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Attendance allowance

Have you heard of Attendance Allowance? It is a government benefit that helps with extra costs if you are over state pension age and need someone to help look after you.It might be that you feel you don’t need financial support now, but it is a non-means tested benefit, and it might be something that you could be very pleased you have in the future if you need to pay for carers or a stair-lift, for example.  Or it could be something you could use now to pay for taxis if you can no lo...

How to file!

This is a repost of our video from 2022, how to file!Keep your filing system simple – avoid using folders where you need to punch holes to file.Use different colours for different types of paperwork to help make it easy to find things.Do your filing either as you get it or save it all in one place and do it once a quarter or so. One Stop Organisers:  Here to help your older loved ones live their best lives....

Trades

Most tradespeople are honest and trustworthy but it doesn’t matter what our age, we’ve all had a tradesperson who didn’t care, or who was in a rush to do some work for us.  And I bet we didn’t follow them up on each of those visits.  Imagine then if we ended up with someone who was a bit of a wrong ‘un!  How would we deal with that?  And how would you deal with that if you were older?So if you have an older neighbour, look out for them.  They may be living with...

Having a community around you

Many things I’ve read and heard recently herald the importance of having a community around you as you get older.  Those living in isolation tend to live shorter, less happy lives.  A community can be friends and neighbours or people you see all the time.  Here are some examples of community or places where you can find communities in your local area:ChurchAge UKBowling clubTennis clubArts SocietyU3AAnd there will be other more specific places like https://www.wopf.org.uk/our-ev...

Choosing a mobile phone

Do you need to choose a mobile for yourself as an older person or for an older loved one?  Here are our top tips:Is this the first time you’ve had a mobile phone?  If so, consider a phone with just a few apps so it is not overwhelming.  Doro https://www.doro.com/en-gb make phones specifically for seniors and we’ve helped a number of clients get these phones.Don’t like the idea of a Doro phone? Who is the person that will help you get to grips with a mobile?  Get a phone...

Helping you tame your admin

Is your admin out of control?  Do you have papers everywhere?  Do you miss appointments regularly or miss deadlines?  Here are some of our top tips to get back on track, whatever your age.Write it down.  If you use paper and pen, great, but have it in one place.  If you are embracing digital technology then here are some places to keep track of to do lists:a.      Evernote https://evernote.com/b.      Todoist https://app....

Planning for the inevitable

The inevitable will happen to all of us and it’s good to get planning and talking about it before we go.  The inevitable might be that your attorneys need to act for you or help you during your lifetime or it might be information for your executors when you die.  There are some great resources available and we wanted to let you know of the ones we like:For attorneys and executorsPeace of Mind Planner – a comprehensive workbook to fill in containing details that anyone dealing with ...

Getting Care At Home

So, you’ve decided that the best thing for your loved one (or you) is to get some help with care at home.  It could be help with meals, or with personal care, cleaning or companionship, or a mixture of all of these things.  If you have more than £23,250 in savings you have to pay for the care yourself.*We’ve noticed that lots of people seem to think that those providing care at home are expensive, intimating that the extra costs involved rather than privately paying a carer, arenâ...

How to effectively deal with post

Do you find you get post that you don’t deal with?  It is very boring after all! You do need to open it so it doesn’t get lost, but you don’t need to deal with it straight away.  Here’s our video from last year and three top tips:Open envelopes on the day you get the postFlatten the post and throw the envelope awayEither deal with it or file it there and then or put the contents in a magazine file to file or deal with later. For more information on how and why we recommend the ...

Tax in retirement

HMRC should send you a PAYE coding notice each year, unless they believe that a source of PAYE income is not chargeable to tax, or if you do not have a liability to tax on any PAYE-source income.  Being retired doesn’t stop you from being liable for tax or from receiving a tax code. If you usually get one and don’t have one yet this year then you should get in touch with HMRC to find out what happened to it.If you usually get a tax code notice you should check it when you receive i...

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 larderCheck the news and weatherCheck your bank statementsIf you’re still driving you can use it for directions (satnav)Research for holidays or day tripsParticipate in coursesReceive information (e.g. schedules and timetables)Check spelling and grammarBook theatre and concert ticketsRenew or get a passport...

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 s...

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...

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 som...

Passports and identity

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 bee...

Share the love

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 righ...

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...

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...

Halfway through January

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.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/When decluttering clothes, separate items in your wardrobe so you can see what you haven’t worn over the seasons.Your...

Continuing the decluttering

Were the last three tips useful?  Here are a few more to keep you on the straight and narrow!Declutter first, organise afterwards (you can’t organise until you know what you have).Do ‘stuff’ first, and paperwork later as it is a totally different category.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 we...

January decluttering

to take stock of our lives and make changes, hopefully for the better.  One of these changes is often to ‘get organised’, and decluttering is very much part of that.  Here are just a few of our tips to help you with this:Gather like with like so you can see what you have (scissors, batteries, paracetamol are good examples of things that exist in different places around your home).Set aside small chunks of time as you will achieve more.Take items to the charity shop after each sessi...

Reflecting on time with your loved ones

We hope you all had a fantastic Christmas day with your friends and family, or if you were alone, that you enjoyed the peace and quiet.  We know lots of people who prefer a quiet one, so if that’s you, we salute you!Following up on our last post, did you notice anything different with your older loved ones over the festive period?  Now you’re back home perhaps you’ve had a chance to reflect on what you saw.   And it might be the time to give them a call and thank them f...

Festive Relaxing

...most of you will spend time with friends and family, some of whom will be your older relatives.  Whilst you are with them and having a lovely festive and relaxed time, they may not want to tell you about anything happening to them as they may feel too proud.  However, you may notice some physical and other changes to their home.  Keep an eye out for:·       Are they using a stick when they haven’t before?·       Ar...

What to do when.... you need to pay online charges and don't have a computer

What do you do when…. you don’t have a computer / internet or mobile phone and need to pay for your ULEZ or Congestion Charge?To  help clear  London's air, the Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ) operates 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, every day of the year, except Christmas Day. The zone operates across all London boroughs, and does not include the M25.  Other cities have other policies and it is likely that a similar scheme to the one we’re writing about operates with them...

What do you do when... your mobile phone is lost

In the first of our series of ‘what do you do when…’ we are focusing on:  lost or stolen mobile phones. We had a few of our own ideas, but we decided to have a google and see what other trusted people said too.  We endorse all of the advice from Citizens’ Advice, which you can find here.  So we’ve included most of their advice in our step by step guide, but we have also added some extra steps.1.       Don’t panic.  Chances a...