Ever since your dad was diagnosed with cancer, he’s had to rely on you a lot. You still work, but you switched to part-time hours. Still, time management is essential while he’s undergoing treatment. How do you improve your time management skills when it’s all new to you?
Focus on the Important
Focus on the important tasks and delay others if you have to. There are things you absolutely must get done, such as making sure your dad takes his prescription medications and has enough to eat and drink. It’s not as vital that his bed is made.
It’s okay to put off tasks if you’re running short on time. It won’t matter if you don’t have time to run the dishwasher today. It can wait until morning. If he needs a dish, you can pull one out and hand wash it for now.
Find Ways to Save Time
Are there things you could do to save time today or on other days? If your dad’s local grocery store offers delivery, the fee may be worth it if it prevents you from having to get him into your car and then shop with him. Place the online order and have it delivered.
Instead of having to refill his prescriptions at the local pharmacy, see if they deliver. You can also check with his insurance company to see if you can have multiple months refilled at once and shipped to his home.
He has a meal plan built and several of his meals call for sliced carrots. Slice a batch of carrots at the same time and use the portion needed when it’s time to cook the meal. You won’t have to prep ingredients each day and that saves a lot of time in prep work.
Build a Spreadsheet
Free online spreadsheets are very helpful in keeping to schedules and managing your time. Find your favorite free option and use the spreadsheet to create a list of everything your dad needs during the day, week, and month. Use it to track his appointments, medications, meals, and household chores.
If you use a cloud service like Google Sheets, you can easily share it with others. Your brother has a free afternoon coming up. He can look at what needs to be done on that day and offer to take over a few items on the list. With a column for notes, he can add his name and then message you to tell you he has that afternoon covered.
Is It Time For Him to Consider Home Care Services?
Is time getting away from you? It may be a good time to talk to him about home care assistance. Have caregivers stopping by each week to take care of some of the time-consuming tasks you and your dad are okay with others doing, such as laundry or housekeeping.
With those tasks off your to-do list, you have extra hours to find fun activities for your entire family. Tour a museum, go to the movies, or plan a potluck family dinner with board games to play.
If you or an aging loved one are considering home care assistance in Newton, MA, please contact the caring staff at PlatinumCare + today. Call (617) 237-0867.
PlatinumCare + was born out of the desire and passion to provide the very best home health care possible in Brookline, Dover, Newton, Needham, Watertown, Weston, Cambridge, Lincoln, Sudbury, Belmont, Boston MA, and surrounding areas.
All with decades of experience, Tim in IT Operations, Support, and Management, Brenda in Client Relations, Healthcare Services & Sales Management, and Anne in Healthcare as a Nurse Practitioner combined their skills to form what is now PlatinumCare +.
As immigrants to the US, all came from backgrounds where Healthcare for aging parents was a responsibility of the immediate family and the entire community. Aging, sick, or terminal community members were cared for physically, emotionally, and financially by family, friends, including strangers! This community approach, Healthcare with a difference, delivered with the utmost love, care, sacrifice, and passion, forms the basis of how PlatinumCare + grounds itself.
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