Memory care-Taking all clothes out of drawers

katiela · November 10

My mother is in interim memory care, and is constantly taking the dirty clothes out of the hamper before the staff can get to them and unpacks ALL her drawers and closet and folds it on her bed. I have tried giving her other things to organize (costume jewlery/photos) but she keeps coming back to the clothing.

1) Has anyone found a laundry basket that makes it harder to remove soiled items?
2) Any strategies for stopping the packing? Every day we have to put away every single clothing item.

thanks for the help.

pamu · November 10

My mom is in a memory care facility and refuses to put her clothes in drawers. She keeps her clean clothes in a bag in her closet and keeps her soiled clothes in a hamper enclosed in a garbage bag (folded). Underneath the garbage bag she keeps her shoes and other items she doesn't want in her drawers. Her room is sparse and she does not want any personal decor or items out. We think she does these things so she can be packed up and ready to go at a moment's notice (she is obsessed with leaving - she's been there a month and half and begs to leave daily).

Our family does her laundry instead of the facility by choice - we thought it would help but it doesn't. We notice that some of her items have gone missing either by her throwing them away (she has a long history of tossing underwear/socks) or other residents "shopping".

harshedbuzz · November 10

@katiela

Hi and welcome. I am sorry for your reason to be here but pleased you found this place.

Packing up is very common during the adjustment period for new MC residents. It should fade with time.

There was a man in my local support group whose wife did this while she was still at home. It drove him crazy. He wasn't able to extinguish the behavior, but it did put limits on it by having his granddaughter create a capsule wardrobes for each week where everything went together and storing all but one week at a time to limit the mess he had to clean up.

HB

psg712 · November 10

My mom's MC keeps each resident's laundry basket in his/her room closet. The closet is always locked. Staff have to open it.

Mom doesn't pack her clothes, but she rummages and rearranges the contents of her dresser daily. It's difficult to locate any specific item of clothing - there's no telling which drawer it is in or if it's in the closet, laundry basket, laundry room or another resident's room.

Anonymousjpl123 · November 12

my mom not only packs (still! After 14 months in her current MC!) but initially used to mix dirty clothes with clean. Similar to @psg712 , hiding the hamper in the closet worked well.

My mom and many others love folding things. I’m not sure what it is about the repetitive motion but it makes them happy. I think if you can find a way to have staff hide the soiled clothes, it can be a very soothing activity.

Memory care-Taking all clothes out of drawers

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