You love your kids, you really do. But they’re always there! Sometimes you just need a few moments to yourself. What would you do if you had an entire hour of child-free time? (Can you even imagine such a thing?)<\/p>
That dream can easily be a reality. All you have to do is hire a babysitter<\/a> and make the most of those precious 60 minutes. Check out our babysitter calculator<\/a> to see what to pay a sitter in your neighborhood.<\/p> Here are 101 ideas for activities to creatively spend your free hour.<\/p> 1. Take a much-needed, well-deserved nap.<\/p> 2. Discover your om: Catch a yoga class.<\/p> 3. Take a hot bubble bath.<\/p> 4. Enjoy one hour of uninterrupted time with your spouse or significant other.<\/p> 5. Grocery shop without kids begging you to buy every sugary snack.<\/p> 6. Catch up on all the adult shows that fill your DVR.<\/p> 7. Watch your favorite sports team on TV.<\/p> 8. Sit in the park and enjoy the quiet.<\/p> 9. Call your parents or family.<\/p> 10. Call a friend to catch up.<\/p> 11. Write a friend a handwritten letter (or at least an email).<\/p> 12. Go out to eat with a friend and have an uninterrupted adult conversation.<\/p> 13. Enjoy your favorite ice cream or frozen yogurt without having to share.<\/p> 14. Practice meditation. Use a site\/app like Calm<\/a> to help.<\/p> 15. Walk on a treadmill.<\/p> 16. Tackle at least one thing (if not more) on your to-do list.<\/p> 17. Get a manicure, pedicure or go crazy and get both.<\/p> 18. Make an appointment at your hair salon and treat yourself to a blowout.<\/p> 19. Enjoy a nice cup of coffee and read a good book.<\/p> 20. Organize your shoe collection.<\/p> 21. Try a new recipe.<\/p> 22. Create a family recipe book.<\/p> 23. Sign up for something new like Zumba or a painting class.<\/p> 24. Dust off your helmet and go for a bike ride.<\/p> 25. Balance your checkbook.<\/p> 26. Organize your office.<\/p> 27. Get a massage.<\/p> 28. Or ask your partner to give you a half-hour massage, then switch.<\/p> 29. Create fun new Pandora stations to listen to.<\/p> 30. Clean out the refrigerator.<\/p> 31. Straighten up your pantry.<\/p> 32. Catch up on the dishes overflowing in the sink.<\/p> 33. Take one look at the dishes and post a job for a housekeeper<\/a>.<\/p> 34. Make a scrapbook.<\/p> 35. Take a walk and enjoy the scenery.<\/p> 36. Watch the sunset with your spouse.<\/p> 37. Unplug your computer, hide your cell phone, turn off the TV and just enjoy the silence.<\/p> 38. Take a drive with the windows down.<\/p> 39. Enjoy a nice glass of wine and some fancy cheese that you don’t have to share.<\/p> 40. Pull out your makeup and give yourself a makeover.<\/p> 41. Tend to your garden.<\/p> 42. Cook in advance. Prepare some quick and easy meals you can freeze and thaw out during a busy work week.<\/p> 43. Write in a journal.<\/p> 44. Go through your closet, cleaning out the clothes you no longer wear.<\/p> 45. Now that you have room in the closet, go shopping and treat yourself to something new.<\/p> 46. If you can’t get out, do a little online shopping.<\/p> 47. Go on Amazon<\/a> and create a wish list.<\/p> 48. Bake your favorite dessert.<\/p> 49. Take a cooking class.<\/p> 50. Start a new knitting project.<\/p> 51. Create a game plan for getting a promotion at work.<\/p> 52. Hit a few balls at the driving range.<\/p> 53. Take broken jewelry to the store to get fixed.<\/p> 54. Go bowling with a friend.<\/p> 55. Indulge in a guilt-free episode of reality TV.<\/p> 56. Do a little feng shui and rearrange the furniture in a room.<\/p> 57. Read a magazine article about how to get organized — then promptly forget everything.<\/p> 58. Clean out your kids’ toys while they’re not around to argue about which ones they “still play with.”<\/p> 59. Play your favorite music as loud as you want and dance and sing around the house.<\/p> 60. Read the newspaper and catch up on current events.<\/p> 61. Play your child’s favorite video game — and beat their high score.<\/p> 62. Go to the library and visit the adult section for once, instead of the kids’ corner.<\/p> 63. Roller skate.<\/p> 64. Slice up a cucumber, lay back and see if placing them on your eyes really helps puffiness.<\/p> 65. Visit a local museum.<\/p> 66. Snuggle up on the couch with your pet or partner.<\/p> 67. Daydream and plan out your perfect vacation.<\/p> 68. Take your car to get the oil changed.<\/p> 69. Play a board game with a friend or your significant other.<\/p> 70. Go outside and take pictures of nature.<\/p> 71. Organize the family photos on your computer and get them developed.<\/p> 72. Create a collage of your favorite pictures.<\/p> 73. Take a bike ride by yourself or with a friend.<\/p> 74. Update your resume.<\/p> 75. Clean out and organize your email inbox.<\/p> 76. Reply to old emails.<\/p> 77. Volunteer at a local soup kitchen.<\/p> 78. Look up funny videos on YouTube.<\/p> 79. Visit a local pottery shop and create a masterpiece.<\/p> 80. Take a “wine and canvas” class with a friend.<\/p> 81. Research something you’ve always wanted to learn more about.<\/p> 82. Play around on Mix.com (previously StumbleUpon<\/a>) and see what sites pop up.<\/p> 83. Catch up on work or finish blog posts you’ve started but never finished.<\/p> 84. Read your favorite blog.<\/p> 85. Are you a single parent? Try a local speed-dating event or browse an online dating site.<\/p> 86. Browse Pinterest for recipe and craft inspiration.<\/p> 87. Have an indoor picnic with your significant other.<\/p> 88. Take a trip down memory lane by watching old videos or looking through old albums.<\/p> 89. Indulge in a guilty pleasure, like reading celebrity news magazines.<\/p> 90. Do a jigsaw puzzle.<\/p> 91. Challenge yourself and your brain by trying to complete a New York Times crossword puzzle.<\/p> 92. Roll up your extra change and come up with a creative way to spend it, no matter how small.<\/p> 93. Clean out your gift bag collection, throwing out the ones that have seen better days.<\/p> 94. Write a short story or poem.<\/p> 95. Write a love note to your spouse or significant other.<\/p> 96. Create a list of all the things you like about yourself.<\/p> 97. Research inspirational quotes online, write each one on a Post-It note and place them around the house for when you need them most.<\/p> 98. Learn a new language.<\/p> 99. Or just go out to a Mexican restaurant and practice saying “margarita!”<\/p> 100. Catch up on any sewing projects (like those loose buttons on your coat) you’ve been putting off for so long.<\/p> 101. Create a bucket list … then scratch something off!<\/p> Any parent can tell you that free time is a luxury. An hour may seem short, but without kids, you’ll be amazed what you can accomplish in just 60 minutes.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" You love your kids, you really do. But they’re always there! Sometimes you just need a few moments to yourself. What would you do if you had an entire hour of child-free time? (Can you even imagine such a thing?) That dream can easily be a reality. All you have to do is hire a Read more…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":823,"featured_media":7944,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"enable_toc":false,"care_reviewed_by":0,"care_post_updated_flag":false,"care_updated_date":"","last_update":"2021-09-03","view_count":137103,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"member-type":[3],"vertical":[6,17,13],"platform":[2],"class_list":["post-1504","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","member-type-seeker","vertical-children","vertical-child-care-advice","vertical-kids-health-safety","platform-resources"],"acf":[],"created":"2014-01-09","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.care.com\/c\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1504","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.care.com\/c\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.care.com\/c\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.care.com\/c\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/823"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.care.com\/c\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1504"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.care.com\/c\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1504\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.care.com\/c\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7944"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.care.com\/c\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1504"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.care.com\/c\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1504"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.care.com\/c\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1504"},{"taxonomy":"member-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.care.com\/c\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/member-type?post=1504"},{"taxonomy":"vertical","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.care.com\/c\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/vertical?post=1504"},{"taxonomy":"platform","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.care.com\/c\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/platform?post=1504"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}