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Advice please, mother's house getting very uncared for

(55 Posts)
tonibolt Sat 14-Oct-17 09:16:12

My mother, who is 87 and fiercely independent lives alone. The last eighteen months or so, the house has become gradually grubbier although she does some cleaning. The hall looks like Miss Haversham's banquet with huge festoons of cobwebs (high up though). Kitchen cupboards, doors and woodwork etc are really grubby now. We suggested about 6 months ago she might like a bit of a hand with "heavier" cleaning, - but had to retreat, sharpish! Any ideas how we could approach the subject again? We just want to help.

Flowerofthewest Sun 15-Oct-17 23:07:15

My mother is 92 and the same. She has AMD. Is registered partially sighted (Not happy about that) She point blankly refuses any suggestion of us helping her clean. Her kitchen is grubby and sticky. The loo too. I despair. She walks to town every day...risking life and limb when crossing the roads.

tonibolt Mon 16-Oct-17 12:59:11

Well, I'm going tomorrow, armed with surface wipes, and will try to get a couple of bits of woodwork sneakily wiped over. Trying to do it unseen is going to be a challenge, (as I can't do it otherwise), but occasionally she has nodded off in her armchair before I've arrived. I'm not trying to impose my standards, she has always been a fairly fanatical cleaner, which is what makes it so noticeable now. Once we get a bit nearer Christmas I'll suggest the spring cleaning "before you get the decorations out"..... tin hat at the ready

nancan Mon 16-Oct-17 17:05:00

When my mum was struggling with the housework, not being able to bend due to bad knee and bad back etc., I suggested to her that there maybe a local lady who would be glad of a few pounds to help her one day a week. Not particularly happy she did agree when I said maybe she could help her with the jobs that were getting difficult for her, and suggested she made a list for when the lad came to help. Success and looked forward to their chats.

nancan Mon 16-Oct-17 17:05:58

sorry not lad but lady