Friday was a big day for me: I took my first baby step as a Task Rabbiteer. I’m assuming that’s the correct title for someone who hires a TaskRabbit…kind of like a puppeteer, only in reverse, because the TaskRabbit is the one doing all the work, not the Rabbiteer.

If you haven’t heard of TaskRabbit, it is a web-enabled business that lets you locate and hire people who live nearby to run errands, plan and help with events, organize, grocery shop, and generally do all those tasks that you hate to do, don’t have the time to do, or don’t know how to do. Kind of like Uber, it’s an internet match-making service for those who need a service and those who provide a service.

Now, those of you who know me are probably rolling your eyes. What will she outsource next? Yes, it’s true, I have house cleaners who come once a week. I have worked out with a personal trainer for years. Some nice Vietnamese ladies at a nail salon nearby give me a pedicure whenever my toenails start looking like they belong in a horror movie. I order almost everything from Amazon and consider online shopping a form of outsourcing because someone else is doing the schlepping, not me.  Then there’s the occasional massage. (Hey, you can’t give yourself a massage!) The list goes on…and now I’ve added running errands to my list.

The woman who started TaskRabbit says she came up with the idea when she ran out of dog food for her 100-pound dog one dark, cold, and probably snowy night in Boston. She just knew that someone in her neighborhood was probably at the grocery store right at that moment, and would bring her some dog food, if only she had a way to contact that person.

I can relate to this. It seems like I always discover that Ellie Mae Clamcat is out of cat food the night before we leave on a trip.

Anyway, I decided to start small and hire someone to pick up and deliver a bunch of art supplies to the East Bay Depot for Creative Reuse in Oakland. The stuff has been piled in boxes behind our living room couch since before Christmas.

This is typical of my decluttering efforts. I scour the house, round up old or useless items, and corral them in bankers boxes. Then I stack the boxes neatly in the front hall, conveniently located so we can trip on them many times a day. And there they linger, gathering dust, just like visiting guests who won’t go out the door.

While I feel that I’m relatively skilled at decluttering “stuff,” I fail miserably at actually getting said stuff out the door, into my car, and safely delivered to the Hospice Shoppe thrift shop, the Change of Address consignment shop, or Recycle for Breast Cancer (electronics).

So on Thursday I created an account at the TaskRabbit web site. I answered a few questions, described my task, and picked a desired date and time. Then I let the software suggest a TaskRabbit. A picture of a nice-looking middle-aged woman named Laurie M. popped up, and in seconds, she and I were messaging via TaskRabbit. We settled on 9am the next day, and that was it. The whole process took only minutes.

Friday morning she texted me to say she was on the way but traffic was heavy. Nevertheless, she arrived on time.  Her sister came along to help carry my boxes.

Laurie M. was a lovely woman who admired my home and Ellie Mae, who came out to greet our guests. Her sister has three cats, and so naturally she had to hold kitty and pet her.

When I raised the question, “What if they won’t take everything?” Laurie M. was ready with an answer. “Goodwill,” she said. “I have to make a Goodwill run for another client.”

Then Laurie M. and my many boxes disappeared from my front hall. Poof! Like magic.

In the afternoon, I got a notification that the delivery was done, along with the amount of time and the charges. Laurie M. will be paid by TaskRabbit, who takes 20%, and the amount will be charged to my credit card on file. The task took 1.5 hours, which is exactly what I had expected.

Laurie M. gave me back 90 minutes of my life, and I did not waste them. I did some long-delayed writing, organized my collection of refrigerator magnets, and pranced around the box-free front hall, doing my happy dance. Oh, and I went and got a massage.

Later Laurie M. messaged me through TaskRabbit to get my zip code so she could mail me my tax receipt from the Depot. I asked if the Depot took everything, and she said yes. I told her Ellie Mae said hi, and she replied, Hi to Ellie Mae. Finally, a notification from TaskRabbit reminded me to rate Laurie M. Naturally I gave her a great review.

I admit that I was a little nervous about trying TaskRabbit, but my first foray was a success. TaskRabbit has already done all sorts of checks on “Rabbits” who sign up: ID, background, criminal. They interview people, sometimes even train them. The company insures each task for up to $1 million. You can view the Rabbits profiles online with their ratings, hourly rates, tasks they do, and so on.

Fresh from this positive experience, I am already plotting which task to outsource next. Will it be organizing my digital photos in iPhoto, at last? Will it be creating photo books for friends and families as I have been hoping/ promising to do for years? Or will it be grocery shopping at the Walnut Creek Whole Foods next to Las Lomas High School at 2:30 pm on a Wednesday?

Maybe I will just hire a TaskRabbit to hire me a full-time personal assistant to organize my life and outsource tasks on my behalf. Now that would be amazing! But I need to work up to that Olympic level of outsourcing. One step at a time….