If your elderly loved one has dementia, change won’t be so easy. They might need things to stay the same. If things change too much, it can cause worsened symptoms. Your elderly loved one might become more forgetful, experience aggression, and become more uncomfortable, as well. One of the things you might be trying to do is to declutter their home. There are some decluttering tips that can help you when your elderly loved one’s clutter has become too much.  

Set the Right Priorities

It is important that you don’t try to overhaul your elderly loved one’s entire home. You need to pick the right priorities. For instance, if they spend most of the time in their living room, this might be the room you start with. You can pick just one area to declutter first. This might be the area next to the couch. The next weekend you might declutter the area by the entrance to the room.  

Planning It Out 

If your elderly loved one is in the earlier stages of dementia, you should sit down with them. Let them know that you would like to help declutter their home. This will help them to be safe as their dementia worsens. If possible, see if you, your elderly loved one, and their caregivers can work on decluttering the house before their dementia gets worse. This can prevent more issues from happening if you try to do it later in their disease.  

Moving Things Around 

If your elderly loved one doesn’t do so well with getting rid of things, see what you can move around instead. Sure, there still might be some things that your elderly loved one needs to get rid of. However, there might be other things that you can put into totes or other storage containers. Some of the things might be able to be put on shelves or in display cases. 

Using Labels 

With dementia, people usually forget where things are at. For the belongings that your elderly loved one is going to keep, you should use labels. This way, when your elderly loved one is looking for something, they can find it much easier.  

Conclusion 

These are some of the decluttering tips when your elderly loved one has dementia. Keep in mind that this can be tough on them. Take things slow and do your best to help with decluttering their home earlier in their disease. It is also important to remember that you shouldn’t do this when your elderly loved one is out of their house. If they come home to everything moved, this could worsen their symptoms.  

If you or an aging loved one are considering hiring a Caregiver in Columbia, SC, contact Heart of the Carolinas Home Care at 864-991-3116.  Providing Home Care Services in Greenville, Simpsonville, Greer, Anderson, Spartanburg, Mauldin, Seneca, Laurens, Charleston, Columbia and the surrounding areas. 

Sources 

https://ocfch.org/hand-in-hand/declutter/ 

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Edward Harrison

Founder at Heart of the Carolinas

Edward Harrison founded the Heart of the Carolinas Homecare in 2007 when he saw there was a need for caregivers that provide non-medical home care services, at a price that most people could afford. It was standard in the industry to require hourly minimums and it was common to be assigned a caregiver, not matched with one based on your individual personal needs. Edward understood that to make a successful relationship between caregiver and client, skills were not enough, personality and compatibility plays as much a role as do skills.

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