Doing the house up, downsizing, old age prep

[Deleted User]

This is going to cover a whole basket of ideas, many of us must be in a situation where we are tentatively thinking of some changes with a view to making daily life easier as we get older and approach this era with a physicality that is starting to fail. Ok we don`t go on for ever with the energy of youth but it does seem to hit home around the 60s+. That plus losing a spouse or oh or partner, as has happened to me

Th finances are pretty well sorted now and I am looking ahead and question one is do I want to stay in this house and in this lovely tiny close community? The answer is a resounding yes. I know that hopefully, I will be here for at least 10 years and hopefully for far longer, so any money I spend on the house now will be money well spent and beneficial for me

First project for me is a new kitchen, base drawers and no cupboards below the worktop, I am having to kneel on the floor to get at my many cooking things and no I will not stop baking and cooking. My oven is below the worktop, what a stupid design. Anyway all that will be changed, plans are almost completed. So a new kitchen it is and hopefully starting this summer. This is a project that dh and I had planned together

I made a few re vamps in the bathroom a few weeks ago. It is a shallow bath but still impossible to get out of safely, too long for a soak and too slippery. Simple adjustments here, a long non slip bathmat, a very secure double ended handle, well stuck on the tiles with suction and a safe colour when stuck properly, a gorgeous and fairly expensive head pillow and a big bathcap. Lol, now I am enjoying a nice soak but it took me 5 years to realise how I could make my bath safer and more comfortable

I am constantly going through my possessions these days and there is always something to give away and so I continue, although thankfully nothing much for the tip any more. My children are always grateful and so is the charity shop. Amazon has been sterling, I have so far sent 4 boxes of books away for good money, amazon trade ins with free postage

The one thing I will not downsize from is my hobby stuff but hey ho, hobbies are good and enable me to meet like-minded people

I am thinking ahead too. I have an eco house and a pellet stove that involves work and was also not very well installed ie it can leak gases from the back. I am always vigilant and even today put some high temperature tape around a dodgy flue joint. It is ok now but I can`t be doing with all this scraping and cleaning, so I have sent a contact e mail off to a supplier of top notch austrian stoves, which involve minimal cleaning and are much better built. It will involve yet more of my savings but so be it, I would rather have this done sooner rather than in 5 more years

The back garden, a fantastic sun trap, lower than the field around. I have 40 large pots and we spent a large amount of time last year, emptying and going to the tip. I filled many pots with a well draining compost and topped with lots of semper vivium plants, from ebay. They look lovely and require hardly any water. The watering was absolutely killing. I still have lilacs in pots, some crabapples and blueberries, I have strawberries in large troughs and 4 good sized raised beds but this is oh so easy now, in comparison and my large water butts will be sufficient in future. If I need to downsize the back again, then of course I can or I can get a gardner to refill the large pots

So, a bit at a time

lessonlearned

Hi Kittie

Interesting thread. Planning ahead for getting older is a good idea. If we make our homes more "elder" friendly i think more of us might be able to remain Independent for that much longer, maybe even avoid having to go into nusing homes in our later years.

A good Kitchen design is a particularly good place to start. Getting rid of under counter cupboards and replacing with drawers and/or pull out shelving or baskets makes life so much easier, same with under ovens. I cannot think of a worse design- must have been dreamt up by a man, and one who never cooked a meal in his life.:rotfl:

Like you im not ready to give up my soak in the bath just yet, so I have two long handles incorporated in the actual bath. I must treat myself to a good neck pillow. One day I suppose I will have to have showers rather than baths, so I will then go the wet room route, rather than a shower enclosure that has a step.

My husband eventually became a wheelchair user. I cared for him at home as long as I could. It was a real eye opener for me. It made me realise just how many buildings are totally unsuited to wheelchairs or walking frames.

I am currently house hunting. Learning from my experience I now know exactly what I need to think about, ie good easy acces - forget long flights of steps either to the door or in the garden, so a flat level site.

Wide door frames and no twisty corridors, or cute nooks and crannies which could become inaccessible.

A bathroom big enough to take a wheelchair user and a carer.

Preferable a bungalow or single storey living. If it did have stairs then a straight staircase that would be wide enough to accommodate a stair lift, ie no dog legs or open treads.

Gardens can be changed over time to make them easier to maintain, even if you did need the occasional services of a gardener to help out.

Either a garage with power or at least the facility to build a small outdoor store for a mobility scooter, just in case. Although I do still drive and love my car there might come a time when I can't drive or walk far so might need a mobility scooter.

Location - this is the big dilemma for me. Can't quite decide whether I'm a country mouse or a town mouse. At any rate I need to,think about proximity to shops and amenities.

I also want to go the Eco route.

A lot to,think about ......

hostertlady

whilst sorting through my mums things, and trying to condense down the stuff she needed when she went into a care home I was astonished at how much stuff she had accumulated...
bags and bags of mothers days and xmas cards all shoved under the bed, paperwork of no relevance at all, broken remote controls, chargers that didn't seem to fit anything.. tins and tins of talcum powder, bath gels, etc etc...
it has made me realise that I, too, can be a bit of a hoarder so I am in the process of sorting through my paperwork and cupboards and getting rid of things that are no use and also out of date receipts etc....
just to make things a bit easier for whoever sorts out my stuff once I cant do it myself
x

cattermole

Great ideas I think eventually we will downsize but the thought of getting rid of a lot of things I find hard.

We nearly moved last year but in the end it just wasn't the right time. We are trying to make the garden a bit less work. I'm scared to death of falling over after breaking an arm and ankle last year and being diagnosed with early osteoporosis.

I'm a terrible hoarder so been gradually trying to declutter. Hate wasting anything so along with charity shops I try and do the odd car boot sale which makes a bit of money but I also find enjoyable and never ceases to amaze me what some people will buy and are delighted with.

I've also discovered freecycle recently and that's great to give something to someone else that really wants it and seems a quick and easy way particularly with larger items.

We are trying to keep the house up together so it will be easier to sell and just had a new bathroom. Kept it simple and contemporary but a big improvement.

I do think being in a community is important and becomes more so as you get older so I think we will stay local as I value my friends too much to move too far away and we have great GP's.

tealady

I am (hopefully) in my "forever" home and recently had a lot of sockets moved from amost floor level to waist height. No more bending to plug in the iron, hoover, and lamps.
I am also giving away stuff I don't use, less to tidy and dust as far as I am concerned. I found that putting things at the end of my drive with a "free, please help yourself" note often worked as well

lessonlearned

Some great ideas there, forgot about higher sockets, definitely makes life easier and safer.

My dad aged 89 struggles with low sockets.

jewelly

Just a word of advice.

I would be very wary of using a bath-side grab rail that is fixed to the wall by suction caps - no matter how well stuck they seem. I worked as a home carer for a number of years and carried out in-home assessments. We always recommended grab rails that are screwed into the wall for safety. Your local Council can arrange this, or contact Age UK. Better to be safe than sorry.

Goldiegirl

I remember when I had to clear my mum and dad's house. It was strange, I had moved out nearly 25 years before, and everything was in exactly the same places as when I left home, plus another 25 years of things coming into the house.

I managed to work though it all, but it took time.

It made me look at my own belongings, as I didn't want somebody to have to do the same with all my stuff, especially as I don't have children.

I've been decluttering on and off for the last 5 years, and I want this year to be the last big de-cluttering year. I need to get it done!

We've been in this house for nearly 26 years and are very comfortable. But it is a four bedroom house and we are only two people.

Down sizing is something we've discussed. It won't happen yet, but we think we'll know when the time is right. I think we will live here for at least ten more years.

If I was left by myself, I think I'd move to a smaller place. It'd be a wrench as we have been so happy here. But this house is too big for one person.

When down-sizing happens, there'd be more de-cluttering of furniture etc.

I think it's wise to think of the future and prepare. Things don't stay the same for ever, and we have to think of our future needs.

hostertlady

how do hoarders de-clutter?


i suppose you have to be in the right frame of mind to get rid of stuff that you have kept for many years 'just in case'


how do you do it?
x

[Deleted User]

hostertlady wrote: »

how do hoarders de-clutter?


i suppose you have to be in the right frame of mind to get rid of stuff that you have kept for many years 'just in case'


how do you do it?
x

my husband used to say `thank you for the good service but it is now time to say goodbye` and bit by bit we filled shopping trolley after shopping trolley. We were de-cluttering for months and then he died suddenly and now it seems all the more important, so I can prepare for my children. It was difficult enough when we were both doing it and then later when it was just me and I knew all the ins and outs but it was till very difficult to do the sorting

I keep a shopping trolley in the hall and fill it gradually then it goes to the hospice shop, to provide funds for their good work and to help other people in some small way

If I am not sure then I just offer the item to my family first and if they don`t want it, off it goes. I never think of the monetary value and what I spent in the old days as tbh it doesn`t bear thinking about

ibizafan_2

My parents, (84 and 88) have been in the process of de-cluttering for the last few months, bless 'em. They are determined not to leave it all to us to sort out when they have gone. The charity shops have certainly done well out of them recently!