Santa is checking his list – in this case, the list we put together (short or long as the case may be) of what improvements (minor or more major) we would like to see in our homes to help us age in place better.
We all have needs
Regardless of how old we are, in how good of shape we feel we are, or what we do for our physical and mental conditioning, we all have some needs that can be met when it comes to aging in place. Some are minimal, and some are much more recognizable.
Regardless, with Santa’s big day less than two weeks away, we should give this a little thought.
What could we really use to help stay in our homes better or longer or use them more effectively?
Picking a starting point
In order to determine some priorities – even if the changes we contemplate or would like to see are minor. We need to create a focus. Let’s decide which part of our home, above others, is giving us the greatest concern, even if it seems to be relatively minor compared to what some others might be experiencing. Remember that we are not comparing ourselves to others but looking for ways to improve what we have to make life simpler and safer for us at home.
What could we do in our homes to make them safer, more convenient, and more accessible for us? The list could be rather brief, or it could be more extensive. Regardless, this is a great time to formulate such a list.
Making a list
We recall from the song that “he’s making a list and checking it twice.” Of course, that had a slightly different context, but we’ll adapt it to what we are discussing here. We need to have such a list for our planned improvements also.
Without evaluating our entire living space to determine what is not quite to our liking or not as safe as it might be, we can flag it for our list. Then, we can prioritize our list and come up with our Number One issue, Top 3, Top 5, or however many are the most important of those items that make the list.
Once we have our list, we can set out to accomplish improving the items or areas of the home we have identified.
We can be a little patient
Unless we have identified some very serious issues that really cannot wait many more days before we deal with them, we have a little time to accomplish those items on our list. Still, without the list, we might be tempted to get distracted by other things we notice that would be nice to accomplish also but don’t rise to the importance of making the list.
We can note those for future activity or perhaps incorporate them into another project, but we must maintain focus. The list helps us to do this.