The Grocery List Splits in Two: Decide Which Shopping Trips the Family Keeps and Which Go to a Hired Aide

Before hours are compared, sort the household's errands into the ones the family keeps and the ones a non-medical aide can take, so the agency is hired for a defined list.

Lists from the Google pull · November 2, 2026

Some help can be hired and some cannot. A non-medical aide can take on household and errand work the family would otherwise do, while the family keeps the decisions and the trips that need its own judgment. Before any agency is compared, the household should sort its errands into those two piles, so the agency is hired for a list instead of a hope.

Local option: New Plan Care gives families in the St. Louis area in-home help so a parent can stay home: companionship, help with bathing and dressing, meals, and overnight care. Call (314) 405-0887.

Start from the list you already have

Write the week's shopping and errand list as it actually runs now, not as it should run. Include the grocery trips, the post office, the household supply run, the library, the bank counter, and any other errand outside the home. This list is separate from the list of agencies built from a search. Keep the two apart, so the search results do not decide what the errands are.

Sort each trip into one of three piles

Pile one is trips the family keeps, such as ones that need the family's own car, its own signature, or its own judgment about a purchase. Pile two is trips a hired aide can take under the agency's written plan. Pile three is trips that need a second look, because they depend on a vehicle, a route, or a household decision the agency has not yet put in writing. Mark each trip with its pile name and a short reason.

Test the piles against the written plan

Take pile two to the agency and ask what its written plan says about errands outside the home, how the aide records each trip, and what happens when a store is out of an item. Ask for the answer in writing. A pile two trip that the agency will not put on paper stays in pile one until it is.

Keep the line visible

Once the piles are set, keep the sorted list on the refrigerator or in the shared household file, and review it whenever the household changes. The list is the family's own record. It answers the question of who was supposed to do what, which the agency's paperwork alone may not answer.

Checked the records? Now talk to a person.

Tell us what you found and what you still need to know. New Plan Care Solutions provides non-medical support at home; it is not a Medicare-certified home health agency, and it will say plainly what it can and cannot do.

New Plan Care Solutions is independently owned and operated in St. Louis by Stacie Postol. Non-medical in-home support for St. Louis and St. Charles counties: personal care and daily routines, companionship, homemaking, respite for family caregivers, and day-to-day help while recovering at home. Short-term, overnight, 24-hour and live-in care with no long-term contract. Fully insured, with background-checked caregivers screened through the Family Care Safety Registry. Care visits start at $136 (a four-hour visit at $34 an hour). Every family starts with a complimentary in-home care consultation and up to 2 hours of care observation: no cost, no obligation.

The guides on this site are educational, not medical advice.