How to get your to-do list done | Extra Comforts lends helping hand as new personal concierge service

We’ve probably all wished we had a personal assistant at one time or another — someone to take the dog to the vet, pick up groceries or tend to the house — leaving us available to take on more important tasks like spending time with our family.

Granbury resident Tammy Quisenberry knows how tedious errands can be, and is here to help. Her business, Extra Comforts, was established in February 2021 to take on those extra tasks for her clients.

Catered to short-term rental owners and guests, Extra Comforts is a personal concierge service dedicated to making a client’s life easier.

Prior to living in Granbury, Quisenberry resided in Lubbock, working as a physical therapist for 31 years. Once her two sons graduated from high school, she decided to move to Granbury in 2014, as she had family in the area.

“I love the lake and I love the hometown feel,” she said. “I absolutely fell in love with Granbury, so I thought, ‘This is where I want my next chapter to be.’”

It wasn’t until she had a talk with a friend, Kacey Huggins with Keller Williams Realty, that Quisenberry got the idea for her personal concierge service.

“We were just having a conversation and she said, ‘You know what Granbury needs? They need someone to help property-manage all of the short-term rentals,’” Quisenberry said. “A lot of the owners of short-term rentals don’t live in Granbury or even in the state of Texas, so they’re relying on their cleaning crews and their landscaping people to let them know that their house looks good.”

As a detail-oriented person, Quisenberry knew this was the perfect business venture for her, but had no idea just how diverse her new job description would be.

From refilling propane tanks to setting up mousetraps to organizing a party, no day is like the next for Quisenberry.

“I set up my day the night before and on one day in the back of my car, I might have a box of Snake-A-Way, plastic gloves, mousetraps, Lysol, and then the next day I'm prepping for an anniversary so I’ll take that box out and I'll put in a box of champagne glasses, lace, roses and ice buckets,” she said. “The job is varied. It's just interesting how things that people do not like to do and they'd rather pay someone to do, are things that I just love to do.”

She currently has 18 consistent clients who use her services, including a few locals who enlist the help of Quisenberry to take their pets to grooming or vet appointments, and those who ask her for additional help with a party, but most of her clients own short-term rentals.

Some of her tasks for a vacation rental — otherwise known as the basic package — include stocking the fridge and pantry, arranging flowers for rooms, making “towel animals” for the beds, delivering local bakery items, delivering local food specialties and filling ice chests with water and soft drinks.

For a celebration package, Extra Comforts will take care of all of the party details for a birthday, anniversary or a family reunion.

Homeowner services include home inspections like cleaning and lawn services, supervising maintenance projects, pet services, general errands, grocery shopping and stocking, parties (in both shopping and decorating) and assisting with events.

Quisenberry is also currently in the process of working with Visit Granbury to create a gift basket filled with items produced or manufactured in Granbury to distribute to new guests as a way to help advertise small businesses in town.

“I've had so much support through Visit Granbury, Granbury Chamber of Commerce and Granbury Association of Realtors,” Quisenberry said. “As far as starting a small business, I really feel that Granbury wraps its arms around you. It's been amazing how much support there's been in Granbury.”

So far she has no plans to expand her business.

“I love Granbury and I love serving the visitors that come to Granbury. We (Visit Granbury, Granbury Chamber of Commerce and GAR) all have a very unified effort in taking care of people that come to Granbury and just giving them that little bit of extra care because we want them to come back. I would like to keep my business in Granbury for as long as possible,” she said, with a chuckle.

Quisenberry’s job definitely varies from one day to the next, but her most interesting encounters have involved animals.

“I opened up a grill the other day to check the propane tanks and there was a snake. Thankfully it was dead,” she said.

At her condo, she is known as the official “armadillo wrangler,” so when she spotted a dugout at a client’s home, she took matters into her own hands.

“My client said, ‘Oh my word, what are we going to do?’ I said, ‘I'm on it. Tomorrow morning, I bet you have an armadillo in that cage.’ It wasn't the next morning, it was three days later, but we did end up catching it.”

One item on a client’s to-do list tugged at Quisenberry’s heartstrings this past Valentine’s Day.

“A man called and said he had found a love letter that his wife had written him and they've been married 60 years and he said, ‘Would you frame it and get a whole little tray together for our Valentine’s Day with roses and chocolates?’ It doesn’t get sweeter than that,” she said. “This job is just so me. It has really turned into a huge blessing. I mean, my job is just crazy crackers. I get to take snakes to the dumpster and I get to frame love letters. It doesn’t get more diverse than that.”

Quisenberry’s favorite part about her business is being able to serve as an “extra hand” for her clients and help lessen their stress. Her business motto is, “You do life. We do details.”

She added, “If you need extra wheels, extra hands and extra help call Extra Comforts — and I really want the ‘extra’ to be something that people remember.”

For more information, visit extracomforts.com, email Quisenberry at tammy@extracomforts.com or call her at 682-719-3222.