Why does my mother want to hoard newspapers?

And when one has Alzheimer's why is it vital they know the day of the week or what month it is? Do they have to go to work? Honestly...

Is your mom living with you permanently? If so, are there any options for her to take part in a day care program? Have you made plans for when your mom's care is too overwhelming? You have your plate full with supporting your daughter and her needs are the priority.

Every day Mom would ask me to check the mail and see if the paper had arrived yet. It was one of the few constants in her life that she could count on.

We let the papers pile up by the door where she could see them. Any tidying up or throwing anything out was reserved for Mom's nap times.

My particular pet peeve was Mom's obession with saving those hideous plastic grocery sacks. If we tried to throw them away she would go ballistic. It drove me crazy but she wanted to give them to the church for their book sale. Mind you, the church has one book sale each year so you can imagine how many grocery sacks we had stuffed into cupboards, below the sink and anywhere else with extra space.

I agree with one of the posters who said that the older you get, the less control you have. It's an annoyance but certainly something we can work around. My Mom has been gone 8 months now. Go with the flow, as I look back, was definitely the right way to handle it (or maybe I should say, the way that worked for us). Of course, the priority was her safety but then creature comforts followed right after that.

My mother has Alzheimer's. When she still lived at home the daily newspaper was her only way to know what day of the week it was and what month we were in.

First, stop getting the newspaper. Just change the date on the older ones. She won't know what date it is anyway. Secondly, start removing things a little at a time so her hoarding does not burden the rest of the household. Having an autistic child with their already challenged thinking is subject to agitations which none of the household needs. Try to decrease the stimuli as much as possible. Play soothing instrumental music at a lower volume (white noise it is called) to calm the environment. You have your hands full, so take time for yourself too!

So glad to find this and know I am not by myself. My Mom shuffles papers all day long! She starts with the daily paper and goes back through all of the ones that I haven't managed to get away from her! I used to read the paper religiously, but do so on the laptop now. Mom uses the paper to watch us and think we don't see her looking. We have to laugh, but oh, does it get annoying. It goes on from the time she gets up in the morning, until she goes to bed. She has practically worn my floor lamp out switching it on and off. I have had overdue and late bills because she stuffs anything in them, and then when I get a chance, I trash the papers, unknowning what is inside them! It sure does get annoying, but at least it is something for her to pass her time, plus she rereads and relooks at the same article, never any other ones, and cannot tell you anything she has "read". So glad to find this and know that I am not alone. Hang it there. It's a long, tough road and doesn't seem to get any better, I've found.

My grandma did the same thing. She always said there was an article she planned to read or a coupon to clip. My mother on the other hand took her dog out often. Do to being on lasix. In both cases, as disease set in or progressed these things became obsession. OCD behavior. My grandfathers bed for example no longer had a frame or boxspring. The bed was held up by papers. When we finally cleared her house she had become a hoarder worse than anything I've seen in tv. And rats and feces everywhere. My mom...now wants dog to go out every min. Dog bites all over her cuz dog is pissed having to be disturbed constantly.

There are so few things the elderly can control over time. It isn't fair to them to let our irritations take their freedoms away when a situation is safe and harmless.

My mom chose paper towels : ) They make her happy and she loves to fold them...we just have to keep her from trying to take the ones out of the trash.

Who knows why, but she has a good reason that is known to her at the time when she wants to keep them, did she have birds, or pets in the past that she used papers for? In any event, they are important to her now and I would just remove them when she is not paying them any mind and just give her a new paper. I don't argue about anything anymore, question why, or I'd go a little further down the bonkers trail, I just remove stuff when she is not paying attention to these things, my mother's thing is TISSUES, my bane. I just bought 18 rolls of toilet paper, sometimes you got to go with the flow and make it work for you, don't bother trying to figure it out just figure out a way around it.

It's hard to know what's going to tweak the thinking of a brain damage person. With dementia often comes paranoia. Becuz they can't remember where they put their things, order things aren't where they think they put them, they often develop the belief that someone is stealing from them. As time goes on they will often have less and less "things", mainly because WE have to take away some of their things so they get in less trouble. I had to take away all of their clothes from my aunt first and much later from my mom to prevent them from getting up at 230 in the morning and wanting to clean up and get ready to go somewhere.

So don't take them away, give her more. See where she puts them without commenting. Ask or have your daughter ask from time to time to "borrow" some of the papers for store ads or homework, just don't mention it again and don't give them back. If that doesn't work, collect them when she's out of the room or in the bathroom and can't see you do it. It's a way to minimize your frustration