Our Quarantine Routine to Stay Sane

Hi guys, this week I’m going to share our daily quarantine routine. If you’re wondering what the quarantine rules are here in Argentina or what life is like, go check out last week's post. 

Overall, we are really doing well in quarantine, even thriving. The first few weeks, I’d say about 3, it took us a hot minute to figure everything out. I wasn’t used to having Andrew in the apartment all day and of course he wasn’t used to working from home. I was frustrated with having to share my office with him and would pick unnecessary fights. Eekkk!  And it felt like he was cramping my space. He felt bad but needed a dedicated area to work. But we eventually got used to our new normal and honestly, it really does feel like that now - normal. 

For us, the two keys to staying sane in such small and close quarters for 96 days now is 1) dedicated spaces and 2) dedicated times. It’s important for us to have separate areas to work during the day so we aren’t on top of eachother 24/7 and quite honestly so we don’t get sick of eachother! I thought sharing with you how we take separate time apart and have dedicated tasks might help you thrive right now too. 

And if you want to see this vs. reading it...check out our latest YouTube video here. 

Morning

So of course we first have to wake up! The alarm goes off at 6:00am and Andrew starts working out while I feed the pups and take them out. When I get back from the morning walk, I sit down and fill out my goal planner from the actions I took the previous day. I enjoy using the cultivate planner to keep me on track. 

Andrerw finishes his workout and gets ready for the day. Then he heads into our office and starts his engineering work. Around this time, I scroll social media for like 45 mins. I know, it’s terrible! I’m trying to get out of the habit, but it has been HARD!

I really am trying to get to the point where I skip the social media scroll in the morning entirely and get straight to my workout. But after I’ve had my fill of social media, I workout. Lately for my workouts, I have been doing youtube videos from Heather Robertson or MadFit. I try to focus on HIT workouts and then body area specific - like back, arms, legs, abs. Two weeks ago, the Argentine government started allowing us to run outside again every other day so I’ve been running outside now too. For the first 80 days of quarantine, I would do any running on our treadmill, which I’m super grateful for but it’s just not the same as running outside so I’m glad to have that small freedom back. 

When I’m done working out, I’m trying to build the habit of meditating. Before I do anything else, I’ll slip off my shoes and close my eyes to focus on my breathing and clear my mind for 10-15 minutes as the endorphins are running through my body from the workout. It usually makes me feel even better. 

After I’m done with my workout and meditation, I’ll go shower and get ready for the day. Which these days really just means putting sweat pants on. Then I go out to my current desk setup...which is our dining table. Andrew has the office since his work is more cumbersome and he has lots of calls and meetings all day. I just need my laptop and a space to focus. 

Midday

When I start working, I’ll make a to-do list of what I want to accomplish that day. Then I’ll get started. Lately, it’s been a lot of blog and YouTube work as we’re starting a new website and YouTube channel! I also like to wear noise-cancelling headphones to help me concentrate when writing - that's a good tip for productivity in a shared space with your partner. 

We will usually work in our separate areas from 9am - 12. At noon, it’s time for a lunch break! Our typical go-to meal is a salad and smoothie. I’ll throw in any fruits and veggies we have laying around. We typically catch up on some news while we’re eating lunch….both international with CNN so we stay abreast of things going on back in the US and locally. 

After our lunch is finished, it’s time to take the pups out for their mid-day walk - usually around 1pm. Usually we both take them to get a nice fresh air break and stretch our legs. When we get back in, it’s homemade sweet potato treats for the pups, a fresh cup of tea for Andrew and back to work. This normally means the pups will sleep all afternoon while Andrew works at his engineering job and me on the blog and YouTube videos. 

Some days, we receive food deliveries in the afternoon. For example, every week on Tuesday afternoon we get a food delivery from Tallo Verde - an organic fruit and veggies delivery here in Buenos Aires. And every few weeks, we order frozen empanadas from The Stand - an American and Argentine company. They’re fresh empanadas filled with American flavors like eggplant parm, cheeseburger, philly cheesesteak, etc. 

Evening

At 5:00 pm we come back together to cook dinner. We have been keeping it pretty simple lately. I’m sure it’s the same for you at home too, but things have felt more stressful and confining lately so if we don’t feel like cooking we don’t sweat it or feel guilty..we just order in. 

Then the rest of the night is just eating dinner, relaxing while we watch TV, sometimes we work on the blog together, or watch YouTube videos to help us navigate this new world of creating videos. 

Around 8pm we will take the dogs out on the last walk of the day. Again! I’ll admit, taking the pups out for walks 3 times a day can be frustrating. Before moving to Buenos Aires, I was spoiled and always had a backyard where I could just open the door several times a day for them and let them go out for as long as they wanted. Having to get dressed, leash them up, tempt them with treats so they’ll get out of bed, and then actually go down the elevator, walk out to the street, walk across to a park, and then repeat everything backwards to return to the apartment is a pain. But getting fresh air 3 times a day during strict quarantine has been really helpful in keeping us sane. 

Around 10pm, we will start getting ready for bed. And by 11, it’s lights out! If I had my way, we’d probably go to bed closer to 11:30 and if Andrew had his way we’d be asleep by 10:45. So we usually end up somewhere in between. Do you and your partner like to go to bed at the same time? Do you ever argue about when to go to bed? I’m curious if it’s a hot issue for other couples too...

Well, that is our normal routine now and honestly, it really does feel like that now - normal. It’s weird to think about how rushed we were before - Andrew needing to get out of the door so quickly each morning for work, packing a lunch the night before, only seeing each other a couple hours a day. It really makes you step back and think about how much business we actually want to return to once we are through the pandemic. But what I do know is having tackled living and working in such close quarters makes me even more excited for our future as we start looking ahead to blog writing and video creating.

Thinking about moving to Buenos Aires? Wondering if we like it here? Watch this video to get our real thoughts on life in BA after 2 years!