I spent the last two years mulling over hiring an assistant, and told a friend I had $1000/mo for this in a heartbeat. Got in a fender bender without insurance (I could afford it, just never got the paperwork together), and my friend pointed out that had I gotten the assistant, they would have paid for themselves merely by mitigating the cost of that one incident.
I can totally relate to how this seemingly absurd expense is an absolute no-brainer for people like us.
Some of them do - you need to ask around. Every one of them has been lovely to me, but some are more capable of administrative and PA work than others - consider that most of them usually do work like being an orderly or care-assistant in a care home, for example).
But give it a go! You can mention in your job posting that you’re wanting to give it a try for a week at first and take it from there, for example.
No special paperwork is needed as far as I know - as it’s not the same as having a domestic-employee like a live-in nanny or au-pair.
I've also found I'm a hyper-metabolizer. Ritalin lasts about 90 minutes before crash, amphetamine about 6h, and straterra just makes me derp. There's a hysteresis effect to the crashes - topping off with more IR isn't the same as preventing a crash.
Current protocol is 15 mg Vyvanse (yes the dexamph prodrug that's supposed to last all day) when I get up around 9, another 15mg around 1300. And actually thinking about switching to 3x. All in an effort to get a really stable blood plasma. Otherwise, I turn into a zombie and can't make dinner.
Still a struggle, and side effects abound, but well worth it.
I can’t get my head round this at all.
But as I said - it literally pays for itself: say my time is worth $100/hr[1] and paid on an IRS 1099 schedule - so it’s a deductible expense. The extra 3-4 hours it gets me ($300-400) is worth the $35 opportunity cost, because that’s $5,000+ extra monthly income - so minus the $1000 as a pre-tax deductible business expense then that’s $4000 I wouldn’t have had otherwise.
Spreadsheets don’t lie!
Even if I was paid on a W-2 basis, I could probably pay for it using pre-tax money from my HSA - though that would sap all of my HSA contributions though.
[1]: Why yes, I do live on the US west-coast.
Adderal did a great job “teaching” me to stay on task. I do alright without it now, but energy level is just too low.
Diet definitely makes a huge difference. Carbs are evil. Audio books for when I need to do chores.
2) You could probably get a movie deal.
I imagine a film about kind middle-aged ladies bringing coffee to a young, possibly hungover, technology worker who suffocates on his own pillow at night would not make for good entertainment.
Although 5 years of that service (let's say minus the time I'd be on vacation) is about $40000...
Babies are the side project destroyers.
Yes - I'll sleep-in for up to 12 hours, sometimes more - which then means I won't feel tired until ~6am the following morning - or later, and then I end-up with a strange 36-hour body-clock in my head while my body feels bad.
> do yo need to be awake at such early hours or do you just not want to spend more time sleeping than you currently do?
With my current job I don't need to be up at a certain time, but I actually feel sad and it lowers my self-esteem if I sleep through daylight hours - and on the times when I miraculously do wake-up naturally at sunrise I feel a kind of satisfaction with myself.
Even so, I'm still not actually all-that productive in the mornings until the afternoon (which makes it a good time for meetings!), but I'd rather be slightly less productive than feel sad and depressed.
I can get myself to 24-hour rhythm with melatonin, which I do, but it doesn't reduce amount of sleep I need so I'm left with a shortened day.
Unfortunately, after getting used to waking up without alarm, I find getting up forcefully really painful. And I doubt it would help productivity much, because I'd be half-zombie if I do it more than 2 days in a row.
Yes. I use sites like Care.com and WellBeyondCare.com to find them.
> Are you implying you are paying a nurse to open your door and yell at you "get out of bed sleepyhead?"
They aren’t nurses. The going rate for a caregiver in the US is only slightly above minimum-wage which is awful - especially considering the “human” value of the work they do for us and our loved-ones.
> Or is your insurance paying?
I pay for it myself. A good chunk of my income is 1099-based and my CPA said I can deduct my caregiving expenses as a business expense because without their help I wouldn’t be working anywhere near as many hours as I do otherwise.
I pay them $30-35/hr - with a 1-hour minimum. They pay for themselves as far as I’m concerned.
> Do they actually drive to your house and do this?
Yes. They come-by around 6-7am and spend about 15-30 minutes with me before they go off to their main day job, so I imagine it’s a nice little (easy!) side-gig for them.
> Do they do anything else for you?
I’ve had a few that stayed for a full hour - they’d make me a proper cooked breakfast while I’m spending 20+ minutes just waking up in the shower.
...it’s like living with my parents again.
My generation likes to joke about “bed gravity” but it’s a real problem :/