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My mother complains about her incoming mail. She asks me to help to sort all, which I have, filed it, then I find on a return visit, she has misplaced it. She also accuses me with evening phone calls the day of the visit that I have taken her bank statements...etc. and other paperwork. The good thing is, I was proactive a few years ago and set up automatic payments from her checking account and her bills therefore, are up to date. How can I continue to help her, without being accused of taking her mail and personal documents?

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I was going to suggest a locking fire-safe. It will be there, you can make copies of everything for her to file wherever she likes! She won't be able to open it when you are not there, so may get frustrated, but less expensive than safety deposit box. When we had to lock up the pills and use a dispenser, I used just a regular old cheap lock box, stuffed under the bed. If she happened to come in to see what I was doing, she kept telling me that it was my younger brother's... so, a fire-safe put out of sight and copies for her pleasure could work.
If you go with safety deposit, be sure to have an alternate listed on it - in the event that something happens to you first... not that we want to think about that, but it does happen!
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I would take mom to bank & get all important documents put into a safety deposit box with both your names on it [yours only if you can] & take a pix then file those at her place - even take them in the safety deposit box - say it is so all the documents aren't in same place in case of fire & put your birth certificate etc in too - I use ziplock bags with different titles on - replacing everything is a nightmare so could be a bargain & less headaches later

By doing this you are showing that her documents are very important & that you are respecting her - when you help her with paperwork take pix of all you file - tell her that's so you can help her when she has a question over the phone but it also shows where you left it
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Yes, please keep us posted. Big notes or sticky notes can help! Good luck. ❤️
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Thank you to all of you for the suggestions. I will attempt to use the above including scanning/taking a picture of it, and see what works best for now and get back.
I'm wondering and will try next visit, to file her valuable papers, bank statements, marriage cert...etc. and place a large note on the file box stating " Helen, please leave these documents here in a safe place". If she will actually abide by that note? I wish it would work!
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An elder is OVERWHELMED by incoming mail, let alone bills that they may owe. My late mother cried about her mail until I took it over that day--#1 Recycle, #2 Bills Owed, #3 EOB's and #4 Trash. They just can't handle it. Do the best you can.
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I gather most of the moms mentioned in answers above are living at home alone. I guess that is cheaper than moving them to an Assisted Living home, (getting them to go into one even if you can afford it, is next to impossible until later stages) but boy it sure is almost impossible to avoid constant problems. Have you tried just changing her address permanently with the Post Office? Can you just change mailing addresses with all the known financial, medical, etc businesses, and leave the third class mail for her? That can be a problem too if she has a tendency to send checks to many non-profits . I think it is a no win situation as long as she is able to live home alone, and especially if she stills drives a car, but maybe shouldn't. God bless all of you for trying to hang in there and make the best of it.
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I can relate! Mom asks everyday about where her social security, & pensions are. I remind her its all direct deposit to her bank. But when she sees her statement, she denies all her debit purchases & accuses me of making them!
It's so exasperating & hurtful.
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You can try what others have suggested - say you took it home by mistake, make copies, etc etc, but given with dementia they tend to put things away in odd places (and dig out old crap and insist it is new), most of these techniques will be at best a bandaid (even bandages can be bad - mom got cellulitis just before the move, which delayed the move, and just after my brother cleaned and dressed the wound, she ripped it off and stated she needed a new one! AUGH! Better him than me!!)

I actually temporarily forwarded her mail to me for about 1.5 months (I could not be there often enough to snag all the mail over the month) and took over all the bills. I contacted each place and had the billing address changed to me. She received notice of the temporary change and was mad - "I get more than bills in the mail" - yeah, a bunch of crap (flyers, various other junk mail, donation requests, etc.) I also had to get my brother to take her out for a while and go remove any/all paperwork to stop her digging through old crap. It caused another nightmare! I was going to suggest doing that, then YOU mail her a copy of each one, but then she might notice your address on the paperwork.

Another option, since she seems paranoid about the outgoing mail - perhaps a PO Box in her name? Then you could maybe pick up the mail once/week and go over it all? Show her the scheduled payments (which you could continue to show her.)

Even better - you can say that billing is all electronic now... everyone wants me to switch to E-Billing... If you did that, you can show her the statements online and print them if she wants it. Tell her the banks now require it!!!
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It is normal that the person who is there is the culprit because they won't admit they are at fault - the police quickly get her number as dementia so don't worry about them

As to meds - you need to remember she is not in charge but you are so hire the med people - tell her that it is manditory or you can go away for a few days & hire service while you're gone then say it's now permanent - if you go away tell her it was such a load off your mind that you decided to keep up med service for you not her
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This issue is one of the most heartbreaking as caregiver to my mom. She accuses me of stealing and even called the police last year. I agree with everyone who posted solutions that involve just appeasing her and saying things that will calm her down vs. forcing the truth and hurting her feelings. "Lying" under these circumstances allows our parents to maintain their dignity. My new problem is meds. My mom lives in a senior community with three meals and activities. They have a nursing service in the building that would administer her meds to her once a day at the same time, instead of me bringing them in a weekly pill minder. She will not allow me to hire them for that service but she won't always take her meds, either. Some weeks I can only visit her 5 days out of the 7 and even if I call her to remind her on those days, that's no guarantee she'll take them. Any advice?
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I am going through the same experience with my mother. Her bank statements are now kept in a three ring binder on her bookshelf. I have post-it notes around her house to remind her to look there, yet I still get questioned. She is suspicious that I am receiving her statements at my home, even though her name and address are printed on them. I try to reassure her, but periodically she will keep repeating that she is not receiving them in the mail, or that she is not remembering bringing them in from the mailbox. Being on the receiving end of an untrue accusation is difficult and upsetting to work through, especially when it keeps happening, it wears me down. How to best manage those moments is quite the challenge that I am trying to figure out as well.

I do think she is grieving the loss of her independence, primarily because of the challenges she has with her short term memory. As her caregiver who wants to protect her and meet her every need, because of her difficulties, she may perceive me as taking away her sense of control in her life. I understand her frustrations with her limitations, I know Mom appreciates all that I do for her. As caregivers, how do we stay strong in the midst of our loved one’s emotional suffering?
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Had the same problem so one by one I changed the address to mine and told her the banks weren't sending out monthly statements only 4 times,a year worked till she went in the nursing home
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Get a scanner, or use a free scanner app on your phone like CamScanner, etc. Scan and annotate everything that comes in, save it online and then it no longer matters where she puts the papers, you always have it at hand and can show her the digital copy...
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silver, I walk the line on a lot of that, too! First, I DO take a lot of it and file it at my home, medical stuff e.g... so we both always know where it is. Also, she is paranoid about outgoing mail and will only drive it to the PO. She asked me to do this for her once, so when I was at the PO I took a pic with my phone of which bills they were, in case she harangued me about whether I in fact mailed them. Maybe these two ideas will help you. Good luck. :0
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It's easier to take ownership and apologize. "I'm sorry Mom. I should have been more careful where I put that. I'll print another copy of the bank statement." or "I'm sorry Mom, maybe I misfiled it." You get the idea.
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I don't think you can. I'd tell her, oh, I took it home by mistake. I'll bring it back when I come again, and then produce it from the file, if she even remembers it. From what I understand, this stage will pass.

My father had what appeared to be some sort of dementia the few days before he died in that he would ask over and over again about some financial matter. Eventually, I learned not to tell him he'd taken care of it, but to "call" the bank to check--sometimes two or three times an hour. Sometimes, the only think I can think of doing is lying.
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