by Kara | Jun 24, 2024 | Grocery, Health, Home, Organizational, Outsourcing, Residential
When you’re responsible for managing your home and all the related chores, it can seem like your to-do list just keeps getting longer and longer. Not only are there daily and weekly tasks to perform, such as doing laundry and shopping for groceries, but you also have home renovation projects you would love to get off the ground—and off your to-do list.
Though you may be feeling overwhelmed with working, raising a family, and managing your household, you can make life more manageable with a household assistant. In fact, a Pepper’s assistant can take on everyday chores and so much more, including managing vendors, planning travel, and helping make your dream projects a reality.
Day-to-Day Responsibilities of a Household Assistant
If you’ve been wondering whether you need a household assistant or have enough work to keep an assistant busy, consider this: Research has found that the average person spends nearly two hours a day on household chores. And 80 percent of people will spend nearly a year of their lives on these chores!
Though you may have a lot of household responsibilities on your plate, a skilled assistant can give you some of your time back and ensure everything gets done right. Your household assistant can do all of the chores you would love to never do again, including:
- Preparing meals and cleaning up
- Shopping for groceries
- Making returns
- Doing laundry and dropping off dry cleaning
- Making and rescheduling appointments
[Related: 
]
Go Beyond Typical Household Chores
Household assistants can work wonders performing everyday household tasks, but they can also help with one-off and longer-term projects. Whether you’ve got a spare room you would like to reimagine or some items in storage you want to organize, your assistant can help.
These projects can include:
“I want to mention what a fantastic personal assistant Billie is to me. We were on vacation last week, and she managed my household and vendors flawlessly. With very little direction, she redecorated my office. I asked her to make it nice and functional and—my goodness—did she ever!”
—Anura, client
[Related: 
]
Shrink Your To-Do List and Add More Time to Your Day
By outsourcing household chores, you can get tasks done without rushing and feeling frazzled at the end of each day. Working with a Pepper’s household assistant allows you to spend more time with family and personal interests and less time carrying the mental load of everything that needs to get done in a day.
Pepper’s assistants are trustworthy, considerate, and resourceful, striking the optimal balance between keeping you informed while working independently. Your assistant will take your to-do list and keep track of your ideas, favorite stores, and must-have grocery items. Even if you’ve never had household help before, you’re likely to find a Pepper’s household assistant is exactly what you need to reclaim your free time.
“The gift of this is that I’ve been ‘managing’ myself … and learning a lot of things about some of my own work habits, which has allowed me to actually make some changes. Because many of my other tasks have been managed and handled by [my PA], I have a sense of peace while I’m investigating this other part of my life. Very, very valuable.”
—Libby, client
Manage Household Chores and Much More
Delegating your household chores means freeing up time to do what you love and worrying less about constant home upkeep. With a Pepper’s personal assistant, you won’t just have reliable help for daily chores; you’ll also have a partner to help you manage the home projects you always wanted to complete but never had the time to do.
To discover the full potential of a household assistant, check out Chores and Beyond: A Case Study Exploring the Full Potential of What a Household Assistant Can Do for You.
by Kara | Jun 6, 2024 | Grocery, Health, Home, Organizational, Residential
If you’re responsible for preparing nutritious and satisfying family meals, you know how challenging it can be to plan, shop, and ensure everything gets on the table on time. But there’s help available!
By creating a detailed monthly meal plan, you can transform chaotic mealtimes into stress-free moments. And with a household assistant by your side, family dinners become even more seamless and satisfying for everyone.
Benefits of a Monthly Meal Plan
Creating a family meal plan is generally better than coming up with something to make and eat on the fly. But if the idea of developing a detailed plan for your family’s meals seems daunting, just know there are many available resources to help you. You can create your own template or use family meal planner templates and weekly meal plan printables. Sites such as Canva and 101Planners offer free, downloadable meal prep templates.
With a meal plan in place, you can realize the following benefits:
Save time.
Planning meals in advance gives you more time to cook and enjoy meals with your family. You already know the day’s meals, so you can get right to defrosting, cutting vegetables, and preheating the oven instead of taking time debating meal options.
Make mealtime less stressful.
With a set meal plan, you don’t need to plan on the fly, feel rushed, or work under pressure. You can take your time and ensure meals come out as you envisioned.
You may eat healthier.
A recent study found that American families spend about 20 percent more on restaurant food than they spend on groceries. Meal planning reduces the odds of throwing your hands up and deciding to go out or order a quicker—but potentially less healthy—meal.
You could save money.
Planning your family menu makes grocery shopping more efficient. You can buy in bulk where it’s practical and purchase produce items when they’re in season or on sale. One mom says she cuts down on food waste and saves $500/month by meal planning.
[Related: ]
Three Game-Changing Family Meal Planning Ideas
If you would like to simplify daily meal prep and give monthly meal planning a try, here’s how you can get started:
1. Build your family menu plan template.
An editable monthly template allows you to avoid starting from scratch every month. Some elements to include in your template are:
- A list of potential meals
- All the ingredients you’ll need for each meal
- A list of items you’ll need to replenish routinely versus staples you always have on hand
To stay consistent, pick a time each month or week to create and update your meal plan. If you have a household assistant to help, they can match your shopping list with what’s already in your fridge and pantry, do the shopping, and handle the daily meal prep for you.
2. Consider meal choices that mesh with your schedule.
Since each day is different, it’s a good idea to determine which meals are better for busy days and which are more appropriate for days you anticipate having more time to pull meals together.
For example, you may decide to have designated days for cooking, ordering in, and going out. You can also have days when you’ll prepare meals from a food delivery service such as Blue Apron or HelloFresh. And don’t forget leftovers! They can be great for those days when you have no time to cook, order in, or go out.
3. Incorporate a variety of food.
Planning 30 days of meals allows you to build variety into your plan. You can categorize meals by:
- Cooking time
- Cooking method: Hands-on versus slow cooker and one-pot meals
- Complexity level: Meals your partner or older children can handle and those you’ll need to prepare
- Cuisine: A mix of Italian, Indian, or whatever you choose reduces the chance of hearing “Not chicken again!” from the family
- Meal type: Breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks, and desserts
As your monthly meal plan comes together, it may be beneficial to post it for everyone in the family to see. If you’re running late or busy at mealtime, someone else can cook or at least get the meal started before you arrive.
[Related: 
]
How a Pepper’s Household Assistant Can Help
Pepper’s household assistants are quick learners capable of executing your monthly meal plan, so you don’t have to do everything yourself. They’re well-trained and work independently, saving you time and money without sacrificing quality.
In addition to all the other household chores a Pepper’s household assistant can perform, your assistant can also take on these tasks:
- Planning meals based on your input and direction
- Shopping for groceries (including at the faraway shops you usually don’t have time to visit)
- Organizing your refrigerator and pantry
- Keeping a list of your preferred food brands, stores, and other preferences, such as organic, non-GMO, vegan, gluten-free, and so forth
- Performing meal prep
All you have to do is come in and cook. Alternatively, if you need an assistant who cooks, Pepper’s can help you with that, too!
Simplify Your Life with a Household Assistant
Meal planning is just one of the many time-consuming tasks a household assistant can manage to make your household run smoother and give you more time for the things that matter most in your life. To learn more, download our guide, What Your Life Could Look Like With a Household Assistant.
by Kara | Mar 3, 2022 | Health, News
Are you running low on energy, constantly exhausted, irritable, and feel like you’re spreading yourself too thin? You might be experiencing burnout, and you’re not alone. 42% of women and 35% of men have reported feeling burnt out in the last year.
Burnout isn’t as simple as just feeling stressed. In fact, the World Health Organization recognizes burnout as an official medical diagnosis. Burnout is a prolonged state of emotional, physical, and mental exhaustion typically caused by mismanaged stress, namely in the workplace.
[Related: Case Study: How One Mom Got Back Her Time]
The term burnout has traditionally been associated with high-stakes occupational positions, such as doctors, nurses, business executives, and first responders. However, recently burnout has been recognized to affect other individuals as well, particularly caretakers, teachers, and single parents.
Here’s how to recognize the symptoms of burnout, and how to fight it.
Symptoms of Burnout
Are you suffering from burnout? Review the following symptoms.
You may be experiencing:
- Constant mental and physical exhaustion
- Daily tasks that seem consistently overwhelming or extremely dull
- Muscle aches and frequent headaches
- Lowered immune system and frequent illness
- Change in appetite or sleep habits
- Feelings of failure and self-doubt
- Loss of motivation
- An increasingly cynical or pessimistic attitude about life
- Decreased satisfaction
If you notice any of the aforementioned symptoms, you might be experiencing burnout.
[Related: Five Things to Do With the Time Your Personal Assistant Saves You]
Effects of Burnout
Left untreated, burnout can cause long-standing changes to your mental and physical health.
Physical Effects of Burnout
Physically, when stress reaches an all-time high, your immune system can suffer, leaving you more susceptible to flus and colds. The exhaustion your body feels from the stress can make getting out of bed in the morning and falling asleep at night more difficult.
Mental Effects of Burnout
Mentally extended burnout can negatively impact your relationships with friends and family. Prolonged and untreated stress can make it hard to regulate emotions like sadness, anger, and guilt. Panic and anxiety attacks are not uncommon with those suffering from burnout.
[Related: Compassion Fatigue and How to Easer the Symptoms]
How to Fight Burnout
Don’t let burnout get the best of you! If you focus on making just a few changes you can better deal with burnout and feel happier and healthier.
Outsource Unpleasant Tasks
One main way to fight burnout is to outsource some unpleasant tasks and get your time back. We’ve mentioned this before, but time-saving investments like rideshare services, food delivery, and cleaning services can help you regain time and feel more in control of your day-to-day life.
Establish Work and Personal Life Boundaries
Think about your workload and how available you make yourself during non-work hours. Especially if you tend to be a people-pleaser, reducing your workload and establishing firmer boundaries between work and personal life can help reduce stress and provide some relief.
Take Time for Yourself
Taking time for yourself is essential to fighting burnout, but it can be a lot harder than it sounds, especially if you’re used to putting yourself last. Without self-care, you won’t be as focused and you won’t have the energy to help others and get work done throughout the day. The cycle of burnout will continue.
Simple things such as reserving an evening or two a week for just yourself, taking a few minutes each morning and evening to meditate, or letting someone else take care of you through spa treatments or eating at a restaurant can all help nourish your well-being.
[Related: Our Advice for Getting Started With Your Personal Assistant]
Engage in Healthy Diet and Exercise
After a long day, grabbing fast food on the way home and skipping an evening workout sounds like it’ll solve your unhappiness. And in the moment? It might. But engaging in healthier habits will make you feel a lot better, happier, and more energized in the long-run.
Studies have shown that cardiovascular exercise can increase well-being and decrease psychological distress, perceived stress, and emotional exhaustion. Eating healthy doesn’t hurt either, with nutrition reports indicating that fast food consumption is directly related to burnout.
[Related: Overcoming Stress: A Guide to Better Communication Within the Home]
How Pepper’s Personal Assistants Can Help
Pepper’s Personal Assistants is an incredible resource for empowering you to fight burnout and feel happier. Hiring a personal assistant to take care of things like meal planning, paying the bills, grocery shopping, and crossing things off of your to-do list will help you avoid the dreaded burn-out. Interested? Visit our website to learn more about our services.
We’re ready to help you regain your time and increase your happiness. Our personal assistants offer long-term, recurring household support in the Puget Sound Area.
Contact us today to get started.
Featured image via Pexels
by Kara | Feb 8, 2022 | Health, Outsourcing
A CEO of a business sits at the top. They manage multiple agendas, levels, and positions while making sure everything continues to run smoothly. They’re also responsible for when things don’t. Although CEOs typically have a surplus of resources to assist them in their work, they lack free time. No one can add hours to the day.
Managing a household can be seen as a similarly demanding (and important) job. And if you’re doing both? It can feel impossible to balance.
Since we can’t lengthen the day or duplicate ourselves, where we allocate our time is key to not only our success, but to our happiness as well.
Even if you’re not a global company’s CEO, many individuals, mostly women, go from working in the office to working at home with barely a coffee-break in between. After paperwork and meetings turn into driving the kids to sports practices and cooking dinner, special projects, hobbies, and self-care time can slip by the wayside.
[Related: Case Study: How One Mom Got Back Her Time]
More Time = More Happiness
Will more free time bring you joy? Researchers say YES!
The problem is that successful professionals do not have enough free time to run a household and do what they love. For instance, the average CEO works 62.5 hrs+ (2018) and 79% of weekends. There is even a greater impact to women, who go home to “second shift” often taking a greater share of the burden of childcare and running a household.
It may seem obvious, but more time typically equals more happiness. Those that feel stressed and time-pressed often have more anxiety and less overall life satisfaction than those who don’t think of time as a constant obstacle.
It’s official, and studies such as “Buying Time Promotes Happiness” in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences show the proof. Researchers found that those who outsourced their tasks such as cooking, cleaning, and household management had significantly increased satisfaction on a 10 point scale. Another study from 2019 showed that people with more free time are actually healthier and even more productive.
Time-saving investments such as food delivery, taking a Lyft or Uber instead of the bus, or hiring a house cleaner can put you back in the driver’s seat and help you regain time, and thus regain control over the various components of your life. The more in control you feel? The happier you’ll feel.
[Related: Compassion Fatigue and How To Ease the Symptoms]
Outsource Your Tasks
Give yourself some time back by outsourcing tasks. Even if you think you can handle everything on your (ever-growing) to-do list, you most likely won’t have enough time left to spend with your loved ones, or on yourself.
By hiring a personal assistant to take care of things like grocery shopping, meal planning and prepping, pet care, bill paying, and other tasks, you can rest easy and avoid burnout. This extra time can be key to your wellbeing.
Prioritize Quality Time
Once you do have some time back in the day, make it count. Don’t use it as an excuse to add even more work-related tasks to your plate. Spend time doing fun activities with your family, or simply enjoying each other’s company. Creating these memories will make every penny you spend on outsourcing tasks worth it.
[Related: The Pepper’s Way]
Make Room for Self-Care
Don’t forget about yourself along the way. Oftentimes we get so caught up with pleasing other people that we tend to leave ourselves behind. Taking time to recharge and practice self-care is essential, for your own health and happiness and so that you can be the best version of yourself to the people around you.
Use your extra time to meditate, practice yoga, or take a long walk. You can even pamper yourself by getting your nails done, going to a spa, or taking yourself out to lunch. It’s amazing how good it can feel to have someone take care of you for a change—and you deserve it!
[Related: Why Choose Pepper’s?]
Contact Pepper’s Personal Assistants Today!
Pepper’s Personal Assistants is ready to help you regain your time and increase your happiness. Our personal assistants offer long-term, recurring household support in the Puget Sound Area. Interested? Contact us today to get started.
Featured image via Unsplash
by Kara | Dec 1, 2021 | Health
Although stress and burnout might not be a new thing for many of us—especially those of us who work, run a household, and care for children all at the same time—the last two years of the pandemic have perhaps emphasized this feeling to a whole new level.
According to Motherly’s 2020 State of the Motherhood survey, 74% of mothers are feeling mental burnout more than ever since the pandemic, and a recent poll reports that Americans are the unhappiest they’ve been in 50 years.
The last two years have been especially hard-hitting for working parents, single moms, and communities of color, and the feeling of fatigue is only increasing. While society is slowly beginning to reopen and we’re discovering new methods of functioning norms, a whole new set of challenges arise. What’s safe? How do I do this all by myself? Is everyone feeling okay?
Multi-tasking and abruptly switching between tasks like working from home, caring for your children, and managing household duties can drain precious energy and mental resources, leaving you feeling exhausted and not up for much of anything, much less self-care.
[Related: How Stress Affects Your Health]
What is Compassion Fatigue?
Compassion fatigue is a phrase that’s unfortunately become more and more popular over the last two years. This term, more typically associated with healthcare professionals, has now found its way into the everyday individual’s vocabulary.
Since many of us are staying home and caring for children and other family members, we are constantly thinking of others and holding space for their emotions without taking the time to tend to our own.
Ways to Ease Compassion Fatigue
This paired with the constant barrage of upsetting news on our televisions, radios, and phones can make us emotionally exhausted. Can we possibly care too much? Maybe not, but it sure feels like it takes a large physical and mental toll these days. Here are a few ways to ease compassion fatigue.
Make Time to Rest
Take small breaks between tasks. Experts say that 15 minute breaks between activities can help to reduce stress and increase your productivity.
[Related: Our Advice for Getting Started With Your Personal Assistant]
Delegate Tasks
As we continue to navigate through this world, knowing how to delegate tasks becomes increasingly important. Don’t be afraid to enlist the help of friends, family, or even personal assistant services to help with your day-to-day. Remember, asking for help is okay, and not a sign of weakness, but a sign of taking control of your well-being.
Find Community
Instead of keeping your stress all bottled up, find a community to engage with. The internet makes it easier than ever to find groups of people with similar backgrounds, hobbies, or careers. Finding a community and relating with each other over shared issues can help relieve pressure and alleviate symptoms of compassion fatigue.
Set Boundaries
When you’re feeling overwhelmed or helpless by the struggles of everyone around you, you need to make sure you’re also looking after yourself. Set aside time each day to process your emotions, whether through journaling, meditation, or a nice walk. Lean on your friends and family for support, limit your time on social media, and practice self-care.
If you’re working remotely it can be difficult to separate your work life from your personal life, so you need to firmly enforce set working hours (as much as you can) and a space for work that is separate from your bedroom.
[Related: Five Things to Do With the Time Your Personal Assistant Saves You]
Contact Pepper’s Personal Assistants Today
Contact Pepper’s Personal Assistants today and let us take some stuff off of your plate. Things can get to be too much, especially during this busy holiday season. Pepper’s can assist with running errands, paying bills, buying groceries, meal-planning, and more, so that you can take a breath and focus on you.
Featured image via Pexels
by Kara | Mar 31, 2021 | Health, Home, Parenting
When it comes to home life and the relationships within, stress can be an incredibly damaging element. Our anxiety levels peak, our reactivity tends to rise in direct alignment. We can become snappy, short-tempered, and even aggressive, which is both confusing and upsetting for those around us. Left unchecked, this pattern can lead to long-term communication breakdown.
This is a 3-minute read and a wealth of compassion. If you don’t have the time, we understand, follow us on LinkedIn, Facebook, or Twitter, and we will make sure you get the bullet points.
How We Operate
None of us operate at our very best when we feel under pressure. Realistically, stress is an unavoidable fact of home life that we cannot always prevent. However, there are many powerful ways to overcome its hold on our emotional balance to take better care of the relationships we care about most. Thankfully—this article is here to help!
Your natural stress response might be to avoid talking about what’s happening. However, the opposite is necessary if you want to stay connected in your household relationships. Whether it’s with a partner, family member, or roommate, an open line of conversation is necessary for all parties to feel safe and honest about their feelings. Without honesty, family bonds are threatened.
Make The Time
When home chores and family responsibilities mount up, our relationship focus can begin to dwindle. We lurch distractedly from one day to the next while telling ourselves we will eventually find time to talk. However, we must create specific times to connect to allow space to communicate effectively. Regular conversational check-ins will soon lead to ‘home-team success.
Talking about how stress makes you feel at a time when you feel calm can be enlightening for others. Set aside quality time to talk through how it feels when you’re overwhelmed. Discuss what would be helpful to you. Perhaps you prefer not to have solutions thrown at you. You might just need a listening ear. Or maybe physical reassurance, such as a hug, would be beneficial.
Communication is Teamwork
Communication is fundamental to teamwork—a family is a team, after all. Therefore, make the crucial effort to ensure you each feel heard. When you’re talking about a problem, particularly if it’s one within the home, make sure you each have space to talk. Resist the urge to interrupt when others are voicing their feelings. You might be surprised at what you learn about them.
Ensure that you allow space within your home routine or work schedule for great communication practices. Tackling a stress-loaded issue while you’re getting ready for work one morning is not going to lead to positive results. Most likely, you’ll lead your day feeling agitated and unclear about what’s happening. Choose regular time slots that suit you both to talk freely.
Put Away Distraction
There is nothing more deflating than opening up to someone before witnessing them glance down at a notification on their phone. This toxic habit can stop a great conversation dead in its tracks. Set aside those digital vices and turn to face one another. Grab some coffee to share and get comfortable. Calmer environments lead to better home communication.
Most importantly—acknowledge consciously that home communication may not always go to plan. Stress can sneak up on us. We might fail to initiate a difficult conversation at an appropriate time or say something we later regret. You are wonderfully human, and the process of relationship-building is ongoing. Be forgiving with yourself and others. You’ve got this!
