Even when elderly care has become a necessity for your senior parent, affording them can seem impossible on a tight budget. However, the cost of not taking steps to ensure their safety at home can be devastating. Once you determine that elderly care is necessary for your parent, you will probably find that it’s more affordable than you think.
Try these tips for fitting elderly care into your parent’s budget:
Pinpoint How Much Help is Needed
Your parents probably don’t need elderly care services 24 hours a day. Go over typical daily routines and see where your parents feel they need help. Once you have that list compiled, gather the family and see who can cover certain times or days during the week and weekend.
If cooking meals is the issue, see who has time in the morning, afternoon, and evening to cook the meal and maybe even stay and eat with your parents. Fill in as much as you can and see what’s left. Those blank spots are the times when you’d need to hire caregivers.
Eliminate Unnecessary Expenses
Once you know how often caregivers are needed, you can start working on the budget. See if it’s possible to trim your parents’ expenses. If they’re paying $120 for cable television and internet, but they only watch movies and shows on a streaming service, they’re wasting money on cable television. Get quotes for the monthly cost of only having internet service.
There are other areas where saving money is often easier than imagined. If your parents have cellphones and a landline, see if that landline is really necessary. If they haven’t called and asked their local utilities if there are any senior discounts, they should. They should also look for senior discounts on car and homeowner’s insurance and heating fuel.
Your mom buys new books regularly. Why not borrow them from the local library? She doesn’t even have to go to the library if she has an e-reader. She can borrow them online and have them sent directly to her device.
Call the Agency on Aging
Call your mom and dad’s local Agency on Aging. You’ll learn more about your options and any possible grants or programs that can help make elderly care an affordable option for your parents. There are programs out there that may be able to help.
Talk to a Home Care Agency
You also need to talk to a home care agency. When you’ve had a discussion regarding your parents’ needs, you may find elderly care services are more affordable than imagined. Pick up the phone and call an expert today.
