Alice in InfoLand

I haven’t posted here in a while because I’ve been dealing with my 93-yo mother’s increasing frailty.  She’s been living in an apartment in a  “lifecare community” for the past few years, but in March we realized that she could no longer live independently.  Her mind was ‘dis-integrating’ (her own apt word) more rapidly, causing not just memory loss, but confusion and even occasional danger to herself.  After much to-do and travail, she’s now in what’s called “residential health care” in the same community, where she is much safer and well-supervised.

In the process, however, we had to pack up her apartment and dispose of whatever wouldn’t fit in the new room.  Here are some lessons I learned from that experience, and plan to apply to my own home:

1. Do not save/stockpile grocery bags and/or plastic containers. They multiply when you are not looking.
2. Label ALL photos, with names, dates, and locations.
3. Weed your closets every year. If you haven’t worn it in a year, get rid of it.
4. Three sets of sheets for each bed is plenty: one in use, one in the laundry, one in the closet.
5. Sample sizes of shampoo, etc., are meant to be used, not hoarded.
6. If it’s broken, get it fixed or throw it out. It won’t self-heal with time.
7. Do not expect charitable organizations to be charitable to you.

 A word to the wise (and weary): stop stockpiling!  You’ll probably never use all that stuff, and it only means more for your kids to have to throw out later on.