Bring out your inner child and avoid house cleaning–it just might be good for you.

Housework will always be there. It’s like death and taxes; no one escapes. It’s easy to get caught up in the humdrum routine of everyday life, but life is so much more than going to work, food shopping, and house cleaning. While you can’t shirk off work or food shopping–you’ve got to eat!–housework can wait, though.

So let it go until next weekend and do something fun instead. Remember, all work and no play makes us all too stressed out! Instead, refresh, destress, and bring out your inner child by doing any one of these activities instead of house cleaning. Future you will thank past you!

Put Off House Cleaning with These Fun Ideas

1. Take an Art Class – Always wanted to learn how to paint or throw pots? Look into art classes at your local art center, or try online sites like Skillshare.
2. Make Water Kefir – Water kefir is a delicious lightly fermented sweet beverage. Get started with making your own by buying a starter set of the grains. Cultures for Health is an online resource.
3. Volunteer at a Local Animal Shelter – Did you know that many animal shelters are looking for volunteers to spend time with the kitties and puppies? Sounds way more awesome than house cleaning, right?
4. Enjoy Nature with a Peterson Field Guide – Get out into nature and learn about the big wide world around you with a Peterson Field Guide for your region.
5. Be a Big Sister or Brother – Give back to your community. Providing mentorship to girls and boys is way more important than cleaning your house.
6. Take up Bodyflow – Bodyflow is one part yoga, one part Pilates, and another part Tai Chi–and all set to music. You can find classes at many health centers, or look for videos online. Bodyflow will change your life.
7. Read a Good Book – This time of year is a great time to discover new books via best book lists. NPR just recently came out with the Best Books of 2015–that’s a good place to start.
8. Catch Up on Your Netflix (and Chill) – So many TV series and movies, so little time–unless you avoid cleaning the house. “Jessica Jones” and “Master of None” are two series that you could waste away an afternoon watching and cuddling up with someone special.

Related on EcoSalon

5 Ways to a Clean House: Detox Your Life, Starting with Your Home

14 Speed Cleaning Hacks to Make Your Home Look (Fake) Clean for Guests

21 Tips on How to Destress Naturally

Image: Toddler Doing Housework via Shutterstock

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We rounded up some of our favorite quotes to inspire you to live in the present moment.

1. Tomorrow is tomorrow.
Future cares have future cures,
And we must mind today.
-Sophocles

2. The beauty of this day doesn’t depend on its lasting forever.
-Marty Rubin

3. Rejoice in the things that are present; all else is beyond thee.
-Montaigne

4. Do not dwell in the past, do not dream of the future, concentrate the mind on the present moment.
-Buddha

5. Yesterday is ashes.
Tomorrow is green wood.
Only today does the fire burn brightly.
-Eskimo Saying

6. Pick the day. Enjoy it – to the hilt. The day as it comes. People as they come… The past, I think, has helped me appreciate the present – and I don’t want to spoil any of it by fretting about the future.
-Audrey Hepburn

7. Look not mournfully into the past, it comes not back again. Wisely improve the present, it is thine. Go forth to meet the shadowy future without fear and with a manly heart.
-Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

8. I never think of the future. It comes soon enough.
-Albert Einstein

9. It is a mistake to look too far ahead. The chain of destiny can only be grasped one link at a time.
-Sir Winston Churchill

10. The past, the present and the future are really one: they are today.
-Harriet Beecher Stowe

11. Life is a succession of moments. To live each one is to succeed.
-Coreta Kent

12. The heart surrenders everything to the moment. The mind judges and holds back.
-Ram Dass

13. You must live in the present, launch yourself on every wave, find your eternity in each moment. Fools stand on their island opportunities and look toward another land. There is no other land, there is no other life but this.
–Henry David Thoreau

14. If you were conscious, that is to say totally present in the Now,
all negativity would dissolve almost instantly.
It could not survive in your presence.
-Eckhart Tolle

15. In rivers, the water that you touch is the last of what has passed and the first of that which comes; so with present time.
-Leonardo da Vinci

16. Remember then: there is only one time that is important– Now! It is the most important time because it is the only time when we have any power. The most necessary man is he with whom you are, for no man knows whether he will ever have dealings with any one else: and the most important affair is, to do him good, because for that purpose alone was man sent into this life!
-Leo Tolstoy

17. Write down the thoughts of the moment. Those that come unsought for are commonly the most valuable.
-Francis Bacon

18. Living in the moment means letting go of the past and not waiting for the future. It means living your life consciously, aware that each moment you breathe is a gift.
-Oprah Winfrey

19. Life lived for tomorrow will always be just a day away from being realized.
-Leo Buscaglia

20. Forever is composed of nows.
-Emily Dickinson

21. History is a relentless master. It has no present, only the past rushing into the future. To try to hold fast is to be swept aside.
-John Fitzgerald Kennedy

Image: Trey Ratcliff

The post 21 Quotes on Living in the Present Moment appeared first on EcoSalon.

EcoSalon’s 30 favorite quotes about living in the moment.

Happiness is not something you postpone for the future; it is something you design for the present. – Jim Rohn

We seem to be going through a period of nostalgia, and everyone seems to think yesterday was better than today. I don’t think it was, and I would advise you not to wait ten years before admitting today was great. If you’re hung up on nostalgia, pretend today is yesterday and just go out and have one hell of a time. – Art Buchwald

With the past, I have nothing to do; nor with the future. I live now. – Ralph Waldo Emerson

People are always asking about the good old days. I say, why don’t you say the good now days? – Robert M. Young

When one door closes another door opens, but we so often look so long and so regretfully upon the closed door, that we do not see the ones which open for us. – Alexander Graham Bell

Nothing ever gets anywhere. The earth keeps turning round and gets nowhere. The moment is the only thing that counts. – Jean Cocteau

Forever is composed of nows. – Emily Dickinson

History is a relentless master. It has no present, only the past rushing into the future. To try to hold fast is to be swept aside. – John F. Kennedy

If you worry about what might be, and wonder what might have been, you will ignore what is. – Author Unknown 

Never let the future disturb you. You will meet it, if you have to, with the same weapons of reason which today arm you against the present. – Marcus Aurelius Antoninus

Life’s a journey, not a destination. – Ralph Waldo Emerson

Why not just live in the moment, especially if it has a good beat? – Goldie Hawn

One of the most tragic things I know about human nature is that all of us tend to put off living. We are all dreaming of some magical rose garden over the horizon – instead of enjoying the roses that are blooming outside our windows today. – Dale Carnegie

The best thing about the future is that it comes only one day at a time. – Abraham Lincoln

The secret of health for both mind and body is not to mourn for the past, worry about the future, or anticipate troubles, but to live in the present moment wisely and earnestly. – Buddha

Life is available only in the present moment. If you abandon the present moment you cannot live the moments of your daily life deeply. – Thich Nhat Hanh

The primary cause of unhappiness is never the situation but thought about it. Be aware of the thoughts you are thinking. Separate them from the situation, which is always neutral. It is as it is. – Eckhart Tolle

History is more or less bunk. It’s tradition. We don’t want tradition. We want to live in the present and the only history that’s worth a tinker’s damn is the history we make today. – Henry Ford

Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough troubles of its own. – Matthew 6:24, The Bible

It is a mistake to look too far ahead. The chain of destiny can only be grasped one link at a time. – Sir Winston Churchill

The past, I think, has helped me appreciate the present – and I don’t want to spoil any of it by fretting about the future. – Audrey Hepburn

The dogmas of the quiet past are inadequate to the stormy present. The occasion is piled high with difficulty, and we must rise with the occasion. As our case is new, so we must think anew and act anew. – Abraham Lincoln

The future influences the present just as much as the past. – Friedrich Nietzsche

When I am anxious it is because I am living in the future. When I am depressed it is because I am living in the past. – Author Unknown

In dwelling, live close to the ground. In thinking, keep to the simple. In conflict, be fair and generous. In governing, don’t try to control. In work, do what you enjoy. In family life, be completely present. – Lao Tzu

I just don’t want to live like I used to. And at some point, I’m going to put a gag order on myself in terms of talking about the past. I’ve got to slam the door and deal with the present and the future. – Charlie Sheen

In rivers, the water that you touch is the last of what has passed and the first of that which comes; so with present time. – Leonardo da Vinci

Accept – then act. Whatever the present moment contains, accept it as if you had chosen it. Always work with it, not against it. – Eckhart Tolle

It is sadder to find the past again and find it inadequate to the present than it is to have it elude you and remain forever a harmonious conception of memory. – F. Scott Fitzgerald

Feeling sorry for yourself, and your present condition, is not only a waste of energy but the worst habit you could possibly have. – Dale Carnegie

ALSO CHECK OUT:

50 Best Quotes on Love

40 Best Quotes About Solitude

30 Best Quotes About Travel

30 Best Quotes About Nature

Images: Erika G., Christian Holmer, Guiri R. Reyes, Hanuman

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