You agreed to help with one task. Then a related task appears, followed by another practical detail nobody mentioned. The original favor has become a much larger commitment, but saying so feels awkward because you have already started.

Pause and describe the change. “I can finish the part we agreed on, but these additional tasks are more than I can take on” makes the boundary visible. You do not need to accuse the other person of deliberately taking advantage before you can clarify what you are available to do.

Ask which part matters most if a smaller contribution could still help. Be careful not to renegotiate yourself back into the whole expanding request. A useful alternative has a clear scope and ending.

Consider any responsibility you already accepted and the effect of stopping. Give appropriate notice and share necessary information so the person can make another arrangement. For formal or significant obligations, check the terms and seek suitable advice where needed.

The pattern may be accidental. Someone under pressure can keep adding details without noticing how the request has changed. It may also be a repeated habit in the relationship. A single clarification can address the current situation; a recurring pattern deserves a separate conversation about how requests are made.

Avoid relying on increasingly vague hints about being busy. The other person may hear them as background information rather than a change in your availability. A direct statement is kinder than continuing until you are too frustrated to speak calmly.

Point to the change in scope rather than beginning with an accusation about motives. “I agreed to collect the parcel; arranging the return is a separate job I cannot take on” makes the boundary visible. If the added task genuinely suits you, you can accept it deliberately. The important distinction is between a new choice and an assumption that the original yes already covered everything that followed.

For repeated favors, agree on the conditions before the next one begins. Clarify timing, expenses, access and what happens if the plan changes. Keep the arrangement proportionate to the relationship and your actual availability. You can be generous while noticing that a recurring task has become work. A clear discussion now may protect more goodwill than continuing reluctantly until a small additional request produces a much larger reaction.

Generosity works better when it has a shape both people understand. The first yes was an answer to a particular request, not a permanent transfer of your spare time. Clarifying that can preserve the possibility of helping willingly in the future, instead of making every new favor feel like the entrance to another commitment whose ending keeps moving.

A little more room to be yourself.