People have been sharing ‘life admin tasks they have completely given up on’ – 21 people who shrugged off the shackles of tedium

Karen Dickinson. Updated October 26th, 2026

There are some beautiful and inspiring moments of life – the giggle of a baby, a sunrise, your team scoring the winning goal – but, let’s face it, the vast majority of our time is spent doing tedious, repetitive and, often, pointless tasks.

However, some people are fighting back against the grind of boring daily tasks by simply… not doing them.

Over on the AskUK subreddit, user Beneficial-Status452 shared their feelings on the matter…

‘What is one small ‘life admin’ task you have completely given up on, and how do you feel about it?

‘I was sorting through a pile of post that had been building up for weeks and realised I have basically stopped opening anything that looks like a bill or an official letter until it is absolutely necessary. I used to be quite on top of it all, but somewhere along the way I just let it slide.

‘It got me wondering whether other people have similar small things they have quietly abandoned. Maybe it is ironing, or keeping on top of the garden, or pretending to understand what is happening with your pension. Curious to know what yours is and whether it bothers you or if you have made peace with it.

And their fellow freedom fighters chipped in with the stuff they’ve happily abandoned, like this…

‘I’ve completely given up on clothing. Have about 50 of the exact same shirt various colours and a few pairs of black cargo pants, I just swap out out what shirt I’m wearing.’
–0100000101101000

‘I bought an iron 4 years ago, I can’t even remember why, and it’s never even been plugged in. I just don’t have anything that needs ironing.

‘MIL thinks I should iron the bedsheets. I think she should shut the fuck up.’
–Sharktistic

‘Emails. I have nearly 2000 unread emails because I can’t be bothered to keep on top of it. I read every subject and hope that’s enough to keep up with all important correspondence but idk.’
–frafeeccino

‘Pairing up socks. I had the realisation that by only having 5 pairs of socks in black and 5 pairs of socks in white, they can just go in the draw as individuals and I can grab 2 of the same colour and get on with my day.

‘Saves me minutes every week.’
–sliced91

‘Laundry. I get it done by a laundry service. Put it all in a bag, they pick it up, bring it back clean and ironed the next day in another bag. It stays in the bag until I use it.

‘Life is now just taking stuff from the clean bag, wearing it and putting it in the dirty bag. Once every two weeks I swap bags. I used to hate laundry. Now I don’t even think about it.’
–prustage

‘Opening post, buying clothes, answering phone calls, reading emails and putting screen wash in the car.

‘Just can’t be fucked with it.’
–TheRebelPercy

‘My digital admin has really slid backwards this year.

‘I’ve got far too many duplicate photos, screenshots, saved recipes that haven’t been tried. I need to back up photos, delete emails, just… check emails and I’ve realised I’ve got too many tasks in my ‘real’ life to act on it.’
–Soggy_Detective_4737

‘More than one, but shredding stuff is on the list. I have a big box of things to be shredded, and just keep adding to it.’
–Sure-Recognition-262

‘I don’t strim grass edges anymore, and I don’t trim the top of our ~9 foot hedge. I just mow up to the edge and give the verge trimming guy some cash to do it with his tractor.

‘I’m glad I stopped both because I couldn’t be fucked with it.’
–Huge-Brick-3495

10.

‘Plucking my eyebrows, nobody ever fancied me because of them and generally they are well behaved.’
–cayosonia

11.

‘Dusting the skirting boards. It annoys me too much and we have a monthly clean-r who I ask to do it for us. I’m aware that sounds privileged. But trust me, once a month cleaner keeps me sane.’
–fergie_89

12.

‘Picking up tiny Legos. It doesn’t matter how many times I do it, or how many times I ask to kids to, they seem to breed. So now I vacuum anyways and if some of them vanish into the Dyson, oh well.’
–Happy-Yak-2677

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