What to do on a free day

Once you’re a parent it’s not often you get a free day totally to yourself. After going through a phase where N never wanted to come out with me, but stay on the farm, it seems he likes going shopping…mainly for the opportunity to get a drink from Costa or the like. So I savour getting any flexi days where they’re outside of school holidays. It means I get a free day to myself.  The question is always what to do with a free day?

I’m lucky in that I can quite often get a flexi day. In an ideal world I’d catch up with friends who work part time or are stay at home mums, but that doesn’t always coordinate. There’s always plenty I can fill my free days with, especially if I don’t have to be at home and feel like I need to catch up on cleaning.

What to do on a free day

Lie in – if it’s a school day that won’t really happen as I still need to drop N at the bus stop before 7.30. But it does mean I can have a luxurious breakfast because there’s plenty of time before anywhere opens.

Read – I’d happily spend all day reading, although my body might have something to say about staying in one place all day. On a day off I’d usually find a decent amount of time to read. 

Do jigsaw puzzles – I find doing puzzles* really therapeutic, and it’s nice to have a good chunk of time to do one. As long as the OH isn’t due to come in for lunch otherwise I’ll lose my table space.

Listen to music and sing along without having family members moaning – singing always makes me happy, but I rarely listen to music at home.

Dance around the kitchen – I don’t get dancing at the moment, so kitchen dancing is my only opportunity. Luckily we’ve got a nice big kitchen

Bake – having a free day to spend time baking is great. It means no rushing around fitting it in around work, chores, shopping or being a mum taxi.

Meet up with a friend – it doesn’t always work out, but it’s lovely to take some time to meet a friend, go for a walk and/or coffee, or just pop in to theirs and have a catch up. When you’ve got children who don’t know each other, it’s hard to coordinate at other times. Actually it’s hard to coordinate anyway.

Go to the cinema – going to the cinema alone is great. You get to eat or drink what you want, watch the films you want, sit where you want. And going in the day time, you’ll often have the cinema to yourself (or very few others).

Visit a coffee shop and blog (or read) – I love the hustle and bustle of coffee shops. They’re probably my most productive place to blog

Have a day out somewhere children don’t like – for me that’s generally National Trust, or even shopping.

Take photos – N hates me stopping all the time to take photos, so having the peace and quiet to enjoy a couple of hours of taiking photos without moaning behind me is great.

Go for a walk – enjoy the leaves if it’s autumn, go local or further afield.

Exercise – ok, so this is probably not going to happen unless the outdoor pool has better hours, or I’m off at the right time to do cardio tennis. Maybe in future I should look for daytime zumba or dance classes to join when I’ve got a day off. I always forget about that as an option. 

What do you love to do on a free day?