10 Cozy Things to Do When You’re Done With Going Out

Stack every pillow you own against the armrest, tuck a throw around your legs and park a snack within arm’s reach, then wiggle around until you find the one dent in the cushion that fits your hip perfectly. You only have to get up if the house is on fire, and even then you’ll want to know how bad it is first.

Toss an onion, a carton of broth and whatever vegetables you can find into a big pot, then leave it to simmer. When the kitchen window fogs up, ladle the soup into your favorite bowl (weirdly, we all have one) and tear off a hunk of bread for dunking. Carry it back to the couch and let the crumbs fall where they may, because that’s tomorrow’s problem.

Pick the movie you’ve seen so many times you say the lines half a second before the actors do. There’s no plot to follow, so you can refill your mug, talk right through it and still know exactly where you are. If it’s a ’90s favorite that once sat in a rental case with a “Be kind, rewind” sticker, all the better.

Dump a 1,000 pieces onto the coffee table, flip them all face up and feel unreasonably proud when you find the four corners. Pour a glass of wine and turn on some music, then settle in for a sky section that will take until Thanksgiving to sort out. The deadline is never, so it’s perfectly fine to hold one piece for 10 minutes and put it right back where you found it.

Fill the tub and drop in the bath bomb that’s been in the cabinet since last year’s office Secret Santa. Bring a book you’ll hold above the water with one hand and a lot of confidence, and leave your phone in another room where it can buzz at an empty hallway. Stay in until your fingers look like raisins, because the only thing left on your schedule is a towel.

Line up the cocoa, tea and spiced cider on the counter and set out marshmallows, cinnamon sticks and whipped cream. You’re the barista and the only customer, so no one is keeping score on the marshmallows. Pour it all into the oversized mug you usually save for Monday morning Zoom meetings and sip it with your pinkie out, right up until the cinnamon stick pokes you in the eye.

Settle in and let your furry friend climb, curl and take up way more of the couch than they have any right to, then sigh at you as if you’re the one being difficult. You’ll end up pinned under a warm, snoring body and unable to reach the remote, so choose your binge wisely.

Grab a lamp, a blanket and a book where the worst thing that happens is a murder in a village with excellent scones. Cozy mysteries are built for this exact mood, with an amateur sleuth, a suspiciously helpful neighbor and a cat who clearly knows more than the police. Or reach for the old favorite with the cracked spine and the coffee ring on page 40. Tell yourself just one chapter and watch it turn into five by the time your tea goes cold.

Cheese, crackers, olives, a handful of grapes and the last slice of salami (or whatever you have on hand because there’s no way you’re heading to the store) all get piled onto one plate in one very relaxed charcuterie board. Assembly takes about four minutes and cleanup is one plate, which is the kind of math we can all can get behind.

Pull on the robe, the fuzzy socks and the sweatpants with the knee that gave up in 2021. Nobody is coming over, so the only fashion critic is the doorbell camera, and it's seen you sign for a package in worse. Wrap yourself in all of it and settle in like dough rising under a dish towel.