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For families who cannot handle such a radical departure, there are alternatives. What was once a cottage industry of people providing household services is currently a booming business in cities all across the country. Anyone who can protect a family's free time is a sure success. "The hot new family commodity is 'off time,' " says Heloise, the syndicated oracle of household hints. "If I can give them another 20 minutes, even if it costs them $4 in dry cleaning, then I'm successful."
Four dollars for 20 minutes is cheap. Two corporate dropouts, Glenn Partin and Richard Rogers, founded At Your Service last year in Winter Park, Fla. They are typical of the growing number of entrepreneurs who will perform any service within their expertise, for anywhere between $25 and $50 an hour. They chauffeur people to airports, return video tapes, cater parties. "I can pick up the phone and ask them to do anything," says Debbie Findura, 35, a part- time real estate agent who has called them to fix a light bulb that broke off in the socket, remove a live lizard she found in her oven, and deliver a package of hot-dog buns for one of her family picnics. "We charged $20 to deliver 59 cents worth of hot-dog buns," says Rogers, "but she had them there, and that's what these people expect."
Professional organizers are also in demand. Stephanie Culp of Los Angeles is a pleasant, schoolmarmish woman who seven years ago turned her personal inclinations ("I was neurotically organized") into a career. "If I said I was a professional organizer seven years ago, people would have laughed," she says. "Now the idea is accepted." Culp's golden rule is to set priorities, and she's not kidding. "When you die, what do you want people to say at your funeral?" she asked California businesswoman Baker-Velasquez. Answer: "I didn't want my children to say, 'My mother was a wonderful businesswoman.' "
Among the tactics Culp's clients are testing: watching less TV, shopping by phone, buying low-maintenance clothes and appliances, screening calls on the answering machine and taking a more lax attitude toward housekeeping. "I'm not so immaculate anymore," Baker-Velasquez explains. "There are spots on the carpet, and things are broken. But I'd rather sacrifice my home than my husband's or children's needs."
No combination of innovations, inventions or timely hints will restore the American household to its imagined bygone tranquillity. Only a dramatic change in both attitudes and economics would offer a genuine respite. And, anyway, ! who hasn't felt the exhilaration of running this race, which many might actually miss if they slowed to a trot. But at some point individuals must find the time to consider the price of their preoccupation and the toll on the spirit exacted by exhaustion. With too little sleep there are too few dreams. And for children, especially, being eight years old should include some long, ice-creamy afternoons of favorite stories and grassy feet. Some things are just worth the time.