CHORES AND BEYOND:
A Case Study Exploring the Full Potential of What a Household Assistant Can Do for You
BACKGROUND
62 percent of moms in one survey said they got less
than an hour a day to themselves.
A Care.com survey found that “one in four working moms
cry alone at least once a week” due to the stress of
balancing work, child care, and household chores.
Household chores consume an average of three hours every day minimum, and working women are responsible for most of those chores, leading to them feeling stressed and overwhelmed.
Meet Libby W.
Libby, a busy entrepreneur working out of her home office, struggled to balance the time she needed to spend on her career with the time she was spending on household chores. After her work assistant left to pursue another opportunity, Libby considered hiring a virtual replacement to support her and her business.
A conversation with a colleague made Libby reconsider those plans. Her passion was her business, so she needed someone to lighten her load and help her create a home that was more “organized, beautiful, functional, and ready for me to enjoy.” She acted on the recommendation to hire a household assistant instead and contacted Pepper’s Personal Assistants.
THE CHALLENGE:
Is a Household Assistant Right for Me?
Libby needed help managing her lengthy to-do list beyond handling the typical laundry and household tasks so she could spend more time managing her business and personal life. She knew she was spending a lot of time on shopping and other errands— more time than she wanted.
“I’d spend every weekend and evening doing chores and running around doing errands because there was no one else here to do them but me,” she said.
Libby was initially unfamiliar with the concept of a household assistant. She also wasn’t sure of all the ways an assistant could support her and if she had enough work to keep someone busy. Despite having the resources to hire help, Libby mistakenly thought household assistants were only for celebrities.
“In my mind, I was like, Steven Spielberg has a personal assistant, I don’t need a personal assistant,” she said. “And this whole house manager thing—only rich people have those.”
THE SOLUTION:
An Organized System for Completing Household Chores and Bringing Home Project Ideas to Life
Ultimately, Libby decided that even though she wasn’t a celebrity, she still deserved help. She partnered with Pepper’s and was matched with her assistant, Kandis.
Meet Kandis
Kandis was trained and ready to handle Libby’s needs, including performing typical household chores, such as keeping the home tidy, running errands, and doing meal prep, so Libby could get back into her love of cooking.
But Kandis went further than these typical tasks—she also possessed the creativity and organization skills to turn Libby’s home project dreams into reality.
Kandis quickly got to work organizing the household and tackling home improvement projects Libby had been considering but never had the time to research and complete. She developed a running list detailing all household chores, ensuring all home maintenance and other tasks were performed according to schedule.
Kandis – Pepper’s Lead Personal Assistant
In addition to performing daily and weekly chores, such as grocery shopping, meal prep, laundry, and general tidying, Kandis also developed a system for completing seasonal chores and periodic events, such as:
“I would never have the time or even know where to search for the deals Kandis finds,” Libby said. “She has saved me a lot of money.”
She now enjoys her functional and beautiful front porch, which Kandis keeps organized and maintained year-round.
Kandis also began managing ongoing home projects. For instance, Libby wanted to continue donating gently used clothes to charities and selling others on consignment, but “It always was a massive project that was hard to manage.” Kandis quickly learned Libby’s process and preferences, organized her closets and clothes, and developed an efficient system for donating and submitting items for consignment.
“She knows all the consignment shops, who takes what items, and all the donation drop-off points,” Libby said.
THE RESULTS:
A Highly Organized Home and More Time to Enjoy It
Libby started seeing results in her home immediately after Kandis arrived, noting that her life had completely changed. She is more organized and less stressed, and everything in her home runs smoothly. Kandis has surpassed her expectations of what her home could be like with a household assistant.
“[Kandis] makes my life easier and anticipates my needs before I even need to ask.”
Libby also loves that Kandis pays attention to the smaller details. During the onboarding process, she recalls mentioning that she enjoyed having fresh flowers at home. On Kandis’s first day, Libby was delighted to come out of her home office and see fresh flowers throughout the house.
“The first time I came out of my office, there were fresh flowers and fruit, and I could go in and make dinner after work,” she said. “I almost burst into tears.”
Kandis has also given Libby more discretionary time. She no longer spends her nonwork hours doing tedious chores and running earrings. Now, she can enjoy her evenings and the freedom of not worrying about doing laundry, making returns, or performing other time-consuming tasks.
“The truth is, the quality of my life has improved by having this because I’m able to spend the time I need to on my business, which is a lot, and then I get to enjoy my home and my life and the precious unstructured time that I have not taken up with doing errands and chores.”
LOOKING AHEAD:
A Future with Pepper’s
Libby plans to continue working with Pepper’s because of how Kandis has organized her life. She says the organization benefits alone make it easy to keep a household assistant in her budget. For example, Kandis is ever-conscious of Libby’s time and regularly communicates updates via Slack and Trello. She also uses home organization templates and developed a household guide. The household guide captures all the details about Libby’s home, from her preferred laundry detergent to her favorite grocery stores.
For those considering a household assistant, Libby says a Pepper’s personal assistant is an excellent choice for anyone in the Seattle area who is busy and needs help at home, whether single, married, or with kids. And for those who think as she once did and are unsure of what a household assistant can do, she said, “Just imagine how much time you’d have to spend on the things that are important to you.”