As people age, they want to maintain their independence wherever they happen to be, and this is especially important when it comes to their own homes. If you are considering the advancement of your own age as a factor in how you want to live in the future, continue reading for some helpful tips on how you can continue to live in your home.
Modify Your Home for Accessibility
Regardless of how active you have been in your life, there may come a time when accessibility and mobility are a daily concern. If that happens, the important thing to know is that you have options for how you can continue to access and live in your home. One of the essential components you will need is access ramps to easily gain entry to or leave your home. Just because your mobility is less agile than it was in the past does not mean you should be confined to your home.
Once you have the ramps in place, it is time to assess the interior of your home. Consider hiring a contractor to widen any narrow hallways, as needed, to allow a walker or wheelchair easy access so you can continue to move about the home and live well on your own.
Next, have your contractor or handperson install grab bars in the shower, next to the toilet, or near the tub for extra support during your activities of daily living. Task them with reinforcing any stairway railings and other supports in your home while they are there.
Declutter for Safety
If you enjoy living your life more than organising it, now is a great time to declutter your home. This is a vital step you need to take to ensure your home is easy to move through without the fear of tripping over things that have not been put away or discarded.
Beyond the safety aspect, it is also nice to go through your belongings and declutter your life. Make the process of cleaning up and clearing out some of your unwanted belongings a joyful event instead of a sad one. Enjoy the memories as they pop up, share stories with your family, and begin to pass on your possessions to your loved ones, if you so choose.
Once you are finished with the material items, move on to your digital life. While this is not an essential part of ageing in place, it is helpful to declutter digitally. After all, you may be the only person who knows what is in your laptop’s files or which cloud server you use to back up valuable photos and videos. Make time to work through everything digital and curate your photos as you go. Your family will appreciate your extra effort.
Hire Help for the Interior and Exterior of Your Home
As you grow older, some of the things you used to do around your home will no longer be feasible for you to continue doing. Essential jobs, such as cleaning, might become too difficult, or you may simply want to spend your time on more enjoyable tasks. The same goes for lawn care and snow removal. Hire licensed and reputable companies to handle these jobs for you.
Ageing is not necessarily a fun aspect of life. And yet, it happens to the best of people. Take steps now to ensure you can live well in your own home as you grow older.