Pay someone to plan your holidays for you!

[FireLane]

Here's the latest example of capitalism selling you a service to fix the problems created by capitalism: I got this junk mail from Yohana, a "concierge service" that lets you pay someone to plan your holiday parties, decorations, meals and vacations for you. All for the low price of $250 a month!





To be clear, they don't perform any of these services, much less pay for them. All you get for your money is someone to make bookings and appointments for you. You still have to pay the caterers, restaurants, airlines, hotels, tradespeople, and whoever else actually delivers the services.

I'm guessing this is meant to appeal to overly-busy rich people with more money than time. In that case, the solution is obvious: work less, save more, and throw your own parties, instead of paying someone to stage the perfect life you don't have because you're at work all the damn time!

Also, I don't see what incentive the "concierges" have to find you the best value or the highest quality, especially since they're getting paid a flat rate. I'm assuming that working for them is a call-center job or equivalent, and if you started demanding tasks that took many hours of work to set up, I'm guessing the level of service would drop off rapidly...

[Villanelle]

I note "tree and decoration disposal" (emphasis mine) in that list.  I was absolutely astounded when I learned there are people who just buy (or have someone else shop for for them) all new holiday decor each year.  Then come January, it all goes in the trash or is donated to a thrift store.  Every.  Year.  I guess with this service you can pay to have them find someone to pay to sop for the decor you pay for every year.  What a deal!

[ChickenStash]

I must admit, I'm rather impressed someone turned that into a business - or is trying to, at least. Pretty clever.

[Metalcat]

So basically a virtual personal assistant, but just for the holidays?

Random

[CrustyBadger]

So basically a virtual personal assistant, but just for the holidays?

Random

Not just for the holidays, but they are using holiday stress to try to lure people in.

Found this review/discussion online on reddit:
https://www.reddit.com/r/Reviews/comments/ylb4vi/yohana_personalfamily_assistant_review_october/

[Metalcat]

So basically a virtual personal assistant, but just for the holidays?

Random

Not just for the holidays, but they are using holiday stress to try to lure people in.

Found this review/discussion online on reddit:
https://www.reddit.com/r/Reviews/comments/ylb4vi/yohana_personalfamily_assistant_review_october/

Ah, gotcha.

I'm a big fan of virtual personal assistants and recommend them to a lot of my high income colleagues/clients, especially to help support their spouses, who are usually the ones doing primary childcare.

I think I've saved a few marriages along the way.

[CrustyBadger]

The company popped up in my Facebook feed a few weeks ago and I admit I looked into it.  As the poster I linked to on Reddit said, they were useful for wrangling doctors and dentist appointments for a family. I could use help like that, if it were competent help, because these days it can take forever to call doctor's offices on the phone and make appointments; and then I have to schedule around my different family member's complex needs. So someone who could actually help with that *might* be useful, especially if they were useful for other things.

But whenever people start using the words "source" and "curate", it makes my skin itch. The mean do a Google Search and probably read some Yelp reviews, if you are lucky.  And if it is true that the company is no longer hiring local virtual assistance with knowledge of the community, but is trying to find workers abroad, I really don't think they will be very useful at all.

[Catbert]

Every time I see a reference to a virtual assistant, I think of the book "Where'd You Go, Bernadette" by Maria Semple.  The protagonist used a very helpful virtual assistant to run her life and eventually plan a major vacation .  Turned out the nice helpful Indian woman was actually a Russian male scammer who maxed out all her credit cards.  YMMV

[RWTL]

I'll do it for you for $200 per month!

[calimom]

Every time I see a reference to a virtual assistant, I think of the book "Where'd You Go, Bernadette" by Maria Semple.  The protagonist used a very helpful virtual assistant to run her life and eventually plan a major vacation .  Turned out the nice helpful Indian woman was actually a Russian male scammer who maxed out all her credit cards.  YMMV

I loved that book! And the movie was pretty true to the source material it seemed.

Part of my business is doing holiday decor for my commercial clients. I have one residential client who is connected to the commercial base (her husband owns 2 car dealerships and they also have a small office building) Every year she wants a new "look", is happy to pay for it and I'm happy to provide it. I simply recycle the previous year's ornaments into my inventory for a complete win/win.

[RainyDay]

I note "tree and decoration disposal" (emphasis mine) in that list.  I was absolutely astounded when I learned there are people who just buy (or have someone else shop for for them) all new holiday decor each year.  Then come January, it all goes in the trash or is donated to a thrift store.  Every.  Year.  I guess with this service you can pay to have them find someone to pay to sop for the decor you pay for every year.  What a deal!

This amazes me.  I always figured the Fancy People had big basements so they could store all that decorative stuff.  I'm just floored that people would be so wasteful and just throw it all out!! 

[A1Jackass]

I note "tree and decoration disposal" (emphasis mine) in that list.  I was absolutely astounded when I learned there are people who just buy (or have someone else shop for for them) all new holiday decor each year.  Then come January, it all goes in the trash or is donated to a thrift store.  Every.  Year.  I guess with this service you can pay to have them find someone to pay to sop for the decor you pay for every year.  What a deal!

This amazes me.  I always figured the Fancy People had big basements so they could store all that decorative stuff.  I'm just floored that people would be so wasteful and just throw it all out!!

I like to go to estate sales in rich neighborhoods and it amazes me how many Christmas decorations some of these giant houses contain. So, I know most of them don't throw it out regularly

[TheGrimSqueaker]

I note "tree and decoration disposal" (emphasis mine) in that list.  I was absolutely astounded when I learned there are people who just buy (or have someone else shop for for them) all new holiday decor each year.  Then come January, it all goes in the trash or is donated to a thrift store.  Every.  Year.  I guess with this service you can pay to have them find someone to pay to sop for the decor you pay for every year.  What a deal!

This amazes me.  I always figured the Fancy People had big basements so they could store all that decorative stuff.  I'm just floored that people would be so wasteful and just throw it all out!!

I like to go to estate sales in rich neighborhoods and it amazes me how many Christmas decorations some of these giant houses contain. So, I know most of them don't throw it out regularly

My mom's family has a lot of wealthy people in it and the money is what some people call "old". She and my dad are also accredited investors in their own right. There's a consistent pattern of behavior when it comes to holiday and seasonal decorations. The things they have are high quality that are re-used from one year to the next. Some are handmade. Some are passed down from one generation to the next. There are some changes from one year to the next, to discard things that become damaged or worn out, but there's not a lot of turnover. The homes they choose tend to have more storage than average because they store seasonal things and parts of their art collections, furnishings, or tableware that aren't currently in use. Temporary, trendy things such as inflatable decorations aren't popular.

[Villanelle]

I note "tree and decoration disposal" (emphasis mine) in that list.  I was absolutely astounded when I learned there are people who just buy (or have someone else shop for for them) all new holiday decor each year.  Then come January, it all goes in the trash or is donated to a thrift store.  Every.  Year.  I guess with this service you can pay to have them find someone to pay to sop for the decor you pay for every year.  What a deal!

This amazes me.  I always figured the Fancy People had big basements so they could store all that decorative stuff.  I'm just floored that people would be so wasteful and just throw it all out!!

I like to go to estate sales in rich neighborhoods and it amazes me how many Christmas decorations some of these giant houses contain. So, I know most of them don't throw it out regularly

Oh, of course plenty of people reuse.  But a surprising number want a new "theme" each year, as though they are putting on a White House Christmas and need to impress with this year's Gingerbread theme that will top last year's "Christmas from Around the World'.  Or they've redone the living room so the red tree decor from last year no longer "goes" because the room is decorated in pink and blue now.  So everything (sometimes even including the artificial tree itself, though I think that's less common) goes out in January, and new decor arrives around Thanksgiving, every year.  I don't think this is something most people do, but it's not as rare as one might think.  Calimom posted about one such example. 

[Dicey]

We met a very nice couple who hosted a party for one of our relatives. They had thoughtfully designed and built their lovely home. Since we're home design and renovation geeks, we got the full tour at the end of the lovely event. Our delightful hostess said the one thing she wished she'd done differently was to include a closet for the Christmas tree, so she could just move the fully decorated tree in and out each year. I admit, I inwardly rolled my eyes, but in light of this conversation, perhaps it would be an excellent way to save money and time by reusing the same things over and over.

Related: I love opening the carefully packed ornaments each year. They contain scores of memory triggers, which absolutely delight me.

Regarding "Where'd You Go, Bernadette?", does she prevail in the end?

[iris lily]

I note "tree and decoration disposal" (emphasis mine) in that list.  I was absolutely astounded when I learned there are people who just buy (or have someone else shop for for them) all new holiday decor each year.  Then come January, it all goes in the trash or is donated to a thrift store.  Every.  Year.  I guess with this service you can pay to have them find someone to pay to sop for the decor you pay for every year.  What a deal!

this is my goal, disposable Holiday decor with the exception of a few strings of lights. I am tired of storing crap. So, I want all naturals adorning my house with any permenant decor to fit into a maximum of two bins.

[iris lily]

We attended a Christmas party this year where the household had 71 xmas trees. Yes they vary in size but wow, and some of the tiny ones had intricate ornaments. It is a nice but not large house, a standard split level house with a mother inlaw unit built on.

The lady of the house has a storage shed for all of the holiday decor. Of course!

[Zamboni]

I do know people who rave about their virtual personal assistants. It's not how I spend my money, but I like to spend time on self care and peace in the home.

In the mustachian theme of maximizing health and happiness while minimizing expense, the worth of it probably partly depends upon what you need done and how diligent you are are about getting it done.

For example, if you are bad at getting doctor and dentist visits and follow ups scheduled (as many people are), then it would be better for you in the long run to have a virtual assistant who makes sure it happens rather than skipping out on wellness care for many years. The latter often leads to catastrophes that ends up costing you way more money in the long run.

There are a lot of people who like things like party planning, meal planning, and vacation planning, and so this is a good business or side hustle for them.

Again, I personally would not go for it at this time and I can see many pitfalls. But when I had an assistant at work, tasks that I didn't like (and often wasn't good at since I'm a technical person with that type of education) were completed by another person. My expense reports/receipts, business travel planning, finding out when other people could meet, sorting email to delete junk, etc.) It was indeed quite valuable to me and the company overall in that context.

What if you had a part time virtual personal assistant who's entire mandate was to maximize your efficiency and lower your expenses? Someone to check on lower insurance rates, find the absolutely best deal or value on something you need to buy used, help you travel hack the best, or churn cards the best, etc? Would that be worth it?