Pulling Weeds
Pulling weeds isn’t fun in real-life. Who wants to sit there and pull tiny green strands out the ground. They’re normally in really annoying places, too. Weeds are the nuisance of the world, and gardeners are the saints doing the lord’s work clearing them away.
So why oh why is pulling weeds so damn satisfying in Animal Crossing? We have no idea. Perhaps it’s the feeling of having a spotless town after clearing the 10 bajillion that spawn each day.
There’s always that little manhunt for the last one, too. You know there’s one hiding precariously behind a tree, and you’re the weed-seeking missile about to rip it out of its comfy home.
We’re all ready to become the ultimate green finger in Animal Crossing: New Horizons, and that’ll no doubt involve pullin’ those weeds. At least it’ll help with our progress towards the Golden Watering Can… as long as things have stayed the same from previous games.
Shakin’ Trees
Menial Tasks We Can’t Wait to Do in Animal Crossing: New Horizons
In past Animal Crossing games, shaking trees was only really good for shaking down fruit (or money), or getting stung in the face by bees. If you were really lucky, you might dislodge one of the many insects found in your town, too.
Animal Crossing: New Horizons changes this up a bit. With a whole crafting system to dive into, players can now shake trees to make branches fall to the ground. These can be picked up and then used to build new furniture or items for your home or to share with your fellow villagers. Or you can just sell it to make some extra Bells to pay off that damn loan.
Trees don’t just help to make your town look leafy, they’re a great way to make a small fortune during the early hours with the game. We’re already planning a daily morning walk around the island shaking every tree in sight.
Hittin’ Rocks with a Shovel
To the uninitiated, this probably sounds mildly insane. Why the hell would you run around your island hitting rocks with your shovel? What’s that going to achieve?
Well, it’s quite possibly the most menial money-making scheme you can use in any Animal Crossing game.
Every day, you’ll be able to load up your island, equip your shovel, and get jabbing those rocks with it. There is one random rock each day that, once hit, will make a noise, move, and spit out some Bells.
Continue to do it and it’ll spit out more and more Bells each time. You can get about 10,000 Bells by using a well-placed hole in the ground behind you and to the side of you to stop you from getting pushed back too far. This means you can hit it again faster, maximizing the amount of money you can make.
On top of that, there are rare gems and materials you can get from hitting rocks, so you’ll probably just want to factor this task into your daily routine anyway.
Going Fishing
Menial Tasks We Can’t Wait to Do in Animal Crossing: New Horizons
Hey, I’m not intending to drag on those who love a good spot o’ fishing every once in a while. Each to their own, but in the world of Animal Crossing, it’s certainly a more menial task that requires a fraction of the skill that reelin’ in an catch does in real life.
Cast your line out near to or on one of the convenient outlines of a fish. Wait for it to bite twice, and then on the third time, press A and yank it out the water.
Then you can either sell all your catches, or donate any to the museum if they don’t already have them. It’s one of the most productive ways you can spend time in Animal Crossing: New Horizons, especially if you’ve got little Bells signs in your eyes.
Paying Off Insane Mortgages
Almost all of our list so far has been playing in to the big mortgage loan that Tom Nook settles you with at the beginning of your time on the island. The more you upgrade, the more expensive it gets, and the more your nice island getaway turns into a desperate cash-grab excursion.
With the local wildlife pilfered, the waters emptied of just about anything that looks remotely like a fish, and trees lacking fruit, the rest of your village looks on at you stabbing rocks with your shovel like a deranged lunatic.
Of course, there’s no time limit to paying off your debt, so while you may be saddled with it, you’re not going to be kicked to the curb by ol’ Tom Nook any time soon.
While paying a mortgage off is certainly menial, it’s the sense of satisfaction you get from paying off a good chunk, or being able to finally get that second floor expansion you’ve been waiting for, that makes it so darn compelling.
Literally Being the Saviour of the Museum
Menial Tasks We Can’t Wait to Do in Animal Crossing: New Horizons
Despite not being on your island from the beginning, the museum does feature in Animal Crossing: New Horizons. And as always, Blathers — the owner of said museum — basically does nothing but get flustered whenever someone brings him a bug to put on display.
No really, that’s literally all he does. Blathers, the curator of the damn museum, doesn’t even bother to find exhibits. No, no, don’t be silly. That’s all down to you, random stranger who lives in the town.
Of course, you’re free to help the museum as much as you want. You can abandon it if you really feel that way and never set foot in it, but that’d be doing Animal Crossing: New Horizons a disservice.
For as much as I criticize Blathers’ penchant for doing fuck all, he leaves us with quite the collect-a-thon.
With countless fish, bugs, fossils and paintings to find, completing all of the museum exhibits is a mammoth task. You don’t get anything as a reward (or at least, you didn’t in past games) for helping Blathers, but you’ve got the satisfaction of knowing everybody can enjoy the fruits of your labor. Even that asshole Blathers…
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