Every time I write about my personal COVID-19 thoughts, I worry about coming off as insensitive or tone-deaf because our situation is not as dire as others. At the same time, I want to share my experience, because that’s what this blog is! So please know I am not trying to make light of anything, just documenting my life, right now.
Today begins my seventh week of working at home and not going in to the office (the last time I went in was Tuesday, March 10th), and sixth week of only going out once a week to get groceries. It took a while, but I’ve gotten in to a routine that feels good, so I’ve been thinking about the COVID-19 inspired changes I’ve made that are worth keeping:
- Meal planning – it’s been nice to end the day and have a menu of items to pick from to (have Steven) cook
- Less snacking – it took an entire month, but I’ve finally stopped mindlessly snacking
- Eating out less
- Less frivolous spending
- Using less paper products
- (More) Video calls with friends
- Waking up at the same time each day – this would require no longer teaching a Friday 5:00 am class
- Weeknight free time – this would require no longer teaching a Monday 6:30 pm class
- My weekly workout routine – three strength sessions, five runs (one speed, one hills, one ten miler, one long, one whatever), one rest day
- Weekend lazy time
- Checking in with the neighbors more
Has anyone else started thinking of any changes they’ve made that they want to keep? Or are you eager to get back to how things were? Or (most likely) a mix of both…
When things are back to our new normal, I’ll have to look back at this list and see what I stuck with and what I didn’t.
I am with you on so many of these- no more mindless snacking, way less eating out, less frivolous spending, using less paper, more video calls with friends.
I’ve been making breakfast while my morning reports run (they take a few minutes) so when things go back to something resembling the past normal, I’ll definitely miss eating a good egg sandwich and coffee while putting together the reports.
It will be interesting to see what sticks and what doesn’t once things go back closer to normal. L and I have already said we would continue to eat out less.
Oh yeah! What do you normally do for breakfast when you are in the office? Your breakfast pics have me all heart eye emoji’d and I don’t even eat eggs!!!
Exactly – best laid plans and all that – hopefully we can at least stick to the big ones like eating out less and being less wasteful!
I’ve had enough time to make some changes into a habit. Or at least make me think twice before doing them. The best one is spending a lot less on stuff. While I pay off my credit cards in full each month, it’s so nice to see how little I will have on my next statement – mostly groceries, a couple of autopays, and an order for some masks. I know it will be higher once we can get out in the world again but I really like knowing I won’t be stressing over money quite so much.
Sadly, as long as my dog keeps insisting on barfing pretty much every day, I’ll be using paper towels to clean it up…it’s bad enough to have to wash the throws (and my bed quilt, ugh), but I draw the line at having to wash towels when he hits the floor, ugh again.
Yes, good point – we’ve been at this long enough that these changes are habits! Isn’t it great to open your CC and see you are paying off so much less because you are spending less? My credit card and checking account are with the same bank so they’re in the same app on my phone and I pay credit from checking so it’s nice to see checking higher than usual!
Oh yeah, definitely paper towels for THAT! We are still using them, just using less (like I try to use one sheet when I can… but we had to buy really sh*tty ones because the nice ones weren’t available so one sheet doesn’t cut it…). I clean up Apollo’s poop from the bathtub every day with some.
What is up with Paco barfing each day though? 🙁
Paper towels are good for dirty pet deeds, LOL.
Not sure why he’s barfing so much. Took him to the vet yesterday and they did a blood draw; hopefully will get the results back today or tomorrow. He yelps in pain when we touch/pet him but of course did not do that at the vets, sigh.
Yes they are!
I hope they are able to help you. I am worried about him! Please let me know what you find out! 🙁
Your list is far more impressive than mine, but I guess my day-to-day life hasn’t changed as much because I’m still going in to work every day. I love that I have finally used my Instapot and love how easy it is. I’d like to stick with using that. And, our house is really clean. We didn’t used to stay home much so we let housework slide more often than not. However, I miss seeing people in person and hanging out with friends/loved ones. I’m tired of not being with the people I care about and am anxious to get back to visiting, hanging out, working out with people. We also used to eat out a lot and miss that as an outlet. I’m sure our spending is down a bit but not a ton as I tend to use retail therapy when I’m feeling down (bad habit).
I’m glad you’ve got to do some things at home like try out your Instapot and clean! Everyone I know who has an Instapot raves about it!
I really hope things get better soon so you can get back to seeing people in person and eating out in restaurants. It’s great we can all connect with technology but in person in so different!
I definitely agree with you about the eating out less and less frivolous spending. Those are two things I’m going to try to keep with even when all of this is over.
Good goals to have all the time, right?! I wonder if we’ll all rush out to eat out at first or not. I have a feeling we are going to be a bit apprehensive about going out when things open back up.
The biggest thing I want to keep is working from home! I would LOVE to become full time remote after this. I was always very skeptical of the idea until I started doing it, and man, I am HERE FOR THIS. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised: my favorite day to be in the office previously was Friday because everyone else in my area worked from home on Fridays and I could be left alone all day. We have a pretty good office setup compared to some people in the sense that we still at least have cubicles, but even that is too open for me. The entire time I’ve worked for my current company, I’ve struggled with just desperately wanting to be left alone while being surrounded by people who clearly do not want to leave me alone (not in, like, a harassing way – just in a chatty coworkers way), and finally, FINALLY, I’m in an environment where people can’t bother me anymore. I don’t think there’s any chance my boss will let me go full time remote, since that’s not part of our department’s policy, but boy would I love that.
I wonder if you can go part time remote, or situationally remote! It’s interesting you say you were skeptical of working from home – a lot of people have given me grief over the years for working from home, implying I get nothing done, and what you are saying here is something I’ve mentioned A LOT as a great weekend to work from home – I can concentrate better (I review big drawing and design submittals as part of my job). I enjoy the office interruptions, but yep, you don’t get a lot done on the days you are in the office if it’s constant. I really hope you can work from home a bit more after this. Maybe they will change the policy 🙂
I feel the same way when I write in my blog. Will I come off as callous and entitled? Am I being insensitive? Ultimately, you are documenting your life, like you said, and this the state of things for you. There’s nothing wrong with that! I enjoy reading it and remembering that these snapshots of daily life are important to capture.
Ooh, I should get on the waking up every day at the same time train. I hope that one sticks for you, mainly because I hope you don’t have to keep teaching classes that are inconveniently timed with your schedule.
I’m trying to stretch more and study Korean diligently, so those are two things I want to keep. And eating more vegetables.
I have seen a few people come off as insensitive and entitled (sponsored bloggers) so it makes me feel like I need to add that disclaimer, even though it’s completely normal for me to be documenting what is going on! And I see it on your blog and a few other blogs and don’t think anything of it (other than “this is their experience and I am glad to be reading about it”).
I would love to keep waking up at the same time! I haven’t set an alarm since we’ve been on stay-at-home orders and it’s been great. The cats wake me at 5:00 every day. Ha.
Those are good habits to keep going! How are you working stretching and studying Korean in to your schedule now?
I like this post! It’s really hard to talk about the positive things that have come out of being socially distant because people just want to read it the wrong way. Like, no, I am not HAPPY this has happened and I am sickened by the death and job loss and economic turmoil. But I also think it’s helpful to see what good things have come out of it and how we can sustain these habits when life gets back to normal.
For me, I’ve discovered that working from home full-time is my JAM and I am feeling really hopeful I can make it a permanent thing in the future. My company has been happy with how productive everyone has been during this time and are working on a more robust WFH program. Hooray for that! Spending less money and driving less have also been positive changes. (I’m SURE our environment has improved with so many people driving less.) I chat with one of my best friends daily now on Marco Polo and that has been such a positive change. It’s nice to have someone to talk to throughout the day! Also, I love not waking up to an alarm anymore! My body naturally gets up between 7:00-7:30 (sometimes earlier) so even though I set an alarm, I am very rarely woken up by it. That’s been SO nice!
This was a fun exercise! I’m not sure how long my changes will last once things go back to normal (although I’m hopeful about working from home more, which means driving less), but I’m taking pleasure in the little things right now.
Yes! You put it so eloquently! Thank you! I am not happy about this but am trying to see the bright side and if any good can come out of it for me, on a personal level.
I am so happy to hear your company is working on a more robust WFH program WOOT!!!! Yay! And happy you found a way to still have social interaction throughout the day on Marco Polo. I have not been setting an alarm at all (like once since this started!) and I love it! Question though – the girls don’t bug you in the am? P.S. Happy Birthday to Eloise!
I hope that you get to WFH more and retain glimpses of these things after we go back to whatever normal is. Like, it could be fun to still do Marco Polo, right?! And try to spend less? hee hee
I think it’s a great idea to look at the positive things that have come out of this! I do think some of us will make permanent changes to our lives based on this period of time, and hopefully we will be able to keep some of the more positive aspects in place. I hear a lot of people are really happy working from home (my husband is one of them and he hopes to be able to have a least one day a week from home once things go back to “normal”).
The nicest change for me has been having a family meal every single night! It really makes me enjoy my cooking more when I know there are going to be four of us sitting down at the table to eat it together when it’s done.
It’s so great to hear working at home has been a success for many! (and for some, like teachers, I totally get why they want to go back!) I hope he can do that when things go back to “normal”!
Oh my gosh! That is awesome! Do you guys have any rituals for discussion topics?
No, no special rituals – unless you count me yelling up the stairwell that dinner is ready, LOL!
Ha! Ha ha ha! That counts!