Tell me about where you were, pre-Eden. Say, in March 2021, for example?
I was four months into being a senior editor at TechCabal. I was preparing Ifunanyam (my single) for release, but I was working from home, primarily. Studio hours don’t take that much time, mainly because most of the songs I’m going to do in the studio, I wrote them years ago.
For example, two weeks ago — because I’d written the songs before and already had the composition — my producer and I spent 6 hours and finished three pieces. But juggling all of it has been something because Lagos will disappoint you.
March was writing and recording. But yeah, Lagos is difficult because you just can’t make plans. I still find that I’m very picky going out, and it’s not even a health precaution. It’s my body just not getting back into the groove of, “we’re going back outside, oya.”
Man, you’re busy. What are some basic but essential things that have to work in your life for productivity to stay up?
Look, there are things I only did because I had to, like cleaning and laundry. It’s why those were the first things for me when I started using Eden. I always figured I could order takeout or cook sometimes.
But the math made sense for cleaning and laundry. I just moved, and I have rooms I haven’t stepped into in three or four days. There’s a lot more space that needs attention, and I don’t have time to clean everywhere every day.
Now, with laundry, I have the back of a 70-year-old, so ironing for me means bending, and I want to remove that from my life.
These are some things I need to be happening without thinking. Food came on for me when I realized how much I was spending on takeout daily, and maybe some supplementary cooking.
But then I realised that if I would be getting most of my food from takeout, why not just pay for takeout for an entire month?
It just allows me to know that everything that needs to concern me is at my work table because apart from editorial work and music work, there’s a lot that’s always happening in my life.
The more things I find to outsource, the easier my life becomes. I plan to keep doing that, even getting an assistant. All these little things, I just want them sorted for me.
Break down how your current plan works for me.
For cleaning, I have a cleaner who comes every two weeks. Because I barely use most of the house, it’s never really in need of a proper clean weekly. For laundry, I need it mostly because of ironing, and I tend to need that every two weeks. So, Laundry and cleaning, every two weeks.
For food, I get 5 meals delivered; three on Monday, two on Thursday. This is good for me because I have a small freezer, so I never overstock.
Wait, how did you do these things pre-Eden?
Laundry was me taking my laundry to the laundromat and picking it up on another day — just regular stuff.
For cleaning, I was paying someone in the area. But there was always the thing where he could just decide not to show up at some point, and he did it. So at some point, I just felt why not just do it all in one place.
I like to think of myself as a super app guy. I need to know that everything that concerns me is in one place.
What else would you like to have in that “one place for everything that concerns you?
Groceries. I try to make lists of what I’m picking up when I’m going to the supermarket or something, but I always forget to open the app. Then I end up not buying the thing I wanted to buy.
There’s this thing some suppliers do for pharmacies, where they’ll give you a heads up when you’re currently low on stock or running out. It’d be a tall ask for personal lives, but when I think about Eden, I imagine you’re creating a perfect situation where people can have their stuff handled by other people.
Something else, though: house repairs would be excellent. For example, when I got my inverter set up, the fuse on the plug I was using kept going bad. The fuse that needed changing was ₦50, but I didn’t know how to change it.
The person who fixed it couldn’t come and change it for me because of the distance. So basically, for every type of handyman I need, it’d be nice if I could outsource all of that to Eden. I have a reliable plumber I can call up, but it’d be nice if I can do that (and other stuff) from Eden.
Just imagine for a moment that Eden stops existing. What does that look like for you right now?
It’s mad inconvenient because even now, I’m thinking of upping my meals. I’m able to just have food. That means that I’ll have to worry about food and cook more. My back will worry, or I’m going to start looking for a dry cleaner or something.
On a scale of 1-10, how’d you rate your Eden Life?
I’d rate it a 7.5 or 8. I need to be able to say that “I know my Eden delivery is going to come by 10.” Another thing is, I want to be able to score all my food 10. I have received two meals I didn’t particularly like, so if my food too is always a 10, then my overall will be 10.