Being at home is more than just being at home

Whether you’re housewife, stay-at-home dad or you work from home, it’s never just being at home.

During the day the home is a hive of activity and often it’s no more than a base we return to, to drop stuff off before heading out again.

Take an average day in our house…

• • Empty dishwasher – a job nobody wants to do
  • Breakfast for children
  • Feed dogs
  • Packed lunches
  • Find lost socks/jumper/bag/coat [delete as applicable]
  • Drop children at school
  • Put first load of washing on
  • Walk dogs
  • Hang up first load of washing
  • Put on second load of washing
  • Clean kitchen
  • Clean bathroom
  • Hang up second load of washing
  • Lunch

And on it goes until the end of the day, when you’re left looking at the clock thinking “where did the time go?”

If you’re a mum/dad working from home you might have to fit all that in around your workday. If you’re a new parent, add a sprinkling of nappy changes, tantrums, nap times and feeds… all as you’re about to leave the house (especially the nappy changes).

Home – schedule – stress

Packing everything into a standard day is tricky – it’s no wonder we’re stressed.

Now, what if you need to squeeze in an appointment too? That carefully-crafted schedule is about to go out of the window.

Let’s pretend something has come up and there’s a rare chance to go out at the weekend. What do you do now?

Taking a haircut as an example, you might try to make an appointment with a favourite stylist. But what if they haven’t got any free appointments this week… or next.

Do you phone around trying to find someone else or do you hope for a cancellation?

If you phone around, how many hairdressers do you try before you give up? If you go on the dreaded waiting list, it’s hit or miss whether you will ever get an appointment.

How much of our time is taken up trying to rearrange our lives around when a business can ‘fit you in’?

Squeeze just one more thing in? Why not?

We cram so much into a single day and it’s easy for time to get away from us; the last thing we want is to try and fit around someone else’s schedule, when it’s all we can do to keep to our own.

Life is busy and it can be hard to keep hold of things.

Take Jung-a Kim Kelly. Her husband, Professor Robert Kelly was doing a live feed with the BBC, which she was proudly recording on her phone in another room… and then she noticed her children also appearing on live TV.

Take a bow Mrs Kelly, the real star of the clip below (especially when she tries to close the door without being noticed). Marion (four) comes a close second.

It’s all about to change

The me:now app only shows you the services you’re looking for, based on the day and time they’re available.

If your favourite stylist is using me:now you’ll know when they have free slots or if they have a cancellation. No more ringing around.

The app will be available to download very soon, and if your favourite hairdresser, dog groomer/walker, cleaner, electrician, plumber or mechanic downloads it too, then you’ll both save a lot of time.

B