There aren't enough hours in the day | Eastern North Carolina Now

    Kathy Manos Penn is a native of the “Big Apple,” who settled in the “Peach City” – Atlanta. A former English teacher now happily retired from a corporate career in communications, she writes a weekly column for the Dunwoody Crier and the Highlands Newspaper. Read her blogs and columns and purchase her books, “The Ink Penn: Celebrating the Magic in the Everyday” and “Lord Banjo the Royal Pooch,” on her website theinkpenn.com or Amazon.

    There aren't enough hours in the day

    Are you juggling so many balls that you wish there were more hours in the day? Is your to-do-list on overload when suddenly you need to add a task like holiday decorating or helping your parents downsize? Well then, have I got a deal for you.

    I first heard of Done & Done (www.doneandone.us) when a reader recommended them after I wrote in a column that I wished I could wave a magic wand and see my Christmas decorations neatly packed away after the holiday. Wondering what other services the business provided, I sat down with owners Beth Edwards and Amanda Thrasher to hear more. They are an amazing duo with an amazing team.

    As her kids entered their teen years, Beth wanted to return to work and use her interior design experience. Together with her longtime friend Amanda, who was in RE, she started helping folks with decorating for parties and holidays or simply running a few errands. They considered themselves a concierge service, and what they enjoyed most about the work was helping to take some of the stress out of people's lives. It was fun to relieve people of a few of the burdens that threatened to overwhelm them.

    As they helped more and more folks with a variety of tasks, it was Amanda's husband who came up with the name. What do you call a business that gets stuff done? Done & Done for you is what came to mind. Initially, the bulk of their business was in holiday shopping, wrapping, and decorating as well as organizing. Who couldn't use some help cleaning out and organizing the office, bonus room, or garage?

    Eventually, they connected with Lenbrook in Atlanta, a senior living community. Seniors who were downsizing and moving into Lenbrook needed help. Imagine downsizing from your 4-6 bedroom house to a two bedroom apartment. What do you keep? What do you discard? Done & Done can assist you soup to nuts. They'll help you downsize, distribute, and design: determine what stays and what goes, determine what to gift and what to sell, and design/space plan your new home using your favorite treasures or selecting new ones.

    Perhaps that's all you need, but there's more. Done & Done will handle the move by hiring movers, packing up, unpacking, organizing, even stocking the fridge, and hanging your pictures. They still offer holiday decorating, but moving management has become the bulk of their business.

    I loved their story of a family selling their home, and the parents going on a two-week European vacation while the kids went to summer camp. Amanda, Beth, and their team handled the entire move-packing, unpacking, and set-up. Upon the family's return, their new home was ready, down to the toothbrushes in the toothbrush holder.

    For one client moving to Pennsylvania, they packed her up, put her on an airplane, and then drove Wilma the cat to her new home, where they met the movers and worked their magic. They seem like angels to me, and therein lies the joy in what they do. They love reducing the stress in people's lives.

    They are hand-holders, not just moving managers. Because of their special touch, they now have surrogate grandparents and sisters and plenty of repeat business. I don't know about you, but I'm putting them on speed dial: Amanda, 404-819-0374 and Beth, 404-966-2346 I can't see myself letting anyone else pack away my Christmas decorations, but when the time comes to downsize, I know whom to call.

    PS. These ladies are happy to travel hither and yon to help you out. They're just back from a project in Sea Island and will happily help my Carolina readers too.

    Find Kathy's new book "Lord Banjo the Royal Pooch" and her collection of columns, "The Ink Penn: Celebrating the Magic in the Everyday," on Amazon and her website inkpenn119@gmail.com.