Services you would pay for to help your parents?

[Anonymous]

Hello: I am starting a small business: a personal assistant sort of thing and wondering if there are certain tasks that you would pay for someone to do to help your parents who still live independently: pantry organization, pantry/fridge stocking on a weekly/bimonthly/monthly basis, ingredient prep (wash/cut produce, prepare rice/pasta/proteins for the week, schedule doctor appts/coordinate transportation, update shared calendars, etc. Any input would be greatly appreciated! Even better if you could tell me what you'd pay - and whether something like: paying per task or a monthly subscription might be preferred? THanks!

[Anonymous]

There are tons of services that can help with this stuff so it would come down to cost. Walmart Plus inhome will put your groceries away if needed with no tipping.

[Anonymous]

All of the services you describe will be desirable to some people. Where you can distinguish yourself is individual service. Sure, I can have instacart or whatever deliver to my mother, but how often will the berries be moldy? How often will the substitutions suck? I don’t know about updating shared calendars specifically, but I know those of us who care for our older family members provide a lot of tech support and it is definitely one of the most aggravating things to me.

People might like paying per task but that’s not going to be sustainable for you. I live in an ultra high cost of living area, and $50/hour assuming you are insured is what I would expect to pay for someone who could very competently, kindly, efficiently provide a mix of services.

[Anonymous]

We pay someone that manages and takes my parents to Dr appointments, the bank, occasional random errands $60/hr. This may be on the high end but she attends the appointments and advocates for what our parents (and the kids) want in medical care. She's trustworthy so it's worth it.

In home general help (housework) we pay $30/hr.

[Anonymous]

Your business sounds useless, frankly.

[Anonymous]

When my parents' were at that stage, the main things we needed were handyman work (even basic stuff like changing light bulbs); help with their phones or computers; and rides to doctor's appointments

[Anonymous]

Convincing my mom to donate stuff.

She won’t give me the stuff to take home because she’s afraid I will donate it instead of keep it (which I will).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Your business sounds useless, frankly.

That’s harsh, just bc you wouldn’t use it doesn’t mean it’s useless. Lots of people pay for things I would never

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Your business sounds useless, frankly.

I don't think is sounds useless at all. We are starting to look into the availability of this type of service for my mother that lives independently out of state.

Medication organization, refills, tracking is something that we will need soon. It isn't just prescriptions but also otc meds.

Driving to appointments and activities like daily mass, physical therapy shoe shopping. It isn't just driving there. It is making sure mom gets safely inside.

Meal prep. When I go visit I make up freezer meals. Sometimes mom will cook from scratch sometimes she is so exhausted by dinner that warming up a meal is all she can manage.

Random times: assisting with calling companies like insurance, utilities, cable. These phone calls usually include a lot of waiting and navigating automated systems that are confusing to elderly with hearing issues.

Assisting with changing accounts after the death of a spouse. Getting my dad's name off of all of the utility accounts took hours.

Mailing packages

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:When my parents' were at that stage, the main things we needed were handyman work (even basic stuff like changing light bulbs); help with their phones or computers; and rides to doctor's appointments

I was going to mention changing light bulbs too.

[Anonymous]

Also shoveling or arranging someone to do it.

[Anonymous]

Taking them to doctor’s appointments and taking notes/reporting back would have been such a lifesaver for me.

Also taking them to the grocery store and letting them walk the aisles and spend ten minutes looking at the different mustards when they don’t even like mustard and have no intention of buying mustards. When my mom was starting to fail she loved going to the grocery store and wandering around but as someone who works full time with lots of other obligations it was so hard for me to have the patience to let her wander and enjoy. I had a mission which was to get groceries which contradicted her mission of just being out and enjoying the experience. I would have paid anything at that point.

I’d have paid $30-$35/ hour for that which is the going rate for caregivers in my area of Loudoun.

[Anonymous]

One more thing to add, it’s hard to find trustworthy reliable help so if you are trustworthy and reliable that’s a huge advantage over some of the quality of people we’ve used through some companies that scraped the bottom of the barrel. Someone stole all of my mom’s opiate painkillers. Thankfully she didn’t need them anymore but who does that?? It would be very difficult for me to trust someone with anything like passwords and accounts but if I found someone I could trust with those things it would be invaluable.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Convincing my mom to donate stuff.

She won’t give me the stuff to take home because she’s afraid I will donate it instead of keep it (which I will).

My friend is a professional organizer who works with elderly clients. She does this as well as helping to organize bill paying and general life papers and upkeep of the house.

[Anonymous]

Driving to get their hair done - older women still do this and it’s a big deal. Grocery shopping, picking up prescriptions, rides to church, snow shoveling, yard and garden work, helping with TV remote, computers, phones, dr. Appointments. Putting up and taking down holiday decorations, delivering goodies in their bday, driving them to visit friends