A friend of mine a couple of months ago was trying to find wedding venues, but she was too busy with her international work travel. She told me about this great online service, Fancy Hands, that was helping her research venues and set up appointments to see different places (at a much cheaper price than a wedding planner).
With three full time work contracts, a toddler, a newborn, and loads of international travel, I am looking to outsource just about anything I can these days, so I was pretty excited to check out the service. There are different plans, and I chose the one that costs $45 per month, for which I receive 15 tasks that I request help with.
In the past month or so, I have requested help with the following tasks:
– Arrange a large enough SUV taxi for two adults and two children with car seats and enough room for 4-5 large suitcases to pick me up and take me to Chicago O’Hare. Please call and confirm the taxi will be on its way an hour before scheduled pick-up.
– Identify a 3 bedroom apartment for a two week stay in Colombo, Sri Lanka that has an outdoor kids’ play space, indoor gym, swimming pool, and is close to the Grand Cinnamon Hotel where my other work colleagues will be staying.
– Identify options where I can buy toys for my two year old in Haiti and leave them there with a local organization (such as identifying organizations that assist children in need where I can donate her toys after she is finished playing with them there).
– Find the cheapest and most direct flights from Colombo, Sri Lanka to Nairobi, Kenya around May 5 (with flexibility in dates).
– Call Etihad Airways, request a bassinet seat in the bulkhead for both flights to Cochin, India, and confirm Asian vegetarian meals for all passengers. Also merge my reservation with my husband’s who currently has a separate reservation and make sure he is sitting with us. Make sure he has aisle seats so he isn’t super grumpy to travel with, and please have Etihad email him a confirmation with his specific aisle seat assignments.
– Identify the hardware knobs (picture attached) on my existing kitchen cabinets so I can order matching ones for my new cabinets in my pantry, then order them and have them shipped to my address.
I have used up all of my 15 tasks per month for a slew of help with travel arrangements and confirmations. It is worth every penny of my $45 per month. It is super easy to email in a quick request, and I can, for example, just attach a travel reservation document rather than taking the type to explain in the email. The people on the other end are VERY responsive, quick, and they know their stuff. The few times where I wasn’t quite satisfied with the response/ choices given, they responded quickly to my satisfaction.
Fancy Hands has probably saved me at least 40 hours of my time in assisting with arrangements and logistics over the past month or so. That is HUGE, as it lets me focus my time instead on my work and more importantly, on my kids.
If you are a busy traveling parent, Fancy Hands is a huge help! If you are a busy parent at home, Fancy Hands is still a huge help! Do you want them to set up a dentist appointment for your kid? Research birthday party venues? Find the best nanny options in town? Find a dog sitter? They can help, and they are totally on top of it! Weddings, parties, travel, work assistance, home assistance…Fancy Hands is the next best thing to “mother’s little helper,” or even better. They certainly have helped me from losing my mind in the past few weeks!
Check them out, busy parents- if you want to take them for a spin it’s $25 for 5 tasks over a month! And no, they did not pay me to write this blog. I just really, really love them and they have made my life infinitely easier!