clothes for moving into a Home

connieonny

Registered User
Feb 9, 2010
77
0
uk
We are still awaiting a bed for MilL, but expect this to happen within the next few weeks. My wife is sewing on name tapes and all the rest, and there seems plenty to be getting on with.

Does anyone have any good tips on clothing? Most of her clothes have washing labels of 40 degrees, and we wonder how long things will last washed at much higher temperatures. Any tips you could give to us on this, or on any other aspect of moving into care would be welcomed.
 

LizzieT

Registered User
Apr 10, 2013
53
0
Hello, and I hope things go smoothly for you.
My only advice would be not to take clothes that mean a lot to you or anything made out of wool! None of my fathers wool jerseys have survived.
I used to worry about this, but his care is brilliant so I have had to not mind.
I also kept a stock at home so I could ring the changes.
With best wishes,
Lizzie.
Ps silk ties don't wash well at any temperature but probably not that relevant for your MIL !!
 

rajahh

Registered User
Aug 29, 2008
2,790
0
Hertfordshire
trouble is neither do Damart vests My husband wears these all year round. I am thinking of suggesting they leave the vests for me to wash
 

Fastwalker

Registered User
Apr 27, 2010
178
0
Tyne and Wear
Clothes for Homes

Sorry to hear about your MILConnieonny
The first home soon ruined my mums lovely woolen cardigan because they washed everything on a hot wash so be careful there so go for acrylic cardigans. They liked elasticated waistbands for skirts and trousers. I found tights a nightmare to help my mum put on so pop socks were easier.

Bras all unfortunately disappeared so a fitted camisole was the best I could get them to do. I also found that buttons on night dress necks were ripped off. I noticed that the ladies didnt have belts on their dressing gowns so I put my mums name on that too. Basically name everything because they wash so much they cant possibly remember which clothes belong to which resident. I sometimes retrieved things from the washroom.
Laundry marker does eventually wash out or I found that so labels on underwear too. I found cash's labels good which were available on the internet. I think I had them when I was a child.
Make the labels visible as they dont have time to look around the clothes for them.

I moved my mum and the next home looked after clothes much better and washed everything on 40 degrees which seemed ok. My mum looked much better while she was there.
Label everything including ornaments and toiletries as unfortunately things unintentionally get taken out by other residents with dementia. It is unavoidable unless the rooms are kept locked.
Good luck and hope the home meets your expectations and your MIL is happy there.
 

CollegeGirl

Registered User
Jan 19, 2011
9,525
0
North East England
I'd go for cheap, cheerful and comfortable, amd lots of it. At her last respite, half of mam's clothes and belongings went missing, despite everything being labelled with her name. Despite many phone calls and reassurances, none of the items has been returned. It's very frustrating, but lesson learned.
 

at wits end

Registered User
Nov 9, 2012
752
0
East Anglia
Avoid buying new clothes with buttons is my only tip.

And be prepared as the illness progresses for MIL to deny knowledge of the clothes. My gran is always telling the staff the clothes in the wardrobe aren't hers, even though she has had them for many years prior to her move. Then because she's 'not staying' I regularly get told to take stuff home for her, I have to sneak it back in on the next visit else she'd have no clothes left!
 

Shash7677

Registered User
Sep 15, 2012
1,671
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Nuneaton, warwickshire
My mum if of sound mind would hate the clothes she wears in her NH but they are practical, was well at 60 degrees and aren't shrunk when tumble dried. She basically has the £6 trousers from the A*d* the smart price supermarket, the long sleeved r shirts from the same shop and some jogging bottoms as elasticated waists are easier than buttons and zips sometimes.

She would always wear lovely clothes at home but, she spills her dinner down herself and sometimes has the odd toilet accident (not so frequent now she doesn't leave her room so much, she has a commode). Cheap things are easy to replace and obviously don't cost the earth.

We find slippers go missing like they are going out of fashion! Mum has socks instead of tights again they are cheap and cheerful and she too doesn't wear bras, she has camisoles, normally the thermal ones that are a bit tighter but not too tight. As for bedtime she just has elasticated waist bottoms and a vest top.

I went into the charity shops in town the other day and had a root round to see if there was anything for her in them. I work on the rule that wash it a few times and you'd never know it belonged to someone else ;-)

Hope you find some bits and bobs,

Sharon
 

Witzend

Registered User
Aug 29, 2007
4,283
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SW London
Would just add to the above, name everything you possibly can, not just clothes and shoes. Glasses can be a nightmare to locate if they go missing. Even photos and their frames may go walkabout and if the name isn't on the back somewhere, it's hard for staff to return them to the right room.

With the best will in the world, things do go walkabout in a CH catering for dementia - bound to happen unless rooms are locked most of the time, and who would want that?
 

Amber

Registered User
Jan 4, 2011
57
0
West Sussex
Hi, echoing all the comments above plus my mum has a linen bin in her en-suite at her CH and has her name stuck on it which helps prevent against her clothes going missing, the bin is taken to the laundry and clothes washed then the clothes are brought back to her room in her labelled bin ready for the carers to put away. I bought lots of coat hangers as it's easier to have each item hanging individually. Make an inventory of all of her belongings. My mum wouldn't wear bras, this seems the norm so we brought her lots of vests and pop socks, putting her tights on seemed a bit hit and miss with the carers but pop socks seem more favourable. I bought my mum two of all her toiletries, one in use and one as back up so that if I was ill or away and she ran out there was always another in her bathroom cabinet. My mum's bedroom door is always shut and she has a key on a neck chain/strap to let herself in, this prevents residents from wandering into each others rooms and taking belongings. Hope this helps.
 

grobertson62

Registered User
Mar 7, 2011
581
0
Sheffield
Hi
I would definitely label everything and i mean everything
I used to get my dads shirts and cardgans from charity shops. Good quality but at prices that made it so if they were damaged i didnt worry.
I know from speaking with carers for ladies they do find elasticated stuff easier
As time went on i switched to labelling with a permanant marker which made life a lot easier

Good luck
 

sleepless

Registered User
Feb 19, 2010
3,223
0
The Sweet North
Just to echo what Fastwalker said about making labels visible. I put Dad's woven name-tapes down at the hem of his shirts, thinking they might scratch the back of his neck if put in the obvious place, but sometimes I don't think the laundry staff have noticed them, as they have named some with black laundry marker.
It irks me to see they put his name and room number on garments that clearly are not his, often several sizes too big for him. I hand them in, but they come back, I call them the boomerangs.
Label shoes, slippers, socks, everything.
We keep Dad's best shoes high up at the back of the top shelf where no residents can see or reach them -- learned this the hard way after having to take him out to appointments in his slippers when his shoes had gone AWOL.
 

starryuk

Registered User
Nov 8, 2012
1,323
0
We keep Dad's best shoes high up at the back of the top shelf where no residents can see or reach them

Good idea! I had not thought of a set of best clothes hidden away...thanks for that.
 

Nanak

Registered User
Mar 25, 2010
1,979
0
64
Brisbane Australia
At my MIL Care Home they had a system where everything was barcoded. They took all clothes away when MIL moved in and attached a fabric label. It was great, her stuff was collected and then returned in a bag each day. And it meant we didn't have to sew labels onto everything.
As has been said though we sent in polyester elasticated trousers in summer and Track Pants in winter. Stretchy tops (Mum still liked to look nice) and camisoles not bras. It didn't stop things going missing sometimes though. There were a lot of residents wandering about and of course some are like Magpies and like the look of something so take it. It wasn't the end of the world. Most times things would be returned when relatives realised their Mum had clothes that didn't belong to them :D
There is a shop here in Australia called Millers which do reasonably priced, nice clothing so my Sister in Law and I used to shop there for Mum.

Kim
 

Taz

Registered User
Jul 7, 2007
118
0
Sussex
Mum refuses to let Dad's CH wash any of his clothes, I think it's the only thing she feels that she can still do for him. My brother and I keep asking her to let the Laundry there do it as they are very careful in the most part but she wants to carry on for the time being.
Everything has a label and since a whole load of new stuff went missing in one go, the staff on his unit now keep Dad's door locked at all times.....along with another resident's room where brand new items went missing overnight: they can only do this because both my Dad and the other chap are not wandering freely, if they were then I imagine that the doors would be left unlocked.
We have found that you can't have too many sets of nightwear.....Dad seems to go through two or three sets of pyjamas a night and other residents seem to be the same.
We have found that boxes of tissues and wipes that we take in to use with him are frequently used up when the staff are doing his personal care.....not a problem as long as someone mentions it so they can be replaced but that doesn't always happen so now we try to keep a couple of packs out of sight so that he always has a replacement.
Last year the only place local to us that was doing reasonably priced cardigans only had one design.....so several of the chaps were frequently in identical jumpers...they all looked like Val Doonican ;-)! Thank goodness for labels LOL!
X
 

connieonny

Registered User
Feb 9, 2010
77
0
uk
Thanks to all who have responded - some excellent ideas here, and though the dressing gown is named, the belt isn't! Hadn't thought of that so good thinking.
 

elizabet

Registered User
Mar 26, 2013
224
0
Southampton
At my Mum's care home each resident has their own mesh laundry bag named and numbered as their room. Thus, each residents clothes are put in their bag and then put in the washer so they are all kept together. I have named everything . Even so some odd items of clothes have appeared in her wardrobe - a size 22 dress and other residents clothes she is a size 12. Sadly she had some beautiful pleated wool winter skirts .I have kept one but have sent the rest to the local charity shop because they will be ruined in a communal wash. Most of her clothes are from a local discount shopping store especially jumpers -cheap and cheerful and not too fussed if they get spoilt.
 

CollegeGirl

Registered User
Jan 19, 2011
9,525
0
North East England
Can I hijack this thread a little? :eek:

I like the idea of these camisoles instead of bras. My mam finds bras uncomfortable if they are tight like they are supposed to be, so we buy her bras that are probably too big for her, they certainly don't support her as they should, and are fiddly to get on and off, and still irritate her.

What sort of camisoles do you buy? Camisoles that I have myself are quite loose and would offer no support, so I'd appreciate a few tips of where to go and what sort to buy.
 

Fastwalker

Registered User
Apr 27, 2010
178
0
Tyne and Wear
You can get camisoles with bra inserts from most department stores and some supermarkets I think. Thay also have ones that are slightly elasticated.
I found shoes hard to label and once found my mum in a pair of size 5 slippers and she is a size 7 so I have no idea how the got her feet into them. They felt extremely tight and uncomfortable.
Now my mum is in bed most of the time I think the carers find jersey nighties the easiest with lots of room.
The first home put my mum in a skirt that wasnt hers so many times, that I gave it to a charity shop and told them. Another skirt appeared on several ladies. The funniest thing was seeing my once 5.8 mum aged 83 in what was on her a mini-skirt belonging to a lady much smaller than her. Another lady frequently appeared in skirts and tops that clearly didnt go together and I am sure the lady in question didnt dress like that before she came ill.
 

Y Ddraig

Registered User
May 31, 2012
18
0
N Wales
Iron on labels

I labelled everything for my BIL when he moved into a CH. I found a site online called www.mynametags.com which has iron on labels. They were brilliant. They go on quickly and easily (better than having to sew everything!) and don't rub or peel off. I was able to customise the text, so I had his name and unit (as his CH is part of a bigger park of homes and the laundry is central) so his stuff always comes back as it is easy to find.

Otherwise I would agree with the other comments. Things that are easy on and off are better for the staff and tend to be more comfy for the resident. It is a good idea to have layers too - short sleeves, long sleeves, cardi etc etc - as the homes can be very warm.

I went bananas with stockpiles of undies and socks, because dependent on continence and how fast the laundry turn around is, you don't want to be low on that stuff. You might also want to stick to the cheaper end of the market, because the laundry can be a bit hit and miss if they are using high temps. Woolies definitely don't survive!

Good luck x
 

Varandas

Registered User
Sep 2, 2013
227
0
Hampshire England
Can I hijack this thread a little? :eek:

I like the idea of these camisoles instead of bras. My mam finds bras uncomfortable if they are tight like they are supposed to be, so we buy her bras that are probably too big for her, they certainly don't support her as they should, and are fiddly to get on and off, and still irritate her.

What sort of camisoles do you buy? Camisoles that I have myself are quite loose and would offer no support, so I'd appreciate a few tips of where to go and what sort to buy.


Hi CG

I found these kind of bras

http://www.calida.com/ch-en/women/bras/elastic-02138?color=096

The seams are soft, no buttons, no hooks and very comfortable.
It is like sports bra, soft and easy to get on/off. I am sure M&S will have something similar. Triumph should have it too.

All the best
Gina