By

CBSNews /

CBS/ October 9, 2010, 9:52 AM

Try Personal Services - on a Budget

If you think having a personal chef, personal assistant, personal trainer or personal shopper is only for the rich and famous -- think again! The Internet is now making many of these decedent services available at affordable prices or completely free.

On "The Early Show on Saturday Morning," Farnoosh Torabi, a personal finance expert and author of "Psych Yourself Rich," shared some websites/services that can simplify your life and handle many of the daily tasks people commonly hire others to do.

Personal Housekeeper
Average cost for service in the "real world": $300 to $500 a week
Our Suggestion: Alice.com
Cost: Free

When a celeb runs low on toilet paper, they can send out a personal assistant to pick some up. And, now, you sort of can too. Alice.com (like alice from "The Brady Bunch") won't make your bead and clean your bathroom, but it will keep track of and organize all your home essentials (everything from groceries to toilet paper to toothpaste), orders them when you're low and delivers to your door. It ships for free directly from the manufacturer offering a major savings that way (20 percentoff compared to other online stores). It's a great way to save on bulk purchases and gas. Alice.com also has an iPhone app so you can tell it what you need when you're on the go.

Personal Chef
Approx. cost in the "real world": up to $400 a week for 4-5 meals for a family of four, which includes buying food and preparing catered meals
Our Suggestion: PersonalChefToGo.com
Cost: $85 for 4 dinners/4 nights/ 4 people (2 adults, 2 kids) -- this is a starting price for the family option

But a site like PersonalChefToGo.com delivers fancy meals to your doorstep, which you can later heat to serve for a fraction of the price. It's like having your own personal nutritionist and chef without the hefty fees. This site offers meals services/plans for just about anyone Busy Singles; Couples on the Go; or their Family Favorites menu. We really liked the family menu and found it to be so affordable. This plan starts at $85 and for that you get dinner for four people (2 adults, 2 kids) for four nights that week. You can also double that option if your family is bigger. Either way this is a great option for families, espescially with working Mom & Dads who want a gourmet home cooked meal to serve up. Shipping is not included in the $85.

Personal Assistant
Average cost in the "real world": a salary with benefits ($20,000 to $25,000 a year or more)
Our Suggestion: AskSunday.com
2 Plans: Dedicated Assistant & 24/7 Assistance
Cost: Various, packages begin at $37
Average cost for service: a salary with benefits

Instead, try AskSunday.com. Personal assistants used to work only for the rich and famous. Not anymore. Sign up at AskSunday.com and have the site's virtual secretaries do tasks for you, like schedule doctor's appointments, set up dinner reservations or give you a wake-up call even if you are on a trip around the world. Sunday has even helped its customers sort through their hectic dating schedules by searching personal ads on Craigslist and canceling unwanted dates.

Personal Trainer
Average Cost in the "real world": $60/$70 + per hour on average
Our Suggestion: MyHomePersonalTrainer.com
Cost: Free

If you want a personal trainer without an expensive hourly fee-try MyHomePersonalTrainer.com, which was a top pick on Good Housekeeping's list of fitness websites. A free basic account gets you access to a diet analyst, workout routines, video exercises, calorie tracker, etc.

Personal Shopper/Stylist
Average cost for service in the "real world": anywhere from $20 an hour to more than $1,000, depending on expertise & experience
Our Suggestion: ShopStyle.com
Cost: Free service

ShopStyle is a fashion search and social shopping site that brings together all your favorite stores and brands in one place. ShopStyle includes over 350 of retailers and many thousands of brands, covering every price point with stores like J. Crew, Nordstrom, and Barneys New York. In addition to simply finding the items now, you can also set Sale Alerts, which will email you when an item you like goes on sale. You can also setup sale alerts for favorite brands (e.g. DVF dress in size 8).ShopStyle also lets you play the stylist. Each user has a stylebook where they can store favorites and create looks combining items from across all our stores into an outfit or trend. The looks created serves as inspiration for other shoppers in the community and can easily be shared with friends, posted to a blog, or included on your Facebook page. Users have created hundreds of thousands of looks on ShopStyle with a vibrant community of fashionistas rating, commenting, and shopping from these looks and stylebooks.
Copyright 2010 CBS. All rights reserved.
12 Comments Add a Comment
linkicon reporticon emailicon
joanna008 says:
I work for <a href="http://www.dailypa.co.uk/">dailyPA.co.uk</a>. We provide virtual personal assistants in the UK. Our clients tend to outsource admin, digital marketing, social media, general business tasks & personal chores. Our clients are mostly small & medium sized companies, as well as busy individuals like financial advisers, IT consultants and entrepreneurs. Our <a href="http://www.dailypa.co.uk/">personal assistants</a> are all UK based & client data is protected by UK law. We assign a dedicated <a href="http://www.dailypa.co.uk/">personal assistant</a> who works like an employee that the client knows & trusts (but at a fraction of the cost of a part-time employee) &amp; enables them to spend their time on the things that really matter. If anyone needs a <a href="http://www.dailypa.co.uk/">virtual personal assistant</a> in the UK, my company <a href="http://www.dailypa.co.uk/">dailyPA.co.uk</a> would be delighted to assist.
reply
linkicon reporticon emailicon
biaorenzhen says:
<Strong>Why you need a beats headphone ?</Strong>

"Monst People aren't hearing all the music" --- <A href=http://www.studio-earphone.com> Dr.Dre</A>

buy beats studio earphone from www.studio-earphone.com

Artists and producers work hard in the <A href=http://www.studio-earphone.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=6>studio perfection</A> their sound, But most people can not really hear it with <A href=http://www.studio-earphone.com>normal earphones</A>. other <A href=http://www.studio-earphone.com>brands earphones</A> can not handle the bass, yes they not be good in bass sound, and the detail the dynamics, Bottom line, so that the music doesn't move you. Choose <A href=http://www.studio-earphone.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=6> beats headphones</A>, let your ears enjoy soothing sounds, If you have beats headphones, you are going to hear as same as the artists hear, and listen to the music they way they should they way i do.
reply
linkicon reporticon emailicon
biaorenzhen says:
Beats headphones let you enjoy high quality of hearing, Beatsby dr.dre headphones by monster cable from Dr. Dre at WEB: www.studio-earphone.com
Beats Studio high definition powered isolation headphones
Artists and producers spend countless hours fine-tuning and mixing music to get it exactly how they want their fans to hear it. But the vast majority of headphones can't accurately reproduce the intricacies produced in the studio. Simply put,Studios can. With precision-engineered, advanced speaker design, powered amplification, and powered noise cancellation, you hear music the way today's top artists and producers want you to hear.
Beats Pro high performance professional headphones
Attention sound engineers, DJs, musicians, and hard core music lovers: Beats Pro Headphone is the reference headphone designed by audio professionals for audio professionals. Particularly, those who prefer a clean yet forceful sound. Built from strong yet lightweight aluminum for rugged use on-the-go, flip up ear cups let you monitor the room without taking Beats Pro off your head. And dual input/output cable ports enable you to share mixes by daisy-chaining headphones
Beats Solo high performance On-Ear Headphones
The music you listen to in your headphones should capture all the sonic details the artist wanted you to hear. But normal headphones can't deliver the rich, full sound in today's digital audio tracks, especially not smaller, lightweight headphones. But Solos high performance headphones, which are designed for today's active lifestyles, deliver sound so real, you'll be amazed it's all coming from something so compact and portable.
reply
linkicon reporticon emailicon
biaorenzhen says:
<font color=Red>
<H2>
<A href=http://www.studio-earphone.com/beats-by-dr-dre-studio.html > Beats headphones</A> </H2>
</font>
let you enjoy high quality of hearing, <H2> <A href=http://www.studio-earphone.com>Beatsby dr.dre headphones Free shipping</A></H2> by monster cable from Dr. Dre at WEB: www.studio-earphone.com
<P> Beats studio high definition powered isolation headphones Artists and producers spend countless hours fine-tuning and mixing music to get it exactly how they want their fans to hear it. But the vast majority of headphones can't accurately reproduce the intricacies produced in the studio. Simply put,Studios can. With precision-engineered, advanced speaker design, powered amplification, and powered noise cancellation, you hear music the way today's top artists and producers want you to hear. <P>

<H3> <A href=http://www.studio-earphone.com/beats-by-dre-heart-beats.html > Lady gaga Heart Beats earphone</A></H3>
Music pop diva Lady Gaga to the avant-garde dress and a strange shape in the limelight, Many shapes and costumes are personally designed by Gaga sister, to see its brilliant.
Now, Gaga, not only for herself own design clothes, and also want to bring Gaga-style fashion, launched its own the the Headphones HeartBeats (heartbeat2.0), modeling is still avant-garde.
The Lady Gaga headphones appearance of course, continued the sister Gaga's style - "Do not take the unusual way". The appearance of independent, bright bright side, irregular triangles give this headset different from other traditional headphones.
reply
linkicon reporticon emailicon
GABelle says:
Oh dear! You need a new fact checker. I just left the website personalcheftogo.com and the family price you have listed is incorrect. The family menu option gives 2 options. Option 1 is for 8 servings (4 meals, 2 servings) for $85. Option 2 is for 16 servings (4 meals, 4 servings) "add $80."

A family will be better off by buying a good slow-cooker and a cookbook.
reply
linkicon reporticon emailicon
GABelle says:
Oh dear! You need a new fact checker. I just left the website personalcheftogo.com and the family price you have listed is incorrect. The family menu option gives 2 options. Option 1 is for 8 servings (4 meals, 2 servings) for $85. Option 2 is for 16 servings (4 meals, 4 servings) "add $80."

A family will be better off by buying a good slow-cooker and a cookbook.
reply
linkicon reporticon emailicon
DeniseFitness says:
http://www.myhomepersonaltrainer.net/
reply
linkicon reporticon emailicon
LJMonticello says:
I tried to access the MyHomePersonalTrainer.com account and it won't let me. I am disappointed with this. what gives?
reply
DeniseFitness replies:
linkicon reporticon emailicon
It should be ".net" http://www.myhomepersonaltrainer.net/ CBS, please fix these errors!! Took me 15 minutes to get in.
linkicon reporticon emailicon
e62baker says:
The Personal Training link has a typo (missing the e after home) - should be http://www.myhomepersonaltrainer.com/
reply
LJMonticello replies:
linkicon reporticon emailicon
thanks
linkicon reporticon emailicon
RMTTexas says:
I was not happy this morning to hear the comment about masseuses! One person said that they would want a masseuse for their personal service and other person said hahahha/wink - you can find that online. The massage therapy business is a PROFESSIONAL business. Anything else is not part of our business and should be dealt with accordingly. Please be as professional as I am and do not malign a whole industry.
reply
See all 12 Comments
Scroll Left Scroll Right