Are your senior parents or grandparents struggling with essential indoor tasks and chores? If maintaining a clean house, for example, becomes too difficult for them, their loving home may become cluttered, dirty, uncomfortable, and even unsafe.

Seniors sometimes need extra assistance with keeping their homes tidy. As older adults age, their muscles often become weaker, and joints become more painful. Physical limitations from illness, injury, or chronic disease may also affect their stamina and strength while working on daily household jobs.

These changes can deter them from housekeeping responsibilities, which may require dusting high places, bending to clean a toilet or bathtub, or lifting and moving heavy items.

Keeping a clean and clutter-free home can be difficult for senior citizens and adversely affect their overall health and quality of life.

Tips to Help Seniors Maintain a Tidy Home

Here are some helpful cleaning tips that can make things a little easier if your senior loved one is having a hard time keeping up with basic housekeeping needs:

• Get help from family or friends
  Initiate a meeting with family and friends to discuss sharing responsibilities. Family members and close friends are usually happy to help and sometimes just need to be asked.
  
  
• Make a list of tasks that need to be done
  Create a list of housekeeping chores, including timing and frequency. Involve your loved one in the process to decrease their anxiety, trepidations, and fear of isolation.
  
  
• Keep hallways, stairs, walkways, and doorways free of clutter
  Excess clutter can be dangerous and increase the risk of tripping and falling for seniors. These areas should be prioritized during clean-ups.
  
  
• Get down and dirty with a deep clean
  After you’ve removed all the clutter, focus on disinfecting and sanitizing. Make sure to scrub often-neglected areas and spaces with warm water.

Living in a clean home is important for everyone, but it can be critical if your senior is living with asthma, allergies, dementia, or other health concerns.

Home Caregivers Can Help With Household Cleaning

If you want to help your elderly loved one stay in their home as long as possible, Visiting Angels can step in to provide essential senior care. Our professional in-home care providers can give you and your loved one a break (respite care) while they handle some of the house-cleaning duties.

A caregiver can visit daily, weekly, biweekly, or even monthly. A Visiting Angel can be with your loved one for the entire day, during specified hours, or even offer 24-hour home care.

Professional companion care provides light housekeeping that includes:

• Vacuuming
• Washing dishes
• Cleaning the bathroom
• Dusting and sanitizing surfaces
• Organizing clothes
• Changing bed linens
• Taking out trash

Personal care is another type of home care service that goes beyond light housekeeping and can also include:

• Shopping
• Errands
• Meal-prep
• Cooking
• Assistance with bathing, dressing, and toileting
• Companionship/conversation

The Convenience of In-Home Care

In-home care combines several different services that focus on providing non-medical services older adults need and deserve. Many affordable home care services are paid for privately, but some may be covered by insurance.

If your elderly loved one is still capable of living independently but needs a little assistance with housekeeping— and perhaps a little company, too —a professional caregiver will help them stay comfortable and safe in their home as long as possible.

Our coordinators are available to discuss your loved one’s care needs and requirements via a free home care consultation.