beer in the afternoon or watch a movie in the mornings with something sweet for breakfast. The little changes do help make it more exciting which is crazy. Last Sunday, we borrowed the scooters and went for a joyride around the neighborhood and it was just what I needed.
How does your day look?
Are you a homeowner checking off different projects at home? I wish I had a garden I could plant or weed right now. Are you learning a new art technique or a language? How many walks are your dogs getting?
Let me know how you’re using your time at home during this lockdown. And if you are an essential worker keeping all of us safe and fed right now, I can’t thank you enough. Seriously.
