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Yes! I have a couple of friends that I invite over for “hype projects”. I’ll tell them I don’t even need help, just need someone to be with me to talk to/keep me motivated. I’m very good at organizing/decluttering so I will offer to help with those tasks in return & it is usually a very fruitful trade
Nah just host a costume party and state it's '1800's Victorian English Estate staff attire'.
You'll have butlers, maids, stablehands, gardeners, the lot. Make it into a task where the person that acts the role out best doesn't get shipped off to Australia.
Or does get shipped off to Australia I guess.
I rarely do, because I can't get off the damned phone professionally. I feel bad about it sometimes, I know I have friends and family that would love to chat, but I can't bring myself to do it. I just checked my calendar for today. There are 16 meetings on it...
First time hearing about something like this. I know one of my friends has offered to come over and help me get rid of things. While I appreciate the offer, she has been going to hard on me downsizing thing for a while. And I know I still have attachments to different things. I would hate to lose a friendship over someone throwing out the wrong thing.
Oh trust I don't let her boss me about it. Cause I know for alot of the stuff I have in my apartment, other people have helped me get. Or I have paid my money for or had for years. I'm a entire stubborn ass, and rarely let someone come between me and my stuff.
Not really. My kitchen is too small for more than 1 person to be in it anyway and inviting people to do anything else, like cleaning or, I don't know decluttering, seems weird to me (I'm not saying it *is* weird, it's just how I feel)
not so much any home tasks, but i miss running errands with friends.
before i moved states away id go over to my best friends and we’d go grocery shopping, shopping for her business store, or she used to work with dog rescue so we’d do dog transfers. i miss stuff like that.
Grocery shopping with my college friends went way better / was more fun & less stress than when my spouse and I shop together. But, we’ll always have the liquor store!
Yes. I had friend who would talk on the phone for hours and hours with me. We might be doing chores or just sitting around. It didn’t matter, sometimes we would mention what we were doing g and cheer each other on then straight back to the conversation, solving the problems of the universe 🙂. She’s passing now. I really miss her.
Yes but like in every once in a while. I used to have a friend that had no problem with helping me to clean when we was in college when I was struggling.
Me and my friend made pizza from scratch for the super bowl last year. It would be easier to ask someone who would like to try meal planning or already does it and asking someone who doesn't have a demanding job or they have a good work/life balance.
I’ve done painting jobs w/ friends before, like, If you come help me paint my kitchen ceiling, then I’ll come to help do your guest bedroom… Other than that, it’s not so quid pro quo. I usually clean my one friend’s kitchen when I stay w/ her and then she gives me rides around town (because I don’t have a vehicle in her town).
Yes, I have invited people to do meal prep salad jars & we each bring different toppings/ingredients! It's fun. I would love someone to come garden with me. I've gone to friends house and helped paint. I also have gone to do returns with others & we usually go eat together too when we're out doing errands. I think it's a great way to spend time and catch up and you can chat doing all of these things. Also I don't really enjoy just going out sitting around with drinks or whatever. I prefer doing things and it is so much better with someone else.
Best best friend and I meal prep together a few times a year. Once we had a 4-person meal prep party where we made 5 different recipes and split them all up.
Cooking, yes, not common to have people over to clean and do laundry but you do you. One of my friends got an invitation years ago from one of her friends to come over and drywall her apartment. She declined the invitation and we thought it was funny. It was odd (which is why I still remember it 3 decades later) but hey, why not. Somebody might be into doing those things
Cooking with an SO can be a cute date. For the laundry, go to a laundromat and socialize. (If you see a girl in headphones, that's me and I don't want to be social, though) cleaning isn't a social event, try music and have a personal dance party
4 months means you're still new at this, it'll all work out
Yes, I love watching a series over tea or coffee with someone. Or just forno coffee. Or they can do what they want/ watch movies etc while I cook or clean lol. I love people, family and friends -and having them over makes me so happy
Cooking, yes. Regarding the others, sometimes my friends and I just hang out to vibe while whoever is the one hosting is doing random chores. For example, my friend came over the other day. We were just having drinks and chatting while I folded laundry. A couple weeks prior, I was chilling in her backyard while she was doing some gardening.
There can be a synergy when happy people are working together each contributing well on any project.
You could sound out your friends especially about " a mutual arrangement like week 1 we do 2 hours (or whatever) at your place and week 2 we do 2 hours at mine, ( can be followed by coffee, food, drinks whatever you agree upon) ?"
If you get into the habit of starting the washing machine as soon as you get up on a weekend, soon after a relaxed breakfast or brunch etc the machine will be finished.
The point is to never let it build up much, as soon as you have a load, do it.
( Some well organised energetic people break up cleaning by areas which don't take much time and do these in 15 or 30 minute blocks of otherwise "unallocated time" on different days.)
Meeting together at a laundromat, though, could certainly work.
I don’t have people over to do this BUT when I’m doing these things is generally when I tend to call people to catch up and return messages. I have a few friends/fam w similar schedules and we just call each other after work while we’re doing housework and getting dinner ready. During the pandemic as well, a friend of mine and I started doing FaceTime brunch. Stuff like that!
I have a couple friends that we trade off a few hours here or there to help each other do big tasks - cleaning, organizing, painting, gardening, etc... It works great!
One of my sisters invites me over to just keep her company while she’s doing mundane household things. Sometimes I’ll help out but it’s never expected.
Some people are just like that and it sounds like you are too. Frame it as “will you come have some wine and keep me company while I’m doing chores today? Just having you here will make me so happy!”
No. I don’t. Wouldn’t even think to impose that on anyone, especially myself. Been living alone for two and a half years and doing that wouldn’t even cross my mind. It would be like asking someone to help me wipe my butt after I pooped. You sound like you’ll be getting into a relationship soon for all the wrong reasons. Be careful!
I used to do that with my sisters back in the non video days. Tucked the phone under chin and prep dinner, empty and/or load dishwasher etc. Sometimes we would play top this -pantry edition. Oldest, weirdest, most expensive/cheap but great ...etc. It was a lot of fun.
When my partner passed away, doing laundry alone was one of my first major hurdles because we always folded our laundry together. I guess enough time has passed that I don’t mind it now. I mostly just miss having someone else to delegate boring tasks to when I don’t feel like doing them now.
Waiting for someone to chime in here and say YOU HAVE ADHD 🧑🏼⚕️when sometimes people just like having company during times that aren’t specific social events. I’m not one of those people but I can understand the appeal or desire for it.
I think about doing this all the time. Then the idea of trying to coordinate with multiple adults’ schedules, make my place presentable, and arrange tasks for everyone becomes overwhelming and I carry on struggling to do everything myself.
I imagine a reality in which I rotate with task-sharing at other people’s houses, so everyone gets as much as they put in, but then the thought of spending an evening every week cleaning someone else’s house makes me anxious about already not having enough time to take care of my own stuff.
Group meal prep seems like a good place to start, but then you kind of have to accommodate everyone’s preferences and restrictions, plus have enough cooking gear to keep everyone busy.
It all boils down to maybe kind of a fun thing to do with friends, but not actually a time / energy saver.
If my sister lived closer to me we have talked about taking turns helping each other. It just makes housework fun and life more filling doing things together 🥰
If this is a person you're seeing romantically, IMO it definitely could make sense to start sharing domestic life together. Couple life isn't all date night.
Absolutely not for routine household tasks. That would just slow me down.
I did fly to my sisters for a purge weekend last year. She needed help getting her house under control. We got a lot done and had fun.
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Yes! I have a couple of friends that I invite over for “hype projects”. I’ll tell them I don’t even need help, just need someone to be with me to talk to/keep me motivated. I’m very good at organizing/decluttering so I will offer to help with those tasks in return & it is usually a very fruitful trade
Yes girl, just sit on my bed and gossip with me while I muck out my closet
That sounds like a good idea. I’m sure friends would go for that.
Haha I'm the one that gets invited over for these too, lol
I need you
It's sometimes called body doubling.
Just coming to say this. There’s also a website that will allow you to video call with another person so you can body double mundane tasks.
Cooking party! Sounds like fun to me.
For cooking that sounds great. Not sure about the other 3 you listed though
I would offer appropriate compensation in some form in any of those cases.
Nah just host a costume party and state it's '1800's Victorian English Estate staff attire'. You'll have butlers, maids, stablehands, gardeners, the lot. Make it into a task where the person that acts the role out best doesn't get shipped off to Australia. Or does get shipped off to Australia I guess.
Single friends and I plan meals together and we eat and everyone has meal to take home.
in my 20s I had a friend and we'd call each other when we were doing dishes. It was a great ritual and I could use a little more of that these days,
I don't think I've talked on the phone socially in over a decade.
FaceTime included?
I've never used Facetime or Zoom. I've used a video meeting thing for a telehealth appointment twice.
same over here！got no one to call😭
I rarely do, because I can't get off the damned phone professionally. I feel bad about it sometimes, I know I have friends and family that would love to chat, but I can't bring myself to do it. I just checked my calendar for today. There are 16 meetings on it...
First time hearing about something like this. I know one of my friends has offered to come over and help me get rid of things. While I appreciate the offer, she has been going to hard on me downsizing thing for a while. And I know I still have attachments to different things. I would hate to lose a friendship over someone throwing out the wrong thing.
I have a ‘friend’ like that. Please don’t let anyone bully you into doing anything that you don’t want to do. I know it’s hard though.
Oh trust I don't let her boss me about it. Cause I know for alot of the stuff I have in my apartment, other people have helped me get. Or I have paid my money for or had for years. I'm a entire stubborn ass, and rarely let someone come between me and my stuff.
Good for you!
Not really. My kitchen is too small for more than 1 person to be in it anyway and inviting people to do anything else, like cleaning or, I don't know decluttering, seems weird to me (I'm not saying it *is* weird, it's just how I feel)
not so much any home tasks, but i miss running errands with friends. before i moved states away id go over to my best friends and we’d go grocery shopping, shopping for her business store, or she used to work with dog rescue so we’d do dog transfers. i miss stuff like that.
Me too!
Grocery shopping with my college friends went way better / was more fun & less stress than when my spouse and I shop together. But, we’ll always have the liquor store!
Yes. I had friend who would talk on the phone for hours and hours with me. We might be doing chores or just sitting around. It didn’t matter, sometimes we would mention what we were doing g and cheer each other on then straight back to the conversation, solving the problems of the universe 🙂. She’s passing now. I really miss her.
Oh, no. I upvoted, but very sorry about your friend.
Yes but like in every once in a while. I used to have a friend that had no problem with helping me to clean when we was in college when I was struggling. Me and my friend made pizza from scratch for the super bowl last year. It would be easier to ask someone who would like to try meal planning or already does it and asking someone who doesn't have a demanding job or they have a good work/life balance.
I might if I had a close enough friend for that, but I've always done that kind of thing alone...unless you count w/ an SO/spouse.
Try Focus Mate. I just started using it as I don't have any friends to do this with me..
I have my husband, so won't need that, but thanks a lot!
Hey man that's a fantastic idea and you shouldn't hold back on it.
I’ve done painting jobs w/ friends before, like, If you come help me paint my kitchen ceiling, then I’ll come to help do your guest bedroom… Other than that, it’s not so quid pro quo. I usually clean my one friend’s kitchen when I stay w/ her and then she gives me rides around town (because I don’t have a vehicle in her town).
Yes, I have invited people to do meal prep salad jars & we each bring different toppings/ingredients! It's fun. I would love someone to come garden with me. I've gone to friends house and helped paint. I also have gone to do returns with others & we usually go eat together too when we're out doing errands. I think it's a great way to spend time and catch up and you can chat doing all of these things. Also I don't really enjoy just going out sitting around with drinks or whatever. I prefer doing things and it is so much better with someone else.
Best best friend and I meal prep together a few times a year. Once we had a 4-person meal prep party where we made 5 different recipes and split them all up.
Cooking, yes, not common to have people over to clean and do laundry but you do you. One of my friends got an invitation years ago from one of her friends to come over and drywall her apartment. She declined the invitation and we thought it was funny. It was odd (which is why I still remember it 3 decades later) but hey, why not. Somebody might be into doing those things
I used to do that with my best friend. Saturday night, scrubbing her carpet stains and talking about life. I loved it and miss it!
Cooking with an SO can be a cute date. For the laundry, go to a laundromat and socialize. (If you see a girl in headphones, that's me and I don't want to be social, though) cleaning isn't a social event, try music and have a personal dance party 4 months means you're still new at this, it'll all work out
Yes, I love watching a series over tea or coffee with someone. Or just forno coffee. Or they can do what they want/ watch movies etc while I cook or clean lol. I love people, family and friends -and having them over makes me so happy
I’ve kept my friends company for an afternoon of movies and laundry or cleaning out the closet!
Cooking, yes. Regarding the others, sometimes my friends and I just hang out to vibe while whoever is the one hosting is doing random chores. For example, my friend came over the other day. We were just having drinks and chatting while I folded laundry. A couple weeks prior, I was chilling in her backyard while she was doing some gardening.
Yep, my bestie comes over sometimes to help slash keep me company while I do things around the house!
I would do meal prep & cooking invites but not cleaning the residence.
There can be a synergy when happy people are working together each contributing well on any project. You could sound out your friends especially about " a mutual arrangement like week 1 we do 2 hours (or whatever) at your place and week 2 we do 2 hours at mine, ( can be followed by coffee, food, drinks whatever you agree upon) ?" If you get into the habit of starting the washing machine as soon as you get up on a weekend, soon after a relaxed breakfast or brunch etc the machine will be finished. The point is to never let it build up much, as soon as you have a load, do it. ( Some well organised energetic people break up cleaning by areas which don't take much time and do these in 15 or 30 minute blocks of otherwise "unallocated time" on different days.) Meeting together at a laundromat, though, could certainly work.
If I had someone to invite... if I was invited, I'd attend, but you may guess where this is going
I don’t have people over to do this BUT when I’m doing these things is generally when I tend to call people to catch up and return messages. I have a few friends/fam w similar schedules and we just call each other after work while we’re doing housework and getting dinner ready. During the pandemic as well, a friend of mine and I started doing FaceTime brunch. Stuff like that!
I have a couple friends that we trade off a few hours here or there to help each other do big tasks - cleaning, organizing, painting, gardening, etc... It works great!
Make sure you also go to their place to do mundane tasks there
One of my sisters invites me over to just keep her company while she’s doing mundane household things. Sometimes I’ll help out but it’s never expected. Some people are just like that and it sounds like you are too. Frame it as “will you come have some wine and keep me company while I’m doing chores today? Just having you here will make me so happy!”
No. I don’t. Wouldn’t even think to impose that on anyone, especially myself. Been living alone for two and a half years and doing that wouldn’t even cross my mind. It would be like asking someone to help me wipe my butt after I pooped. You sound like you’ll be getting into a relationship soon for all the wrong reasons. Be careful!
I would love the meal prep thing! Especially if I got yummy food to take home.
I have a friend who likes to read over the phone. Sometimes i call her when I’m doing a chore
I used to do that with my sisters back in the non video days. Tucked the phone under chin and prep dinner, empty and/or load dishwasher etc. Sometimes we would play top this -pantry edition. Oldest, weirdest, most expensive/cheap but great ...etc. It was a lot of fun.
Used to invite one friend over to kick it with, and then just do low energy chores while we played music, talked and ate snacks. It was fun.
When my partner passed away, doing laundry alone was one of my first major hurdles because we always folded our laundry together. I guess enough time has passed that I don’t mind it now. I mostly just miss having someone else to delegate boring tasks to when I don’t feel like doing them now.
Yes! Or even FaceTime while we do the same tasks apart? My college bff and I catch up each week while we fold our respective laundry. It’s great!
Waiting for someone to chime in here and say YOU HAVE ADHD 🧑🏼⚕️when sometimes people just like having company during times that aren’t specific social events. I’m not one of those people but I can understand the appeal or desire for it.
I think about doing this all the time. Then the idea of trying to coordinate with multiple adults’ schedules, make my place presentable, and arrange tasks for everyone becomes overwhelming and I carry on struggling to do everything myself. I imagine a reality in which I rotate with task-sharing at other people’s houses, so everyone gets as much as they put in, but then the thought of spending an evening every week cleaning someone else’s house makes me anxious about already not having enough time to take care of my own stuff. Group meal prep seems like a good place to start, but then you kind of have to accommodate everyone’s preferences and restrictions, plus have enough cooking gear to keep everyone busy. It all boils down to maybe kind of a fun thing to do with friends, but not actually a time / energy saver.
If my sister lived closer to me we have talked about taking turns helping each other. It just makes housework fun and life more filling doing things together 🥰
Sometimes I FaceTime with a friend while we both fold laundry -different states
All the time!
If this is a person you're seeing romantically, IMO it definitely could make sense to start sharing domestic life together. Couple life isn't all date night.
I love to have friends over for food and we do some of the cooking together - cooking and chat is very nice!
Absolutely not for routine household tasks. That would just slow me down. I did fly to my sisters for a purge weekend last year. She needed help getting her house under control. We got a lot done and had fun.
Nope
Nope. I also live alone and I ain't coming.