Help Is On The Way {The Riley Group}

PThe other night I had a beautiful dream. I was organized, goals were accomplished, stress was minimal. But wait, it wasn’t a dream. That actually happened for exactly four sublime weeks, thanks to The Riley Group.

On a daily basis, I do feel overwhelmed from time-to-time. Two kids, a household, a job, some pets, a husband, and all the details in between. Mostly, I feel like I’m making it work, but having a little help is a total game-changer. Enter Kate.

For four weeks, I had a personal assistant. Even uttering those words seems surreal. But it’s true. For four weeks, I tried on a life with a little bit of help from a friend – a friend who was paid to be there and to whom I assigned my most hated tasks. That’s friendship, right? What did I have my personal assistant do might you ask? Oh, just about everything.

The “fun” tasks I could pass off to Kate from The Riley Group.

I greeted Kate each Monday with a pile of pint-sized plaid school uniforms – the extra pleat-y kind that are atrocious to iron. And she ironed them. I gave her all those errands that individually are tiny but as a whole can consume my life – post office, dry cleaning, back and forth to Girl Scout headquarters one million times. One afternoon I was anticipating an afternoon full of back-and-forthing from errand to errand, and instead I gave it all to Kate. And here comes the great part – I took a nap – a  deep, soul-refreshing sleep. When I woke up, Kate was back, and all my errands were complete. She organized my pantry, she researched restaurants for an upcoming vacation, she took my daughter’s preschool art and made a photo book. She even traced and cut out a myriad of paper bats (don’t ask).

So now I anticipate you will have questions. Was it weird to have someone hanging out in my house? Not at all. She came at convenient times and actually spent very little time in my house. Was it hard to trust someone else with these things? I was pretty worried about this one myself. As a control freak, I thought I would have a hard time delegating. First of all, Kate is completely competent to accomplish whatever I threw at her. Second, one nap later, I believe. Is there anything she wouldn’t do? I’m sure there are limits, but Kate gladly did every weird (bats) thing I asked of her. The Riley Group has an entire list of services they will provide, many of which I didn’t take advantage of, like grocery shopping, meal planning, house sitting and party planning.Here is the moral to the story – a little bit of help goes a long way. Kate worked for us five hours a week, and that time made my life more pleasant. In the future, I would consider using the Riley Group to alleviate the burden during especially busy weeks or for one-time projects here and there. Thank you for a wonderful four weeks, Kate, and sorry about the bats. Oh, fine. And the pleats.

**This is a sponsored post for The Riley Group in order to bring you more information about their services.  Jamie was given four free weeks of services to write about her experience.  However, all opinions in this post are 100% our own and have not been influenced in any way.**

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Jamie Shouse
I am a mom to two daughters - Avery Jane and Claire Chandler. Three dogs - Pete the chocolate Labrador, Addie the Scottish Terrier, and Pancho the Pomeranian - round out my household. And my husband, Jerrod, of course. I work part-time as an attorney. I am a transplant from Texas but have made my home in Oklahoma after completing both my undergraduate work and also my law degree at the University of Oklahoma. I love to play tennis, experience new things with my kids, and try my hand at any type of arts and crafts. I have always enjoyed writing (my undergrad minor is in English), and you can find my writings about my chaotic life at www.tortsandtots.com.

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