Janice McMillan's Everything and More takes care of common household chores.
In a gadget-crazed world, the Smartphone is king. It can check e-mail, manage money and fire off Facebook updates. But believe it or not, there are some things your Blackberry cannot do. It cannot wait for the cable guy, bring your dog to the vet, or fix you a home-cooked meal.
That’s where Janice McMillan comes in. Her business, Everything and More, is about tying up loose ends. “I take care of the little things people don’t have time to do,” she says.
For the past five years, the Piscataway resident has made her clients’ lives a little easier. She’ll do the laundry, prepare dinner, watch the kids, and wait for that phone company employee who swears he’ll come by between noon and 5 p.m.
McMillan has made a career out of supporting others. She’s worked for 25 years at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, where she arranges programs that educate underprivileged high school and college students about careers in medicine. She’s logged enough years to retire, but she loves her job and wants to remain active.
Plus, there’s the networking. Among the clients of Everything and More are medical students with no time to clean their apartments, and co-workers whose private practices have eaten up their free time.
The idea for Everything and More came from McMillan’s memory of being a single mother. For years, she says, she couldn’t go out with friends, couldn’t spend time alone, and couldn’t even run errands without bringing her kids along.
“You need to have your own time,” she says, “when you don’t have to answer ‘Mommy’ questions.”
McMillan wants to give her clients more time to be alone, to work, or to do whatever they would like. And who knows? With everyday stressors out of the way, you may decide to spend more time with your family and less with your phone.
Everything and More can be reached at (908) 705-3995. She charges on a sliding scale that dips as low as $10 per hour.
