Stop Mom from tipping Assisted Living (AL) Staff?
She’s been there less than a week & we’re remote. They have been helpful with laundry & bathroom messes. They also offered to run errands for her. Mom has very poor judgment & has no cash to spare. She’s wasted thousands ensnared in frauds in scams pre-AL. Next step is remove credit cards & cap monthly debit card. Really want to stop this. She doesn’t need to buy anything. We’re already ordering her supplies. Any suggestions? Maybe just have a credit w/hair dresser? She doesn’t need any other services. Except she wants “pocket change - credit card” to use a vending machine.
Then, I pay myself back from her funds.
We keep a spreadsheet that lists every single purchase and the reason behind it.
You could also keep track in a notebook.
We keep all receipts.
There may have come a time, had he lived, that he could not have had this account. Happily that didn't happen. He died before Lewy's worst could catch him.
For my brother, who was diagnosed with probable early Lewy's by his symptoms, and who entered ALF, he made me POA for all finances. I was also Trustee of Trust. I paid all bills and managed all finances, and his ALF did not allow residents to keep cash in their rooms. So problem was thereby solved. He asked for a small spending account and I otherwise supplied him with a monthly rundown of his assets and costs and his finances in full. His spending account was for 1,000. It only grew while he was in care, that account.
My brother would ask ME as his POA to gift people, say the woman who cut his hair. He once made a small gift of cash to a woman who was fleeing her home. He made charitable contributions we discussed. But things pretty much had to go through ME. For his safety.
I would discuss first of all with administation on what their rules are on cash in rooms. Clearly your Mom likely should not have control over credit cards and large sums of money now, so this is a matter of whether you are POA and how best to handle this.