Tips you suggest as people get older

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One thing that I do know for sure is, some day this ranch will be too much for me to handle on my own. My dream was to get the kids involved and eventually give this place to them. They aren't interested so we sold off all of our non-adjoning properties and kept the main place we're living on. Things aren't too bad until we get the bad winter storms that drop 2 to 3 feet of snow with high winds. And I have 3 miles of road to clear, which could take a day or a week to clear. Our summers are spent preparing for winter.
We love it here and will continue as long as possible.
 
This isn't about money, drugs or really anything specific. No, I'm talking things that you have done that worked for you for just about anything. Why? Pretty simple, as we age we encounter problems that weren't problems when we were younger. I'll give a couple of simple examples but please think back & remember how you overcame the limitless challenges we all face or have faced.

First example: pulling weeds in my yard. We have animals so I hate to use weed poison. So I bought a kneeler so that I could get down & dirty & still get up (picture below). I quickly realized that it didn't work for me because besides my knees not being great, my back we even worse. BUT I found a hundred & one uses for this. Looking under stuff to find something I dropped, working low on something (like stocking a beer refrigerator - haha), lately installing weather stripping on cabinets, I use this for everything! Oh & notice that you can kneel on it & use the "handles" with your arms to help get yourself up. And turn it upside down & you can sit on it for any kind of low work.

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/61dAD1hb-qL._AC_SX679_.jpg

Living in central Texas we get a lot of sticker producing plants. That's originally why I bought the above. But sadly my back problem came up. So simple solution is a hoe or one of those things you incircle the plant with & step on to make a nice size hole in your yard. I thought outside the box & bought a knife blade, an old broom & a bucks worth of epoxy. I basically made a spear that I use to cut plants out of my yard (picture an apple corer, that's how it works). It works great (once you get the hang of it) on anything with 1 main stem. No picture because I made it but it's like a short spear.

We have a lot of trees both over & around our house. Between wind & squirrels we get a lot of sticks in the yard & on the roof. For the sticks in the yard I bought a dollar bucket (at dollar tree) & dollar "grabber" (you know that you squeeze to pick up things on the floor/ground). Easy & quick & for bigger limbs I have a garbage can in the back yard. So how about those branches on the roof? I bought a a wide bristle floor brush (I think at dollar tree), just the head. I then bought a painter's roller extension (the longest I could find) & put them all together. You screw them together, extend the painters extension all the way & I can "brush" little limbs off the roof & often "hook" the bigger limbs with the brush & pull them down.

Here's an old one that I did years ago. Remember, my back isn't great & my wife's back, well she gets disability for her back & her knees. (And here's where you turn a minus into a plus). She told me one day that she was having some minor problems getting off the toilet. Bad back, bad knees, of course. So I asked if a taller toilet would help & she said that she thought it would. I did a little research & found that Sam's had a 3 inch higher toilet (called toilet in a box no less) for $99. I bought 2 of them, one for both downstairs bathrooms. I installed them both, pretty easy btw. I did find that I had a leaky valve in one bathroom so I called a plumber to replace it & while he was here he fine tuned my toilet install. Total cost was $210 for the plumber, & 2 toilets for $99 each., so about $400 total (with tax, etc). But it really wasn't that much because those were low flow toilets & they paid for themselves in about 2 years because of lower water bills (waters high around here).

Lastly & I have no numbers on this one. We found that GoodRX did lower our cost a LOT on a fair amount of meds.

The above was right off the top of my head but the topic is open. Anything you have done that helped you that other might not have thought of, post it here. Wouldn't it be nice to save others some money, pain or even trouble?
The best thing that we ever did was install a shower with a seat. I have a bad knee and need to sit but showering while you're sitting is so much more enjoyable! It's a small shower - I don't like the huge ones - because the steam warms the shower up super quick.

Hands down the shower with a seat was the best thing we ever did. Also - we got rid of all the carpeting and put wood flooring and ceramic tile in. I cringe when I think back to trying to keep carpet clean. Never again.
 
When you get old and find you need help understanding some things that in the past you easily understood. Other than family or friends, where do people turn. Example: all the bureaucratic paperwork, and forms. And it is all so "time sensitive". Medicare you must make changes to the parts within a stated time window, or you must wait a whole year.
NGO's (Non-Government Organizations) are supposed to help with this type of stuff, or at least be able to point to what organization can help. The other problem is people don't speak English.
 
I have 3 grabbers in one house and two at the other. I have two canes and a walker.
I keep an emergency handle in the driver door pocket in each vehicle.
https://www.amazon.com/s?k=emergency+handle+for+car&crid=3KSZYXCETSZH0&sprefix=emergency+handle+for+car,aps,290&ref=nb_sb_noss_1

When we bought our home it came with a walk-in-shower and high toilets. We got it from an old couple. It is a ranch style home with only a couple steps for two doors and one step for the third entry door.

Grandpa had a Rascal, electric cart that he ran around the house, and an ejector seat recliner.

The first time that happened to me I was alone at the range. I had to crawl 30’ to my car before I could stand up. Luckily my door handle would handle my weight. That is part of the reason that I got the emergency handles mentioned above. That and the fact that it sometimes gets icy around here.
My husband was on a job and about 30 feet up on temporary scaffolding, when his back went out. He said that the pain was so bad that it brought him down to his knees and he had to lay up there until the pain somewhat subsided. He couldn't even stand - he had to crawl to the ladder to get down.

I was walking the block with him today and pain shot through my arthritic knee and I almost went down in the street. When you get older, pain can shoot into your joints so bad that it brings you down.
 
When you get old and find you need help understanding some things that in the past you easily understood. Other than family or friends, where do people turn. Example: all the bureaucratic paperwork, and forms. And it is all so "time sensitive". Medicare you must make changes to the parts within a stated time window, or you must wait a whole year.


Ben
 
We are already outfitted for handicapped everything because husband already needs it. Our build on has an oversized bedroom, full handicapped bathroom and shower, it's own exit with a ramp. His mobility scooter is on a big mat in our bedroom, and he can exit out that door. Front door has a ramp, too. I do appreciate the ramp when unloading groceries. I keep a wagon in the front yard by where we park, load it with groceries, and bring it up the ramp and right in. We keep the first floor totally accessible for him, he hasn't been upstairs here in many years. Don't think he could do stairs. Only thing we haven't added but have talked about is a lift for the wheel chair or scooter on the back of the truck.
 
@Amish Heart

How do, others in your neighborhood deal (respectfully/Lovingly) with old family members...?? (Remember I am NOT being disrespectful as I was raised in Lancaster County, Pa.)... We have private Messaged reference this long ago.
 
People take care of the elderly here. Our neighbors always look after my husband, too. Today one of them came by to check on his big scooter tires, he thought one might be flat. I screwed up the rubber rim on the wheel of his large wheelchair a few weeks back, and Dave the builder guy fixed it in a minute. Around here, a smaller house (a doddy or grandpa house) is built next to the big house for the parents to live in. One of their children and their family live in the big house. If there's no children, usually a nephew or niece and their family live in the big house. If someone elderly lives alone, there's usually meals brought over, and people just come to visit. Sometimes the ladies just come and clean.
 
One thing that I do know for sure is, some day this ranch will be too much for me to handle on my own. My dream was to get the kids involved and eventually give this place to them. They aren't interested so we sold off all of our non-adjoning properties and kept the main place we're living on. Things aren't too bad until we get the bad winter storms that drop 2 to 3 feet of snow with high winds. And I have 3 miles of road to clear, which could take a day or a week to clear. Our summers are spent preparing for winter.
We love it here and will continue as long as possible.
I know we have had part of this conversation. Better might be a small as I am downsizing too, you can always get a bit of happy place acreage a few miles away. She can always sell it off if needed. I know we are looking in the same general area.
I want my wife to be able to survive without me. I want me to survive without her.
 
Is your wood stove rated for coal?

Ben
I have adapted my stove to burn coal properly. Coal needs bottom air. I put a grate in the stove to lift the fire up off the fire brick. I can sleep a long night and still have a fire burning. I talked my folks out of an old coal bucket that I keep full next to the stove.
 
I have adapted my stove to burn coal properly. Coal needs bottom air. I put a grate in the stove to lift the fire up off the fire brick. I can sleep a long night and still have a fire burning. I talked my folks out of an old coal bucket that I keep full next to the stove.
we live near coal country and I have yet to find any for sale, where do you get it?
I am pretty sure our stove can burn coal.
 
We have several pull carts outside! Nice for loading groceries out of the vehicle and bringing to the house, or taking the laundry basket out to the clothesline. We use those for a lot of things. I put my firewood bags open in a cart, fill it, haul it to the house. Then I just have to carry the 60-80 lb bags of wood into the house .
 
Husband's been talking about a motorized cart. Anybody used one?

My Father-in-Law had one that he used in later years. It was very helpful, but I'm sorry, I don't know what brand or any other specs. His was battery operated, and he had a couple of batteries, so one would be charging while the other was in use.

We also have a motorized wheel chair, which seems to work well. We bought it from a friend whose son passed away. I can get you all the info you need on that one if you like. That one my wife has tried, and she thought it worked well.

Bottom line, it would help your husband a lot. Question, is this just for use in your house, or would you have to modify a vehicle to use it away from home? Something to think about. They are usually heavy, and not easy to put into or take out of a vehicle.
 
Husband was talking about getting a motorized wagon. I think he thinks I would use it, and I'm not sure if I would. I did replace all the tires in our wagons with the flat proof ones. They roll fine. One is loaded up with animal feed, the fresh stuff each morning while I make my rounds. The animals are spread out on about 5 acres. And then there's the greenhouse stuff. Anyway, regarding the wagon...he wondered if anyone used one, they're kinda pricey. I use the Ranger side by side to haul bigger things around, and little granddaughter has learned to drive it, too.
 
Husband was talking about getting a motorized wagon. I think he thinks I would use it, and I'm not sure if I would. I did replace all the tires in our wagons with the flat proof ones. They roll fine. One is loaded up with animal feed, the fresh stuff each morning while I make my rounds. The animals are spread out on about 5 acres. And then there's the greenhouse stuff. Anyway, regarding the wagon...he wondered if anyone used one, they're kinda pricey. I use the Ranger side by side to haul bigger things around, and little granddaughter has learned to drive it, too.
I have a Done Right power wagon.

50232fff5aa883f96ac4fa58c117caa431b939d4.jpg





I used it a lot when I was digging out the basement of the hobby house. I has electric start and a power dump. It has paid for itself many times over.

I have switched over to using the side by side since it can carry me as well as the load.

Ben
 
When we bought our house it was "kind of" set up for handicap people, at least in the front bathroom. We didn't change anything & that has turned out to be a blessing. The one thing that we planned on changing was our bathtub. We have a 60's/70's garden tub if anyone remembers those. Size, for a test we got 6 people to stand in it & nobody was touching. It's big, so big that you can't actually take a bath in it because of how much water it takes to fill it even over your legs. But here's the good part, you can walk down into it because it has 2 steps. Great for older people taking showers.

Today I'm barely moving because my neck, back & shoulders are so painful. For 2 or 3 days I've been installing weatherstripping in our cabinets. It's a suck job now but I have high hopes that it will pay off for many years because we won't have to clean inside them.

Oh & today I'm going to cut a 2 > 2 to about 6 inches & drill a hole through one end of it. I'm going to run a paracord through it, tie it off & use that thrown up on the roof to pull off any limbs that I can't reach by my other methods of limb removal.
 
Husband was talking about getting a motorized wagon. I think he thinks I would use it, and I'm not sure if I would. I did replace all the tires in our wagons with the flat proof ones. They roll fine. One is loaded up with animal feed, the fresh stuff each morning while I make my rounds. The animals are spread out on about 5 acres. And then there's the greenhouse stuff. Anyway, regarding the wagon...he wondered if anyone used one, they're kinda pricey. I use the Ranger side by side to haul bigger things around, and little granddaughter has learned to drive it, too.
I too wonder about those carts!! One thing for sure, the flat free tires are great!!
 
When we bought our house it was "kind of" set up for handicap people, at least in the front bathroom. We didn't change anything & that has turned out to be a blessing. The one thing that we planned on changing was our bathtub. We have a 60's/70's garden tub if anyone remembers those. Size, for a test we got 6 people to stand in it & nobody was touching. It's big, so big that you can't actually take a bath in it because of how much water it takes to fill it even over your legs. But here's the good part, you can walk down into it because it has 2 steps. Great for older people taking showers.

Today I'm barely moving because my neck, back & shoulders are so painful. For 2 or 3 days I've been installing weatherstripping in our cabinets. It's a suck job now but I have high hopes that it will pay off for many years because we won't have to clean inside them.

Oh & today I'm going to cut a 2 > 2 to about 6 inches & drill a hole through one end of it. I'm going to run a paracord through it, tie it off & use that thrown up on the roof to pull off any limbs that I can't reach by my other methods of limb removal.
Do you have arthritis? I was looking at those neck massagers on Temu - pretty cheap. Going to buy another heating pad there too.
 
n This is why I have Life Alert for my pops. I have gotten at least two calls that he was on the ground and unresponsive. Age and alcohol were both factors. Without Life Alert he could have laid there for some time, or worse, but it's not cheap.
Does that work on WIFI? A woman from our church fell outside in the ice and lay there for hours until a girl walking home from school walked by and she called to her. We can get into some predicaments.
 

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