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As you get older, your health and your lifestyle change, and the time may come when you need to re-evaluate your living situation. Your needs change, and it makes sense to adapt your home to meet them.
How Your Needs Change as You Get Older
Consider what could change that might make your current home inconvenient or an obstacle to your health and happiness. As you get older, your mobility can change as a result of arthritis, weakness, fatigue, and recovery after surgeries.
There are plenty of things you can do to maintain mobility, but it’s a reality that you may need to consider. And it’s not the only health issue that can alter what you need out of your home.
The time to think about your options is now. You want to make sure you can maintain your independence in the right environment for your lifestyle.
#1 Assisted Living
When people think about senior homes, assisted living is often what comes to mind. But there are many different types of senior assisted living retirement homes that can meet your specific requirements.
For many, assisted living means living somewhere that offers support services to help them maintain their independence and quality of life. Assisted living is not the same as long-term care or memory care, but rather it offers personal and medical assistance in such a way that helps seniors maintain their independence.
Assisted living means not having to worry about cooking, cleaning, or personal care.
#2 Senior Apartments
Sometimes downsizing is just the right move. If you’re in a single-family home that’s underused, downsizing frees up capital otherwise trapped in a property. That money can be a significant boost to retirement savings when invested and used to pay for ongoing living expenses.
Senior apartments are a great alternative to buying another property. In a hot housing market, you may not want to sink the proceeds straight back into another, if smaller home.
Senior apartments also take care of the mobility factor. They’re designed to be accessible, and some residences may also provide additional amenities and community activities that can make it easier to build a social life in your later years.
#3 Renovating Your Home for Mobility
Most homes aren’t built with aging in mind. Too often, they’re built with the idea that the residents will somehow stay young forever. That can mean expensive renovations are needed to allow you to stay where you are. Sometimes, they’re prohibitively expensive, and selling, in order to move somewhere already accessible, makes more sense.
Some of the renovations you may want to target to make your home accessible include:
- Reducing the need for stairs by creating a step-free entrance or moving the main bedroom to the main floor.
- Eliminating tripping hazards such as area rugs, uneven surfaces, and elevation changes.
- Installing non-slip flooring wherever you use tiles to prevent falls.
- Putting in handrails on stairs.
- Widening hallways and doors for wheelchair use.
- Altering showers, tubs, and toilets with grab bars.
Where you live can go a long way toward making aging easier. Look for a place that fits your health, lifestyle, and personal needs.
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