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It's Always A Good Time To Take Up That Hobby You Always Wanted To! Here's My Hooby-Hacks

When quarantine started, nobody knew what to do or how long it was going to last. Between Zoom fatigue and the absence of in-person social interaction, it can be easy to get into a routine of junk food, oversleeping, and mind-numbing hours of television.

If this all sounds a bit too familiar, then it could be a good time to take a look at those daily routines and make some changes for the better. Maybe now is a good time to start a new hobby? Here are three "hobby-hacks" to inspire you:

Learn A New Language

So you like the idea of a new hobby, but you're struggling to decide what to do? Learn to code, pick up a musical instrument, get more adventurous with your cooking? The choices are overwhelming.

Our top hobby-hack is to choose learning a foreign language. Why? Because foreign language skills do so much more than just teach you words. Learning a new language is great for improving your cognitive skills, it helps you to stay calm and disciplined, it inspires you about a place and culture and - perhaps most important of all in these home-bound times - it gets you communicating with people!

Best of all, you don't have to leave the comfort and safety of your home to get inspired with a new language or to interact with others.Rosetta Stonehas put a new spin on language learning with its innovative, bite-sized lessons and online coaching sessions. Instead of trekking to class to learn a bunch of words and phrases you'll never use, Rosetta Stone focuses on teaching you conversational snippets relevant to the kind of interactions you want to have, and provides you with a safe space (online) to practise with native speakers and other learners.

Designed to fit into your busy life, lessons can be done when you're having coffee or going for a walk - all it takes is 15 minutes a day. You can even download them in advance, if you are going somewhere without the internet.

The key to Rosetta Stone's success is its huge range of features that allow you to totally immerse yourself in the languages. Take TruAccent®, for example. It shows you exactly how accurate your pronunciation is with a little icon that goes green, yellow, or red when you speak.

The Phrasebook and Seek & Speak® features will also come in handy if you ever find yourself in a conversion with a native speaker. Phrasebook tells you out loud how to say short, useful expressions and Seek & Speak lets you partake in a fun scavenger hunt-like activity for everyday items, like fruit and veg.

Rosetta Stone has lots of languages to choose from- French, Spanish, German, Italian, Arabic, Mandarin, Dutch, Greek, Hebrew, Hindi, Filipino, Irish, Japanese Korean, Persian, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Sweedish, Turkish and Vietnamese

Rosetta Stonecosts just $7.99 a month for a 24-month subscription, which gives you access to all of their 24 languages! They also offer the best lifetime value of any online language learning program. For just $199, you get all 24 languages for the rest of your life. Whichever you choose, it's the best value out there!

As the Spanish say, if you're going to do something properly "Tirar la casa por la ventana" (pull out all the stops). And then you'll have the right to "Creerse la última coca-cola en el desierto," (you can translate that one).

At-Home Fitness

It can be hard to stay in shape when gyms are closed. Luckily, YouTube is packed with lots of informative videos that show you how to build your own home gym with limited resources.

You might figure this would be an expensive escapade but, you can achieve a challenging workout at home with little to no equipment.

Finally, Learn to Cook

If you're tired of heating up frozen pizzas, why not take some time to learn how to cook properly. It's a sure way to improve your quality of life. Meal kits are a great way for those with little experience to whip up delicious meals that require minimal effort.

You'll be astounded by how convenient they are and how simple cooking can be. They deliver all of the pre-portioned ingredients and detailed recipe cards that make the whole process foolproof.

With just a few minor changes to your daily routine, you'll be amazed by how much more productive you'll feel.

Plus, Rosetta Stone is extending a limited time discount to our readers! Get Up To 45% Off Rosetta Stone Today!

Claim Your Exclusive Offer From Rosetta Stone!

One Mom's Secret To Helping Her Kids Get Ahead, Without Spending An Arm And A Leg

If I have to hear "Mommy, Mommy, I want---" one more time this week, I'm going to scream. With three kids, we're on a budget, so while I want them to explore new hobbies as much as possible, I also have to be careful not to indulge every new interest that comes with a slew of expenses. My youngest needs to learn how to swim, my oldest plays lacrosse and ice hockey, my daughter goes to sleepaway camp every year, and to top it all off they all just watched The Parent Trap and want to try fencing. It's a real struggle! I want them to express themselves, but I can't afford any more extracurriculars that cost an arm and a leg just to sign up.

When Olivia said her girlfriends from school were getting a private language tutor to learn Spanish, I could have cried thinking about the hundreds of dollars I'd have to spend to help her fit in. I had nightmares about all of her friends chatting in Italian in front of her, while she felt left out and alone. At a PTA meeting, I confided in another mom that I was struggling to find affordable language-learning options, and she recommended Muzzy videos.

Muzzy is a language learning program that teaches students of all ages as young as preschool. Both the DVD set and online subscription are filled with award-winning animated movies developed by the BBC, and have introduced millions of children around the world to a second language. I did some research and learned that each unit is specially created to build on the previous one; making language learning come naturally by mimicking the way your child learned their first language. It also comes with additional resources like online games and printable worksheets to reinforce the learning.

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Muzzy has 7 different language options but I chose Italian so Olivia could learn the same language as her friends. As far as she's concerned, it's just a cartoon series where a big green monster and his friends go on adventures -- but in Italian. I ordered the 6-DVD set, and could breathe easier knowing it was just $28 per DVD for hours and hours of guilt-free screen time. The online subscription was less expensive, starting at $5 a month for the yearly subscription, but we decided to buy the DVDs so we could have them forever and use them when my youngest is old enough. I popped the first DVD in on a Saturday morning and the whole family watched in our pajamas; it's really cute! There are a bunch of different characters that talk in a clear, concise way, so it's easy to pick out the different words. My kids have so much fun mimicking the voices, like they do with Spongebob, but now they're actually practicing their Italian accent.

Since Olivia has started Muzzy, I've done a lot of research on the benefits of learning a new language for kids. It turns out that when kids start at a young age, learning a new language helps expand their cognitive abilities and creative skills, so I'm glad she started early. Giving my kids a new skill without paying more than a plane ticket to the foreign country itself is a huge relief. Learning a new language seems like a huge undertaking, but Muzzy makes it easy and entertaining.

Update:Muzzy is running a limited time offer: Get up to 67% off a subscription if you purchase now