Home Organization Help for Seniors: 11 Ways Professionals Ease Stress and Avoid Financial Missteps

Are you worried about your aging parent’s abilities in home management? Health issues and fast-changing technology can make the simplest tasks frustrating.  Senior-specific challenges can make the best of the elderly vulnerable.   Running a home or struggling with the day-to-day tasks can lead to frustration and mistakes.   Here are some of the ways Potomac Concierge can handle your senior’s to-do list respectfully and help them maintain independence for as long as possible:

1) Help with Email Communication:  Get your parent set up and help them with the never-ending issues – ie:  the provider updates the system, and the old routine doesn’t work or the computer crashes.  It’s frustrating for anyone, especially seniors with physical issues like arthritis or memory problems. You don’t want important emails going unanswered, or your parent out of touch with loved ones.

2) Teach Cell Phone Basics: The best way to maintain regular contact with grandkids is texting. The simplest of cell phones can be overwhelming for seniors to master. We can create their contact list, show them some shortcuts, and have them feeling confident with the device.

3) Assist with Decluttering Decades of Memories:  A must-do to ensure preservation of the best and most precious memories.

4) File Health Insurance Claims:  Submitting insurance claims, and monitoring payment receipts to ensure you’re paid what’s owed is time consuming and sometimes tricky. Potomac Concierge has trained associates experienced in helping the elderly.

5) Set Up Bill-Paying System: This kind of help is tough for family members with an elderly relative embarrassed by their decreased ability to handle finances. You don’t want to hurt their pride, and parents can be reluctant to let on they’re having a hard time paying their bills on time.  A good place to start is setting up automatic billing with the bank.  Once they see it working, they’re usually ready to move on to the next step.

6) Online Shopping:  Shopping in the comfort of their home is a godsend for seniors with mobility problems.  Researching unfamiliar websites is important and payment methods should be considered carefully.

7) Encourage Photo Sharing:  Enrich your senior’s life by regularly sending them family photos.  We will teach them how to retrieve pictures and how to send photos to others.

8) Make Phone Calls:  Reaching Verizon to report internet problems—or Pepco with a discrepancy in the heating bill—is a process.  Navigating a company’s phone system is frustrating, and for seniors with hearing issues, near impossible.  A personal assistant will set up service calls and meet the furnace repairman at the house.

9) Organize Paperwork: Take a look around your older relative’s home. Do you see lots of unopened mail or piles of papers? Is there an organized filing system? Does your loved one fail to cash checks? Paper clutter can lead to lost documents that are important, like receipts, tax documents, and prescriptions.

10) Serve as Companion: Personal assistants can accompany seniors to medical appointments, help out with errands, and assist with a host of activities.   Families do their best to keep a watchful eye on their aging loved one but cannot always do in-person checks or make their daily phone calls. A personal assistant can step in while you’re away on vacation or busy at work.

11) Be Go-To Person:  Seniors develop meaningful relationships with their personal assistants. They have someone to call when needed (e.g. move managers if their home is no longer appropriate or assistance with home de-cluttering to ensure a safe environment etc.).

Help your aging parent or elderly relative have the best quality of life possible. Let us help them by tackling those tasks that have become difficult and stressful, and by eliminating oversights that can end up being expensive. Call Potomac Concierge today and we’ll come up with a plan.