Good time of year for an ‘errand hang’

About a year ago, I shared the idea of the “errand hang” as an option for casual socializing during the holiday season.

While most of us are now back to being fully comfortable gathering for parties, dining out or planning to attend seasonal events, not everyone will be equally as comfortable opening their wallets this year. In fact, many may be more cautious with their spending.

This is where an errand hang (also known as “friend hang”) comes into play—meeting up with a friend or two to tackle a collective to do list.

It’s low key, low cost and doesn’t force anyone to find a place where they have to share their obligatory summary of recent life updates over lunch or drinks.

As we embrace self-care—physical, emotional and mental—having an errand hang falls into the category of financial self-care. A thoughtful reduction in spending could help manage seasonal stress and while hospitality businesses could use our support, why not do that in January when traffic is down?

Hop into a group chat to suggest an errand hang by offering to be the driver and asking your pals to designate one person to take care of the route. Have the listmaker in the group—we all have one of those friends, right?—keep a checklist of where you need to go and what you want to accomplish.

Need to declutter? Have both you and your friend pick one closet to clean out and organize items into the Amazon boxes you probably haven’t yet taken to recycling—one box for charity, another for tossing out or recycling and a third for selling. Hopefully you’ll keep each other accountable and not let items destined for donation sit in the trunk of the car for months.

Pack your old papers together and take them to be shredded at the next shred-a-thon hosted by your bank or credit union for charity. Wash the old pet toys currently collecting dust and take them to a shelter.

Have a “family hang” that doesn’t require a long day in the kitchen. Ask a relative if you can help with a task that’s been bugging them—extra help to rearrange the pantry, dropping off or picking up, mending for repair or optimizing their computer or another device so it works a bit better, if you have that skill.

Share the load at grocery shopping. If you’re a solo shopper, this is your chance to buy in bulk and then split the goods so you and your friend can put your savings away for a future night out.

There’s really no need for meticulous planning. When you call or text a friend to get together and the response is that they’ve got a bunch of things to do, offer to come along and help get things done.

You’ll be amazed by how much catching up can be done during an errand hang.

This article is written by or on behalf of an outsourced columnist and does not necessarily reflect the views of Castanet.