To want a PA?

[MargeGoesBowling]

I’m busy, much like everyone else. I don’t have a particularly unusual amount on my plate, but I constantly seem to spend my evenings and weekends doing life admin. Friends and family seem to experience this too.

I work full time. We’re ib in the middle of buying a house/organising movers/dealing with solicitors/life assurance etc. Also in the middle of another legal issue dealing with a legacy problem linked to a previous inheritance. DH is looking after that one, but still needs me to speak to the solicitor (we need to show we’ve both had legal advice), search for and provide documents that only I have access to (personal bank statements going back a number of years), my car insurance is due for renewal so trying to get quotes but everyone insists on a phone call during office hours rather than just letting me do it all online at the weekend, our dog is very ill so there’s regular vet appointments (shared between me and DH), also trying to organise home help for my parent but proving problematic. Then the usual life stuff- shopping, cleaning, trying to book doctors appointments, needing to get the oven cleaned etc.

I outsource what I can- shopping online, had a cleaner up until Covid, DH does his fair share (he has a similar list as the one I’ve given above, and he also works full time and household tasks are 50/50) but it’s just constant.

I’m not saying “oooh, I’m soooo much busier than everyone else”, I’m just saying I would happily pay for someone to take on some of this shit for me, especially the stuff that involves endless phone calls during the day. Or even just the small things like someone to buy birthday cards and gifts for my nieces and nephews and actually post them on time would be very handsomely rewarded. Or someone who will come to my house and just take over the phone when I’m on hold so I can get something else done while I’m waiting?

And this is lighthearted, before the barrage of “you have as many hours in the day as Beyoncé” posts start. Yes, I have the time, I just don’t want to spend it doing shitty, boring life admin. I’m competent, I’m organised, I’m just bored of constantly having to deal with STUFF.

Am I being unreasonable to think that a lot of people would pay to have a PA in the same way as they’d pay for a cleaner or takeaway?

And I organise birthday/Christmas gifts and wrap them

@IHopeYouStepOnALegoPiece you sound amazing- DMing you for name of company!

I recently tried to find myself a VA for some of this life admin crap but what I really need is someone who can pretend to be me so they can call utility companies, the doctor, etc (which is something I always did when I worked as a private PA for UHNW families) and no one seems willing to do that!

@IHopeYouStepOnALegoPiece just seen your post... that's exactly what I need! I have a feeling you might have a few DMs coming your way...

What would be wrong with having a PA?

I don’t think it would benefit me because of my personality, but I outsource all sorts of other tasks.

Money doesn’t buy happiness, but it does buy leisure. Leisure promotes happiness and well being.

When I was younger I worked for a wealthy woman, my role was initially to support her business but I started doing personal stuff. It was fun, stuff like booking caterers & helping choose the spread.
She took a lot of holidays & I remember after I gained her trust I would print off a selection of restaurants & sights which she would chose from & then I would book & make itineraries, I loved doing that.

@beentoldcomputersaysno

I do not but with the right authority from you I can handle most stuff remotely. Most of my clients are local but I also do day rates and literally swoop in like Mary Poppins for the entire day and organise the home from top to bottom, whilst on the phone to whoever they need me to be on the phone to, whizz off to pick up the dry cleaning, post the online shopping returns, pick the dog up from the groomers and then recommend a splendid Spotify playlist for whatever they have planned at the weekend. No day is the same and as I'm naturally a problem-solver it's a joy for me as well. I also do a mean batch-cook lasagna (yes I have a food safety certificate!) to pop in the freezer if you're going to be snowed under the following week.

My jobs last week involved sourcing a rose for a lovely customer who has just had a daughter (the rose matches her name), picking up a reframed portrait for another customer who had it commissioned for a birthday, finding a lost bracelet, checking on someone's Nan, creating a vegetable garden and mowing lawns!

As for the girl Friday thing, I like to think of myself as a personal concierge/emotional support person

Yes!!! I was saying at the weekend that I'd give my right arm for someone to deal with all the admin shit. It's never-ending. Just keeping up to date with all the school messages and requests is a job itself.

If you're in the UK and drive a normal car, there's no need at all to phone anyone to buy insurance. Doesn't everyone just use Go Compare etc?

Cleaners have been able to work for over a year now so there's no reason why you can't have a cleaner.

Pare back gifts and cards as much as possible, do you really need to send them to your niece and nephew? If they're adults, you don't for a start.

There's a book called 'Half a Wife' which sounds useful to you:

www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B006NZAQYQ/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1&tag=mumsnetforu03-21

Oh, I see your previous cleaner is now unavailable, but you can get another one surely and if you make clear your expectations and choose the right person, I'm sure you can find what you need.

@Nowisthemonthofmaying Feel free to pm me if you are looking for a VA/Lifestyle Manager. I work with Clients organising business and life admin on an adhoc or regular basis.

Having been a PA for a few decades I would be insulted, but maybe a young one starting out would be willing. The problem for them will be their CV and how it reads.

@SalsaLove Why would anyone be insulted? I’ve been a PA that does the tasks OP requires for a very high net worth couple. I worked in their home, organised their lives, walked the dogs and got paid £30 an hour plus pension. Why would anyone be insulted?

I love doing all the stuff mentioned and do it all frequently, not just my own but for friends who work full time. There are lots of things than can still only be done in working hours and a simple phone call can take up to an hour these days (you are 28 in the queue etc 🙄 along with now ubiquitous 'due to covid' delays).

I have time and they don't. But I do it for them, I don't get paid!

I also need one of these magical life organisers! Where do you find them?! I feel like my life is a constant chore of trying to keep on top of things to remember and not much else!

[quote 21Bee]@SalsaLove Why would anyone be insulted? I’ve been a PA that does the tasks OP requires for a very high net worth couple. I worked in their home, organised their lives, walked the dogs and got paid £30 an hour plus pension. Why would anyone be insulted?[/quote]
Probably because there's a difference between business PAs, personal PAs and those that do a mix of both.

I'm a business PA - I'm not at all interested in walking dogs and doing online shopping etc for people. Wouldn't insult me, it's just not what I do.

I'll take up the offer thank you :) lets negotiate the price