Have you made any small home changes to make life safer as you get older?

and a rail up the garden steps you may have a flat garden, unlike us!

A shower instead of a bath or as well if you have room for both (for visitors)

Deep drawers in the kitchen instead of cupboards - so much easier than scrabbling around at the back of cupboards.

Grab rails outside the front and back doors and a rail up the garden steps.

Avoid trailing bed sheets, fitted ones are best.

You could contact Care and Repair which is a charitable organisation helping older people stay in their own homes.
careandrepair-england.org.uk/
careandrepair.org.uk/ (Wales)

Thank you Caleo for the suggestion of none slip sliders for the shower.
I have just ordered a pair.
Madeline I like your advice regarding carrying a white plastic bag when walking in the dark.

I’m finding the stairs difficult now but am sure a lift, or even another rail, can not be fitted. My walls are timber framed and the old plaster is unstable. There are no bungalows I can afford and retirement flats cost far too much in maintenance charges.
So I’m stuck here and don’t want ugly additions like grab handles in my old cottage. I hate showering and can still manage baths.
I avoid my cobbled paths and have a handrail down the 3 front steps. Putting the rubbish bags out is also getting hard.

Absolutely agree with a walk in shower. Slipping or being stuck in a bath are disasters best avoided.
We have a step up stool with a waist high handle on one side.

Yes, was wondering about the hard floors. We have carpets, but not rugs.

I have bought a shower stool to sit on, as showering on one leg, with crutches isn’t easy. Now I can wash my hair with ease and not worry about slipping. I also have RA, OA and replacement hips, so I am careful with living alone but not obsessed. My children don’t like my step ladder but it makes changing bulbs easier.

Whilst having a bath last night I wondered what I will do if I have a knee replacement as I always kneel to get in and out of the bath. The only room in my house that I love is my bathroom. Even though it hasn’t been redecorated first years I still like it. The thought of replacing the bath with a shower horrifies me and I would never buy a house with a shower and no bath. I can’t afford to turn one of the bedrooms into a walk in shower.

If you are changing things anyway then put your plugs at about waist height, easier to use. My flat already had plugs at skirting board level, so that for several areas I have an extension modern 4 plug put into the low level and then the modern plugs are not at table height, so dont have to bend down and risk getting stuck. I always have sensible and good slippers with good firm soles that you can walk out to the dustbin etc without slipping. Those stupid bedroom slippers to me are both useless and dangerous, even more if they are mules, so mine are easy to put on and off and with a band to put across and velcro . Keep a pair of thinsulate gloves in each coat I have so that if you stay out longer than you expected to be , you can keep your hands warm and I also have a white plastic shopping bag in a each coat too, so that if you are anywhere with poor lighti8ng and walking along anywhere without lighting or no footpath carry the white bag on the side nearest the traffic and it will shine in the headlights, plus if you buy more than you expected to , you always have a bag with you.

This has all had me doing my homework and the comparative costs of mid-price range carpet (and underlay) and mid-price range engineered wood flooring is the engineered wood flooring works out at approximately twice the price of the carpet.

I can feel a thinking session coming on re this - bearing in mind I'm rather naughty and prone to eating things like toast for breakfast whilst checking out my computer in the room concerned (ie much easier on the housework front to deal with engineered wood flooring than carpet then......). Reckon I should be able to clean every floor in the house (sweeping two, washing two, hoovering two and sweeping the hallway in about an hour and the housework is much more likely to get done accordingly.......hmmm...).

Would like to know there's a much greater chance of me actually doing my housework properly.....hmmm....

Got rid of the rug in front of the fireplace
Grab rail by the shower

I'm watching comments re hard floors too. I couldnt afford engineered wood flooring when I bought the house - but can now and have subsequently had my hall carpet changed to engineered wood flooring (yep....less housework = yay!) and I'm wondering whether to swop my study flooring from carpet to engineered wood too - as I think it would be a good bit easier on the housework front if I do so. Think I'll still leave sitting room and my bedroom floor with carpet on them - for comfort so to say.

Interested to hear further thoughts on that front...

Sensible garden shoes by the back door, not as before, worn out old slippers with no tread - I slipped over.

Its interesting that you all seem to think hard floors are easier, don't they need mopping and are cold to walk on, also rugs are a hazard. Neighbours over the road have hard floors and I thought it looked bare. I can understand the walk in shower and grab rails though. I have a big wind up torch which is invaluable. Going to get a wind up radio as well.

Hard flat floors throughout

Nonslip plastic 'pool sliders' to wear when showering in the wet room

At least one table height working surface in the kitchen. Work tops are too high for old people who are bent over and shorter than they were.

Electric torches in strategic places for night time emergencies.

Make sure the dog's bed and other bits of furniture don't stick out as trip hazards.

Train the dog so he does not have to be man -handled.

Enroll with a local organisation that provides a press button contact and responder person, in emergencies such as falls.

Arrange my bedding so it is easy to keep comfortable and clean. No duvet covers.

I had the bath taken out and a walk in shower installed, with a grab rail and pull down seat which I don’t use. As I lost height due to spinal fractures I’ve had to move some items down from the top shelves in the kitchen. I don’t do step ladders any more, so have to get help changing lightbulbs!
My family are now gradually emptying the loft so I won’t have to get up there.

All our furniture is on legs so that I can vacuum everywhere without moving the furniture. That or it sits directly flat on the floor - like book shelves.

This wasn't deliberate old age decision. i have always done it, more to do with cleaning efficiency.

We’ve had a rail put on the steps (12) to our front door.

I moved into my flat in 2019, and as I have 'done' it all up, have to tried to ensure that it is old-age suitable. Has both bathroom and ensuite with a shower unit. One of the best things I have had put in is the comfort height toilet in ensuite.

Hard floors throughout (except in my bedroom), I have got quite clumsy on old age and do knock of over cups of tea/ glasses of water etc.etc. So much easier to mop up on hard floor than on carpet. Grab rails in shower unit and in bath, eye level oven and microwave. Boiling water tap in kitchen (no need to lift kettle). Induction hobs to aid safety. Half-step up to balcony from living room, Alexa to be able to call for help (if required) from anywhere in my flat.

😊😊.

So far we have old aged the kitchen and main bathroom. Everything at eye level and walk-in shower.

I am thinking of putting up handrails in the garden as it is at different levels and DH fell giving himself a black eye.

I have:
- a stairlift
- grabbers all round the house
- grab rail, non-slip mat and shower chair in shower
- alarm pendant

I live alone so it is very important not to fall and finish up lying in the floor. It is simply not worth taking the risk. When my late OH, who had PD, fell and fractured his hip he (a doctor) said this was the beginning of the end - and he was right. It often is a terminal event with a heap of misery before the end - to be avoided at all costs!
Well - that's brightened everyone's morning!!

we changed to a shower instead of a bath a few years ago, had an extra banister fitted and a hand rail at front steps, also grip rails at both front and back doors.no fireside rugs to trip over .

Mats and rugs are indeed trip hazards - but it's not just that...but the fact they're extra housework to deal with (ie vacuum on top of rugs, take them up to do the carpet under them, put back down again).

How can ya' tell I go through my house trying to think of ways to minimise the housework? Part of the reason for that being to try to recoup the extra time that possibly has to be spent on dealing with one's health - and still intending to have as much time for oneself and so that extra time has to come from somewhere (ie so it can come off housework time imo).

Another thing re housework and I have a bungalow anyway (ie I can manage to clean the outside of the windows myself quite easily) - but I employ a windowcleaner to do that instead in order to recoup time (and especially now I've had a sorta conservatory added to the house and so can't do the glass roof to it myself anyway).

I have but over many years.

I had some problems getting into my front door because the step was steep. Outdoor handrails advertise that the elderly and decrepit live here, so I had the small path levelled.

I had my bath removed and a lovely shower fitted. I also bought raised loos.

I now have hard floors everywhere with one rug beside my bed.

Sockets, where feasible, are at waist height, so less scrabbling on the floor. Easier to clean, especially if a spillage.

Have changed all light bulbs to LED and 10 year so no more using a small ladder.

I have sufficient space in my kitchen so the heavy air fryer doesn't have to be moved.

No low furniture, including my bed.

A vacuum cleaner upstairs and downstairs although I have a cleaner but it helps her. Cleaning materials up and downstairs.

I never have to use my mini step ladder because everything is reachable.

I use a stairlift so that is handy for taking washing up and down. No longer throwing it downstairs.

Online shopping is weekly as mobility not great, and I no longer possess a car.

I will be 80 this year. When I was diagnosed with RA I had the bath, basin and kitchen taps changed to lever ones, as I sometimes struggled with the originals. They have made a huge difference. I bought the taps on line and asked a local plumber to fit them, which wasn't expensive.
I also bought some half steps for outside back and front doors and at the bottom of garden steps. The more expensive adjustable ones were worth the extra cost and I can step outside without clinging onto the door frame! They can come with a handle for support if needed, and a door mat fits perfectly.
www.ebay.co.uk/itm/154016643162?_skw=half+step&itmmeta=01KC3PYDFJ63RVQQHJESTFMJCK&hash=item23dc1b785a:g:OxoAAOSwU59fGDPQ
Fortunately nothing else needs to be changed at the moment, as I am fully mobile most of the time unless I get a RA flare, which is rare. I have no mats or rugs as trip hazards.