Figuring out how many hours a bunch of Saturday tasks take wasn’t about joining the Cult of Busy so much as it was clarifying that basic life maintenance stuff (food shopping, food prep, cleaning, grooming) takes a lot more time than we think.

When I was a senior in college I told my advisor that I was so excited to get “free evenings” (with no homework), and she laughed at me. “By the time you cook dinner, clean up, and take the dog for a walk, it’ll almost be time for bed.”

That’s what I mean here. Our days get filled up without us realizing them.