Pittsburgh Business Offers Another Mother for College Students


another mother

College students aren’t known for being the most clean and organized bunch. Often young and just leaving the comfort of mom and dad’s house for the first time, college students sometimes might benefit from a little extra help … perhaps in the form of a mom.

Ilene Scoratow, a Spanish teacher and mother of three, aims to provide that service to college kids in need through her company, Another Mother. Services include things like laundry, cleaning, and grocery shopping. She even offers gift baskets to help students get through those all-night study sessions. She currently has about 50 steady clients in the Pittsburgh area. But clients can also hire her for individual tasks.

Scoratow first launched the business in January 2014. The idea came to her because of her own kids. She told The Huffington Post that she’d rather her kids spend their time studying for exams than worrying about getting all of their laundry done:

“Kids are in school to study. If we can take some of the stress off them by doing the little things — yes, the stuff their mom would do — why not?”

She charges $1.50 per pound of dirty laundry, including pickup and delivery. That might not be in the regular budget for some broke college kids. But it’s definitely cheaper than buying new socks every couple of weeks if there’s no time for laundry.

Clearly, not all students will be in the market for Another Mother’s services, whether because of price or need. But it is a unique offering that has definitely found a market.

And even non-students can benefit from Another Mother’s offerings. The company’s website specifically points out the potential benefits for senior citizens and busy moms and bachelors.

Some people might find it silly to hire someone to do those typically maternal tasks, but everyone has to manage their time and prioritize certain things.

Business owners, in particular, can have a hard time juggling all of the different tasks throughout each day. So outsourcing some of those tasks could be a worthwhile investment.

And for Scoratow, it’s a business that she enjoys running.


Vacuuming Photo via Shutterstock

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Annie Pilon Annie Pilon is a Senior Staff Writer for Small Business Trends, covering entrepreneur profiles, interviews, feature stories, community news and in-depth, expert-based guides. When she’s not writing she can be found exploring all that her home state of Michigan has to offer.

3 Reactions
  1. It’s a good idea. I think that there is a need for this but no one is offering it. This is a good example of finding a need and filling the gap.

    • It definitely seems unique – there are laundry services and cleaning services, but it doesn’t seem like there’s anything like this where you can kind of personalize what you need.