Category Archives: Shopping

Give a Tracy Helps You Gift Certificate to Your Mom This Mother’s Day

It’s May in Chicagoland ~ we are slowly but surely starting to get a taste of spring time warmth 🙂 May also means Mother’s Day to us Americans.

This year marks the 100^th anniversary of the observance of Mother’s Day. In 1914, President Woodrow Wilson signed a measure officially establishing the second Sunday in May as Mother’s Day.

We honor our mothers with gifts and cards. Flowers seem to be a particularly popular gift. Many families treat Mom like a queen on Mother’s Day … treating her to breakfast in bed and a day of relaxation by taking over her usual household duties for the day. Many families go out to share a meal together.

Speaking as a mother, and I’m pretty sure I speak for most (if not all) mothers, I think one of the most wonderful gifts to receive is the gift of time spent with my family. Just spending time together, reminiscing and making new memories together is the best way to spend the day <3

This week, while you are making your Mother’s Day plans and choosing the perfect gift ~ remember that your Mom deserves to be pampered and treated more often than just on the holidays. While you are with her this weekend, maybe helping her out with some chores around her house, give her a Tracy Helps You gift certificate. It’s like giving her the gift of free time. Everyone needs some free time / me time, especially Mothers. Sometimes, Moms can sometimes feel a little guilty about taking some time for themselves in their busy life. There is always so much to get done. While I am taking care of stuff on her To-Do List, she can be relaxing without worrying about things not getting done … she will love it 🙂

This week, in honor of Mother’s Day, I’m offering a special rate for Gift Certificates ~ 3 hour for $50 … contact me 🙂

Tracy Helps You ~ Your Personal Assistant for Shopping & Running Errands

Would you like to have a wife?? No, this isn’t a marriage proposal. What I meant was, wouldn’t be nice to have a partner / someone to help out with some of your household duties?? How about someone to run those time-consuming, never ending errands??

I got a chuckle one day last week when I rang the doorbell at my client’s house. I was returning from running her weekly errands and grocery shopping. She opened the door with a smile and said, “Yay … my ‘wife’ is home”. It was too funny 🙂 Continue reading →

Let Tracy Helps You Help With Your Next Party ~ Graduation, Birthday or Shower … it’s up to you !!

What do birthdays, graduations, weddings, and babies all have in common? They all are celebrated with a party !! Spring and Summer are filled with fun parties to celebrate a graduation, a baby shower, a wedding, a confirmation, a birthday, an anniversary, and family reunions ~ just to name a few (okay – more than a few). Our calendars fill up fast with party invitations.

Throwing a party is a lot of work … picking the best date, making the guest list, getting the invitations sent out (digitally or by snail mail), planning the menu, house cleaning, shopping, cooking and preparation, decorating, and of course, the clean-up. Like I said, it’s a lot of work ~ fun work ~ but work none the less.

I love throwing parties … I love the planning … I love being the hostess, but I also love the moment, after all the clean-up is finished that I get to sit down and put my feet up 🙂 It is such a good feeling !

Tracy Helps You can get you to the “put your feet up and relax” stage of hosting a party sooner. Let us be your assistant hostess. We can help with any stage of your party. We can do the shopping for you, or help with the decorating. We can be the “kitchen help” during the party. We can keep the trays of food full, top off the bowls of chips and dip. We can stay ahead of all the dirty dishes that come with hosting a party. An extra pair of hands definitely makes the work easier 🙂

Wouldn’t it be wonderful if you actually had time to enjoy visiting and catching up with your friends and family, knowing that everything was running smoothly “behind the scenes”? Plus, after you’ve said your good byes to your last guest, imagine the feeling of walking into a clean kitchen … as opposed to a pile of dirty dishes to do and bags of trash to take out.

Hire Tracy Helps You as your assistant hostess for your next party … you won’t be sorry 🙂

Polar Vortex, Round Two – Do You Have A Fully Stocked Freezer and Pantry ??

Well, it’s another freezing cold day in the Chicagoland area. They are calling it the second wave of the Polar Vortex we experienced a couple of weeks ago. Although it’s not as extreme as the harsh sub-zero wind chill temperatures we had on January 6^th, it’s still frigid. They were also saying that we have already had more snow accumulation than the yearly average and its only January … there’s still a lot of winter left.

I went to Wal-Mart yesterday afternoon to pick up a few things. It was really crowded … all the checkout lines were full. It kinda felt like Christmas shopping dejavue. While I was waiting in line, I overheard some people commenting on having to stock up on groceries so they wouldn’t have to go out in the extreme weather that was coming.

I looked in my cart … fish food, razors, shampoo and printer paper. No last minute food items were there, because I try to always have my pantry and freezer stocked. I’ve always been this way. I think I must have learned it from my Grandma (who raised me). I’m not totally sure, but I do remember her saying something to the effect of “ TP is not something you ever want to run out of “ … haha … and I totally agree with her 🙂

I like to have the replacement item on a shelf somewhere, ready and waiting … be it TP or shampoo. My motto is “Its better to have it and not need it than to need it and not have it”.

I can’t afford to just go out and buy enough food to fully stock the freezer and pantry, so I’ve come up with a couple of ideas that have worked for me:

I try to take advantage of BOGO (buy one, get one free) sales. It’s even better for my budget if I can use coupons 🙂
Shopping in bulk at stores like Costco or Sam’s Club has helped me build up a back-up supply.
When I cook dinner, I try to make a double batch of the recipe, and then freeze half of it for a future meal.

I consider my family to be truly blessed that we are able to have plenty of food to eat. Knowing my pantry and freezer are full gives me peace of mind knowing that if the weather is extreme, or if we get sick, no one has to run out to the store.

I hope my ideas and tips are helpful to you … I’d love to hear some of your thoughts 🙂

Tips and Ideas for Homemade Christmas Gifts

Most everyone loves to receive a homemade gift for the Holidays … especially an edible one ♥

Speaking for myself, I appreciate the time and effort that that someone put into making the gift for me. It’s like an expression of loving care.

I like giving homemade cookies and candies as Christmas gifts. Many times, several gifts come from one batch of your recipe. This tip can save time and money … a win–win scenrio.

In the past, I’ve made homemade Hot Cocoa Mix and paired it with a holiday theme mug. Giving mini loafs of pumpkin or banana bread has always been a hit.

This year I’m making layered mason jar mixes. I was thinking about doing the basic tollhouse chocolate chip recipe (who doesn’t love chocolate chip cookies??) but then I thought, hmmn, lots of people make a New Years Resolution to eat healthy, so I decided to make some bean soup layered jars. I think it will be a great way to keep warm and be healthy during the long winter months.

I also like doing crafts, and I like giving some of my completed projects as Christmas gifts. There is a long list, but here are some of my favorites: knitted scarf, handmade cards, ornaments, or earrings 🙂

The library has tons of books for homemade gifts, as well as, Pinterest. I’m sure your family and friends will love getting your heartfelt homemade gift ♥

Grocery Shopping ~ People Either Love It Or Loathe It

I know, I’m weird, but I really like to go grocery shopping. Love may be bit too strong a word, it is after all a household chore, but I do enjoy it. What about you, given the choice would you take it or leave it?

I like making a shopping list of all the ingredients I need to prepare the meals I have planned for the coming week. I like looking through the sales papers trying to find which store has the best prices for the items I need. I like sorting through my (hopefully not expired) coupons. I just love finding a great deal. Continue reading →

Holiday Gift Shopping During Back-To-School Sales

Its September … schools are back in session, fall routines and schedules are falling into place, calendar dates are filling up fast … and there are only 112(ish) shopping days left til Christmas !!

As you probably know, I love having a plan for everything I do. I would just love to have an organized plan for the whole hectic holiday season; more fun and family, less stress and chaos. I’ll talk about this more in a future blog post. Continue reading →

photo by: ell brown

Back to School ~ Homeschool Planning

Being a planner at heart, I just love this time of year! I love seeing all the sale ads for the back to school supplies and getting homeschool curriculum catalogs in the mail. It’s fun talking with other parents about what has worked for them in the past and what new approach they’ll be trying this year. Yes, I love the preparation / planning for the beginning of a new school year!

In my mind, organizing and planning go hand in hand. It’s like giving stability to an idea; like having a firmly rooted plant that can grow many different branches. You start with what you would like to see happen ideally, and then hammer out the logistics to come up with a workable plan. Your original idea can take off in many different directions, taking on an entirely different form. Continue reading →