These issues are all challenges for inflation measurement, but they're also challenges of communication for central banks. To meet this challenge, the best response is transparency. The inflation measure that the Bank is mandated to target is not, strictly speaking, a measure of the cost of living, but it is close to it.
One way to take advantage of a period of enforced idleness is to invest in developing your own personal skills and knowledge, through education or training. To do that, of course, you must at least have a source of livelihood, perhaps through a spouse who is working, or by moving back in with parents or relatives.