introducing: solicited advice.

because we really don't need AI telling us how to make do.

This week I shared a quickie before and after video of a window improvement project on Instagram. I like to occasionally share this sort of thing because 1) it’s satisfying to watch a laborious project come together in under a minute and 2) maybe one day a perfectly synergistic, morally upright, and deep-pocketed benefactor will want to pay me for my labor there and 3) because I really do want to encourage all of us to feel confident tackling our own projects. Maybe seeing a little glow-up will be the kick in the bum someone really needs!

When I shared the video, a person who I am very sure is very lovely in lots of ways, expressed dismay regarding the approach I took for this project and gave me some advice for how I might have improved it. It’s not uncommon for folks to offer me their two-cents or unsolicited advice when I share projects on social media and the fact that it still sometimes annoys me is really something I should work on privately. Unfortunately, until I ascend to a higher plane of existence, when confronted with unasked for advice, I’m afraid I will sometimes have no choice but to ooze some big who asked you energy and flounce out of the room. In this particular case however, what what came my way wasn’t any old unsolicited advice. It was advice that had been solicited on my behalf from ChatGPT.

My sisters in DIY:

I do not ever want anyone asking ChatGPT for advice on my behalf. ChatGPT has never attempted to remove caulk from a painted metal window frame in a rented apartment and I don’t want whatever hallucinated mashup of stolen human advice it’s trying to serve me. Disrespectfully, AI is not welcome here!

Still, this person’s advice seeking got me thinking. Sometimes when making do, maybe even oftentimes, advice is welcome and needed. Sometimes we want to tackle a new project, or steel our nerves to try something again, or troubleshoot something we’re smack in the middle of, and a little help or expertise can make all the difference!

No doubt much to Reese Witherspoon’s dismay, I do not think the place to seek that help is from artificial intelligence, but I wonder if we can try something new here. In the spirit of making do, I wonder if it might be nice to experiment with a new regular way that readers can solicit advice about their small household improvements, mending projects, sustainable lifestyle conundrums, &c, &c. I know that forums for advice seeking already exist. Reddit is a cesspool of solicited and unsolicited advice, for instance, so I’m thinking it might be nice to cast about in a smaller pool.

Maybe someone out there wants to suss out whether painting their many kitchen cabinets would be worth it, or whether a pair of jeans could be expanded to better fit, or how to quell their childrens’ desire for disgusting disintegrating plastic stress blobs, or if it might be better to simply cover up someone else’s caulk sins rather than driving yourself crazy trying to get down to a totally blank slate.** (Maybe this person is me.)

If there’s interest, I’m thinking that every other week or so I can choose a query I’m qualified to offer my best advice about and subscribers who have an additional perspectives or experience to share can add those in the comments as well? Maybe sometimes I’ll call an expert to answer what I can’t? Maybe we just give it a shot because collectively we have a lot more to offer than the robots?

Okay, excellent.

If you’re seeking advice about a particular project or problem, shoot me a DM or send a note to erin @ readingmytealeaves dot com and let’s get giving.

**If anyone is dying to know what I decided to do about the caulk…I’m happy to tackle that question first. I do have opinions!)