With everything you’ve got going on in life, does it ever seem like managing your household can be a full-time job on its own? There’s always checklists to be completed, schedules to keep track of, and errands to run. Depending on how large of a family or household you’re managing, it can be tricky to balance it with work, school, family, and friendships. Handing over your household management to a personal assistant will allow you to free up valuable time and provide you with ease of mind that only a completed checklist of errands can provide.
Schedule/Calendar Management
A personal assistant can manage the calendar for everyone in your household. Your assistant can also set up reminders for you so you never miss or are late to an appointment.
Meal Planning & Prep
Hate planning your meals every week? Do you get done with work, only to find you have a half hour of prep ahead of you before you can even start dinner? A personal assistant can help plan out your meals and do the prep work for you – portion out the ingredients, chop the vegetables, marinate the meat, etc. Everything will be conveniently ready for you when it’s time to make dinner.
Grocery Shopping
If your assistant is already meal planning and doing the prep, you might as well have them do your grocery shopping too! We’ve met very few people who enjoy grocery shopping, so let someone else do it for you.
Travel Planning
Whether you travel frequently for business, or are just looking for somewhere different to go for family vacation, leave the headaches and planning to your personal assistant. He or she can book everything including flights, hotels, car rentals, and activities. They can also research the best places to eat, shop, or sightsee.
Laundry & Dry Cleaning
Leave the laundry and dry cleaning to your personal assistant and never worry about running out of a clean pair of socks again.
Errands & Returns
Whether you’re an Amazon addict or a brick and mortar buyer, it’s likely you’ll have to make some occasional returns. Your assistant can do that for you! Here are some errands you might not have thought of that you can hand over to your personal assistant:
- Go to the post office for stamps, mailings, etc.
- Send cards for holidays and birthdays
- Fill your car with fuel
- Get your car washed
- Take your car in for service
- Refill prescriptions
- Pick up lunch/catering orders
Home Organization
“Outer order contributes to inner calm.” – Gretchen Rubin. We wrote a blog post a couple weeks back about decluttering your home. If clutter is an issue, give your assistant that list of 15 things to start. Once your home is decluttered, task your assistant with implementing an organization system. He or she can create labels, order storage containers, and ensure that every item has a designated place or home.
Home Maintenance
Maintaining your physical home is crucial to running your household. But it’s easy for some of the routine upkeep and sometimes even necessary repairs to get overlooked due to lack of time. Your personal assistant can help with home maintenance. Below are some examples.
- Schedule landscapers
- Order and replace furnace filters, light bulbs, and batteries
- Schedule annual HVAC maintenance
- Schedule and supervise contractors for renovation projects
Appointment Setting
If your personal assistant is in charge of your household schedule, then they can book appointments for you. To make it easier on them, provide a list of “preferred vendors” as well as ideal time between appointments. If they’re in charge of booking doctor’s visits, make sure they have all personal information such as date of birth and insurance so they don’t hit any roadblocks. In addition, your assistant can take care of reservations and handle your social calendar.
Research & Planning
Leave it to your personal assistant to do all of the research and planning for your household. Your assistant can research things like reviews and pricing for local contractors and service providers,
Moving & Relocation Prep
There’s really no way around it – moving is stressful. Here are some ways your personal assistant can eliminate some of that stress.
- Coordinate movers
- Sort belongings
- Pack and unpack
- Label boxes
- Find temporary housing, if necessary
- Schedule utilities
- Schedule cleaning services
- Timeline coordination
- Be present at walk-through’s
- Take and record measurements
- Service provider arrangements (HVAC, electrical, etc.)
Pet Care
Your pets are part of your family and household too! Your assistant can schedule vet appointments, manage prescriptions, add dog food to the shopping list, and make sure Spot gets regular walks.
Document Administrator
Your assistant can also act as your personal filing cabinet. Give them important documents and they’ll make sure they’r properly filed and easily accessible for when you need them.
Finances & Budgets
While a personal assistant likely won’t replace your accountant, he or she can keep track of receipts and expenses. Make sure that you’re an active participant in this process so that you can easily access your budgets and finance as needed.
As you can see, there are so many reasons to hand your household management over to a personal assistant. This isn’t an exhaustive list, and you certainly don’t have to utilize your assistant for everything mentioned above. But, it’s a good starting point and gives you an idea on how much you can outsource. If you’re located in one of our regions – Denver, Dallas, and Pittsburgh – or feel like you could use some virtual help, we’d love to chat. Contact us here and we’ll be in touch sooner rather than later.
