Set up automatic payments for regular bills from your parents' checking account or your own.
Register on your bank's website as an online user, then specify which bills you want to automate. If you're worried about overdrafting, you can choose to be e-mailed for approval before each payment is sent out.
Deposit government payments directly into your parents' checking account.
Use Godirect.org to have your parents' Social Security and other government payments deposited directly into their checking account. This helps protect against overdrafting and cuts down on organizing trips to the bank. (A help line is available at 800-333-1795.)
Renew bus passes and pay for transportation services online.
You can usually do this online by going to the website for each local transportation service.
Sign up at your parents' pharmacy for online prescription refills.
Walgreens.com and Walmart.com are two that offer this service. Some pharmacies will e-mail you a reminder when a prescription is ready and follow up when your parent is due for a refill.
Simplify your parents' yard care.
Install low-maintenance landscaping and an irrigation system with timers in your parent's yard. Arrange for regular yard care service if necessary, and ask to be billed directly.
If down stream you see a need for more care for your senior you probably need to start now if these 9 ideas are needed. I chose to have a 24 hour caregiver with my Dad but it took a year and a half of dripping on him before it became his idea as well. His 1st response was "Not in my house." Within days after the caregiver arrived he acknowledged that it was a good idea.
think small: an electric tea kettle is a humble thing, but it may keep the house from being burned down.
These are all sensible things to consider. More fundamentally it is important NOT to 'infantilze' elderly people but to recognize what they can and like to do and even encourage then to 'stretch' their abilities a bit. Longer term survival depends on actually 'flourishing' a bit here & there and keeping alive, even developing their mindfulness and sense of self-efficacy.
when i read this it looks as if it is for the rich. where I live, the context you bring, seems wasteful, wealthy and selfish. having an individual home, for me and my friends seems a pipe dream away.
For a nutritious snack that helps keep the bowels regular try Gudernoobs made by WooHoo Foods!
All good ideas...my husband and I may start implementing some of these for ourselves! (for later, of course)