What mundane tasks do you enjoy that nobody else seems to?
 

My list seems pretty weird after talking with my coworkers about the topic.

Folding Socks

I love matching and folding my socks. They get placed one on top of the other with the toes facing to the left, folded in half with fold facing me and placed in stacks of four or five. I totally flip out when people fuck with my sock drawer. And, yeah, my entire wardrobe storage area is meticulously organized.

Excel Spreadsheets

The margins? The borders? Colors? Fonts? These things need to match exactly. I spent a good portion of last November fixing company reports and standardized forms and carefully cycling them into the system so others would hopefully use them instead of sending ugly error-riddled shit.

Using Vending Machines

I take great satisfaction getting rid of the giant pile of tiny silver discs in my car by buying an overpriced Diet Coke. I love how it feels to drop coins in the machine and slap a button with the bottom of my fist like some kind of righteous oscillating karate strike. I like the challenge associated with getting the corner of the dollar bill straight. I like the chance that it won't have anything I like--I'd imagine the excitement is how poker players feel when they put 'em on the table. The mechanical rumbling is awesome. I don't get mad vending machines, I just go, "You've won this time, old bean... but I'll be back."

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Question:

What mundane tasks do you enjoy doing that others don't seem to enjoy?

Somebody please say "having sex with my spouse" and get it over with already.

I like washing dishes.

I can clean the biggest pile of dishes in the hottest water without blinking.

I do the same with Excel spreadsheets and charts. I want everything to look professional, even if no one will see it but me! :)
I'm also meticulous about filing. I use hanging files, and the tab MUST be attached to the front of the folder, not the back!

I carry a little pocket notebook (spiral bound at the top) and write down everything I eat and everything I spend.

I back up my computers to Apple Time Machine. Every Friday I take my work computer and back up at home. On Monday I take my main home computer and back it up to the Time Machine at work, so I always have off-site backups.

I hand-wash pots and pans. The dishwasher doesn't get them clean. The dishwasher gets the glasses, cups, plates, small bowls, and silverware. I hate washing silverware.

I hand-wash my bras, panties, and a few wool socks and sweaters.

I enjoy the relative "mindlessness" of some of the things that I do. I do some of my best thinking at the ironing board and kitchen sink.:shakehead:

And I enjoy long distance driving. Or mostly I hate to fly. But If I have to go from Boston to Kansas City, (or Omaha, or Denver) driving is not a chore for me, as long as the weather is decent.

Lindy

I absolutely hate trying to find pairs for the socks. If I knew in advance, I can find them all, I might enjoy the task more. But socks always return! Dirty and uneven...

Having sex wth my spouse, because noone else wants to? :eek: I'd rather think, he is desired by many others, but he chose me.

I may do many sorts of repetitive tasks, play games or do handiwork, but I don't really like doing things, I have to do the same way over and over again, when it comes to organizing the home and cleaning, and I'm the only one supposed to be doing it. My idea of enjoying these mundane tasks is not having someone ignore the work I've done to keep things organized - even occasional 'thank-you' would do it. But I'm not good at nagging. It just takes too much of my energy.

At work I do take care the layout is in place the best possible way, but since there are time limits, I sometimes have to let go of trying to organize everything the best possible way. Sometimes I've spent ages fiddling with the pages.

I have been known to point out flaws or mistakes other people have done, but it tends to aggravate them rather than make them happy, I try not to overdo it...

Maybe this has to do with perfectionism and procrastinating as well. I'd like to think, I'm not neurotically obsessed with any tasks, yet I allow the computer use me for procrastinating and ignoring the mundane tasks, I should be taking care of.

Cooking. Many see cooking as a chore. I find it relaxing.

Laundry. the whole thing from sorting to folding and putting away.

i like Excel spreadsheets, too.

i enjoy organizing computer files - photos, music, documents.

and cooking.

I'm with Charlatan, cooking for me is a way for me to relax and think about the meal for the next hour or so. It's like smoking a joint after work, I forget about work but don't eat seconds.

Cooking, laundry, periodic massive bouts of organization.
Reading almost anything... it can be a technical manual that no one else wants to deal with and I'll read it and summarize. I like words and learning new ones. Except statistics books. I don't like those.
Organizing my computer and recipe book (from time to time).
I like to personalize my desktop exatcly how I want it and shuffle folders around so it's the most aligned with how I use the files. I like to transcribe my recipes into the book sometimes, that's how I know we really liked whatever it was we (I) made.
Man, I do love to cook, but I need one of those gel pad things for the tile floor, because I prefer to cook barefoot.

Shoveling snow. Its good exercise.
Washing dishes.
Cleaning the fish tanks, though only once I start.

Heh, I thought I was the only one that enjoyed handwashing dishes. I find it soothing and relaxing.

I adore landscaping and gardening. It took me years to earn a green thumb, but now going out and doing things like weeding or spreading new mulch or composting are a labor of love. I even love cutting grass, so long as I'm on allergy medication. The smell of properly prepared, rich soil, the feeling of the warm moisture against my fingers, and patting it down around a root ball of a new vegetable plant or annual is like meditation.

Handwashing dishes and integrating this with the process of cooking ... I turn it into a realtime strategy game. Ideally, when I serve, there is to be nothing left to wash apart from what I actively eat off and with.

I also like mending stuff rather than replacing.

:)

Polishing the floor, vacuuming the carpets, taking out the garbage. I enjoy these simple yet necessary activities. They fit my personalities.

Oh, and I don't mind peeling potatoes.

Yard work. I enjoy being outdoors, and yard work gives me a sense of accomplishment.

Cooking. Even plain 'weeknight' meals.

Grocery shopping.

Shoveling snow.

Cleaning horse stalls.

Giving my dog a bath.

Perfecting the formatting of electronic documents (word, excel, whatever). Also, making graphics "just right" for postcards, brochures, etc.

I like doing dishes by hand if I have appropriate tools to do them with--i.e. a large sprayer, enough sink and counterspace, dish gloves, and a dish apron. We don't have a large sprayer at my work, but we have enough counterspace and sink space to make up for it. I have made it clear to my coworkers--if they want a day off of dishes, all they have to do is ask!

I also love gardening. I love the physicality of it. Raking leaves, weeding, whatever.

I'll admit that I enjoy doing laundry at particular times--I especially enjoy folding laundry during OPB Radio's indie music show, "In House." opbmusic: Music from the Pacific Northwest and more

A task I haven't done in years that I used to enjoy specifically because it was so mundane: stuffing envelopes. I used to stuff between 1400-1600 envelopes for the high school my dad worked at--y'know, the usual orientation stuff, like picture order forms and handbooks, etc. Fun times.

I'm an organizer. It doesn't matter what - most likely it needs organizing and I'm just the person to do it.

I perfect Excel spreadsheets too. I spend most of my day working with them, so they might as well look presentable.

I'm a pretty tidy person and I don't mind most housework, except dishes and taking out the garbage. Scrubbing grout? No problem. Scrubbing dishes? Fuck that.

The next two aren't really day to day tasks, but I take pleasure in them anyway:

Voting - I enjoy the entire process, but I only vote on election day and I vote in person at my polling place. I get a huge kick out of it.

Waiting in line at theme parks or waiting for my flight at an airport. I like to watch people, these are good places to do it.

Grooming my dog.

She's a big fur ball and only let's me work on her for 15min at a pop.

She just knows that she's being taken care of and that her master loves her. She struts afterwards and knows that she's prettier (even if I only deknot her butt or trim her nails).

CLEANING!! The filthier the better! I find it an excellent way to relax.
Organizing shelves, cabinets, drawers, etc. Making things tidy is fun.
Washing, waxing, and detailing my car. Love that clean car look and scent. It helps that it's a tiny car, it doesn't take long enough to get dull.
Image analysis. Have a photo of a tangled mass of roots you need measured? I'm your gal!
Hand-washing laundry. Though I must admitit is significantly less fun with clothes any larger than my size, my husband's shirts and pants are too bulky and heavy. I also adore clotheslines.
Sleeping. I love sleeping. Mmmmmmmmm. Sleep is fantastic.

I could really use your organizing skills in my very small apartment.
Anyone interested, come on over.

I send clean emails.
I remove quoted stuff that is not needed.

I clean up other text documents.

In general I'm kind of lazy.

Grooming my cats.

Not sure if I'd go quite so far as "enjoy" but watering the plants. It feels zen.

I got to give my stovetop a good scrubbing yesterday. That was highly enjoyable.

Happy Belated Valentine's Day, zenda :love: I thought I was the only one who did this...I cook a huge, complicated meal and when I'm done the kitchen is neater and cleaner than when I started :)

Cleaning up after the rest of the family, I love doing dishes in the morning, all by hand, as I'm still half asleep, waking up, waiting for my coffee to be done. I'm sure I could do the dishes perfectly well in my sleep.

I like doing math homework.

This was a new one for me, but I found extraordinary satisfaction in breaking up huge ice blocks into liftable sized chunks with a chisel and a deadblow hammer.
I don't need to pair my socks. I buy a whole mess of socks at once, and replace them all at the same time. All the white athletic socks match. All the black dress socks match. All the brown dress socks match.

cleaning the car, especially the interior, really well. Then driving it somewhere and enjoying the super clear windows and lack of french fries, toys, water bottles, receipts and other crap that invade its nooks and crannies.

Note: This only further reinforces my slow-burning hatred of you.

You've got thumbs on your feet, too?! Jesus, what can't you do?

I love the smell of line-dried laundry!:) In the summer I love to line dry my sheets, bring them in, make the bed, then take a shower, towel off and crawl clean and naked into that wonderful fresh smelling bed.:)
I do think the sheets smell a little fresher drying on the prairies of Kansas than they do here in Boston, but line dried in Boston is still better than when they come out of the clothes dryer.

Lindy

Optimizing my public transport. When I walk from a train line to another, I try to always choose the door that's right in front of the hallway that leads to my next train, and I stand in front of the door in order to get off first.
That way I can get to the stairs first and go up them 2 stairs at a time, which I can't do if people are in front of me. It's the best feeling when I have the right music on and manage my commute just right.
This obsession makes me hate people who stand in front of the metro doors when they open and block people from coming out. I make it a point to push as many of them as I can as I force my way past them in those situations.

Making coffee. When you break free from the tyranny of Mr. Coffee and his drip machine empire, you can appreciate it as an art form.

Handwashing pots and pans.

It becomes, for me, a dance of time and motion within a closed system. It is my added joy to include cleaning sections of the kitchen. The 'containers' for the challenge are the time it takes for my kettle to boil and the tea to brew, alternatively, the time it takes for my espresso machine to boil, run to semi cool, then boil again. The art is to attend to graceful motion around the kitchen, and in handling and processing the objects.

AH! I've just recalled an object that I've smaktalked ... I'll find the relevant thread :hyper:
http://www.tfproject.org/tfp/general...ml#post2880987

About a third of my job requires sweeping loading docks & trash pickup, and although it's hardly glamorous, it allows me to devote the creative side of my brain to daydream while I get the work done.

Also, there's something rewarding about being able to see progress in finishing something. True, in a few days there will be more trash to pick up, but I call it job security!

Just about anything that shows visual, measurable results. I thrive on it. Like Fotzlid, cleaning fish tanks, but only once I've gotten started. Vacuuming, cleaning, mowing, cleaning windows oooooooooow sparkly, polishing furniture, detailing a car (usually a 12hr process), the list goes on.............But, I think the most satisfying thing is research. It doesn't matter what it is, a specific topic or a product I'm interested in. The combination of new knowledge and the satisfaction of rooting out everything I can find on the subject is deeply satisfying....I'm kind of a freak about it.


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I like working with Excel spreadsheets, also. I like making everything on them look neat and organized before I print them out (for work, of course). It takes a little longer, but at least everything is legible and tidy.

I like paying bills. I know, most people don't like actually having to lose the money, but I like that feeling of accomplishment when I can pay my bills in entirety, and still have money leftover for some disposable income.

I also like showering. I could spend all day in a nice warm shower, just washing my hair, body... anything really. It relaxes me, and is one of the few places I can escape for some relaxation in my crazy life.

I like taking the garbage cans up the road every Monday to be picked up. The road is single lane and about a mile long. When my dog sees me loading the cans in the back of the truck she gets all excited and jumps in as soon as I open the door. The passenger bucket seat has a cover on it just for her. I open the window all the way so she can lean out standing on her hind legs. I drive very slowly and its a joy to see her ears flapping in the wind as she observes the deer, ducks and other dogs. I could swear that she is smiling the whole trip.

I like doing laundry. I feel productive and I have clean clothes to wear.

I like wiping surfaces: tables, chairs and the like - not floors, though. Polishing, too - though I admittedly don't do it as much as I should: I think it's just the motion, rubbing in a circle and letting my mind wander.

I also enjoy rinsing out bottles for recycling - plastic milk ones, fruit juice, alcoholic beverages, whatever. No idea why, though. :expressionless: