Seniors For Living

It’s the first day of spring, making this CaregiverStress.com post quite timely, Spring Cleaning a Senior’s Home: 5 Tips to Get It Done. As a caregiver, you may be overwhelmed by the thought of spring cleaning both your home and that of the senior you’re caring for; if so, these tips will be especially helpful.

The post recommends starting with a checklist of what you’d both like to accomplish, including a great guideline for tasks that ensure the safety of your loved one at home (i.e. disposing of expired food or medications, replacing bulbs, etc.). The next step is blocking off time to get it done, whether over a period of weeks, a month, or days. Besides finding a way to get your senior loved one involved in the process — even if the tasks have to be adjusted to his/her abilities — you should also ask family members to help with the work. Finally, before you get to the actual cleaning, declutter. Get rid of non-essential items, but be sure to ask your parent or relative before ditching what you feel fits in that category.

These tips can apply to seniors in assisted living too. Just because the community provides housekeeping services doesn’t mean that a full, thorough spring cleaning is part of the package. Decluttering, especially since an apartment or room there is generally on the small side, is a good idea as well.