You are now subscribed
Your newsletter sign-up was successful
Want to add more newsletters?
Delivered daily
Kiplinger Today
Profit and prosper with the best of Kiplinger's advice on investing, taxes, retirement, personal finance and much more delivered daily. Smart money moves start here.
Sent five days a week
Kiplinger A Step Ahead
Get practical help to make better financial decisions in your everyday life, from spending to savings on top deals.
Delivered daily
Kiplinger Closing Bell
Get today's biggest financial and investing headlines delivered to your inbox every day the U.S. stock market is open.
Sent twice a week
Kiplinger Adviser Intel
Financial pros across the country share best practices and fresh tactics to preserve and grow your wealth.
Delivered weekly
Kiplinger Tax Tips
Trim your federal and state tax bills with practical tax-planning and tax-cutting strategies.
Sent twice a week
Kiplinger Retirement Tips
Your twice-a-week guide to planning and enjoying a financially secure and richly rewarding retirement
Sent bimonthly.
Kiplinger Adviser Angle
Insights for advisers, wealth managers and other financial professionals.
Sent twice a week
Kiplinger Investing Weekly
Your twice-a-week roundup of promising stocks, funds, companies and industries you should consider, ones you should avoid, and why.
Sent weekly for six weeks
Kiplinger Invest for Retirement
Your step-by-step six-part series on how to invest for retirement, from devising a successful strategy to exactly which investments to choose.
When you're caring for a sick spouse or parent, it can be difficult to find time to enjoy hobbies, exercise or even schedule routine appointments such as dental checkups. As a result, caregivers sometimes suffer from depression, increased anxiety and deteriorating health.
Diane Everett figured out a way to free up her time and reduce her stress. Her husband, Tom, was diagnosed in 2007 with ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig's disease. A few years ago, Everett, 61, who lives in Fredonia, N.Y., started using Lotsa Helping Hands (www.lotsahelpinghands.com) to streamline her communication with family and friends and to tap into her social network for help.
Caregivers can use Lotsa Helping Hands to create personalized Web sites where they can post updates about a loved one's medical condition and request assistance with tasks such as driving to medical appointments or mowing the lawn. "Sometimes I will say, 'I need a couple of meals this week, and Tom doesn't eat onions and he's having trouble chewing red meat,' " Everett says.
From just $107.88 $24.99 for Kiplinger Personal Finance
Become a smarter, better informed investor. Subscribe from just $107.88 $24.99, plus get up to 4 Special Issues
Sign up for Kiplinger’s Free Newsletters
Profit and prosper with the best of expert advice on investing, taxes, retirement, personal finance and more - straight to your e-mail.
Profit and prosper with the best of expert advice - straight to your e-mail.
When Everett posts a request for help, all of the members of her Lotsa Helping Hands community receive an e-mail alert. Community members must be specifically invited by the caregiver, to ensure users' privacy. If Everett's family and friends can help with a specific task, they simply click a link to sign up. That lets the other community members know the request is fulfilled. "Now, I don't have to make a million phone calls or leave messages," Everett says. "It's the most amazing time saver."
Lotsa Helping Hands is one of several sites that help caregivers coordinate care. Brooks Kenny, the site's executive vice-president, says 76,000 "caring communities" of family and friends lend help to caregivers. One reason the site is catching on, Kenny says, is that it enables caregivers to turn vague offers of help into practical, tangible assistance. When a well-meaning friend offers to help, most caregivers are reluctant to follow up. But a caregiver who uses Lotsa Helping Hands can refer friends and relatives to her Web site.
Kenny says the most common requests are for meal drop-off and transportation. Caregivers might ask for someone to walk the dog or shovel snow. Or the caregiver could ask for people to take turns visiting with the person who is ill so that the caregiver can attend her book club or hit the gym. "The caregivers we work with say, 'I had no idea so many people cared,' or 'I had no idea it wouldn't feel funny to have someone drop off a meal,' " Kenny says.
Offering Help—and Comfort
CareFlash (www.careflash.com) is similar to Lotsa Helping Hands. Founder Jay Drayer created the site in 2006 after his own caregiving experience. In addition to a calendar function where caregivers can ask for help, CareFlash includes a "social storytelling" module where family, friends and the ill person can upload photos and record audio stories in their own voices.
Drayer says that it can be comforting for the sick person to listen to the stories, and the family can keep the module when the person dies. It's also a way to preserve family history. "It's a collaborative way to tell the story of someone's life," Drayer says.
CaringBridge (www.caringbridge.org) is another popular site for caregivers. It was launched in 1997 primarily as a tool for people to update friends and family about a loved one's illness or recovery. In 2012, CaringBridge added SupportPlanner, where caregivers can request assistance with chores.
Many caregivers use CaringBridge to post medical updates and read well wishes from friends and family members, says Sona Mehring, the Web site's founder and chief executive officer. "It's a great communication tool to let people know what's going on," Mehring says. "Friends can leave messages to show their support as well as sign up for tasks. Being able to connect is very therapeutic for caregivers."
Haven’t yet filed for Social Security? Create a personalized strategy to maximize your lifetime income from Social Security. Order Kiplinger’s Social Security Solutions today.
-
Dow Adds 1,206 Points to Top 50,000: Stock Market TodayThe S&P 500 and Nasdaq also had strong finishes to a volatile week, with beaten-down tech stocks outperforming.
-
Ask the Tax Editor: Federal Income Tax DeductionsAsk the Editor In this week's Ask the Editor Q&A, Joy Taylor answers questions on federal income tax deductions
-
States With No-Fault Car Insurance Laws (and How No-Fault Car Insurance Works)A breakdown of the confusing rules around no-fault car insurance in every state where it exists.
-
457 Plan Contribution Limits for 2026Retirement plans There are higher 457 plan contribution limits in 2026. That's good news for state and local government employees.
-
Medicare Basics: 12 Things You Need to KnowMedicare There's Medicare Part A, Part B, Part D, Medigap plans, Medicare Advantage plans and so on. We sort out the confusion about signing up for Medicare — and much more.
-
The Seven Worst Assets to Leave Your Kids or Grandkidsinheritance Leaving these assets to your loved ones may be more trouble than it’s worth. Here's how to avoid adding to their grief after you're gone.
-
SEP IRA Contribution Limits for 2026SEP IRA A good option for small business owners, SEP IRAs allow individual annual contributions of as much as $70,000 in 2025, and up to $72,000 in 2026.
-
Roth IRA Contribution Limits for 2026Roth IRAs Roth IRAs allow you to save for retirement with after-tax dollars while you're working, and then withdraw those contributions and earnings tax-free when you retire. Here's a look at 2026 limits and income-based phaseouts.
-
SIMPLE IRA Contribution Limits for 2026simple IRA For 2026, the SIMPLE IRA contribution limit rises to $17,000, with a $4,000 catch-up for those 50 and over, totaling $21,000.
-
457 Contribution Limits for 2024retirement plans State and local government workers can contribute more to their 457 plans in 2024 than in 2023.
-
Roth 401(k) Contribution Limits for 2026retirement plans The Roth 401(k) contribution limit for 2026 has increased, and workers who are 50 and older can save even more.
