Help around the home
This is where most people start, and usually not because the house is a mess. It is because something that used to take twenty minutes now takes an afternoon, and nobody wants to say so out loud.
The distinction that matters here is between somebody who cleans a house and somebody who helps a person. Different jobs, different training, different funding.
The question worth getting right
Ask for "a cleaner" and you will get a cleaning service: they arrive, they clean, they leave. That is genuinely what some people want.
But "a cleaner" is also the phrase people reach for when they mean something broader — someone who notices the milk has gone off, who can be asked to change a lightbulb, who talks to Mum while they work. That is help around the home, it is a different service, and it is the one that is usually subsidised.
It is the single most useful thing to be clear about before you ring anyone.
Is it paid for?
Often, at least partly. My Aged Care is the government front door for anyone over 65, and the assessment that decides what is subsidised is free. For someone under 65 living with disability, that role belongs to the NDIS.
The assessment is the step people skip, and it is the one that unlocks everything else. It is also slow — weeks, sometimes months — so it is worth starting even if you arrange something privately in the meantime.
What AskFam does and does not do
AskFam works out what you need and points you at services that already exist. It does not employ anyone, does not arrange the work, and takes no fee or commission — from you or from them.
It also has not checked anybody. Where you see a business listed, that is a public listing, not a recommendation. Where somebody offers on a job you posted, that is them describing themselves, in their own words. Ask for what matters to you, and take your time about it.