You handle the logistics. They keep the dignity of doing their own shopping.

Who this is for

Family caregivers. The people doing the unglamorous, unpaid, often invisible work of keeping someone they love fed, supplied, and connected to the world.

How it works

Distance caregiving — the practical setup

If you live out of state and you're trying to keep an aging parent at home in the Twin Cities, here's a setup we see work consistently:

1. One weekly recurring slot, same time, same store. Predictability matters more than variety.
2. Top up the wallet quarterly — every 3 months, glance at the balance and add another $300-500. Set a calendar reminder.
3. Add a sibling or your parent's spouse to the email loop so receipts go to multiple people. Helps coordinate.
4. Call your parent during the session occasionally — join the video room from your laptop and just chat while they shop. It's quality time disguised as a chore.
5. Flag the shopper if anything seems off — confusion, missed pills, mood changes. Our shoppers can include a brief note in the receipt email if you ask.

Dementia and memory-care caregiving

For early- and middle-stage dementia, Selectido is often a calming, engaging weekly ritual rather than a confusing one — when you set it up the right way:

• Same time, same store. Predictability reduces anxiety. Tuesday 2pm Cub becomes "the Tuesday Cub thing."
• Preferences saved on file. Brand of bread, the things to gently remind about, name preferences — whichever shopper picks up the booking has the context already.
• Notes on preferences. We keep a file: brand of bread, no sharp knives in the cart, allergic to shellfish, prefers to be called "Mr. Anderson." Shopper reviews before each session.
• Gentle prompts allowed. Tell us what gentle confirmations help: "last week we got the 1% milk, want the same?" instead of asking from scratch.
• You can join silently. Watch from your laptop, intervene if needed, otherwise let your parent enjoy the autonomy.

For more advanced dementia where the video call itself becomes confusing, we can shift to a "you direct, they observe" model — you join the video, do the shopping, your parent receives the groceries. Many family caregivers use this as a transition step.

For professional care teams and hospice

If you're a hospice nurse, geriatric care manager, or in-home aide reading this, Selectido may be a referable resource for your clients' families. We can:

• Provide care managers with a simple booking flow they can hand off to families.
• Coordinate sessions around medication delivery schedules.
• Send shopper notes to a care team email for documentation.
• Provide itemized receipts for HSA/FSA/LTC reimbursement.

Email SelectidoShopping@gmail.com with subject "Care team referral inquiry."

A note about caregiver burnout

If you're reading this exhausted, that's the signal we built this for. Caregiver burnout is real, and one of the cleanest things you can outsource without losing the quality of care is the weekly grocery run. It's not the part of caring that requires you. Your time is better spent on the parts only you can do.

If Selectido isn't the right fit for you, we'd still encourage you to delegate this somewhere. AARP's caregiver resource line (aarp.org/caregiving), the Family Caregiver Alliance, your local Area Agency on Aging, and your county case-management programs all have resources. You don't have to do all of this alone.

What it costs

• $75 per hour for the live shopping session.
• 15% off if you book 2+ hours.
• Items at store price — no markup.
• Free local delivery for compact-car-sized orders within Minneapolis, St. Paul, and close-in suburbs.
• No subscription, no membership, no service fee, no required tip.

Frequently asked questions

You (the caregiver) create the account at selectido.com using your email and credit card. Pre-load a wallet ($200-400 to start). Schedule the session for a time your parent will be home. We text or email them a one-tap link. They join the video, direct the shopping, items get delivered. You get receipts; they get groceries.

Yes — one of our most common setups. You live in California; your parent lives in the Twin Cities. You handle scheduling, payment, and reordering when the wallet runs low. They handle the actual shopping experience on the video call. Many distance caregivers say it's the most useful single tool they've found for supporting a parent who refuses to leave home.

Depends on the stage and the person, but for many early-stage dementia patients, a familiar weekly routine — same day, same time, same store — is calming, not confusing. We recommend a recurring weekly slot. Selectido uses a first-to-accept model so the shopper isn't always the same person, but we keep preference notes on file (favorite brands, things to gently remind about, name preferences) so whoever picks up the booking has the context already.

Yes — share login credentials with siblings or other family caregivers. Anyone with credentials can schedule, top up, or view receipts. We're working on a more formal multi-user setup; reach out if you want early access.

Absolutely fine. The video room supports multiple participants — you can join from your computer in Texas while your dad is in Minneapolis. Stay quiet and observe, or actively help, or use it as quality time. Many adult children join for the first few sessions to make sure their parent is comfortable.

After every session you get: receipt photo, wallet balance, and optionally a brief shopper note if anything came up ("your dad mentioned he ran out of his blood pressure pills early — pharmacy pickup added"). For dementia care or hospice we can do a more detailed shopper note as a regular check-in.

For caregivers buying for the person they care for, yes — this is one of the most useful gifts you can give an aging parent. Frees up a weekly errand, gives them human contact, shows up as a recurring reliable thing. Reach out and we can issue a Selectido credit you can attach to a card.

Selectido is private-pay. Not a Medicare/Medicaid provider. Some customers reimburse via HSA/FSA under "errand assistance" or "in-home support services"; rules vary by plan administrator. LTC insurance increasingly covers community-support services — check your specific policy. We provide itemized receipts for claims.

Any internet-connected device with a camera works — iPad, Android tablet, laptop with a webcam, desktop with a webcam. The link opens in any browser. No app required. If they don't have any device with a camera, we can do audio-only sessions over a regular phone call.

If your parent lives in Minneapolis, St. Paul, or one of our close-in suburbs (Edina, Bloomington, Roseville, Richfield, St. Louis Park, Maple Grove, plus a few more), and the order fits in a compact car (typically 2-6 grocery bags), we deliver free. Larger hauls or addresses outside the ring are still served — usually for a $5-15 fuel charge, quoted upfront.