Free tool
How long will the money last at this level of home care
Put the aide hours, the hourly rate and your parent's monthly income in one place and see the real gap and the runway behind it.
Free tool, no sign up
How many hours of your parent's week are uncovered
Count the hours your parent should not be alone, subtract everyone's actual contribution, and see what is left before the next family meeting.
Every family argument about caregiving is really an argument about hours nobody has counted. One sibling feels buried, another feels accused, and the aide schedule has a hole between two in the afternoon and six in the evening that everyone works around without naming.
This calculator names it. Enter the hours your parent genuinely should not be alone, then the hours each source actually covers, including yourself, other relatives, paid aides and an adult day program. The result is the uncovered hours per week, what filling them with paid help would cost each month, and your own share of the covered load. Bring the numbers to the family meeting instead of the feelings.
Your result
Hours covered each week
58
Everything family, paid caregivers and an adult day program cover in a normal week.
Uncovered hours each week
26
Hours your parent is alone that the family said should be supervised.
Cost to fill the gap monthly
$3,715
What hiring out every uncovered hour would add to the monthly bill.
Your share of covered hours
The portion of all covered hours that you personally carry.
A gap of zero on paper still fails in practice if one person covers most of it, because that person will eventually get sick, travel or burn out.
Counting supervision hours honestly
Start with what an actual day looks like rather than a diagnosis. If your father can make a sandwich, use the bathroom safely and call for help, the supervision number may be low even with several conditions. If your mother has left the stove on twice or gets up at night without her walker, the number climbs fast and the nights count.
The most common mistake is scoring the hours you are physically present rather than the hours of real supervision. Sitting in the next room answering work email is presence, not care, and it is why a caregiver can feel exhausted while insisting she only works ten hours a week at her father's house.
Turning the gap into a plan
Uncovered hours are rarely spread evenly. They cluster in the late afternoon, over the weekend and overnight, and each cluster has a different fix. Late afternoon is where an adult day program or a short aide shift does the most work. Weekends are where a rotating sibling schedule works if it is written down and owned. Overnight is the most expensive to hire and often the trigger for a bigger conversation about moving.
Compare the monthly cost of filling the gap against the runway from the cost calculator. When those two numbers meet, the family is looking at a real decision: apply for a Medicaid waiver, ask about a PACE program if one serves the county, move the parent in with someone, or plan a move to assisted living while there is still a choice.
Questions about this calculator
Should sleeping hours count as needing supervision?
Count them if a night is genuinely risky, which usually means wandering, frequent bathroom trips with a fall history, or a medication that has to be given overnight. If your parent sleeps through the night reliably, leave those hours out. Counting a safe night as supervision inflates the gap and can push a family toward paying for care nobody needs.
My share is high. What am I supposed to do with that?
Use it as a fact rather than an accusation at the next family conversation. A share above sixty percent is a burnout signal well before it feels like one. The useful next question is which specific block of hours a sibling could take permanently, not whether anyone is doing enough in general.
Does adult day time really count as coverage?
Yes, and it is often the best value in the whole plan. Your parent is supervised, fed and around other people, and the hourly cost usually compares well with one to one aide time. Do not count the van ride each way as coverage, because a hole at the start and end of the day is exactly the kind of gap that catches families out.
More free tools and working documents
Working document
The one page care handoff sheet for your parent's home
Fill this in once, keep it on the refrigerator, and any sibling, aide or paramedic who walks in can take over without a phone call.
Turn that figure into a schedule someone owns
The number above is only as honest as the week behind it, and right now that week lives in a group text and one sibling's memory. In a short demo we will put your parent's doses, rides and paid aide hours into one shared log and see how the figure moves once the real coverage is written down. The calculator stays free and open whether or not you ever book that call.