This sheet sorts a household clear-out into the part the family keeps and the part a hired non-medical worker can take on. Lines marked Filed come from the signed agreement or the written job list. Lines marked Editorial are this desk's reading.

Local option: New Plan Care gives families in the St. Louis area in-home help so a parent can stay home: companionship, help with bathing and dressing, meals, and overnight care. Call (314) 405-0887.

Sort the job into three columns

Split the job into three columns before any box is opened. Decide is the column for keep, sell, give away, or throw out. Carry is the column for moving items to a labeled place the family has chosen. Dispose is the column for haul-away and donation pickup. Filed: the job list the family writes or signs. Editorial: the decisions do not move to the worker. A hired worker may carry boxes where the family points. The worker does not decide which papers or photographs are kept, does not decide what counts as junk, and does not give anything away or sell anything on their own.

Write the keep-or-toss rule before the first box

  • Name the person whose belongings they are
  • Name who has the final say on any contested item
  • Set a holding area with a label, not a spot on the floor
  • Name who takes donations and who books the haul-away

Editorial: an item marked maybe is a decision that has been postponed. Give maybe a holding date the family can keep, so the holding area does not become a second pile.

Protect papers and valuables

Documents, cards, keys, and jewelry get their own container and a family member who checks each item as it goes in. Filed: nothing on the agency side unless the agreement says so. Editorial: ask the agency in writing what the worker's role is around papers and valuables, and whether the worker signs for anything that leaves the house.

Questions for the agency before the first session

  • Will the worker move items only to the places the family points to?
  • What is the rule when the worker finds an item that was not on the plan?
  • Who answers if an item goes missing on a carry trip?
  • Can a family member be present for every session?

Stop the session when the decision runs out

When the family is not available to decide, the hired hours should stop rather than guess. Ask how the agency handles a session that ends early, and whether the unused hours are kept on the schedule or released. Editorial: a clear-out that waits for decisions is slower but safer than one that moves items on a guess. Write the stop rule into the job list before the first session starts.