You wake up and you know it’s going to be another boring Sunday. Your friends are all busy and away, so you can’t invite them over, and you don’t have much money because it’s the end of the month so even if they were around you couldn’t do anything fun like go out.

You’re not dating anyone because frankly, you’re not over your ex, even though he was a bit of a bastard and the idea of looking for someone new on a dating site feels you with dread right now, though maybe in a few months you will be ready to go down that path. You’ve miraculously done all your chores, including all your food shopping and laundry.

You done all your work, even the work you had to bring home with you. You have called your Mum and checked that your Grandma is still ok. You are not religious and so you will not be attending a religious building today.You have nothing that requires doing immediately. This feeling doesn’t fill you with elation. It fills you with dread, because now you have an entire day stretching before you with nothing to fill it.

Do not despair! You can still have a relatively interesting Sunday, even without money, sex or friends. This is what I’m trying to convince myself of anyway. So here is my list of things you can do to make your boring Sunday more bearable.

1. Have a leisurely breakfast or brunch.

Cook something you wouldn’t have time to cook on a weekday morning. Go all out, make coffee in a french press (if you have one – I actually prefer instant coffee) have some toast, spread out your newspaper like you own the place, grab a book, grab a kindle or whatever else you have to read to hand and read slowly. Don’t rush, savour your brekkie and pretend you’re in a cafe. This works for me anyway.

2. Wear a ridiculous outfit.

Wear something a bit weird or avant garde. Wear something that makes you smile or feel uplifted. Wear your prom dress. Wear a snow suit. Whatever you own that makes you feel interesting or sexy or cheerful. Wear that. I am wearing my cherry pink jeggings today and they are honestly making me feel more upbeat, even though it’s January.

3. Get out of your house.

If you spend all day inside when you feel the onslaught of boredom, you will inevitably be more bored. You see your walls all the time. Go and look at something that isn’t your wall. I mean it. I don’t care if there is a gale outside. Gales are interesting. Go outside.

4. Go to your library

Even if you don’t particularly like reading, libraries are still fun places. You can stare at hot nerds [always fun], educate yourself about something obscure and pointless, or you can lose yourself for hours in the travel section and just look at pretty pictures for a few hours. Libraries were what people did pre – internet. Go on, time travel.

5. Write a letter

Even if it’s just to your Mum, she’ll appreciate it. Unless it’s an angry letter. In which case she won’t. Don’t write an angry letter. Please.

6. Have a nostalgia fest

I lost two days of my life to a website about being a 90s kid. Remembering your childhood can be enormously entertaining.

7. Be around animals

Borrow your neighbour’s cat for a couple of hours. Go to your local pound or animal charity. It’s hard to feel lonely or bored around furry things.

8. Plan something to save up for

Want to go travelling? List all the ways you can save money for it and try to be as ingenious as you can.

9. Have a clear out

I love throwing stuff away. It’s so cathartic. No you don’t need to keep those socks with the holes in. You really don’t.

On the flip side, here’s a much shorter list of how not to cope with a boring Sunday.

1. Drink yourself into oblivion
2. Call or text your ex and spend all day regretting it.