Keeping Aging Parents at Home: 5 Top Caregiving Tips

Many families hope to help their aging parents remain at home comfortably and safely, but without the proper support, caregiving can quickly become overwhelming. From home modifications to daily care strategies, thoughtful planning makes all the difference in creating a sustainable, loving environment.

In this article, we share five essential caregiving tips to help your loved one age in place with dignity, covering everything from safety upgrades to self-care for caregivers. Whether you're just starting this journey or looking to improve your current routine, these practical solutions can help balance independence with peace of mind.

How to Care for Seniors at Home – Long-Term

People often say, “I promised her I’d never put her in a nursing home,” or “Dad told me he never wanted to live in one of those places.”

For various reasons, caregivers may choose to care for their loved ones at home.

And as long as the situation is safe for everyone involved, keeping aging parents at home is a wonderful thing to do.

But it’s important to remember that senior care is one of the most challenging and most stressful jobs you’ll ever have.

That’s why caregivers are at such high risk for burnout and serious health conditions.

So if you’re caring for your older adult at home, it’s essential to pace yourself.

That means you can’t be running at 110% every day. We’re human, and that’s not sustainable over the long run.

Pacing yourself and getting assistance helps you stay as healthy as possible, so you can continue providing excellent care.

To help you stay going in the long term, we share five tips for keeping aging parents at home for as long as possible by reducing the caregiving workload and lowering stress.

Five Tips for Keeping Aging Parents at Home

1. Understand how much care is needed

In caregiving, many of us fall into a state where we “can’t see the forest for the trees.” 

When you’re overwhelmed with a long list of caregiving To Dos, you’re so focused on the tasks that you’re not seeing the overall picture.

The first step is to determine how much care your older adult needs. 

Creating a list of daily, weekly, and monthly care tasks helps you understand how much help is needed during the day, at night, and on weekends.

You’ll realize how much supervision is needed and at what times of day.

An easy way to make a comprehensive list is to set a notepad out and make quick notes every time you or someone else helps your older adult with something.

After a week, you’ll have a good overview of what your senior needs help with and at what times of day.

To make sure everything is captured, keep taking notes for longer to see if there’s anything that happens only once or twice a month that you don’t want to forget.

2. Be realistic about how much care you can provide without harming your health

Now that you know what your older adult’s care needs are, you can figure out if that’s something you can handle without help. 

Or maybe looking over the list helps you realize that you need help with a variety of tasks.

In your evaluation, think carefully about how much care you can realistically provide without harming your health. 

Keep in mind that if you take on too much, you will eventually burn out or develop a serious health condition – ultimately leaving you unable to care for anyone.

Instead, be as proactive as you can and find ways to get the help you need to maintain your health and continue as a caregiver.

3. Get help with caregiving

Even though it might seem like finding caregiving help takes too much time and effort, remember that it’s an investment that will pay off in the future. 

Finding help takes patience, effort, and creative thinking, but it will be worth it when you’re able to decrease your workload, reduce stress, and take regular breaks.

To help you spot more opportunities for getting help, keep an open mind and be flexible.

And be sure to use the list of needs you wrote down to remind you of the types of help you need.

Ideas include:

• Enroll your older adult in an adult day program – socialization and care for them, and a much-needed rest for you
• Hire in-home caregiving help to get regular breaks
• Find a volunteer senior companion program in your area
• Use a respite care service to get an extended break
• Sign up for a meal delivery service or Meals on Wheels to reduce the number of meals you need to make
• Ask family or close friends to help run errands, do some light housekeeping, or prepare some meals
• Buy caregiving and household supplies in bulk, or better yet, order online for home delivery. Eliminate as many errands as possible to save time and energy.

4. Share the caregiving responsibility

You might be doing such a fantastic job that nobody thinks you need any help caring for your older adult. 

So even if you feel like you shouldn’t have to say it, ask siblings or close relatives if they’ll take on their share of responsibility so you can take much-needed breaks.

Getting help from family will be different in every situation.

For one person, it could be moving mom to the sister’s house for a year.

Another person and their sibling might take turns living with Dad for 2 months at a time.

In other cases, it could mean having your sister stay at your house for a week every two months so you can get away.

If they’re willing to help, be creative and flexible. No solution will be perfect, but any help you can get will lighten your workload.

Check out our additional helpful tips on how to ask family to help with caregiving.

5. Reduce financial pressure

Caring for an older adult can also place a significant financial burden on your family.

Reducing caregiving costs as much as possible helps decrease the amount of financial pressure and stress.

Suggestions:

• Find government and private benefits programs that help with a variety of costs
• Get paid for being a family caregiver
• Reduce the cost of prescription drugs
• Talk with an elder law attorney about the pros and cons of spending down to qualify for Medicaid

Recommended for you:

• 4 Tips to Get Siblings to Help Care for Aging Parents
• 6 Reasons Dementia Caregivers Avoid Taking Breaks
• 7 Steps to Take When Aging Parents Need Help

About the Author

Connie Chow

Connie was a hands-on caregiver for her grandmother for 20 years. (Grandma made it to 101 years old!) She knows how challenging, overwhelming, and all-consuming caring for an older adult can be. She also knows how important support is — especially in the form of practical solutions, valuable resources, and self-care tips.