15 Indoor Projects for Rainy Days

The rain is falling outside and while you enjoy watching it from a warm and dry window you find yourself wandering looking for something to do. All those ideas you had when it was hot and sunny and the "if I had time I would..." ideas don't come to mind - what to do? Here's some ideas, along with easy ways to prepare for it when it's not busy.

1. Start your own article book. We all have times we buy a magazine (or see a website article) and keep the whole magazine for 2-3 articles. Reduce and focus! Take those 2-3 articles and tear them out, clip them together and have available a folding file to put them in. What you'll need: folding file (under $2), paper clips, 1/2 inch or 1 inch binder notebook ($1-2 depending on how many you think you'll have!), clear plastic sheets (under $5). When the rainy day hits - pull out your folding file and materials and make your own book of articles. You can even group by interest - or have a couple of books. For example - you might have a binder for household things - divide it into cleaning tips, decorating, food etc. If you collect recipes have a binder for that - the plastic sheets are easily wiped off in the kitchen! You may, for those items less than full page, want to use a sheet of paper and glue to make a page so they stay in place. I have one for writing articles - even articles 8-10 years old from Writers Digest and others are often not time-sensitive and may provide creative boosts! I'm also making another for home decorating and one for recipes. Ever see those short pieces of great tips or handy hints? They're a mess to corral them - but get an inexpensive photo album and put them all together in one place. These also can be unique gifts, done a little at a time. Some magazines I like to keep whole - for me things like Countryside, Mother Earth News, Grit can have information worth keeping to me. Others I might buy on the newsstand for a few articles without necessarily wanting to keep the whole magazine.