Downsizing, To Move or Not to Move? That is the Question

Posted by Rosemary, Volunteer Mentor @rosemarya, Apr 12, 2020

At some point as we age, we will have to make a decision about leaving our homes and downsizing. Maybe in our own town or to another town. Maybe to smaller home, condo, apartment, or assisted living/senior community.

When the time comes to downsize, seniors can struggle with a multitude of emotional, physical, and financial challenges.

How do you make an informed decision about when to downsize?
What tips do you have to share?

Interested in more discussions like this? Go to the Aging Well Support Group.

emd52 | @emd52 | May 20, 2022

In reply to @davej "They also make a chair that is mounted to a track that goes up the stairs..." + (show)

My parents installed a chair that was mounted to a track which went upstairs to their bedroom and bath. It paid for itself in a month ( comparing living in a nursing home/assisted living).
They lived in their home until ages 92 and 94 and a large part of that is because of the "mobile chair". Check your local medical supply store. Some of the cost may be tax deductible....check that out as well.
Best of luck

Teresa, Volunteer Mentor | @hopeful33250 | May 20, 2022

In reply to @emd52 "My parents installed a chair that was mounted to a track which went upstairs to their..." + (show)

This is a great idea, @emd52. Thank you for sharing this. There are so many ways for seniors to stay in their own homes, and this is certainly one of them.

Did you come up with any other ideas or tools to help your parents stay at home?

emd52 | @emd52 | May 20, 2022

In reply to @hopeful33250 "This is a great idea, @emd52. Thank you for sharing this. There are so many ways..." + (show)

Hi hopeful33250
Glad you liked my idea of the chair lift.
Some folks install "slides" into their homes if they have outdoor steps. We only had one step into the house so we never did this type of "update"
You may want to contact your
local medical supply store in your area or a physical/occupational therapist for suggestions
All the best
emd52

ZeeGee | @fourof5zs | May 21, 2022

In reply to @emd52 "Hi hopeful33250 Glad you liked my idea of the chair lift. Some folks install "slides" into..." + (show)

@emd52

My brother and sis-in-law live a tri-level home. He said they may have to install one of those stair chairs .. I think that is what he called it. They are 73 .. knees wearing out. I think there are about 6 steps to front door. Most of the time they use the garage entrance .. but still have to use stairs to get to the kitchen and bedroom level.. a small living room up there too. He also mentioned maybe an elevator for coming in from the backyard up to their porch.

No steps in our home.. just over the thresholds. It was mentioned to me I would benefit from an adjustable bed. They could write a prescription for it .. but would only cover the tax. .. This was not a hospital bed they suggested. Insurance would probable cover hospital bed. I tried my mama's hospital bed. It was no help.

Our bathroom was not very medical equipment friendly so when we remodeled it we widened the door and got rid of the bathtub and replaced it with a walk in shower… about an inch step up into it. We got the higher commode too. A blessing when my mama lived with us.

ZeeGee

emd52 | @emd52 | May 21, 2022

In reply to @fourof5zs "@emd52 My brother and sis-in-law live a tri-level home. He said they may have to install..." + (show)

Thanks ZeeGee for your informative message. It's always interesting to hear how others deal with caregiving options

Chris Trout, Volunteer Mentor | @artscaping | May 21, 2022

Good evening.......this is a serious and challenging issue. Since we met and joined forces later in life we had two decisions to make. 1. Which state do we live in? and 2. Which house do we live in? And will that affect the state choice?

The state choices were California and Minnesota. And the house choices were a mountain home in an art community (we are both art and design folks) and a river home on seven acres (we are also nature lovers). I had never been to Minnesota (MN) and my partner, Jay, had only been to California (CA) once.

Here are the issues:
Medical care: By far, Minnesota had the best medical care and at the time Jay had prostate cancer. In MN we are 3 hours from Mayo Clinic. In CA, we are 1 hour from Eisenhower.
Climate: In California, living in the mountains at 6000 ft, we have year-round great weather including winter snows. In MN, we are at ground zero with 4 or 5 months of winter and some pretty steamy summers.
Family: who flies where?. We have children and grandchildren in Texas, California, and Colorado. Not bad places to visit.
Cost: In most respects, MN is by far more financially reasonable than CA.
Housing: In CA....we have a contemporary mountain home with mountain views and an attached studio. In MN....we have a contemporary family home on 7 acres with wonderful river views.

Which home did we choose? Which one would you choose? I'll wait for your responses and then reveal our choice. The reasons behind our decision may surprise you.

Chris

marye2 | @marye2 | May 22, 2022

I was diagnosed with Lupus in my 40s. I quickly realized that no stairs, wider doorways (for walker/wheelchair if I ever needed it), a walk in shower were important considerations. I think, even if I had a beloved home, if it didn't have these attributes I would move. As far as downsizing, square footage is just one aspect. The big thing is to purge the things you no longer use or need and to create a purpose for each room. Having the right things in each room makes life more comfortable and easier, and clutter is easier to avoid. You want things to be simple, easily accessed and fewer objects to keep organized. It is calming. Besides the main bedroom, we have an office (2 desks) and the closet there is His; another bedroom has sewing machine, foldaway bed (I'd rather a day bed in case partner needs to sleep alone) and closet is mine. Living room/dining has table, bookshelves, couch and recliner. Den has TV, stereo, two chairs. I have my favorite wall hangings and pictures up; got rid of the boxes of other frames, etc. I think if we should ever need to transition somewhere else, it will be easier as I have passed on accumulations (including collectibles) of a lifetime. I am working on a book of pictures of people from past generation--scanned and ready to print.

Ginger, Volunteer Mentor | @gingerw | May 22, 2022

In reply to @marye2 "I was diagnosed with Lupus in my 40s. I quickly realized that no stairs, wider doorways..." + (show)

@marye2 When we bought our house here in 2019, a previous owner had revamped the front entry to accommodate a wheelchair by adding a straight long ramp instead of steps. The original bathroom had a grabbar next to toilet disguised as a towel rack. And a vertical grabbar at the original cast iron tub. Even the back door to laundry room was wide. Flooring replaced to be laminate, no carpet. The last owners turned a third bedroom into her "master bath" with soaking tub and mood lighting. Last year we removed that tub and replaced it with a walk-in shower for me, since getting into and out of the tub became progressively more difficult.

Like you, it has been an ongoing project to simplify. And it's going well. Our neighbors/friends across the street are admitted design aficionados, filling up their house and every blank space. Fortunately that has not rubbed off on me ;))
Ginger