Well, let’s see now-one way I spend my time productively is writing articles on Helium.com! Although I just joined in December, and haven’t earned much through the regular channel, I am earning a tidy little sum during the Write-a-thon! And I am writing at least 2-5 articles a day, on average. I need to write at least five a day between now and the end of the Write-a-thon, to get to the highest level, but I’m making more than my husband will believe, even if I don’t get the highest amount per article. So I am being productive, having fun and honing my craft, all at the same time!

Another productive thing I sometimes do is work on getting my house (and especially my computer room!) organized. I have boxes of “stuff” in several places in the house, and I am slowly getting the things that are at least distantly related to each other in the same boxes, so I can eventually get them sorted out and get more things thrown away. For instance, I have most of my loose recipes in one box, now, instead of in several different boxes. And I am copying the best ones that I use frequently into a small notebook that is labeled “My Favorite Recipes”. That book will eventually replace most of the loose recipe clippings that I have in several different places!

I read a lot. I keep a book in the bathroom for times that I have to spend more than a few seconds sitting. Usually, that one is an old Reader’s Digest Condensed Book, because I inherited all my husband’s mom’s volumes after she died. I keep another book started here in the computer room for times that I just want to sit in silence and read. And there might even be another one in the living room. I used to be able to go to any one of several books and open it and start reading where I had left off, without a marker. I’ve grown a little older and can’t do that so easily now, so I use bookmarks.

I help with the mowing and lawn and flower care, and the doves, too. Sometimes I might do one thing and other times I might do another. And I might just sit and watch my husband work. But when we both feel up to it, we both work in the same area, doing different things, but working toward the same general end. The other day, he was mowing and I was weeding . When he stopped for a break, I would also stop, and we could visit while we rested.

And I have a family site at MyFamily.com that I check at least twice most days. Most of my extended family is on that site, and when anyone has to go to the hospital or gets engaged, married, pregnant, or whatever, it goes on the site almost immediately. When Rita came through our area, we were without electricity for almost six weeks, but when we got the generator that would carry the load, I got on and went to our family site. Almost every member of my extended family had already either been on the site to tell how they were doing, or someone else let us know; only two members were still unaccounted for! (They were contacted within another week-every member of the family had come through the storm with no major accidents or illnesses, even though some came back to wrecked homes and trees downed everywhere!)

There are many ways to spend time and be productive. You don’t have to spend a lot of money, either. Just find something to do, and do it! You may even find out you enjoy it!