Busy Parents Need to Take Help When They Can Get It
Parenting is already a 24 hour job before you tack on grocery shopping, laundry, and doctor’s visits. and still have time to get kids to practice or read to them before bed?
If you’re feeling bogged down by all the tasks before you, check out these local companies that want to help lessen your load. They thrive on taking the stress out of everyday activities!
Did we miss a service that you love? Let us know in the comments.
GROCERY STORES with Delivery or Pickup
If you’re like me, having groceries picked or delivered feels so luxurious.
Trekking to the grocery store with my two kids never ended well for me, making me super stressed and wishing there was a delivery service. And now my dreams have come true!
Family Fare Fast Lane: Choose your groceries online, a Family Fare employee will gather them for you, and you just pull up to the store and pick them up. SpartanNash is now offering Fast Lane at 25 Michigan locations. There is no subscription needed for your first three transactions when you use the promo code FASTLANE at checkout. After that it is $99 per year, $16.95 per month or $9.99 per pick up. You are able to add notes for your shopper for special requests. All orders placed before 3:00 PM. are available for same-day pickup.
InstaCart: Not able to pick-up? Then you can utilize InstaCart to not only do the shopping for you, but will also deliver your groceries to your kitchen. Stores that have partnered with InstaCart in the West Michigan area include: FamilyFare Supermarkets, D&W Fresh Market, Aldi, Costco, Sam’s Club, Fresh Thyme Farmers Market, and Chow Hound (fur babies need groceries too!). You can place order a la cart for a fee or you can purchase either annual or monthly memberships to save on delivery and service fees.
Shipt: Grocery (and alcohol!) delivery from Meijer or Target? I’m in. Same day service, directly to your door (any time of day or night) with an easy-to-use app. Membership is $99 per year and offers free delivery on orders over $35. Users are encouraged to tip their personal shopper.
Walmart: Walmart’s grocery pick-up services touts that there is no additional mark-up to their prices as well as no additional fees for the standard pick-up service. Simply fill your cart with grocery and other household staples via their website or app and then you can drive up and have the order put directly into your vehicle. Current area Walmarts that offer this option are Cascade, Greenville, Holland, and Portage.
Yumble Kids: Yumble Kids will let you chose fully prepared meals that are designed and portioned specifically for kids 1-12 years old in mind. Meals range in price from $6.99-$7.99 depending on what weekly plan you choose (6-meals, 12-meals, or 24-meals). The meals can go directly into your child’s lunch box without any extra work on your part making getting for daycare, camp, or school a little less hectic. They also offer gluten-free, vegetarian, soy-free, dairy-free, egg-free options and all their recipes are nut-free!
Doordash: Want take-out but not able to actually pick it up yourself? That’s where the Doordash app comes to your aid. You can place orders to such local favorites as Anna’s House, The Candied Yam, Stan Diego, and Littlebird, as well as chain establishments Applebee’s, Buffalo Wild Wings, and even fast options such as Wendy’s and Chick-fil-A. Delivery fees vary from free to $5.99 depending on where you order from and you can tip your driver via their app.
Schwan’s: Delivering delicious food (with real ingredients!) that can go from your freezer to your table in minutes. No subscription required and delivered to your door. Appetizers, pizza, soups and more. Definitely don’t forget the Vanilla Sundae Cones.
Doorganics: Delivering organic fresh produce straight from the farm to your door. Choose from different-sized produce baskets to fit your family’s needs. You can swap produce and choose what is right for your family before your delivery. Add in items like farm-fresh eggs, meat and baked goods!
Making Thyme Kitchen: Offering prepared food that is locally sourced and made from scratch AND you can order a pack of eight entrees for pickup or delivery. They also offer salads and sides. Delivery is $0-$7.50 from their Alger Heights storefront with a minimum order of $77.00 to qualify for delivery.
LAUNDRY Delivery Services do More Than Dry Cleaning
Show of hands– who’s left dry cleaning at the cleaners for three months? Oh, that’s just me?
If you’re anything like me you’ll appreciate the places that pickup AND deliver your dry cleaning (or wash and fold) laundry.
Curtis Cleaners: Offering free pickup and delivery for your dry cleaning or your average laundry (wash, dry and fold) with the same pricing you’ll find in store.
Sheldon Cleaners: No extra fees for the free pickup and delivery of your dry cleaning and wash and fold items. Just leave them on the porch and your clothes will be cleaned and delivered
Fast-Response MEDICAL Help and Prescription Delivery
When your kid is sick, there is nothing worse than not knowing where to go. When you need care right now, this instant, immediately – here are some places that can help.
MedNow: Using technology to bridge the distance between patient and provider, Spectrum Health’s MedNow service allows you to see a medical professional through a video visit. Although not for emergencies, they offer help for non life-threatening illnesses such as a cold, flu or nausea.
Forest Hills Pediatrics: Offers walk-in visits to current patients that will be seen on a first-come, first served basis. Hours are Monday, Wednesday, Thursday & Friday: 7:30 AM – 9:00 AM. Tuesday: 9:15 AM – 10:30 AM.
Alger Pediatrics: Open weekday mornings from 7:00 AM – 8:30 AM to see patients with urgent or emergent acute medical concerns on a first come, first served basis.
Chemist Shoppe: When it’s not easy to make a trip out, this local pharmacy offers free prescription delivery to all of metro Grand Rapids.
Walker Street Pharmacy: Offering free prescription delivery to the west side of Grand Rapids Monday through Friday.
COMPOST COLLECTION Services
Want to save on your trash bill and be more eco friendly at the same time? Composting is a great way to reuse food and certain paper and yard waste, and there are local businesses that will pick up your compost and make good use of it.
Organicycle: Curbside pickup for food waste, cardboard, paper and yard waste. Offered exclusively to Grand Rapids residents, schools and businesses.
Urban Roots: These guys collect buckets of compostable household waste on their bikes for less than $5 per week
Hi Erin,
Have you heard of Kboose? We are a young company serving the greater Grand Rapids area.
We offer highly vetted personal assistants that provide mobility and advocacy help to seniors, veterans, the disabled, and children. We are often asked by parents to pick up children and drop them off to school, activities, or even stay with them and then return them safely home.
Our goal at Kboose is to make a difference in this world, by providing a mobility solution though Personal Assistants who reduce the stress of your friends, family members and employees, by assisting aging parents and children when you cannot.
We bill $8 per 15 minutes for our services. We can take credit cards, or bill weekly or monthly. We prefer to have our clients book us at least 12 hours ahead to ensure that we have someone that can help them, but we do take last minute calls and try to help if someone is available.
If you are interested in knowing more, I can book an appointment with our founder, Annie Young.
Thanks for your great work on this page, I found it very helpful as I was making up a calendar of summer fun for my Grand Kids.
Sincerely,
Linda Langs
Director of Business Development