Looking for info on home care services for seniors

This might be a bit of a tangent for this sub, but I figured this is where the real experts hang out who could actually give me some solid advice.

So, here’s the deal: a buddy of mine asked for a hand finding someone to help look after two elderly folks who have some mobility issues. They’ve already got the medical side of things and meal prep totally covered—what they really need is someone to tackle the daily grind, stuff like:

- house cleaning (bathrooms, toilets, dusting, windows, floors, all that good stuff...)
- tidying up (making beds, laundry management...)
- doing the dishes
- washing and ironing clothes
- grocery runs
- pharmacy trips if needed
- hitting up the post office (to handle bills and such)

We figured they don't need a full-time presence, just maybe three days a week—say Monday, Wednesday, and Friday—for about four hours each session to spread the workload out. That works out to roughly 13 or 14 days a month. And honestly, he’s not looking for any of those shady "caregiver for inheritance" schemes you see in The New York Times headlines like "we will care for your elderly loved one in exchange for property"—he just wants a reliable person with a clear checklist who gets a steady monthly paycheck.

I'm trying to wrap my head around the math—how much should a service like this run per month? Is an hourly rate of $8.25 way off base, or does that sound about right for this kind of work? At that rate, we're looking at roughly $467 a month.

If anyone here has experience either hiring help like this or working as a caregiver themselves, I’m all ears—any insights would be awesome! 🙂

$8.25 The hourly rate isn't too bad, seems pretty realistic.
My husband's grandparents went through this exact same thing. It took us three tries to finally find someone reliable... people just seem to assume that once you hit 70, you're basically blind and deaf.
Good luck with the search!

Regarding your request about helping out some seniors... if you haven't found anyone yet, I’m more than happy to put my name in the ring. I actually have a degree in economics, but I decided to pivot careers and I've been working as a medical massage therapist for four years now. I'm thirty-two, married, and living over in the depot area of Chicago. Since my mornings are wide open, I think we could definitely work out a schedule that makes sense (depending on where exactly they're located in the city).
Tanya F. G.
Please reach out to me via email at:
tanja.fg@gmail.com

Sophia White said:This might be a bit of a tangent for this sub, but I figured this is where the real experts hang out who could actually give me some solid advice.

So, here’s the deal: a buddy of mine asked for a hand finding someone to help look after two elderly folks who have some mobility issues. They’ve already got the medical side of things and meal prep totally covered—what they really need is someone to tackle the daily grind, stuff like:

- house cleaning (bathrooms, toilets, dusting, windows, floors, all that good stuff...)
- tidying up (making beds, laundry management...)
- doing the dishes
- washing and ironing clothes
- grocery runs
- pharmacy trips if needed
- hitting up the post office (to handle bills and such)

We figured they don't need a full-time presence, just maybe three days a week—say Monday, Wednesday, and Friday—for about four hours each session to spread the workload out. That works out to roughly 13 or 14 days a month. And honestly, he’s not looking for any of those shady "caregiver for inheritance" schemes you see in The New York Times headlines like "we will care for your elderly loved one in exchange for property"—he just wants a reliable person with a clear checklist who gets a steady monthly paycheck.

I'm trying to wrap my head around the math—how much should a service like this run per month? Is an hourly rate of $8.25 way off base, or does that sound about right for this kind of work? At that rate, we're looking at roughly $467 a month.

If anyone here has experience either hiring help like this or working as a caregiver themselves, I’m all ears—any insights would be awesome! 🙂