helping seniors live well in later life

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  • Getting online to make your life easier – part 2

    Getting online to make your life easier – part 2

    Following on from our first ten reasons to learn the internet last week, here are some more reasons to learn the internet, if you want to:

    • Search for recipes to use up food in your fridge or larder
    • Check the news and weather
    • Check your bank statements
    • If you’re still driving you can use it for directions (satnav)
    • Research for holidays or day trips
    • Participate in courses
    • Receive information (e.g. schedules and timetables)
    • Check spelling and grammar
    • Book theatre and concert tickets
    • Renew or get a passport (useful for ID as you get older even if you won’t be travelling abroad)

     The list is endless but we find these are the most popular.  There are many charities helping people go digital, and our PAs can also help with bespoke lessons.  We can set you up with a mobile and then you can learn an ‘app a week’, or go at whatever pace is comfortable for you.

  • Getting on line to make your life easier

    Getting on line to make your life easier

    More and more companies are making our lives ‘easier’ by delivering their services online.  But it’s only ‘easier’ if you grew up with computers or have used them for your job.  If you’re older and you don’t have a device then it’s very annoying and tricky.   But if you want to get going, then why not?  Here are some of the things you could use the internet for – and there will be more next week!

    •  Repeat prescriptions (but if you like to get out and see people at the pharmacy, stick to that!)
    • Online shopping (good if you are short- or long-term sick, but if you like seeing people, stick to that as above)
    • Audio and online books (but if your eyesight is good and you like to go to the library, stick to that or mix it up!)
    • Online magazines
    • Repeat radio shows and podcasts
    • Repeat TV shows
    • Connect with family and friends by video
    • Play bridge and other games with people in different countries
    • Remind you to take medication
    • Buy presents for family and friends

    If you want to stay as you are but know that you would like someone to help you who is digitally connected, we can help you with things that you might not otherwise be able to do, such as apply for a passport or do online shopping for you.   Just get in touch to get help from one of our later life admin specialists.

  • Choosing your attorneys

    Choosing your attorneys

    Last week we talked about the importance of powers of attorney.   So if you have decided you want to make them, you need to think about who might be the best attorneys for you*.  Some of the following might help you to decide:

    • They don’t have to be your relatives or your children.  Even if you have relatives and adult children, it’s your decision as to who should be your attorneys.
    • These are not permanent decisions; you can replace your attorneys later.  You can either put replacement options in the original forms, or you can redo the forms later.  If you redo them it will attract another fee by your solicitor and the Office of the Public Guardian where they get registered, but if, like me, your attorneys are all older than you, you will know that at some point you may need to change it. 
    • You don’t have to have the same attorneys for both health and welfare and finance.  You can have different ones.
    • The attorneys don’t have to act together (or they can) so you can decide how to structure this depending on how you think your attorneys will get on with each other.
    • You can pay your attorneys to do the job, and so you can pick people who are professional attorneys.  Solicitors will often take on the finance side of being an attorney.  At One Stop Organisers we can also do this in some cases for people who are already our clients and who we have worked with before.

    If we can help with suggesting solicitors to help you or your older relatives with the forms, do get in touch.

    *A power of attorney gives one person legal power to act for another person and the person acting is then called an attorney.

  • Power of Attorney

    Power of Attorney

    Have you written and registered your power of attorney yet?  We have done ours and many people might think we’re too young.

    But you’re never too young; it doesn’t matter what age you are, if something happens to you and you can’t make decisions, then life can get a bit tricky.  People often think that they are giving up their independence by appointing attorneys, but it doesn’t need to be like that.  It’s just there so when things start to get difficult, you can get some help from the people you trust most. 

    Your appointed finance attorneys can make decisions with you before you lose capacity, just to assist and make your life easier.

    The health and welfare attorneys can only make decisions for you if you have lost capacity.

    It is much easier to fill in your forms before you need them, and if you need to discuss this with a solicitor then we can recommend firms that can help you. 

    Next time we’ll talk about who to appoint as your attorneys.

  • Passports and identity

    Passports and identity

    Passports are not just for trips abroad.

    They are a very useful piece of ID and, if possible, make sure you keep yours renewed even if you don’t think you’ll be travelling soon.

    We have seen many cases recently of our clients needing to prove their identity to banks and this is often the only ID that can be accepted especially if you have stopped driving.  Without it we’ve seen clients locked out of their own banking, even in branch, as they cannot prove who they are when something has gone wrong or when a fraud flag has been placed on their account. 

    If you are moving home soon you’ll need to prove your identity to your solicitor and this will be the easiest way.  There are many organisations that are inflexible when it comes to ID requirements and keeping your passport renewed can take the stress out of things as you don’t always know you need it until you do.  

    And don’t forget, you can use it as ID for voting since there are now requirements for ID at polling stations.  There is now of course a special voter ID you can get if you don’t have a passport, and other items you can use like your freedom pass or blue badge.  You can of course always apply for a postal vote if going to the polling station is too stressful.

    If you or a loved one need help doing the online passport renewal (or new passport) application, we would love to help.

  • Share the love

    Share the love

    As it is coming up to St Valentine’s Day

    We wanted to remind you to share your love with any older neighbours you may have.  

    • Make sure you check on older neighbours regularly, especially if you haven’t seen them for a few days.
    • Check in periodically to see if they need help with anything.  This could be shopping, making calls, or digital device conundrums.  
    • If you see something wrong with their home let them know, but not in a way that will alarm them, and offer to help them find someone trustworthy to put it right.
    • If you’ve made a cake or too much dinner, take some round to them.

    Don’t forget that we are here to help so if they would like ongoing support, get in touch with us and we can let you know how we can help.

  • Getting your home ready to downsize

    Getting your home ready to downsize

    So you’ve decided to downsize and you are putting your home on the market.  So, what should you do to get it ready?

    •  Take advice from the estate agent you are using, but note they will all have different opinions on this!
    • If your home is likely to need a lot of work by your buyer to modernise it, feel free to ignore most of the rest of this advice, as it won’t make much difference to the outcome.
    • Tidy the front garden and make sure any issues with the front of the house (peeling paint, dirty or cracked pathway, weeds, etc) are sorted.  You can add some vibrant pots of plants.
    • If you live in a flat, do what you can to keep the communal areas clean and tidy.
    • Create the feeling of space in the rooms by removing clutter into cupboards or taking it away from the home.
    • If you are tempted to remove furniture, only do this if you are re-purposing the room  for prospective buyers.  And it is always good to have a double bed in bedrooms where possible to show how the room can be used.

     If you need help with choosing an estate agent or de-cluttering either before you go on the market or before the move, we would love to help.

  • When should you downsize?

    When should you downsize?

    There is never a good time to downsize.  Many of our clients wish they’d done it much sooner, but acknowledge they probably thought they were invincible 10 years earlier.   So when you do it is up to you.  But the younger you are the more energy you’ll have to do it.  As specialists in downsizing parents and grandparents we can help and assist with small and large tasks, or project manage the whole thing. 

    Things to consider are:

    • Finances – freeing up money to top up pension or pay for care
    • Energy bills and excess rooms  – don’t pay to heat a home that you don’t fully use  
    • Household maintenance including gardening – both financially and physically this can become a drain
    • Health needs – these might need to be paid for or a move might simply help accommodate a health problem
    • Being nearer family for support (both ways) and companionship

    You can read more on our previous blog.  

  • Halfway through January

    Halfway through January

    We’re over halfway through the month of January.  You don’t have to declutter your whole home in one month, but if you need some inspiration to keep going here are a few more tips.

    1. You don’t have to fill every cupboard or shelf you own, so rejoice in an empty space.  See our blog from last January on this:  
      https://www.onestoporganisers.co.uk/blog/post/18719/the-empty-cupboard/
    2. When decluttering clothes, separate items in your wardrobe so you can see what you haven’t worn over the seasons.
    3. Your children won’t notice ‘most’ of the toys you want to dispose of.  If you have a shed or garage, put items in there for a month or two first, just to make sure they’re not upset that it’s gone.

    For these and other de-clutter tips, head over to our website where you can download our free guide, 30 Days to a Clutter-Free Home 
    https://www.onestoporganisers.co.uk/page/downloads/ 

    You can leave a donation to Royal Trinity Hospice if you would like to do so. 

  • Continuing the decluttering

    Continuing the decluttering

    How are you getting on?

    Were the last three tips useful?  Here are a few more to keep you on the straight and narrow!

    1. Declutter first, organise afterwards (you can’t organise until you know what you have).
    2. Do ‘stuff’ first, and paperwork later as it is a totally different category.
    3. Keeping items ‘just in case’ is all very well, but if it takes up room in your home or garage and you have too much stuff, it is not serving you and you should get rid of it.

    For these and other declutter tips, head over to our website where you can download our free guide, 30 Days to a Clutter-Free Home https://www.onestoporganisers.co.uk/page/downloads/ 

    You can leave a donation to Royal Trinity Hospice if you can afford to do so and find it useful.