Spring is here, which means some of you are busy buying tulips, restocking the Claritin, and pretending this is the year you finally become an organized-pantry person. 

If you’re feeling ambitious while your sibling blows into town for a long weekend of caregiver cosplay, we’ve taken the liberty of freshening up your ever-expanding to-do list.

🎂 William Daniels, best known as Mr. Feeny from Boy Meets World, celebrated his 99th birthday. 

💰 A new analysis warns Social Security could run out of full funding in about six years.

📊 According to a recent poll, the University of Michigan finds many family caregivers are navigating support with little to no backup.

📄 Center for American Progress highlights new paid family and medical leave legislation in Virginia, expanding access to time off for caregiving, illness, and family needs.

🍻 A Minnesota House update highlights a bill that allows caregiving facilities to host “happy hour” where residents can gather, connect, and share stories.

For caregivers, spring cleaning should include more than attacking the hall closet and throwing out expired paprika. Before you go label a bin “winter scarves,” here’s a better use of your energy:

Weed out the legal stuff. Not to be dramatic, but if your mom lands in the hospital and the power of attorney isn’t anywhere to be found, you could slip right back into a seasonal depression. Check whether the healthcare proxy, power of attorney, will, living will, HIPAA release, and any other key documents actually exist, are up to date, and are stored somewhere you can find them. “I think it’s in the filing cabinet” is not a system. Neither is “my sister probably has it.”

While you’re at it, confirm the names on everything still make sense. Former spouses have a way of lingering in old documents like fruitcake after Christmas. The person listed ten years ago may not be the person who should be making decisions now.

Do a medical reset. Not just for your Dad, for you too. Caregivers are notorious for making sure everyone else gets their teeth cleaned, labs done, prescriptions filled, and weird rashes examined. Book the annual physical. Schedule the mammogram. Make the dermatologist appointment. Refill your own prescriptions before you’re down to a single pill and a prayer.

This is also a good time to do a quick medical systems audit for your dad. Are all the doctors still current? Are there duplicate medications floating around from three specialists who do not know one another? Is the patient portal login available to someone other than your dad, who writes passwords on the back of old envelopes and then acts persecuted when he can’t find them?

Crack open the calendar. Spring is a great time to look ahead and get smarter about the next six months. Any annual follow-ups that can be booked now? Any care coverage gaps coming up because your sister is traveling, your kid has camp, and everyone suddenly remembers they “have a lot going on”? Put the appointments on the calendar. Put the backup plan on the calendar too. Hope is neither a strategy nor a scheduling tool.

Tidy up the money trail. Financial housekeeping isn’t thrilling work, but it is useful. Review bills, auto-pay setups, insurance policies, account access, and subscriptions that may still be charging your mom. Make a list of what’s being paid, from where, and by whom. If something happened tomorrow, could another person step in without conducting a forensic investigation? 

Clean up the contact list. For the love of label makers, make a master contact list. Doctors, neighbors, aides, attorneys, financial advisors, pharmacy, building manager, dog walker, best friend from Mahjong, church lady who knows everything, cousin in Tampa who means well but cannot be trusted with logistics. Get it all in one place, bonus points if it’s digital.

Get the house in order. This is less “wash the windows” and more “prevent a preventable disaster.” Replace dead smoke detector batteries. Check the nightlights. Toss the throw rug that clearly has hostile intent. Make sure there’s a working flashlight, a list of emergency numbers, and toss the salad dressing that’s been in mom’s fridge since your senior year of high school.

Conduct a tech check. Update emergency contacts on mom’s phone. Test the medical alert device if there is one. Ensure the Wifi works. Nothing says modern caregiving like trying to troubleshoot a telehealth visit while your mom yells “can you see me now” at an iPad.

Updating important information — groundbreaking. Then again, neither are florals for spring. We’re not claiming it’s a new concept, simply reminding you it’s a helpful one. 

You can’t fail this one. Answers and another quiz drop next week.

You said it. This week’s submissions.

"He laughed hard at a silly joke and then all day he would repeat the joke and laugh."

"I managed to temporarily get my father into assisted living while we remodel his house."

"Mom dressed herself! Yay!"

"A good friend took me to breakfast and really listened."

"Took my mom to a geriatric doc today. She did pretty well with a memory test."