2023 Long Weekends and Holidays: 10 Productivity Tips
13 September 2022
As we reached the proverbial BER months, it beckons toward the most anticipated holidays of the entire year. Filipinos are known to start hanging lanterns as early as September, that's how we love Christmas! It means family gatherings, long-time-no-see family members coming back to town, gift-giving, and let's not forget to mention the issuance of 13th-month pay!
But, do you know what else to look forward to as we near the end of the year? Long weekends and holidays by 2023!
This only means long rest days, opportunities to plan your vacation leaves, a work-life balance, and catching up with other passions you may have set aside to pursue a corporate job. In this article, we have prepared a list of tips to cater to both your level of productivity and personal happiness during long weekends.
Long weekends and holidays in 2023
Under Proclamation No 42, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. declared regular holidays and special non-working days for the year 2023. Here's a quick guide for your reference:
Long weekends for the following: From April 6 (Maundy Thursday) to 9 (Eastern Sunday); April 29 (Saturday) to May 1 (Labor Day, Monday), June 10 (Saturday) to June 12 (Independence Day, Monday), August 19 (Saturday) to 21 (Ninoy Aquino Day, Monday), and August 26 (Saturday) to 28 (National Heroes Day, Monday).
From November 2 (All Souls' Day, Thursday) to November 5 (Sunday). File for a vacation leave for November 3 (Friday) to achieve that four-day long weekend. From December 8 (Feast of the Immaculate Conception of Mary, Friday) to 10 (Sunday), and finally, December 23 (Saturday) to December 25 (Christmas Day, Monday).
10 tips on how to become productive during long weekends
This to-do list of productivity-promoting activities is a mixture of two things: productivity in the more conventional definition of the word, and productivity in the sense of giving yourself a breather, which may run counter to what we're used to as the straightforward definition of productivity.
But nonetheless, let this list serve as your guide to alternate between doing something productive, and allocating hours of relaxing time without necessarily being counter-productive on a pleasant Monday morning.
1. Earn through a side hustle.
First thing on our list is a way to augment your income. If you need more money than you currently earn, or if you plan to invest in something, pursuing a side hustle is perfect for you to stay productive, especially financially. Since these are weekends, you can sell food products that you know will be patronized by your neighbors and nearby towns.
You can sell barbecues, or perennial Filipino favorites such as kwek kwek, isaw, and even lumpia. Selling these food products is something that you could do for the weekend and not worry about failing to sustain it during weekdays.
Also, you can do a part-time freelancing job as a writer, graphics designer, and virtual assistant. If you're the extroverted kind, starting a vlogging channel can also be lucrative in the long run! The long weekends can thus be your way to brainstorm for content that will go viral, and in consequence give you lucrative income.
2. Read a book.
You need not have to be a bona fide lover of books to start reading. Needless to say, read physical copies, so that you are also giving yourself a break from electronic gadgets by reading e-books. Choose a genre that you will enjoy, because even bookworms get jaded at reading if the book is not their cup of tea.
If you're into self-help books and non-fiction, visit the nearest bookstore or library to start reading. It's an exercise of the mind, and it's another way to decompress.
A quick book recommendation: Joy At Work by Marie Kondo, Everything Is F*cked: A Book About Hope by Mark Manson, or the 1997 financial literacy-advocating book, Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki and Sharon Lechter.
3. Watch a movie with the family.
This is what we say when this list would also include activities that aren't typically 'productive.' But regardless, spending time with the family through a movie is a great way to bond, while enjoying the latest movie being raved about all over the internet.
If you prefer a me-time moment, that's okay too. You can get away with your Sunday night blues by watching a few episodes of the latest K-drama series you've been binging. Long weekends are a time to catch up with all the movies and TV series that you have deprived yourself during workweek sitting at your desk. Just make sure to stay hydrated, not skip meals, and do some stretching in between episodes!
4. Organize a family-and-friends gathering.
Just like a long weekend, this does not happen very often, so you might as well think of a gimmick that your family and friends can enjoy to build up a strong relationship with each other.
As singing-loving Filipinos, setting up a karaoke corner and belting Whitney Houston and Engelbert Humperdinck (for the adults) or Ed Sheeran and Taylor Swift (for the millennials) would be a good idea to spend a weekend with the family.
5. Go shopping for groceries.
Doing your groceries may seem like an unenjoyable chore, but there are people who actually find therapy with this deed. Perhaps the best part is when you go home, and you start to refill your fridge with foodstuff.
Making your fridge and kitchen cabinets filled with food rations could give you peace of mind and relaxation. After all, what you bought those with is your hard-earned money, and you deserve those snacks and a month's worth of groceries!
6. Exercise to maintain physical health.
Long weekends are a great opportunity to maintain good physical health. If you have been completely exerciseless during your work week, which is understandable, you can make amends with your body during the long weekend.
Your workout routine doesn't have to last for an hour or more. 30 minutes long should already suffice, and will keep you physically healthy after an entire week of just staring into a work computer, especially if you're on the graveyard shift.
7. Pay your sleep debts.
Sleep deprivation is a common occurrence among adults, especially employees working on a graveyard shift, be it call center agents, healthcare workers, and police officers, among others. Paying your sleep debts means reduced stress and catching up on sleep after a tiring work week.
But as a heads up, health professionals actually don't recommend making excessive extra sleep hours on the weekend. This could be detrimental to your health with temporary benefits. But still, paying your sleep debts can simply mean having the necessary eight-hour sleep during the weekend, especially if you only sleep less than that in your work week.
8. Pursue new skills.
We know you have some interest that you've set aside doing to pursue a full-time corporate job. It could be learning a new language, like Korean, Nihongo, or Spanish. Or a musical instrument, like a guitar, piano, or drums.
But in a digitally saturated world, you can also learn in-demand skills that you could eventually shift into if you're feeling unmotivated by your current job. The career change doesn't have to happen swiftly.
During weekends, you can study online courses about the specific skill that you want to master, like copywriting, data science and analytics, search engine optimization, and a lot more. These are all in-demand skills with potential lucrative income, and the internet has a plethora of free sources where they could be learned.
9. Consider planning to invest.
Your workload is so taxing that you don't have time to study your finances and investment prospects. The long weekends could be just your best time to contemplate whether to start investing, be it in stocks, bonds, mutual funds, or real estate.
10. Reorganize your Lumina Home.
Some people actually treat doing house chores especially on weekends as therapy. After all, untidy living spaces with too much stuff give us stress too, and the only way to get that fixed is decluttering. It's almost impossible to do that during working days, so long weekends are a blessing to reward your house or room with some cleaning.
While doing chores, you may even find some nostalgia-inducing stuff from your childhood, or all those old notes you've penned to a loved somebody. Or pictures with friends, family, and cousins whom you have not seen for a long time. Finding these does not mean you have to get rid of them for decluttering, but rather to remind you of the nostalgic old days.
If you own a Lumina house, or planning to buy an affordable house and lot for sale, reorganizing your Lumina home can be equally therapeutic and a way to feel blessed that you have a sturdy roof overhead with amenities for your comfort and convenience.
For a wide selection of affordable house and lot, visit our Lumina Homes website and social media accounts to obtain your newest house and lot in the Philippines.
Also read: Fantastic Homes and Where to Find Them
Bonus: Remain totally obligation-free
Really: give yourself a break and set all those obligations aside. A super productive weekend does not always have to mean being engaged with activities seen to be equally useful as when one is working on her day-to-day tasks. Not all the things and all the stuff on your to-do list have to be done right off the bat, especially if those are considered of lesser importance.
All things taken into account, spend your golden weekend hours wisely with a mix of productivity-enhancing tasks we mentioned above, while allocating time for relaxation, meditation, and lots of fun!

Loan Calculator
Try Lumina Homes' loan calculator and get an estimate computation for your preferred Lumina property and home model.