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17 Odd Rituals People Do Behind Closed Doors

May 15, 2024 | Leave a Comment

odd hobbies

DALL-E

In the sanctity of their homes, people often embrace unconventional habits that might raise eyebrows. These private rituals, ranging from bizarre to profoundly personal, offer a peek into the quirks that make us human. Here’s a light-hearted look at 17 eccentric routines practiced behind closed doors, spotlighting the creativity and individualism hidden in everyday life.

1. The Midnight Gardener

gardening at night

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While most people sleep, some night owls take to their gardens under the starry sky. They believe that nocturnal gardening helps synchronize the planting cycle with lunar phases, purportedly improving growth and yield. This tranquil practice not only nurtures their plants but also provides a peaceful retreat from the chaos of daylight hours.

2. The Leftover Gourmet

leftover gourmet

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Some home chefs see a fridge full of leftovers not as remnants of meals past but as ingredients for a culinary challenge. These kitchen wizards can whip up everything from an upscale risotto to a decadent dessert using only the odds and ends from previous dinners. This inventive cooking ritual not only reduces food waste but also sparks creativity in the kitchen.

3. The Shower Concert Star

singing in the shower

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Behind the bathroom door lies the concert hall of the shower singer, where acoustics turn even the shyest person into a vocal powerhouse. Here, individuals belt out everything from opera classics to the latest pop hits, using shampoo bottles as their microphones. This daily performance boosts confidence and unleashes a torrent of endorphins.

4. The Closet Cosplayer

cosplayer

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Some fashion enthusiasts take dressing up to the next level by transforming into their favorite characters from books, movies, or video games. They spend hours crafting costumes and perfecting makeup techniques to embody their alter egos. This ritual allows them to creatively express themselves and momentarily escape into a fantastical persona.

5. The Puzzle Architect

solving puzzles

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For puzzle enthusiasts, building a complex jigsaw is not just a rainy-day activity but a dedicated daily practice. These aficionados often tackle enormous puzzles, dedicating entire rooms to their hobby. This methodical and meditative process provides a sense of order and achievement in their lives.

6. The Tea Ritualist

brewing tea

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Tea lovers might turn their brewing process into a serene ceremony, mirroring ancient traditions in their quiet kitchen. Every detail, from water temperature to leaf selection, is meticulously planned and executed with precision. This daily ritual is not just about enjoying a cup of tea but about carving out a moment of zen in their hectic day.

7. The Book Binder

binding a book

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Bookbinding enthusiasts often retreat to a personal workshop to rebind old books or craft new journals by hand. This process involves selecting papers, threading needles, and applying glues, turning a simple craft into a labor of love. Not only does this provide a physical connection to the written word, but it also revives the ancient art of bookmaking.

8. The Secret Poet

a woman writing

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Many individuals express themselves through poetry, scribbling verses in the quiet corners of their homes. Whether etching sonnets in old notebooks or composing haikus on scraps of paper, this creative outlet serves as a diary for their deepest thoughts and feelings, hidden away from the world’s eyes.

9. The Sock Puppeteer

hand puppets

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In the privacy of their living rooms, some craft enthusiasts create and perform with sock puppets, bringing to life characters of their own making. This playful hobby not only sparks creativity but also offers a unique way to communicate stories and emotions, providing joy and laughter to both the creator and the imaginary audience.

10. The DIY Inventor

diy project

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Garages and basements are often the labs for DIY inventors, where everyday problems inspire ingenious gadgets. From homemade robots to custom furniture, these tinkerers use their skills to create solutions and artworks, turning their homes into hubs of innovation and creativity.

11. The Fitness Blender

exercise

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Exercise routines can get peculiar with fitness buffs mixing and matching different workout styles to create their own unique regimen. In the refuge of their personal gyms, they might combine yoga, dance, and weightlifting, all in one session, pushing their bodies in unusual but effective ways.

12. The Virtual Reality Explorer

playing VR

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With a VR headset and a safe space, adventurers can explore virtual worlds without ever leaving their living room. From climbing virtual mountains to walking through historical recreations, this ritual not only provides entertainment but also expands the boundaries of reality from the comfort of home.

13. The Candle Maker

candle

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Candle-making at home can become a fragrant and illuminating ritual. Hobbyists experiment with scents and colors to create candles that not only light up their rooms but also reflect their moods and personalities. This craft offers a soothing escape and a way to brighten the day literally.

14. The Antiquarian

antique collector

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Collectors of vintage and antique items often spend time restoring and researching their finds. This ritual involves careful cleaning, documenting, and sometimes repairing objects that have withstood the test of time. It’s a labor of love that connects them with history and preserves legacies.

15. The Meditation Guru

meditating

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Meditation and mindfulness practices take many forms, from guided visualizations to silent sitting. Devotees of these practices use their dedicated quiet time to connect with their inner selves, fostering peace and resilience that impacts every aspect of their lives.

16. The Home Brewer

drinking beer

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Brewing beer or crafting wine at home is both science and art, involving careful measurement and creative experimentation. This ritual not only produces unique beverages but also provides a deep sense of satisfaction and connection to a time-honored craft.

17. The Secret Santa Workshop

wrapping presents

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All year round, some crafty individuals create handmade gifts and decorations for the holiday season. Their homes become workshops where gifts are made with love, ensuring that when the holidays arrive, they’re ready with personalized treasures that carry the spirit of giving.

Unleash Your Inner Quirk

hobbies

DALL-E

These rituals, while odd to some, are treasured moments of joy, creativity, and peace for those who practice them. They remind us that behind every closed door lies a world of unique passions and hobbies that enrich our lives in unexpected ways.

Read More

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18 Parenting Hacks for Busy Moms and Dads That Are Game Changers

Vanessa Bermudez
Vanessa Bermudez
Vanessa Bermudez is a content writer with over eight years of experience crafting compelling content across a diverse range of niches. Throughout her career, she has tackled an array of subjects, from technology and finance to entertainment and lifestyle. In her spare time, she enjoys spending time with her husband and two kids. She’s also a proud fur mom to four gentle giant dogs.

Filed Under: Lifestyle Tagged With: beliefs, hobbies, odd rituals, rituals

Rock Painting Ideas for Kids

August 14, 2020 | Leave a Comment

In our area, we’ve had the pleasure of stumbling upon a painted rock more than once, to the delight of whichever one of my kids finds it.  In fact, our city has its own Facebook page where people can share the rocks they’ve found around town as well as the rocks they have painted and placed around town.  There are over 13,000 members in the Facebook group!  If your family would like to get in on this fun hobby for kids, there are many easy rock painting ideas for kids.

Painted Rock Ideas for Kids

Rock Painting Ideas for Kids

If you’re looking at rock painting ideas, I’d encourage you to first see if your town has a Facebook group.  You can simply search the name of your town and rock painting; if there’s a group, you’ll find it that way.

However, Facebook rock painting groups can be a bit intimidating because there tend to be so many fabulous artists there.  If you or your kids’ skills are a bit more elementary, I’ve found YouTube to be a good place to search.

Ideas for Those 10 and Younger

To get kids excited about rock painting, try to pick designs that are easy enough for young kids.  The best ones seem to be designs that involve painting the entire rock as something like a ladybug or a strawberry, for instance.

There are so many tutorials on YouTube that will spark your children’s creativity!

For younger kids, Missy Maker has a tutorial showing kids how to make rock ladybugs, and giving examples of rock painting bees, minions, Shrek, and Nemo.

Ideas for Tweens and Teens

For older kids, rock painting can be an even more engrossing hobby.  Once kids’ artistic talents are a bit more developed, there are so many designs to pursue.

Tweens and teen can start using more advanced supplies like acrylic paint markers for more fine-detailed work like outlining and writing phrases on the rocks.

If your teen is a beginner, this video explains the whole rock painting process as well as designs for tweens and teens.

Rock Painting Ideas for the Whole Family

If you have children of varying ages and abilities, you can use a YouTube video like this one.

This video doesn’t show specifically how to paint the rocks, but it gives ideas for many different designs for all types of abilities.  I also enjoy tutorials with painting ideas for every season and holiday!  My kids who are 10 and under love painting simple flowers.

Final Thoughts

Rock painting can be a fun, low-cost hobby for everyone in the family, especially when you take the time to hide the rocks around your city.  It’s even more fun when you join a Facebook group and look to see if anyone has found your hidden rocks.  This hobby is also easy to start using some of these fun rock painting ideas for kids.

Melissa Batai
Melissa Batai

Melissa is a writer and virtual assistant. She earned her Master’s from Southern Illinois University, and her Bachelor’s in English from the University of Michigan. When she’s not working, you can find her homeschooling her kids, reading a good book, or cooking. She resides in Arizona where she dislikes the summer heat but loves the natural beauty of the area.

Filed Under: Family Time, Parenting Blog at KidsAintCheap Tagged With: Activities For Family, hobbies

how to evaluate the cost of extracurricular activities

December 23, 2019 | Leave a Comment

the cost of extracurricular activities

As my children grow older, I’m beginning to explore the need to keep them busy while 1) allowing unstructured time for them to play and 2) providing them with moderate access to technology. It’s an art, and I’m often wondering if I’ve found the best recipe. What are the optimal measurements of each?

Part of this exploration also involves determining how much my budget allows for extracurricular activities.

Because – like kids, extracurricular activities ain’t cheap. And it continues to rise.

Choosing The Right Extracurricular Activity

My daughter takes to things reasonably easy. She’s a quick learner, prone to beginner luck with almost every activity I’ve signed her up for – ballet, soccer, gymnastics, cheerleading, karate, art, piano – to name a few. But once it gets hard and she has to make an effort, she doesn’t enjoy it, and it becomes a power tug of war between the two of us. It’s a juxtaposition of forcing her to stick to her commitments vs. allowing her to explore her real interests.

However, to my delight, riding horses has proven to be something special. It wasn’t love-at-first-sight, but I watcher her desire to learn blossom a little each day. 

The Cost of Extracurricular Activities

What was not to my delight, equestrian hobbies come at high expense. Between weekly riding lessons, show clothes, and show fees – I spend approximately $300 a month, on average. And we don’t even own (or lease) a horse. (yet)

I could buy a car for that. Not a Testa, but a reasonable car – something like a Honda Civic. 

Once I realized that riding horses was something she was going to stick with, I realized I needed to adjust my budget. But truth-be-told, I wasn’t sure how – our budget is pretty tight, and I would prefer to pour all my money into paying off our mortgage. 

Is the Cost Worth It? A Cost / Benefit Approach

At this point, I wrestled with whether the cost of riding horses was something I was willing to bear. What value was this adding to her life? The merits can be debated, but where I landed was that riding a horse requires caring for a horse. 

She has to groom her horse before she can ride. Horse camp involves mucking out stalls. Caring for an animal like a horse develops responsibility, as well as respect for an animal. She’s also building her confidence as she showcases her skills in front of her peers and judges. 

I hope that her relationship with horses continues to grow and as she enters junior high and high school, she chooses to spend her time at the barn, rather than out partying (as I did at that age).

Making Adjustments To My Budget – Now and in the Future

Ultimately, I decided the cost was worth it. I took on some additional writing assignments to offset the cost, and I cut back on the amount I was allocating to my mortgage-free fund.  

My son, on the other hand – he’s a different beast. He has little to no interest in extracurricular activities, and he’s an introvert. This combination is something I’m aware needs special attention in the current society we live in. I need to make sure he develops his social skills, but balance this need with respect for his personality. 

He’s also extremely bright. Over the next few years, I believe I will find myself becoming a chess or Mathlete parent. I’m okay with that. Time will tell. And when it does, I’ll need to adjust my budget again.

 

How do you approach the cost of extracurricular activities for your children? Have you found them to be more expensive than you initially expected?

Read more:

Paying for Extracurriculars Without Breaking the Bank

Teaching Kids the Value of Hard Work

Four Money Habits You Need To Teach Your Children

Kate Fox

Kate Fox is a former CPA, with twenty years of experience in public accounting and corporate finance. Born and raised in Alaska, Kate is currently based out of southeastern North Carolina.  She loves coaching others on personal finance and spends her free time traveling with her family or relaxing by the pool with a good book, probably about money.

Filed Under: Education, Money and Finances, Parenting Tagged With: after school activities, extracurricular activties, hobbies

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Basic Principles Of Good Parenting

Here some basic principles for good parenting:

  1. What You Do Matters: Your kids are watching you. So, be purposeful about what you want to accomplish.
  2. You Can’t be Too Loving: Don’t replace love with material possessions, lowered expectations or leniency.
  3. Be Involved Your Kids Life: Arrange your priorities to focus on what your kid’s needs. Be there mentally and physically.
  4. Adapt Your Parenting: Children grow quickly, so keep pace with your child’s development.
  5. Establish and Set Rules: The rules you set for children will establish the rules they set for themselves later.  Avoid harsh discipline and be consistent.
  6. Explain Your Decisions: What is obvious to you may not be evident to your child. They don’t have the experience you do.
  7. Be Respectful To Your Child: How you treat your child is how they will treat others.  Be polite, respectful and make an effort to pay attention.
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