The prime minister’s wife Cherie Blair had one in the form of Carole Caplin, and Mail reporter Chris Bentley used one to do his Christmas shopping.
Here he describes what it is like to have a lifestyle assistant at hand!
Creating a balance between money and time in this busy world is becoming increasingly tricky - it is often the case that someone with too much time never has enough money and those earning a fortune never have the time.
In fact, time has been hailed as the new money and anything - or anyone – who can save the rushing masses a few hours here and there is becoming big business.
Chores and errands have to be done on top of increasing hours spent at work, leaving little or no time to spend with loved ones.
Taking time out is a luxury many people find increasingly difficult to indulge in. And in the run up to Christmas, the buying of cards and Christmas trees, combined with decorating, makes relaxation impossible for many.
So, the Mail sought the services of Surrey lifestyle management company Personal Equilibrium and asked it to help with the unenviable task of present buying.
The idea of employing a lifestyle assistant is becoming more appealing to those people whose ‘to do’ lists would be more appropriately named ‘haven’t done’ lists.
A couple of decades ago, personal life assistants were the preserve of American cigar-smoking fat-cats, at a time when British yuppies were still waking up to the mornings of their heyday.
But a handful of British companies have now moved the personal assistant role from the office to the home , creating the personal lifestyle manager.
Encouraging people not to be put off by an American precedent, lifestyle manager Jane Burridge stressed saving time was not an option available exclusively in the United States.
“We see a real requirement in the market for this kind of service,” she added.
Jane’s Chobham-based concierge service can help out with almost any task imaginable, as long as it is legal and ethical. Paying a bill, mowing a lawn, house-sitting and organising a wedding can all be arranged.
“We focus upon people’s domestic and personal needs,” said Jane, who wants to expand the appeal of the service.
“We’re trying to get the idea out of the realms of the City finance high-flyers with the telephone number salary,” she added.
To reduce my long list of Christmas presents to buy, I asked Jane to buy gifts for four family members and friends, each of a different generation.
All she needed from me was a short description of the person and their interests to help her come up with ideas. A day later, Jane called with a long list of suggestions for each person – all within my budget and entirely plausible.
I selected four presents: for my grandmother, Mandarin oranges in orange liquer made by a small craft company (£10.95); for my father, a miniature time projector developed by the Science Museum (£7.99); for a male friend, a pair of novelty The Simpsons bottle openers (£9.99 each) and for a small child, a set of see-in-the-dark spy goggles (£9.99).
After two days the presents, pictured above with Jane, had been bought and were ready to be wrapped, although the company can do this too for a small extra charge. The stress of fighting for pavement space on the last Saturday before Christmas had been successfully avoided.
Favouring “the local artisan”, the company holds a growing database of reputable suppliers and service providers. Should you need to organise the refitting of a kitchen, Jane can call around three companies for quotes to carry out this work, while a house-sitter will oversee the whole operation.
Jane, who previously worked at a senior level for a technology firm, used her own life experience to set up Personal Equilibrium. Having grown tired of the “corporate hamster wheel”, she took early retirement.
“I was working long hours and my husband and I would never see each other,” she said.
It was that background which made me realise there must be a lot of people in that situation. Working very long and stressful hours is not good for people. We can save them time and hassle.
“When you have free time you don’t want to be doing chores. We try to do whatever makes sense to make the clients life easier.
“Once people start using us they realise there is so much we can do for them.”
And Personal Equilibrium’s motto ‘We are here when you need us’ may bring relief to the ears of many customers over Christmas.
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