Welcome to ‘Ask Alicia,’ a series where I share updates, tips, and resources for our caregiver and respite care community. I’ll cover topics ranging from memory care to in-home services to well-being for caregivers. Feedback is always welcome and I would love to hear what topics you would like more information on so please reach out to me at [email protected] at your convenience.
As the days get warmer, many of us have spring cleaning on our minds. We often receive inquiries from our families, wondering how they can best support their loved ones by tidying up and ensuring their homes are as clean as possible to support both health and safety. I’ve rounded up our top 5 tips we share with families to help get started.
1. Create a Plan
Have a conversation about what is most important to your loved one to help you know where to start. Where do they need the most help? Have they been putting anything off? Do they have the supplies they need to clean what they want to clean? Once you have input, work out a reasonable schedule to check things off one by one and establish guard rails to ensure safety. For instance, if anything requires heavy lifting like moving furniture, be sure to establish who will help and when. This might include asking for additional help from a reputable service provider, family, or friends.
2. Keep/Donate/Dispose
Work with your loved one to tackle one room, one closet, one shelf at a time, and sort through their belongings to determine which they prefer to keep, donate, or dispose of. Respect wishes to hold on to sentimental items and help to organize any items they decide to keep so as to make them accessible as possible. For items being donated, check in to see if your loved one has a preferred recipient, and be sure to keep track of their donations for any tax purposes. As you help to dispose of select items, be sure to properly dispose of any item with personal information. THIS is a good resource for researching what to do in this situation.
3. Go Through the Medicine Cabinet
Now is a great time to go through all medication to ensure none has expired, is being taken responsibly, and is being stored properly. For any medication needing to be discarded, be sure to do so in a recommended way.
4. Review Important Documents
Work together with your loved one to locate, review, and ensure all important documents are stored safely. Consider any changes that have occurred and work with all necessary parties to ensure documents are updated as needed and accessible for all key decision-makers and loved ones. This may require making appointments with lawyers, accountants, etc. so be sure to carve out time and communicate the plan with your loved one.
5. Check Alarms
Smoke, carbon dioxide, home security – all of these alarms and more provide safety to our loved ones. Take the time to make a list of all alarms and then replace batteries as needed and examine wires/connectivity.
Overall, including your loved one whenever possible will help to preserve dignity, create a sense of belonging, and ultimately, strengthen your relationship.
As you go about helping your loved one with their spring cleaning, the need for ongoing support or supplemental help/respite care may surface. Our team is here to help you navigate those options to determine if home care may be beneficial for both you and your loved one. We recognize it can be overwhelming and scary to ask for help but we are here to provide home care support you can trust and rely on.
Have a spring cleaning tip you’d like to share? I’d love to hear from you at [email protected].
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Thanks for reading,
