8 Things to Do When Waiting for Spring

Sometimes it’s hard to find things to do when you’re just waiting for spring to come, especially when it seems like winter will never go away.

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Living in Western New York all my life, you’d assume I would be used to the long winters by now. But every year the winter blues are just as bad and waiting for spring seems to get longer and longer.

Even the kids start to get a little stir crazy, which just drives me a little more crazy. It doesn’t help that at this point I’ve lost all motivation to do anything.

So while I always have a full to-do list as a stay at home mom, it is impossible to accomplish anything with the gloomy, miserable weather. I’ve come up with eight things I try to do, that don’t require too much motivation, while we not-so-patiently wait for spring to come.

Declutter & organize

This is my favorite thing to do when waiting for spring to come. There’s nothing I love more than getting rid of clutter and junk around the house. It feels even better going through a closet, drawer, or cabinet to throw out anything you don’t need and reorganizing it. If you’re feeling super ambitious, you can try my 7 Day Declutter and Organize Challenge! It’s broken up into seven rooms to thoroughly declutter in seven days. But if you’re bored enough (which I definitely am) you could probably do the whole thing in one day.

Try that DIY project you pinned months ago

You know when you are scrolling down Pinterest, come across a DIY project and think “Omg this actually looks like something I am capable of doing!” So you pin it thinking you’ll work on it soon. Suddenly four months go by and you’ve lost all motivation to try it. Well today’s the day!

Seriously, you have nothing better to do than watch the snow melt. If you are one of the few people that have never experienced this, just try a Pinterest search to get some ideas! There’s so many different projects to try either for home decor or kid’s crafts.

Read a book

I’m not kidding when I say I would read a whole book every day in high school. Since Oliver was born I have definitely read less than 15. Not that I don’t love reading just as much as I used to. It’s just hard to find the time with so many other things going on. But since I have nothing better to do than sit around and wait for spring, it’s as good a time as any to grab a book, make some coffee and get comfortable on the couch.

Related → 7 CHRISTIAN PARENTING BOOKS YOU NEED ON YOUR BOOKSHELF

Plan your garden

This is the first year we’ll be able to start our own garden since we finally have a house! We have to start completely from scratch and since neither of us have ever grown vegetables before we bought the book The Week-by-Week Vegetable Gardener’s Handbook. It makes gardening super easy by breaking everything down into what you should be doing/need to know each week, especially in preparation of that first spring thaw.

Spend the day playing

When all else fails, drop everything and spend the day rolling on the floor with the kids. They say babies don’t keep and neither do toddlers so enjoy what little time you have. I have a hard time making up games and activities to play with the kids because in the back of my mind I’m always thinking about things I have to get done. Not to mention I can only play with dump trucks and dinosaurs for so long before my attention starts to fade. So try some of these games and learning activities to spend some quality time with the kids:

• The Floor is Lava Game
• Hi Ho! Cherry-O
• SEQUENCE for Kids
• Kerplunk
• Zingo
• Cat’s Cradle Book Kit
• Matching Letter Game

Make plans with friends

Being home day after day with kids can get really lonely. Especially when most of your conversations consist of explaining why they can’t climb on something or what their next snack is going to be. So sometimes it’s nice to break the week.

I love hanging out with an actual adult, drinking too much coffee, letting the kids wreck the house together, and talking about the stupid things the kids did all week. It’s a nice way to break up the week and helps a lot when waiting for spring. Either by getting out of the house or having someone over to your house for a few hours. Plus it gives me extra motivation to clean my house when I have someone over so everything looks nice. Except for the toys scattered everywhere when they leave.

Get a head start on spring cleaning

Spring cleaning has never taken me too long because we’ve always lived in small apartments until this year. Now I have a whole house to do. And with not one but two little monsters following me to mess up anything I clean!

So my plan is to start deep cleaning room by room. Then by the time spring is actually here we can spend our time outside instead being stuck inside cleaning. Don’t put it off if you’re not sure where to start. Or are overwhelmed by how much you have to do. There are a ton of resources and guides on Pinterest to help you get started.

Related → THE COMPLETE SPRING CLEANING LIST

Make some extra money

If you have no motivation to do anything, then maybe making a little extra cash is the push you need when waiting for spring. There’s a lot of different ways to earn money from home, and it’s always great to have extra money to spend or save. The best way to make money in a short period of time is selling things on Etsy or Ebay.

That’s expecting spring not to take too long to get here. Especially if you’re already planning on decluttering, you might as well just list what you want to get rid of! Swagbucks is also a great way to earn some cash fast if you’re willing to put some time into it. I’ve made $528.39 using Swagbucks on and off in the past few years. You can absolutely make anything up to or over $100 a month depending on the amount of time you invest.