Have you ever noticed all the little gaps that pop up in a day?
Sometimes, when I’m in bed procrastinating or watching commercials or waiting in long grocery store lines or sitting in the Starbucks drive thru or cruising through the automated carwash, I feel motivated to do something with that idle time.
In those moments, I don’t have enough time to read a book or do something very complicated. However, I still want to do something productive to organize or simplify my day-to-day life.
This week, my iPhone hit me with the “Storage Full” notification. I realized that instead of wasting those little idle moments, I should have been cleaning out my photos and apps!
So, I’ve decided to create a reference list (that you can use too) for those times when you need simple, mindless but still productive things to do.
30 PRODUCTIVE THINGS TO DO
When You Have A Little Bit Of Time
1| Delete outdated and irrelevant emails
2| Review your bank statement
To make sure there are no purchases you don’t recognize
3| Delete old photos, screenshots and videos from your camera roll or WhatsApp
You know you only like 1 or 2 out of those 53 selfies you took. It’s time to delete the undesirable duplicates.
Boost your phone storage and avoid the “Storage Full” notification.
4| Write a thank you card, text or note
Spreading positivity and love is ALWAYS time well spent.
Make good use of your idle minutes by writing someone a thank you card or sending them a shoutout via text or social media.
5| Get rid of old apps
Increase your phone storage and decrease the time spent looking for the right app by getting rid of apps you don’t use.
6| Pin to your Pinterest boards
Got a trip coming up? Planning an event? Need parenting advice?
Make a Pinterest board and fill it up with inspiring posts to read when you have more time.
Are you on Pinterest?
Follow my inspiration boards
7| Make a ‘To Do’ list
8| Unfollow/delete people you no longer wish to follow on social media or your contact list
You know all those accounts that you scroll past and ask yourself “who even is this?” Yeah, take a few minutes to unfollow all those guys.
This can be a form of self care and you will feel so much better after you get rid of the people clutter. (Read this post next for 78 more great self care ideas)
9| Make a themed playlist
I never seem to remember to make a workout playlist until I’m running and by then, it’s obviously too late.
When you have a few minutes to spare, drop a few songs into a playlist.
10| Delete old timers/alarms
Whenever I ask Siri to set a timer or alarm, it stays on my phone! By the time I know it, I have like 30+ alarms with odd times just cluttering up my phone. This is my reminder for us to clear those out when we have spare time.
11| Change up your passwords to keep the hackers guessing
Make your apps, phone, banking information, etc much more secure by changing your passwords every now and again.
It can be a pain to get used to a new password but trust, it’s much more painful to get hacked and have to start over from scratch.
12| Delete old weather settings
I still have weather settings from my last trips to Aruba and Paris! On one hand, I like looking to see what the weather is like in those places. On the other hand, it’s so unnecessary.
13| Download coupons on ibotta to save on your next shopping trip
Do you have ibotta? It’s an app that helps you get money back while grocery shopping. For it to work, you have to find and select the items you will buy. By the time you’re at the store shopping, it’s probably already too late to figure that all out.
So when you have a few minutes to spare, go through the app and opt-in to the offers you will eventually grocery shop for.
14| Organize your paper clutter
File or throw away old mail and documents.
Need Tips?
Check out my very detailed post on How To Make A Home Filing System
15| Declutter your purse or wallet
Get rid of the old receipts, outdated to do lists, multiple lip glosses and all the mystery items at the bottom of your purse.
More space and less trash to carry around!
16| File your nails or oil your cuticles
17| Update your calendar
Put all those appointments, trips and events that are floating around in your brain down on a calendar.
18| Meal plan
For some tips you’ve never thought of, read my 10 (life-improving) Meal Planning Hacks for busy people.
19| Catalog your digital files
Make folders to organize your phone or computer files.
20| Opt in to paperless billing and…
21| Opt out of junk mail
Huffpost has a short but very useful post on how to opt out of junk mail.
Check it out for 4 ways to cut down on annoying paper waste.
22| Find new recipes
Another good way to utilize Pinterest during your downtimes.
Reduce the time it takes you to meal plan by finding and saving new recipes to try in the future.
23| Declutter / sort through voicemails
24| Write overdue reviews for restaurants and services
Finally write that Yelp, Thumbtack, Uber, etc review that you’ve been putting off.
Btw: did you know that with enough quality reviews on Yelp, you can become a member of the Yelp Elite Squad and get invited to exclusive events?
25| Create a scrapbook with your phone photos
26| Update your LinkedIn profile or resume
Can you imagine a world where your resume is always updated and ready for use when you need it? Lol I can’t either.
But we can make it a possibility by spending a few, otherwise wasted, minutes to make regular updates to our professional profiles.
27| Start or update your Amazon wishlist
So you’ll finally have an answer for when someone asks you what you want for your birthday or Christmas.
28| Make updates to your computer or phone
Finally accept those updates your computer or phone has been trying to activate for months!
29| Unsubscribe to junk email
30| Catch up on your favorite blog (wink wink)
If you haven’t already, subscribe here and come back soon!
What’s your GO-TO productive thing to do when you have a little time to burn?
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Oyinkan Akinmade says
Great tips, thanks for sharing. I particularly love the idea of deleting old things you don’t need.
Dede says
Ouuu! Starting 12, 13 and 27 tuh-day!!!
Thanks for the tips!
Kunika Patel says
Thank you for this wonderful list. I did a few but this post made me realize there is so much more I can do to be more productive.