Pre-Vacation Checklist Powered by A.I.

Do you ever come home from vacation, exhausted, feeling like you need another vacation? I think part of that feeling stems from opening the door to a house that is completely not ready for your return. You walk in and trip over shoes strewn on the entryway. A putrid smell emanates from the kitchen garbage can, a sign that something’s decomposing. Moldy bread sits next to overripe bananas on the kitchen counter, and the bottom fridge drawer has some slimy brown unidentifiable goo leaking from who knows which vegetable. Oh, and you’re out of toilet paper. Sound familiar? Not surprising you need another vacation. I felt tired just writing that.

As I’ve slowly aged in Earth years, I’ve become more cognizant of the chaos around me and how it affects my mood. This partly stems from growing up in a home that was untidy and bursting at the seams.

Once in high school, I slept over at a friend’s house, and couldn’t believe my eyes when I woke up to the sight of the whole family up and about busily cleaning and tidying the house. The dedication and team effort was incredible. My family, on the other hand, just let things pile up, get dusty, and get funky. The only time I’d scrub the toilet was when I finally couldn’t bear the orange-y ring at the water line or if someone was visiting. Looking back, I cringe at the mental images and how high my tolerance for filth must have been, but I didn’t know any better. There was absolutely no discipline or routine for housekeeping at home. And having been to Taipei, I think it’s somewhat of a cultural thing. Next to Delhi, Taipei is one of the grimiest and grungiest cities I’ve visited, unfortunately. I think part of it is the density of humans and the humid weather, though honestly I think it’s all a lame excuse. Singapore is the most fastidious country in the world and it’s got one of the muggiest of weathers.

Ultimately, we’ve all got to accept whatever hand we’ve been dealt in life. I accept the life skills that my parents taught me, as well as the ones they failed to teach. We all just have to do better — that’s what evolution is all about. And evolved, I have.

These days, I find joy in keeping house. I love it when my Roomba sucks up dust bunnies while I’m scrubbing a sink. I like to bend down and check under the lip of the toilet’s rim — I call it the rim test, and it’s my litmus test for hotel bathrooms — to see that there’s nothing grungy up there. I take pride in a clean toilet nowadays. I’ve learned over the years that a simple system of routines keeps my house sane, and one can live comfortably most of the time. It’s not about perfection, just getting into a habit of doing little things. With a system, you don’t have to resort to panic cleaning when things become unbearably crazy and gross.

Since I’m always looking to improve my housekeeping system, I decided on a whim to ask ChatGPT what I can do before my trip to make it less stressful when returning home. Here’s what it generated:

Sure, here's a revised list of housekeeping tasks that you can do to reduce stress before going on vacation: 
 
Declutter: Spend some time decluttering your living space, getting rid of anything you no longer need. This can help create a more organized and peaceful environment. 
 
Clean surfaces: Clean surfaces such as countertops, tables, and shelves. This will make your living space feel more tidy and less chaotic. 
 
Laundry: Do a load of laundry or two so that you'll have clean clothes to pack and wear during your trip. 
 
Vacuum and mop: Vacuum carpets and mop hard floors. This will help remove dirt and dust, which can contribute to an overall feeling of disorganization and stress. 
 
Take out the trash: Make sure to take out the trash and recycling so that your living space feels fresh and clean. 
 
Make the bed: Make sure to make your bed every morning. This can help create a sense of order and relaxation in your bedroom. 
 
Water plants: If you have plants, water them so that they're healthy and vibrant when you return. 
 
Remember, the goal of these tasks is to create a sense of calm and organization in your living space. Don't stress yourself out trying to get everything done. Just do what you can, and enjoy your vacation knowing that your living space is taken care of.

While this checklist can be helpful, if you don’t already have a system of regularly doing these things, then it could be a bit overwhelming and cause more anxiety, so bear that in mind if you also found the checklist interesting. If you’re new to housekeeping, I would recommend just picking one or two things and building up to the full suite of tasks.

The checklist covers all the basics, but you can further personalize, depending on your lifestyle. For example, at the moment, I don’t own any living plants, so the last task ChatGPT recommended doesn’t apply to me. And, for folks like me who love to cook, I think there’s a key task that’s not addressed in ChatGPT’s generic list. When I prepare for a trip, especially long ones, I like to tackle the kitchen. A week or two before the trip, I stop buying groceries and try to eat up as many perishable ingredients as possible. Hence, my recent spree of recipes generated by ChatGPT. It has been an incredible help optimizing the use of perishable ingredients while minimizing the need to purchase more. My fridge was empty when I left for Singapore!

Anything that’s still perishable that we can’t finish gets frozen. This has a side benefit of getting “cooked” in the freezer — the ice crystals formed during the freezing process punctures plant tissue, which makes cooking vegetables faster in the future. Sometimes, the freezing process can cause undesirable textures, but it’s usually great for stews where you want the vegetables to be soft and well cooked.

I like to find ways to make life easier, so whenever I can, I’ll use technology to my advantage. If I can’t imagine how people survived without freezer technology now, I wonder how I’ll feel about ChatGPT in the future? I have a lot of hope and optimism that A.I. will improve humanity for the better and I hope you can see it already has, at least for this human!