Our country is back in the saving mode. Anytime we purchase something, a product or service, it makes a lot of sense to look at all the costs that are incurred and assess the value we receive. Last week, I was at a sidewalk sale in New Canaan, CT. There were silk shirts for 50% off, reduced from $80, to $40… A steal. I was not totally thrilled with the color, but it looked like a good bargain. I started to reflect on how often I will use it and would I be excited to wear it often. The shirt would need to be sent to dry cleaning at $8/dry cleaning; I will probably spend $120 for 15 dry cleanings. Hence, the total cost of buying and using the shirt would be $ 160; still $40 less than the original cost of $200. Not a huge bargain though. If the product or service does not bring the value it is worth, the initial bargain gets washed away. No pun intended. The same logic applies to household help; nanny, babysitter, elder care provider, Chef or a housekeeper. Most families will spend about $30,000 to $50,000 for a full time household employee. Over 5 years these costs add up to $150,000 – $250,000, a significant cost, but an essential need for busy professionals and moms. Each individual service provider is different, and families need to make sure that the person working for you in your home is the best you can find for the duties, skills, personality and character. It takes effort to find this right person and any effort that you put in upfront will bring you years of rewards in terms of quality of life for your child, family and peace at home. In light of the implications, one should plan to spend about 80 hours if you are going to advertise and recruit a person yourself; 40 hours, if you are going to use your network and 10 hours; if you are planning to use a reputable agency. There is a right combination of pocket cost and time commitment choice for each family.
Archive for July, 2009
lifecycle cost
Wednesday, July 29th, 2009three generations of memories
Tuesday, July 21st, 2009
One of the first major organizing projects we did was in Hartsdale, NY, at the home of an old, very active couple in their 90s. He had a twin brother and they recently celebrated their 100th birthday together, which brought all our memories back. The project started with their daughter, in her 50’s, calling us to help her parents. This is the home where she grew up and where the family also enjoyed raising their grand children. We asked her… as we always do, “Are your parents ready of this?” She said that she told her parents, “If you die with all this stuff in the house, I will just have to burn it!” Of course, everyone knows it was a joke, but the humor gave the project a great start. Our parents’ treasures can be our clutter. We put a team of an Organizer, a Cleaning crew and a Personal Assistant together, ordered a dumpster and took care of three generations of “stuff”. There were old fishing poles, skating shoes, a wooden sleigh and tools that could be sold as antiques. We de-cluttered the attic where boxes of books were kept (he was an attorney), cleaned out the basement and garage and filled a dumpster. The whole place was hosed down and scrubbed clean too. They were an amazing and warm family to work for with a baby (their great granddaughter) crawling around in the kitchen. How do people in their 90’s have the energy and passion to take on a project like this? Only when they can truly care for their children and grand children. Claudia, the daughter that made the first call and the leader of the project was the key to such grace and harmony, since she had an amazing bond with her parents. I hope all of us grow old this gracefully; with humor & health to share.
my new party dress
Tuesday, July 7th, 2009
A client from Chappaqua, for whom we did weekly housekeeping, calls frantically on a Saturday morning at 8.15 AM to say that the new dress she had brought a day earlier is missing. She hung the dress behind the door, and now, the hanger is there but no dress. She turned the whole house upside down and couldn’t find it. She wondered and stressed about it. She looked in the laundry, closets and asked her husband. Hence, she came to the conclusion that the housekeeper had stolen it. I assured her that Nora, a LifeWorx housekeeper has never done anything like this; but that we would investigate. I was very stressed since our system is supposed to protect clients from such bad experiences. We promised the client that we would pay for the dress. Nora is a large woman and the client’s dress was size 4, petite. We reviewed Nora’s file in the office and her background check reports, but there was no smoking gun. We left a message with the housekeeper and wondered… How could this be? Our staff is trustworthy to be given house keys, car keys, kids, grandma and credit card and we assure that nothing will go wrong. Two hours later that morning, we get a call back from the client, with a sense of embarrassment and relief… that the dress was in her daughter’s room. Her teenage daughter had tried on mom’s new party dress and left it on the floor on the far side of her bed! How cute, but also how annoying! Our instincts often lead us to assume… a crime has been done, because that is what protects us from such things and makes us vigilant. How can we avoid playing the old videos of past poor (crime) experiences when the peace of mind and calm may be around us? All we can do is to find and share positive experiences to our clients and hope that, “drop by drop the ocean will get full.”