Help me with organization around the home near New York City, USA

Details

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  Description

  Seeking a FULLY VACCINATED workawayer, fluent in English, who can stay three to twelve weeks.
  
  Available dates are April 12-26; May 15-June 6; and October-December 2024.
  
  We have had ten workawayers stay here so far. Most have stayed between 2 weeks and 6 weeks; some as long as 20 weeks. Our experience has been overwhelmingly positive! (We have met a few, however, who couldn't keep to a regular work schedule... I've updated the details section below to reflect what type of person will fit in well here.)
  
  We live in a single-family house that is 100m away from the beach. Our beach offers swimming in the ocean (Long Island Sound) from July through September. We are in the city of Stamford, population 130,000, which is a 50 minute train ride from NYC.
  
  We need someone who is fluent in English, reliable, and willing to help consistent hours on our large organizing/simplifying/accounting project. Please be available for at least two weeks!

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  Types of help and learning opportunities

  Gardening

  Creating/ Cooking family meals

  Help around the house

  Help with Computers/ Internet
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  Cultural exchange and learning opportunities

  We have been hosting visitors from other countries for 15 years, and have enjoyed many interesting conversations with our international guests. I have studied in Europe and traveled to 6 continents, and love learning about other places. I spent seven years working NYC and have lived in Connecticut for 30 years.
  
  We are happy to include workawayers in our family activities and we often invite them to join us on our adventures (swimming, sailing, hiking, cycling, flying in small airplanes, etc.).

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  Help

  I am looking for someone who can help with a few daily chores (1 hour a day) plus two major projects. The projects are:
  1. Doing office paperwork (filing, sorting, organizing, keeping up to-do lists). Sorting receipts and bank statements, entering amounts into spreadsheets, and filing the receipts.
  
  2. Help with a major reducing and simplifying project: decluttering, sorting, and organizing the house. Disposing of unneeded items (via eBay, craigslist, Freecycle, etc.) This includes listing unneeded items on ebay/craigslist (taking pictures, writing ebay listings, and packaging items for shipment). The object is to get the total number of items in the house to about 50-60% of what is in the house now. Basically a whole-house Marie Kondo project - every room, every shelf, and every drawer, one at a time!
  
  In addition to work on the two major projects, workawayers' routine daily chores while here:
  - Helping me prepare dinner and clean up after dinner (on days you are eating dinner here)
  - Helping with me to keep the kitchen and living areas clean (sweeping / mopping twice a week)
  - Mowing the lawn (1 hour, once a week, May-November)
  - Pulling weeds from the garden and yard (1 hour, once a week, June-September)
  
  Expect to work the full 25 hours every week. Note, this will be 6 to 8 hours a day, 3 or 4 days per week. Sometimes weekdays, sometimes weekends. You will have lots of time off, including all evenings, which you can spend exploring Stamford, going to the beach, taking day trips to NYC, and even traveling around the U.S.
  
  What type of person will do well here? I'm glad you asked!
  We have now hosted about ten workawayers from a wide variety of backgrounds. Most have been wonderful! Those who were successful here are people who are:
  - self-motivated
  - accustomed to getting up in time to prepare their own breakfast before showing up to work on time... and delving into the tasks without direct supervision
  - organized
  - clear communicators
  - resourceful. Here's an example of what I mean:
  You are given a task to do, and halfway through it, you run into an obstacle (something we don't have or don't know, that is needed to complete the task). Do you:
  (a) shrug your shoulders, move on to something else, and later tell your host you couldn't do the task
  or
  (b) use the internet to research the problem/figure out ways we can overcome it; make a brief list of possible solutions; and bring up the obstacle to your host, along with your suggestion of the best solution.

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  Languages spoken

  English: Fluent
  German: Intermediate

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  Accommodation

  You will have your own private bedroom in our family home. The room has a queen size bed, dresser, desk, and TV. It connects to a shared bathroom.
  
  We have one cat. He is very friendly. He will not go into your bedroom unless you invite him in.

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  What else ...

  Our house is 2 miles (3 km) from the Stamford train station. The train ride from there to NYC is 50 minutes and costs $13. You can get to the train station by bicycle, bus, or walking.
  
  We have a beach 100m from our home which is good for swimming (July-September).

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  A little more information

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    Internet access

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    Limited internet access

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    We have pets

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    We are smokers

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    Can host families

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  Can host digital nomads

  We have reliable 500mbps internet. A digital nomad is welcome - but only if you will have the time and energy to devote 25 hours a week to our work as well.

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  How many Workawayers can stay?

  One

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  Hours expected

  25 hours a week (5 hours per day, 4-5 days per week)

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