How Can You Help Your Senior Downsize Her Home?

By Lainie Berg | May 4, 2018

Elder Care in Holdingford MN: How Can You Help Your Senior Downsize Her Home?

Downsizing her home can be a scary prospect for your elderly family member. Depending on how long she’s lived in her home, she might have collected far more belongings than either of you realize.

Make Sure Your Senior Is on Board with the Idea

Depending on why your elderly family member needs to downsize her belongings, she might be more on board. If she’s moving, for example, she may understand that she can’t take everything with her. If you’re decluttering because her home is too full, this might be a more complicated conversation. It might become necessary to work with a counselor in order to help your elderly family member to embrace the idea of getting rid of excess belongings.

Prepare for the Task

Once you know that the job is on, it’s time to prepare fully. You’re going to need boxes or bags to help you divide belongings and possibly some labels. You’ll want a designated spot for items your elderly family member is going to keep, to give away, to throw away, and to sell. Keeping these groups as separated as possible helps you to get everything to the right place once you’re done sorting.

Set Aside Some Time to Sort Items

If your elderly family member is going to help with the sorting, you’ll need to do it on her timetable. She may tire easily or have existing health conditions that require you to do this in fits and starts. Make sure that you’ve got everything that you need at the ready so that you can fully use the time you have.

If You’re Going it Alone, Get Some Help

Going through this process without your senior can help you to speed it up considerably, but there may be other things to consider. You might want to hire elder care providers to stay with your aging adult so that you can fully focus on the task at hand. Consider asking other family members if they can help you with sorting or transporting some of the items you’re removing from your senior’s house to speed up the task.

Ultimately, you might have quite a job ahead of you when it comes to helping your senior to downsize her belongings. Stick with it, though, because once she starts to see the benefits, she may be more supportive of the idea. If you can take your time with this project, that’s even better.

If you or an aging loved-one are considering elder care in Holdingford, MN, please contact the caring staff at Alternative Senior Care today. Providing Home Care in Central Minnesota and Surrounding Communities. Call us Today (320) 352-3350.

Author
Recent Posts

Lainie Berg

Chairman of Operations at Alternative Senior Care

Lainie began as a Certified Nurse Assistant in long term care and hospice back in 1989." Hospice taught me how precious and short life really is and personally wanted to make my seniors' lives the best they could be." She continued her education and worked as a Social Service Designee and an Administrator in an Alzheimer and Dementia care facility, helping families facilitate services and offered support to clients, and training staff to provide quality care in the home environment.
Lainie recalled her favorite subject in school was Home Economics,

“I always loved cooking, cleaning, organizing the home, and caregiving; all the things we do best at Alternative Senior Care!”

"I’ve learned a lot from my experiences for the past 30 years, caregiving for seniors, children and family members. Being a part of Alternative Senior Care is a privilege for me because I feel every day is an opportunity to find ways to bless others, especially in my own community. Overseeing our day-to-day operations at Alternative Senior Care, allows me to make sure our values and mission statement is implemented in all that we do to make each client feel safe, comfortable, and cared for in their own home. “