What Should Be on a Checklist for Caring for Aging Parents?

A good caring for aging parents checklist starts with seven things: a real conversation with your parent, a simple daily contact, a walk through the home, the key paperwork, a clear picture of money and bills, the local help that already exists, and a plan for your own time. You don't need to finish it in a weekend. Print this, check off what's done, and come back to the rest.

You're far from alone in this. AARP and the National Alliance for Caregiving found that 63 million Americans — nearly 1 in 4 adults — gave ongoing care in the past year, and that caregivers pay roughly $7,200 a year out of pocket on average (AARP, July 24, 2025, checked October 28, 2026). And 26% of adults 65 and older lived alone in 2023 (Pew Research Center, December 4, 2025, checked October 28, 2026).

1. Have you talked with your parent about what they want?

Everything else on this list goes better when your parent helped decide it. For how to start, see how to check on an elderly parent living alone.

• ☐ Ask what matters most to them: staying in their home, staying near friends, keeping their routine.
• ☐ Ask what kind of help they'd accept — and what would feel like too much.
• ☐ Agree on how often you'll talk, and how (call, text, visit).
• ☐ Ask who else they want involved: siblings, a neighbor, a friend from church.
• ☐ Write down what you agreed so everyone remembers it the same way.

2. Is there a simple way to hear from them each day?

• ☐ Pick a daily contact your parent will actually keep: a call, a text, or a daily check-in service.
• ☐ Decide who follows up if a day is missed, and in what order.
• ☐ Make sure at least one person nearby has a key, or knows where one is.
• ☐ Save the non-emergency number for your parent's local police or sheriff.
• ☐ Know the difference: a daily check-in tells the family your parent checked in; it isn't an emergency system. See our guide to daily check-in services for seniors.

3. Have you walked through the home with fresh eyes?

• ☐ Good lighting on stairs, in hallways, and on the way to the bathroom at night.
• ☐ Loose rugs and cords out of walkways.
• ☐ Things they use every day within easy reach.
• ☐ Working smoke and carbon monoxide alarms.
• ☐ A phone your parent can reach and use easily — and a charger where it lives.
• ☐ House numbers easy to read from the street.

4. Is the important paperwork in one place?

Our guide to paperwork for a parent living alone goes deeper. At minimum:

• ☐ A list of doctors, pharmacy, and current medicines, kept where family can find it.
• ☐ Insurance cards and Medicare or other coverage details.
• ☐ Who has power of attorney for finances and for health care decisions — or a plan to talk to a lawyer about it.
• ☐ Where the will or other estate papers are kept.
• ☐ Account logins or a trusted way to reach them, if your parent wants that.
• ☐ Copies stored somewhere a second family member can get to.

5. Do you understand the money side?

• ☐ Which bills are automatic, and which your parent pays by hand.
• ☐ Income sources and when they arrive.
• ☐ Who to call if a bill is missed or something looks wrong.
• ☐ A plan to watch for scams, together, without taking over.
• ☐ Who pays for what among siblings, written down.

6. Have you checked what local help already exists?

• ☐ Call the Eldercare Locator at 1-800-677-1116 (8 a.m. to 9 p.m. Eastern, Monday to Friday; Spanish-speaking specialists available) to reach your parent's local Area Agency on Aging (Eldercare Locator, checked October 28, 2026).
• ☐ Ask about meals, rides, help at home, and telephone reassurance or daily call programs.
• ☐ Ask the local senior center what's on offer.
• ☐ Ask neighbors or a faith community who might check in now and then.
• ☐ If daily tasks are getting harder, learn the terms care providers use: ADLs and IADLs.

7. Have you made a plan for yourself?

• ☐ Share the work. One sibling doesn't have to carry it all — see how siblings can share check-ins.
• ☐ Set a regular day to review this list.
• ☐ Put time for yourself on the calendar, and keep it.
• ☐ Know who your own backup is if you're sick or traveling.

Sources

• AARP, July 24, 2025
• Pew Research Center, December 4, 2025
• Eldercare Locator

Cozy is a non-medical peace-of-mind service, not a medical alert or emergency system.