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Who cleans your house?

Aging Well | Last Active: 1 day ago | Replies (67)

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@gloaming

Kathy, I hope you won't mind my orientation to your question...I'm not trying to pry or to get 'under your skin' and to be an irritant. You have asked the question because one or more of the possible answers is objectionable to you. It makes you feel bad about your circumstances, or your progression rate as you age, or the loss of function, or....you just feel a bit guilty and hope others will 'bail you out' and say come on over to the dark side...pay someone to do it for you if you can't or if you won't...after all these years of doing it for yourself.
I remember Dirty Harry's words in that movie so long ago, 'It's a wise (woman) who knows (her) limits. If you sense you are nearing your limits, now is precisely the time to get this sorted out so that you can spend time dwelling on other matters so much more in your control. If this is where you find yourself, good for you!
My wife and I are still in our late sixties, me in my early seventies, and we still do much of what we can. I am very careful getting up on our roof to do maintenance such as to clear the gutters of all the detritus that fills them each summer and fall. It's a 'must' job, and in fact I must do it several times each fall and winter due to high winds and rain here in the PNW of Canada where I live. We do all our yard maintenance, and so on. But, my dad is soon to be 95. He abandoned his property (my wife and I purchased it and have lived here ever since) when he was 85. His hip needed replacing, and he still pushed an electric mower. He did his own weeding, planting, relocating, pruning, etc...but he realized the time had come to move into a condo. And he did!
Maybe my long-winded response is a lot more than you were looking for, sorry, but I wanted you to know that you are in great company (me and my wife excluded....still)...for now), and that if this would be a welcome relief for you, I urge you to do it, with or without the approval of others. 😀

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Replies to "Kathy, I hope you won't mind my orientation to your question...I'm not trying to pry or..."

I love your answer- do what you can, but don’t feel guilty if you decide to off-load some tasks.
I had to have spinal surgery and have lower leg neuropathy, so I hired a guy who does the bathrooms and floors, yard work as needed, and I do the rest.
Walking balance and stamina is difficult so I signed up for grocery curbside pick-up and do delivery when ice/snow are on the ground.
My husband needed to go into AL, so I have a guy who does snow removal and the mowing.
I used to work in health care. I regularly had patients with bone fractures from falling off ladders, so even when my husband was able, I arranged for a company that does gutter clean-outs.
If there is anything I could convince you to do- stay off ladders. Please check the statistics for outcomes for seniors with fractures.
Saw lots of ladder-to-roof- for whatever falls with various fractures and combinations of fractures (spinal/femoral/hip (s)/humeral/wrist (s)/) but only saw one caused by fell-asleep-in-a-tree stand and down he went.