Thank you for the excellent service you have provided for me. For six months you faithfully went to my house every Thursday to collect my mail, water the plants, walk around the house to ensure all was well and then bring the mail to my Austin office so that I could receive it in Virginia where I was temporarily working. You also called me directly to report a problem - like the smoke detectors beeping the low battery signal! I appreciated that!
Now that I am moving to Virginia I will no longer be able to take advantage of your service. Sandra, you were trustworthy and reliable and I appreciated your helping me out. I wish you the best of luck with Capitol Concierge and I am sure it will be a success. Thank you again.
Jane
In the fall of 2003, I felt exhaused and overwhelmed from trying to keep up with my parenting, marriage, friendships and work commitments. There was too much to do in too little time. I tried cutting sleep to four or five hours per night so the other nineteen or twenty hours could be used for catching up. But that monumental errort resulted in unappreciative remarks from my kids such as, "Why are you being so mean...? You could be NICER..." And, to add insult to injury, my husband agreed with THEM?!
Still, my husband saw how hard I was trying and wanted to come up with a way to help me; "Maybe you should call a concierge service and pay someone to do some of this stuff for you."
My first thought was, "No, I want to do it myself. Another person couldn't do it the way I do. Besides, it's too expensive." A few days later, totally exhausted, I reconsidered. "Well, maybe I could try it once, and stop if it doesn't work out."
It's now the fall of 2006; Sandra Dye of Capitol Concierge has been helping me for the past three years. She does my grocery shopping and errands. She does them the same way I would, sometimes better. How? She's a keen observer and a fast study. Over a short period of time, she learns what brands we buy at HEB, how ripe we like our fruit, which style of clothes my kids will joyfully take off the hanger and wear.
At the outset, I was specific in my lists of groceries and errands. Three years later, she knows what to get without my having to describe much. My grocery list is saved in Microsoft word; all I do is change quantities on it each week, and make some additions or deletions. I send Sandra a second list of weekly errands. It includes: locating and purchasing items for school, for after-school activities, for my spouse, for me or for the house, finding gifts and wrapping them, mailing packages at the post office, picking up RX's, framing photos, taking clothes to/from the cleaners, meeting workmen at our home and even shopping for clothes.
Sandra has shown me how to save money on groceries, gifts and clothes. She's smart. She has a well develped ability to put herself in another person's shoes and shop for the person's style. She is also resourceful - she's brought me catalogues with ideas for children's clothes, gifts, varieties of cards (get well, Birthday, thank you, etc.) which are beautiful and cheaper than what I used to buy. (I don't use Hallmark much these days).
Sandra is also a creative, warm woman. My two children (ages seven and eleven) both love her. She's baked cookies, made tie-dyed shirts, played games with them.... Occasionally I've asked Sandra to pick them up from school and drive them to activities or take care of them at home. You know how kids sense when someone likes children? My two feel Sandra's kindness and enthusiasm and bask in it.
I highly recommend giving Capitol Concierge a try. May it improve your life and your family members' lives, as significantly as it has improved mine and ours.
Janet