Should I be handling Mom's finances in a different manner?

Thanks all for your input. Mom is of a generation that paid cash for everything so never had a credit card. I'll see if my credit card company will allow for a third card on my account (my daughter already has one on my account) and that might be an easier way to keep records. If not, I'll stick to the old fashioned way and keep receipts and notes and continue to write myself checks from the account at the end of each week.

Obrok- I pretty much did as you are doing. I had DPOA and was able to write checks from the account. But I was also on the account as a joint account holder - even without the DPOA I could have written checks. I never, ever put my own money in the account nor used any of that money for my own purposes.

I actually wasn't crazy about writing myself checks for reimbursement even though I kept careful records and receipts. My solution was a bit on the shady side but with the DPOA not illegal. I used my moms Visa card whenever I could get away with it. So anything I ordered online and at my usual grocery store where they knew me well and they had the swipe machined - I knew the clerk would never ask to see the card. I always had a copy of the DPOA in my purse - crazy, I know - but if asked to see the Visa card and the name/signature wasn't mine - I could show the DPOA- but that whole scenario would have been a hassle. So I kept purchases under the signature limit and the problem never came up. Like I said - a little bit shady, and I'm sure the Visa company would have been less than thrilled with my technique.

It might make life easier and clearer if you get a new, separate credit card solely for your mother's expenses, mightn't it?

Obrok, what you are doing is the exact same thing I was doing when I took over the finances for my parents. I was able to use my parents credit card to help make the billing easier. I kept a 3-ring binder with all the bills that I had written check off of a joint account, which was just their money alone. I also wrote checks to myself for reimbursements. Keeping good records is important.

I had 24/7 professional caregivers from an Agency for my Dad, once my Mom had passed, and the cost was very expensive, $20k per month in my area. I used an Agency because if a caregiver wasn't able to make his/her shift, the Agency always found a back-up person.