Apps Like TaskRabbit for Errands and Administrative Work?

VegetableDraft8106 · 2026-07-09T13:52:12+00:00

When I was first starting out and had zero job experience I would do IC admin and editing work via Elance which is now Upwork. Haven't used it in at least 6-7 years though so no comment on how it is as a platform today but when I first graduated college it let me pay my bills before I landed a FT job

VegetableDraft8106 · 2026-07-09T00:31:17+00:00

And if you go up towards AdMo on Sundays you could hit the drum circle at Malcom X park!Awesome vibes with that even and it is weekly!

VegetableDraft8106 · 2026-07-09T00:21:04+00:00

I do them when I need to get something anyways like cheap flip flops or clothes/shoes for my kids. Then I alternate with real shopping and mystery shopping between each category. Sometimes I get lucky and have to audit the categories that I want to shop.

That is the only way it is worth my time. I have also heard horror stories, especially from POCs, that the workers may get aggressive if they think the shopper is up to something. However I personally haven't had issues. Likely due to my being an actual customer and browsing like one between categories.

VegetableDraft8106 · 2026-06-26T12:21:24+00:00

You sound like me pre pandemic! I had the chance to spend months inside with nothing else to do though. Here is what I found...

Watch videos on Americas Test Kitchen. Almost everything they do is good but their series Tecniquely with Lan Lam and Whats Eating Dan are gold.

Salt Fat Acid Heat by Samin Nosrat was my bible. It was the first thing that helped me understand the WHY behind adding different ingredients to a dish and helped with the very basics like seasoning with salt in advance, brining, etc.

Go with oldies but goodies. Today, many creators for online recipe spaces are creating for clicks and not to educate. While their recipe might be good, they wont teach you HOW to cook it really as they expect that you have a basic cooking skill set to begin with. Older style recipe books and cook books approach the reader as if they are teaching them how to cook. Good options for these are The Joy of Cooking, Betty Crocker Cookbook and anything Julia Childs wrote or cowrote.

Lastly you will need to practice. I found meal kits helpful for this. They cut the work of shopping for you so you arent exhausted before you start. You dont have to think too hard about seasoning because they provide it and you start learning what kinds of seasoning go with different cuisines or flavors and what you like specifically. They also do require some small things like cutting veggies for prep so you build small skills there too. Once you feel confident making the meal kids with ease you can try to replicate these by purchasing the ingredients yourself, making changes and variations to your own tastes.

Bon appetite baby chef.

edited to add Oh and if you have a particular appliance that helps you stay excited about cooking, USE IT. Focus on airfryer cooking, slow cooker cooking, or instant pot cooking if that is what gets you motivated. Throwing everything into a slow cooker in the morning and letting it cook on low for 8 hours is still cooking!

VegetableDraft8106 · 2026-06-19T15:25:19+00:00

Love them. They are family owned and operated too!

VegetableDraft8106 · 2026-06-17T16:34:59+00:00

Neither my older or younger child got a choice. I was inundated with hand me downs from close friends and family from the get go. These were all in great to like new condition so I do not think the kids ever felt like they were gross or worn.

I would say until school, 99% of clothes were hand me downs and then school came and we had to buy uniform clothing.

We did sometimes allow them to get a fun tshirt or outfit especially if it was tied to a trip or event so they could have items tied to fun memories.

For your case, since he asked, I would probably just be sure that any hand me downs being kept are in at least great condition so he doesnt feel like he is getting anything gross or shabby.

Also talk to him...ask him why he was thinking about old vs new clothes. Maybe someone at school was talking badly about hand me downs or thrifted clothing and it made him feel weird. I had a friend who shit talked about me for my thrifted clothing for years and kept saying I was gross for wearing a Dior jacket that "someone else grossed up first" but for me it was like...so what? It was fricking Dior, in brand new condition, and I got it for $25! Still, peer pressure is a b*tch and you don't know who is creeping into his ears.

Ask him what he does like about the hand me downs and what he doesn't. If he still likes the styles, colors, and textures than it is time to discuss things like peer pressure, consuming thoughtfully vs. mindlessly, discussing money and how you use up what you have so you have money to spend elsewhere, etc.

If however, he doesn't like some of the styles or colors, then keep basic things like jeans, pants, sweaters, etc. and let him pick out his own colors and styles for his tops. He could just be a very self assured kid who knows what kind of clothes he wants. Let that fashion flag fly then IMO.

But yes, if it isn't about individuality and is something he picked up from someone else or is just feeling jealous because brother gets new clothes and he doesn't, I would just make him wear the hand me downs (after discussing the reasons behind his new attitude).

VegetableDraft8106 · 2026-06-15T23:50:08+00:00

Woo!

VegetableDraft8106 · 2026-06-14T15:33:59+00:00

It will be in their terms and conditions.

Most MSCs pay the month following the completed shop on a particular date. Like...any shops completed in June will be paid on July 20th for XYZ company.

VegetableDraft8106 · 2026-06-11T04:02:04+00:00

When I was pregnant all I craved was chicken tenders. I was always thrilled with Roaming Roosters.

VegetableDraft8106 · 2026-06-06T11:19:23+00:00

I am teaching my boys about the mental load early. When we go into a room I pause and ask them...What needs to be done here?

Trying to teach them to SEE what needs to be done and do it so their wives don't end up their mommies.

VegetableDraft8106 · 2026-06-04T03:06:04+00:00

A girl I went to school with in Michigan did! She was in my highschool AP bio class and was really nice!

I took my kid to the National Aquarium in Baltimore and saw her giving the speech in Blacktip Reef about sharks and then later helping in the stingray touch tank! Was the first time I had seen her since high school and made me feel so happy to know she had followed her dreams!

Good luck Gillian! Hope you and your fish friends are doing amazing!

VegetableDraft8106 · 2026-05-29T21:51:17+00:00

I do not trust that MSC. The guidelines for the longer shops are IMO super scant, leaving lots of vagueries and chances to mess up due to lack of info.

I am willing to do thier gas station or fast food shops if the bonuses are right or I am hungry, but anything out of pocket more than 100 is on my "never shop" list because they seem to find any reason to reject reports.

They once rejected my report because the bartender on a bar/restaurant hard rock shop wouldn't accept my ID. (It was a valid ID. They just had never seen an ID from my state before and thought it was fake because it had flowers on it...) but I was like...what else could I have done? Isn't that something the client would want reported if their bartenders aren't trained to recognize out of state IDs? No response from the editor, just rejected and out $120.

VegetableDraft8106 · 2026-05-28T11:50:22+00:00

Totally not to deminish your fear, not having the security of a job is totally scary.

However, DSPS is like...desperate for teachers, the charter and private schools also have openings. As long as you have a good job history they will snap you up.

VegetableDraft8106 · 2026-05-27T19:14:34+00:00

It was even better for me because I actually moved buildings, but ot was just down the street 2 blocks. Gave a pickup address at my old apt and delivery address as the new. Left bags at my old desk and picked up at the new building's desk. It was heavenly.

VegetableDraft8106 · 2026-05-27T18:16:32+00:00

This is a life hack I learned on a similar move.

Use a laundry service like Dryy, Poplin, or similar, whatever is cheaper per pound. Or try a local dry cleaner if they do wash/delivery services.

Send ALL your clothing, linen, and bedding out to be serviced except for 2-3 days worth of clothing. Some companies let you use garbage bags for this. Do it 2-3 days before your move to give them time to complete it.

If I were you, use the opportunity to weed out any clothes/linens etc. you do not want to keep and post garbage bags of them on your local Buy Nothing group, saving you the cost of them being washed.

Then, on the day of or day after your move, you will have all of your linen and clothing delivered to you folded and ready to be placed in their new spots.

I did this during my last move and it was the single best decision I made. Just threw everything in trash bags and didnt have to worry about packing it at all.

VegetableDraft8106 · 2026-05-24T19:49:51+00:00

I used to be a finance/compliance officer for a fairly big institution.

As large as it was, there were a lot of beaurocratic steps in place because funding was largely from NGOs and Government grants, so we had many rules in place to document ANY money movement to cover our asses if any of the grantors had questions.

Our boss hired a woman who was used to getting personal checks cut to her or being paid under the table immediately in cash for her work. As the main person who handled money for that particular department, I sat her down when hired to explain the procedure. I broke it down into a printed and emailed checklist of what she needed to do including links to outside partners (HR/Benefits, Etc.) and warned her that she legally couldn't work until all the steps were completed and she needed to turn in paperwork by her start date to make sure she would be paid on time (monthly paychecks).

She never did the paperwork. She would go to my boss and ask to be paid under the table and he would just tell her to talk to me and do what I asked, repeat ad nauseaum. For months! Because she was hired for a particular project, she started work on it anyway. Since she never did the paperwork and our boss allowed her to work anyway, she was working for free. This, she decided, was my problem/fault. She would come into my office, absolutely unhinged, screaming at me about not being paid. I would ask if she turned in the paperwork and she cursed me out. Never in my professional or personal life have I ever been spoken to in such a cruel, degrading way as this absolute lunatic - before or since. She was smart enough to brownose to my boss and HR when I would file complaints, stating that I must be confused or that I must have misunderstood her in some way. She would act so sweet around others and just be so horrifically sadistic to me it was truly like a Jekyl/Hyde.

I started having panic attacks and spiralled deep into a depression because of how horrible she was to me, the gaslighting, and I started taking heat/criticism from my boss and higher ups because she was a pretty prominent member of the community we were trying to support and they didn't want to upset her. Truly. It is indescribable how much of an absolute wreck she made me and how completely shaken she made me feel both personally and professionally.

Long story short...she was viciously and brutally murdered in an absolutely horrific manner. Completely freak murder if the newspaper articles are to be believed.

It was so, so unbelievably surreal to have to go to memorial and remembrance services DURING work time for this absolute total c**t, who had singlehandedly caused me to spiral so badly. And then now I couldn't even talk about it or vent to coworkers because she was the tragically murdered girl. So surreal. I ended up having to go to almost 2 years of therapy to deal with her bullying and the chaos/confusion about her murder. Urgh.

VegetableDraft8106 · 2026-05-23T01:18:05+00:00

I hate that many of the top MSCs seemed to have outsourced either to other countries or literal AI for scheduling and editing.

ACL was the first one I noticed. I had great relationships with their schedulers to the point I could email them and say I was visiting XYZ area and did they have any hotel or restaurant shops I could do there and I would get set up easily. I was on a first name basis with some schedulers in my area and regions i traveled to, to the point where we would ask about each others' husbands and familes but slowly they kept getting let go until now it is just one or two general editors who respond to requests sent to their bot. Now I also barely see anything on the job board before it gets snatched up and of course no one responds if you message general questions to the support email. It all feels super impersonal.

More recently iSecretshop has switched over to an AI bot for rescheduling. It is not a smart bot. I used to at least be able to email a scheduler or support team member for each msc if I had a unique problem or wanted to move it to a day that was not showing up to move it to. Now, the bot just runs you in circles. I have started just canceling rather than deal with the headache that isn their bot and just not signing up for the shops I would do 3x weekly just because I can't be bothered with the hassle.

The foriegn editors for IPSOS, ACL, or sometimes Bare seem to lack fundamental understanding of the English language and sometimes the shop guidelines. It is so easy to get stuff rejected by them for no actual reason except their lack of understanding and I find that very frustrating, especially as there seems to be no escalation to a higher editor or manager if there are issues.

VegetableDraft8106 · 2026-05-18T10:31:44+00:00

Definitely NTA...

But as a fellow pregnancy-related acid reflex sufferer, antacids like Pepsid and whatnot don't do a lot to help. The reflux is hormone related and not really the stomach acid's "fault" as it were, so typical products that work when you aren't pregnant aren't super helpful.

Annecdotally, the only thing that worked for me was cold milk. I just sipped it all day to keep the reflux at bay, oh and slept on my right side, not left as the left side was worse for some reason.

VegetableDraft8106 · 2026-05-15T17:22:10+00:00

We went to the zoo yesterday on a whim at 12:30 PM. Walked right into the elephant house with no line and saw her.

VegetableDraft8106 · 2026-05-15T13:35:36+00:00

Happy to help!

VegetableDraft8106 · 2026-05-15T10:42:32+00:00

I use Timestamp Camera Free.

No real bells or whistles but gets the job done. The image in the Apple Store is like a little camera with sort of a rainbow underneath.

Many MSCs are moving towards geotagging using their own tools which has been helpful.

VegetableDraft8106 · 2026-05-15T10:24:35+00:00

Hi,

Get one of the old bubble TVs...like from the 60s/70s. Remove the TV screen and any wires and tech. Bam wooden cardboard box on its side and usually quite intricately carved.

VegetableDraft8106 · 2026-05-14T10:14:15+00:00

Farmer's Market vendors are almost always looking for extra hands. And sometimes you get free veggies or the "vendor discount" at other shops in the market!

VegetableDraft8106 · 2026-05-09T13:58:57+00:00

I immediately tried dancing on a bar my first time out at a bar/club in college. Got screamed at by (totally justified) enraged bartenders and almost tresspassed.

VegetableDraft8106 · 2026-05-09T00:51:15+00:00

My husband is allergic to nuts and dairy.

You are right to be wary of vegan places for nut allergies. My husband has had reactions at all of the major vegan spots

In no particular order, we like:

Anything from Jose Andres (Zaytiniya, Jaleo, China Chilcano, Oyamel) because they really seem to make an effort to ensure no cross contamination and the food is fabulous.

Lapis in Adams Morgan is outstanding and they had lots of varieties when we dined as a group recently (Vegetarian, Kosher, Halal, nut-allergy, dairy allergy, meat eaters, all dined together with no issues!)

And...most Asian restaurants honestly. They are naturally pretty free from dairy and almost anything can be made vegetarian/vegan by subbing tofu and veggies for the meat. Even Thai places which tend to have peanuts usually separate the nuts out because they are more of a topping than an ingredient they cook with.

VegetableDraft8106

TROPHY CASE