TimeOut New York

PROFESSIONAL HELP

Pick up dry cleaning, buy theater tickets, charter a yacht - these concierge and personal-assistant services will handle almost anything on your to-do list.

Cross It Off Your List (212-725-0122; www.crossitoffyourlist.com). Linda Rothschild's team of no-nonsense professional lackeys has been straightening out disorganized urbanites since 1990.

What they'll do: Cross It Off Your List simply aims to help you get your act together. They'll sort through your mail, clean out your closet, pack your bags for a Caribbean vacation or help you move. If you're out of town, they'll even arrange to have, say H&H bagels shipped overnight to your doorstep.

What they won't do: The company doesn't break through velvet ropes; e.g., they won't get you last minute reservations at Nobu or orchestra seats to The Producers. "We're not a concierge service," says Rothschild. Don't try asking for anything "inappropriate," either, such as call girls or contraband.

• The damage: From $50 to $150 per hour, depending on the request.
• Typical customer: Workaholic executives with Bible-thick day planners
• Celebrity Clients: Heidi Klum, Kyle MacLachlan and Christy Turlington.

Most Outrageous request: Rothschild once accompanied two Saudi Arabian princesses to Saks Fifth Avenue, where she helped them spend $8,000 in the lingerie department. (And one guy's demand for research on the nutritional value of mackerel could be considered the strangest request.)

By Jon Steinberg, Illustration by Autumn Whitehurst