Aging in Place Downsizing

Suzanne: And welcome back to Answers for Elders Radio Network. Coming to you across the United States for the first time. We are so proud to come to so many cities across the country and we are here with nationally renowned aging in place expert, Dr Jill Bjerke, and Dr Jill, we have been talking about aging in place, and is it practical, and your amazing app, which people can find at SilverSpaces.com. And Dr. Jill, this has really been a wonderful program for learning, and so many of us, if we’re 65 years old or starting to approach retirement, these are the things that we should talk about with future planning. Whether we want to get old or not, it’s not an option. We all, we all are aging. So tell me, what about the future planning part? Why does it make sense, financially? We touched on it the last segment, but I really want to delve into this.

Jill Bjerke: Financial planning is really a smart thing to do, as we had spoken before, thinking ahead. But let’s say I can’t stand my home. What are my options? Where am I’m gonna go? Can I move in with a relative? Can I… there are things called “tiny homes” that you can put on your own property. There’s something now, our current newsletter talks about, which is accessory dwelling units, where you can remodel a basement in a relative’s home and you can live there instead. So thinking about, what if I can’t stay here because it’s not a safe place for me to be. Or maybe modifications, you have a huge home, and modifications just don’t make sense. You have a four-bedroom, three-bath home, and there’s two of you.

Sometimes where people can remodel a garage and then rent out their home to cover the cost. You may have a person with dementia that needs care, but can live somewhat independently — you can remodel a garage for that person. The Silver Spaces assessment is not only just for older adults, but we also look at the pictures of dementia, muscular dystrophy, people who are in wheelchairs, people who are in walkers, things that need to think about when you’re ambulating around the home clutter elimination. Big huge one. We all have way too much clutter and we don’t realize how dangerous it is for us.

Suzanne: You know, you say that, and it’s so true. We just redid my recording studio, and it’s interesting because I didn’t realize it was the spare bedroom years ago, it was like the junk room where we all have that room that you throw stuff in. This was the room, but we got rid of about 26 bags of stuff. I had so much stuff, clothes, books, so many things that you just put away because you don’t know where it’s gonna go. And I think that’s it, it’s a mindset, do I really need this? And I think just starting to realize that less is more, it really truly is, in many cases, is it not?

Jill Bjerke: It really truly is. And unfortunately, we just seem to accumulate things for whatever reason, and we don’t, maybe we stopped testing them. So we don’t realize how many things we have and thinking of what when I talked to people, their fear, it was like, oh my gosh, how am I going to move all this stuff? This is the time to start thinking about downsizing. And as I mentioned before, I’ve had clients who have said, I don’t want to leave all this stuff for my kids to go through. I want to get rid of it now. Now, the other part of that is this, now gives you the perfect opportunity to either make a list, or put labels on the back of things of where you want some of your things to go. Because once you are no longer here, no one knows you wanted your niece to have that emerald bracelet. Now is a good time, when you’re going through, to write where you want some of your things to go when you’re no longer here.

Suzanne: And I think that’s it. So, you know, I think when we talk about it, when you plan in advance, you have a say. If there could be a situation where it’s too late and you won’t have a say, and you’ll have to rely on other people to make these decisions for you. So often I run into situations where families are trying their best. But, you know, for me, I take, I go back to with my mother. It took me three months to pack up her house from all this stuff because she’d saved everything in the world as a child. So I understand that. So Jill, we’re gonna come back in our next segment. We’re gonna talk about keeping your home safe for the future and we’ll be right back, Dr Jill, right after this.