Guest BloggerHow to Help Seniors Organize and Declutter Their Homes
Organization is a challenge for people of all ages. After decade upon decade of living in their homes, though, seniors often accumulate mass amounts of clutter and sometimes find it nearly impossible to scale back and organize. Three in four seniors want to age in their own homes, according to the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP), but this sometimes becomes impossible when excess clutter becomes a safety issue. Falls are a leading cause of injury-related deaths among Americans who are over the age of 65, and a disorganized home that is filled to the brim with excess stuff can
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Kathy MacaraegDownsizing A Home Full of Memories
Helping Your Aging Parent Downsize When someone lives in their home for several decades, chances are, the home is jam-packed with a lifetime of memories and stuff. As our parents age, they may need to downsize their belongings in anticipation of moving in with family, an assisted living facility, or even to a new condo in a fun retirement community. It can be overwhelming to find the right place to start when it comes time to downsize. If your parents are like mine, everything has meaning. My mom still has things from when she was my Girl Scout leader! If
Continue reading10 Best American Cities for Older Adults
As the 80+ million baby boomers age, more and more Americans will reach senior status. By 2040, more than one in five Americans will be over the age of 65. While the classic picture of retirement involves moving to the Sun Belt, many older adults actually want to stay put and age in their home and communities in cities both large and small. This desire is part of what prompted the Milken Institute—a non-partisan economic think tank—to rank the best large and small cities for older adults to live in. The Institute looked at 83 indicators from publicly available data
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Jeff DaileyMoving This Summer?
Summer is busiest time of the year for home and business moves. In fact, an estimated 65 percent of the 43 million Americans who are moving this year will do so in the period between Memorial Day and Labor Day. Moving This Summer? What does that mean for those with a move in the immediate future? Considering the fact that moving is ranked just behind death and divorce in terms of life's most stressful events, a summer move might mean stocking up on extra stress balls and taking a few extra deep breaths along the way. "Whether you are hiring help
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Kimberly JohnsonNeed a Clearinghouse for Clearing the House?
Fingers crossed. A friend is trading her suburban house for an urban condo, which means the baby grand has to go. It has had no takers. At the last minute, I see a post from a gentleman who orchestrates neighborhood events seeking...a piano! He can handle the move and tuning. I rush to contact both people and arrange an introduction. They share a dream of keeping the music going; neither can fathom a baby grand being left at the dump. It might work out. Need a Clearinghouse for Clearing the House? Welcome to the new world of downsizing...where anyone can
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Richard BitnerHow Relocation Stress Syndrome Impacts the Elderly
As the world moves faster and faster, it becomes easier and easier to move from one place to another. In the modern world, it’s not uncommon for some people to switch addresses every couple years. But society’s casual attitude toward moving can come with negative effects, especially for the elderly. How Relocation Stress Syndrome Impacts the Elderly Over the past few decades, researchers have begun to study a newly understood phenomenon known as Relocation Stress Syndrome. Also known as “Transfer Trauma,” Relocation Stress Syndrome is triggered by a move from one environment to another. Onset of Relocation Stress Syndrome can carry
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Kendall VanBlarcomYou Are Never Too Old
People are living longer than they have in previous generations. As you age, it is important to remember that you are never too old to create the life you want. You Are Never Too Old Creating happiness is something that can be done at any age, yet it is common for people to equate aging with the idea of being too old to learn new things. You are able to bring new activities and connection into your life at any point, provided you are motivated to do so and are willing to seek out the right tools and guidance. Is It
Continue readingIt’s Not Mean to Get Lean
In fact, it’s kind of mean to the folks left with the stuff if you don’t get lean. Do your elders have 60, 70, 80+ years of stuff? Have they ever trimmed down any of it? If you are a bit fuzzy about the answer, now’s the time to get serious about helping them get lean! It’s Not Mean to Get Lean Recently, we moved my mother-in-law to assisted living. She fell this summer and couldn’t live independently any more. That meant that the house was left exactly as it had been when she fell – full of 87 years
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Carol MarakHow to Enjoy Downsizing
Do you plan to retire in the near future and thinking about downsizing from the suburban two-story? The question comes up for empty nesters, retirees; people headed to retirement. How to Enjoy Downsizing It's a tough thought process. And initially people start with the home; to replace a two-story with a one, or a three bedroom with one or two, and reduce 2,700 square feet to 1,200 or 1,400. That's a lot of stuff to filter. If you start here, overwhelm may stop the idea altogether way before the fun part. How about instead, begin with a vision focused on how
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