Check out the recent Redfin article we were featured in:
If you’re considering living in Seattle, you might be familiar with the city for its bustling waterfront, lush evergreen forests, and the picturesque San Juan Islands. Seattle is also known as the birthplace of Starbucks, the Space Needle, and the flying fish at Pike Place Market. But these are just a few of the things that set Seattle apart from other major metropolises. So what else is Seattle known for?
From waterfront activities and beautiful green spaces to the incredible art scene and access to nature, you’ll quickly discover countless more reasons why Seattle is such a desirable place to live.
Maybe you’ve just moved and are renting in one of Seattle’s many neighborhoods, perhaps Phinney Ridge or Montlake, and want to get to know your city better. Or, maybe you’re curious about what it’s like to live here before relocating to the Emerald City. Either way, this city has so much to offer.
While holiday celebrations begin to fade to memory, the New Year forges on ahead. Reality can hit you like a ton of bricks as the new year (and your calendar) begins to fill with responsibilities and commitments. Even if you enter the New Year feeling refreshed and ready to tackle it all with an optimistic attitude, life stressors have a way of weaseling in.
Feeling stressed out frequently can not only create mental blocks to relaxation and happiness, but it can also trigger an ongoing physical response that can bring about chronic pain and inflammation, as well as a lowered immune system.
Don’t worry! There are plenty of ways to reduce your stress levels this year and enjoy peace and balance.
Between your professional and personal life, some stress is inevitable, but practicing regular self-care activities can help you avoid burnout and take the edge off in a constructive way. Many quick self-care habits can fit easily into your daily to-do list without taking up more than 30 minutes of your time.
Regardless of the time commitment, effective self-care takes several aspects into consideration: some may be fitness-oriented (such as a cardio routine), while others may aim to boost mindfulness (meditation) or simply provide some pampering (a weekly massage or movie night). Self-care can be practiced solo (reading a book or taking a bath) or with others (a group meal, book club, or yoga class).
Be Mindful of Noise
Is your office next to a busy city street, or are you working from home in the midst of family chaos? Loud noises can trigger your stress response and make it hard to focus and be mindful. Try wearing earplugs or noise-canceling headphones to reduce upsetting noises, or play soothing music to help with your relaxation.
We’ve all got one body we must live in — so do what you can to make yours a habitable, comfortable, and healthy place! Physical stressors directly impact your mental and emotional health. Limit these and your general stress level will improve proportionally. Plus, taking care of your body is a crucial part of self-care!
Start by ensuring you’re getting enough sleep. What is considered “enough?” According to the National Sleep Foundation, adults age 18 and over require a minimum of 7 hours of sleep per night to function at their peak. Keep in mind this number can vary, with some adults needing up to 9 hours of sleep per night.
Regular exercise is equally as important, especially since physical activity is a great outlet to channel and extinguish existing stress.
Finally, make sure to eat a balanced diet with plenty of nutritious foods, and minimize those that ultimately bring your energy crashing down (excess caffeine or alcohol, sugary drinks, and other empty calories).
Be Intentional With Your Screen Time
We know it’s difficult, but try to limit the time you spend looking at your phone or laptop as much as possible, especially in the hours leading to bedtime. While these devices are often an unavoidable part of life, they can also be a big trigger for stress. Studies have linked excessive smartphone use with increased levels of stress, and it might also be negatively affecting your sleep quality. Try to set a timer or a schedule for when the best time to scroll is.
Maintaining the foresight to stay organized in your day-to-day life will cut stress drastically. Operating on a schedule can help you improve your efficiency at work and at home, and reduce your stress.
Rather than digging into office tasks at random, start the week with a basic to-do list and experiment to determine the best way to prioritize projects. Instead of running errands haphazardly, create a route that minimizes driving time.
Finally, cut procrastination! Putting off responsibilities only serves to create more stress down the road. Hiring a personal assistant can help you focus on getting the important things done as soon as possible.
Set Realistic Goals and Expectations
When you’re overworked and overtired, it’s easy to feel like you let people down, or aren’t doing your best. Understand that you can’t be 100% successful at everything all at once, give yourself some grace, and be mindful of what you can and cannot control. Setting realistic goals and expectations can help eliminate some of the pressure that you may be putting on yourself.
Our top tips for deciding which personal tasks to outsource include:
shifting your focus to the hours you’re saving instead of the specific tasks your PA is doing;
thinking in terms of daily operations;
and collaborating with your PA on your personal priorities.
For example, you can save up to an hour of your time when you assign your daily (or weekly) laundry-folding duties to your PA. Instead of stressing over unfinished work projects or missing yoga class while you’re stuck in the laundry room, collaborate with your PA to lead your most efficient (and stress-free!) life.
How Pepper’s Personal Assistants Can Help Reduce Your Stress
At Pepper’s Personal Assistants we offer a great resource for helping you fight back against stress. A personal assistant can help take a lot off your plate. This includes meal planning, paying the bills, running errands, grocery shopping, and more.
Interested? Visit our website to learn more about our services.
We’re ready to help you regain your time, reduce your stress, and increase your happiness. Our personal assistants offer long-term, recurring household support in the Puget Sound Area.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
The Pepper’s Way has been developed over the past ten years. We’ve learned how to bring ease into our clients’ lives quickly, what makes a great personal assistant, and how clients and their personal assistant can build a successful long term relationship.
The Pepper’s Way
We believe the best personal assistants find joy in making your life as easy as possible.
We believe communication is the key to success.
We believe in respecting client’s privacy and conducting ourselves with integrity.
We believe in managing up and taking ownership of completing a task.
We believe our employees are our biggest asset and take care of them.
We believe in Radical Candor; supporting improvement through direct communication.
We believe feedback is a gift and an opportunity to course correct.
We believe in hiring based on shared values.
We believe in vetting vendors and sharing our experiences with the team.
We believe in continuous learning and ongoing training.
What Does the Pepper’s Way Mean for Clients?
We listen to your needs and put the time and effort into finding the right personal assistant for you.
We have a rigorous screening process with 3 interviews, background checks, and reference checks.
We make it easy to get started by supporting the relationship and providing the tools and documents that have been proven to work.
We train our employees on effective and efficient communication, and require a weekly 15 minute meeting between clients and their personal assistant.
We request continuous feedback from our clients to make sure you are set up for long term success. The sooner issues are dealt with, the better.
We’ve built a Preferred Vendor List over the past 10 years. Vendors are given a rating based on our team’s experience and dropped from the list if they don’t meet our standards.
What Does the Pepper’s Way Mean for Employees?
We are on your team and here to support you in being successful.
We offer a competitive wage as a W-4 employee, and benefits for all employees including paid time off and retirement matching.
We help set boundaries to avoid burnout, such as business hours, last minute cancellations, and safety policies.
We have a positive team culture, supporting each other and celebrating wins together.
We listen to your feedback and suggestions. Our anonymous feedback form is always available. Some of our best improvements have come from employees.
We provide ongoing team training including leadership, tech tools (Google Workspace, Trello, Pinterest, Lastpass, etc), meal prep and cooking, safety, and self care.
Hosting an unforgettable Halloween party takes creativity, organization, and attention to detail. A personal assistant can handle all the logistics, making the experience stress-free for you. From sending out spooky invitations to organizing a haunted house, here’s how a personal assistant can turn your Halloween party into an event your guests will talk about for years.
Crafting Custom Invitations
The first step to any successful party is getting the word out, and your personal assistant can make sure your invitations set the tone for an unforgettable night. They can help design personalized, Halloween-themed invitations that match your party’s vibe—whether it’s an elegant masquerade or a haunted house extravaganza. Your assistant will also handle all the RSVPs, keeping track of guest responses and any special requests. With custom digital or physical invites that impress, you’ll create excitement even before the event starts. A personal assistant can look and buy for you personalized invitations in sites like SimplytoImpress.com
Organizing Fun Halloween Activities
Halloween parties are all about the fun! Your personal assistant can design and set up activities that will keep guests entertained throughout the night. From classic games like apple bobbing and costume contests to creative Halloween crafts for the kids, there’s no limit to the fun you can offer. They’ll even coordinate activities that cater to all age groups, making your party an enjoyable experience for everyone. Your assistant can also manage the flow of the event, ensuring that each activity is well-timed and that no one misses out on the fun.
Decorating Your Home Inside and Out
Decorations set the stage for a memorable Halloween party. With your assistant’s help, you can transform your home into a haunted mansion or a chic, fall-inspired retreat. Whether you need spooky lighting for your backyard, cobwebs and pumpkins to adorn your entryway, or detailed indoor decorations, your assistant will handle it all—from brainstorming ideas to shopping for materials and setting everything up. When Halloween is over, they’ll take down the décor and neatly organize everything into storage bins, ensuring it’s ready for next year.
Themed Costumes for the Entire Family
Having trouble deciding on the perfect costume? Your personal assistant can take care of the entire family’s outfits, from shopping for materials to coordinating professional costume makers. Whether you’re aiming for a group theme or unique individual looks, your assistant ensures everyone is dressed to impress. They can even arrange for special makeup artists or hairstylists to complete the spooky look.
Party Planning and Food Preparation
Food is often the highlight of any gathering, and a Halloween party is no exception. Your personal assistant can plan a Halloween-themed menu that’s both delicious and festive. They can shop for groceries, prepare spooky snacks, and even cook themed meals or desserts like “witches’ fingers” or “monster mash” dips. Whether you’re hosting a large gathering or an intimate family party, your assistant will ensure the food is as impressive as the décor. For more meal ideas, check out our meal planning blog.
Halloween Party Goodie Bags
No Halloween party is complete without a fun parting gift. Your personal assistant can design and assemble goodie bags filled with themed treats, small toys, and Halloween trinkets that reflect your party’s theme. Whether it’s candy for the kids or a more sophisticated option for adult guests, they’ll source and organize the perfect mix of items to leave your guests with a lasting impression.
Clean-Up and Post-Halloween Organization
Once the party is over, the clean-up process begins, so let your personal assistant take care of this! From packing away decorations to cleaning up the party space, they’ll ensure everything is put away neatly, so you don’t have to worry about anything. They can also help organize your Halloween supplies for next year by placing them in labeled bins, ensuring that everything is stored and easy to find when the next spooky season rolls around. You can check here what current clients say about our services.
Planning Halloween Weekend Getaways
If hosting at home isn’t your style, why not plan a Halloween weekend getaway? A personal assistant can handle all the details, from booking haunted tours to finding spooky-themed vacation rentals. Whether you want to explore a local haunted house or visit a popular Halloween festival, your assistant will organize a memorable weekend escape, filled with thrills and chills.
By hiring a personal assistant, you’ll ensure your Halloween party is both spectacular and stress-free. From planning and organizing to clean-up and everything in between, your assistant will handle all the details, allowing you to enjoy the festivities with your friends and family. Ready to make this Halloween your best yet? Contact us today to start planning your ultimate Halloween bash!
Backyard farming — sometimes referred to as urban farming, container gardening, or micro-farming — is a way to transform your yard, patio, or even windowsill into a thriving garden. From smaller gardens that grow vegetables, herbs, and fruit to larger operations that include beekeeping and chicken coops, backyard farming encourages sustainable living and healthy eating among multiple other benefits. Here are some tips to get started.
Benefits of Backyard Farming
Planting and growing your own produce is an amazing way to live more self-sufficiently, eat organically, and avoid the middle man by going from “farm” to table in your own home. In fact, if more people farmed at home, the accessibility of local food would increase and prices in stores and farmers markets would decrease.
Planning your garden and backyard farming is also a great way to spend quality time outside with your family. If you have children, gardening can teach them the importance of responsibility and teamwork, as well as basic math, measuring, and science concepts.
Additionally, backyard farming is an excellent stress-reliever. Sunlight is a great source of vitamin D, which encourages production of serotonin and dopamine — a.k.a. the “happy” chemicals in the brain. In one study where participants who gardened over the course of 12 weeks saw a significant improvement in their moods and alleviation from depression symptoms.
Getting Extra Help
While you spend time in the garden with your family, enlist the help of a personal assistant to help with some of the planning that goes on behind the scenes. They could gather what’s needed for DIY planter projects, schedule out the best dates to plant each crop, order other necessary materials online or over the phone, and even water or weed while you’re away at work.
Backyard Farming Locations
If you have a sizable back or front yard, you’re in luck — you’ll have a lot of space for backyard farming, and can find optimal locations for plants that have different sunlight needs. If you live in a condo or have a smaller amount of space, don’t fret. Backyard farming is possible just about anywhere.
Square Foot Gardening
Square foot gardening uses small wooden-framed garden beds, usually 4’-by-4’, and a grid dividing that space into 1’-by-1’ squares. If you’re tight on space, this uniform, organized approach to gardening might be the right choice for you. Square foot gardening is also a smart option if you’re just beginning to learn the tricks of the trade, since it requires less management and upkeep.
Vertical Gardening
If your outside space is limited, consider growing upward via vertical gardening. This method encourages vegetables, herbs, and flowers (especially those with vining habits such as tomatoes) to grow vertically instead of horizontally on the ground. Vertical gardening sees your plants grow upward on a trellis, garden netting, or a number of other creative DIY options. Check out online tutorials to learn tips for vertical gardening and give it a shot!
Container Gardening
Container gardening, or potted plant gardening, is a practical choice for those of us with no yard space. This method of gardening can be done on a deck or patio as well as a windowsill, as long as the sun exposure is right. Container gardening is an easy way to incorporate different herbs, plants, and produce in small spaces, each with their own portable pot. Imagine having an entire herb garden right outside your condo door or on your kitchen windowsill!
When to Plant
Deciding when to plant is a big part of pulling off a successful backyard farming harvest. Consider your local climate and the time of year it is. In the Pacific Northwest, we don’t start seeing regular sun until May and sometimes even June, so waiting until mid-spring to start your backyard farm might be your best bet, depending on what you are planting. Almanac.com has a helpful gardening calendar guide; all you need to do is type in your location and see when the best dates are to plant your crops.
What to Plant
Again, consider your climate and timing before you plant a certain type of vegetable or fruit. Snap peas, cilantro, carrots, broccoli, chard, and lettuce are among the many vegetables that take kindly to the Pacific Northwest climate. As for fruits, Seattle is a great place to grow berries such as blueberries, strawberries, raspberries, and blackberries.
Backyard Chickens
Check with your city’s zoning regulations first, but many places allow households to raise chickens on their property. Most chickens lay 250 to 300 eggs per year, so consider that while you decide how many chickens to raise. Check out your local livestock or hardware store, or talk to farmers at your local market to find out where to purchase chicks.
You can either order or DIY your own chicken coop, but make sure you do the necessary research so that you have enough space and can provide a good home for your chickens.
Raising chickens can be a great option for those interested in farming their own eggs — eating better in the process. Chicken manure is also a great fertilizer for the rest of your garden!
Whether you’re starting a larger-scale backyard farming project complete with chicken coops or are just setting up your windowsill containers in your condo in the city, backyard farming is an activity that is accessible and enjoyable for everyone.
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