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

(105 Posts)
JackyB Wed 10-Dec-25 09:04:28

My parents had their (bungalow) home assessed and the only thing that was needed was a grab rail at the back door because it was a step down.

As well as adding physical things to the home, it is always advisable to have your sight checked and to wear the right glasses. My mother fell badly once because she couldn't see the cable of the vacuum cleaner when her cleaning lady was doing the hall.

Also keep walking and/or do exercises to strengthen the ankle, calf and leg muscles.

But having banisters and rails to hold on to if you are suddenly hit by dizziness is certainly useful.

We haven't done anything yet, though, nor felt the need to. We are lucky in that respect at 71 and 75 I suppose.

CariadAgain Wed 10-Dec-25 09:00:07

The biggest thing imo is having a normal modern-size shower (even if it has to be instead of a bath - eg if there isn't room for both in the house).

I didn't deliberately rip out the bath in this house when I bought it (ie the whole house needed pretty much gutting - as it was so old-fashioned and illogical when I bought it and so the bathroom was going to be gutted anyway) - but I ensured that there is now a modern size shower in the bathroom instead. Lots of people have showers instead of baths - so it's not an obvious age thing anyway and I had decided back in the 1970s to have a shower once I was in Denmark and realised it seemed to be their norm for everyone anyway.

So yep....shower - if you've not got one already.

One thing most people may not think to mention - but, when I bought current house, I realised the "concrete garden" it came with (yuk!) had a couple of trip hazards in it (ie strips of concrete edging that it didn't take me long to trip over several times). It also had a drainage problem (as no-one had ever sorted out the drainage properly) and so every time it rained noticeably (ie frequently - given this is Wales) = big puddle of water I was having to walk through at one point.

So - when I had a garden revamp anyway those two problems were top of my list to deal with - and trip hazards now gone and there's a drainage thingie (technical term) running along the relevant section of garden feeding rainwater down into my drains. Again - those are both things I would have done anyway - ie regardless of age and circumstances.

Georgesgran Wed 10-Dec-25 08:53:04

I confess that I haven’t really done anything other than almost constant decluttering, but my friend who has RA has done quite a bit. She started by turning her downstairs loo into a shower room in case she’s confined to her downstairs rooms. Then she replaced her old kitchen with a new one, where her oven and microwave are more accessible - she’s bought good, lightweight cookware too, ditching all the heavy stuff. A bit of a disappointment, as she wanted her front door changed to remote control by fob, but at the last minute the company said they’d misled her and couldn’t do it. I think they were dishonest, but she went ahead with their expensive alternative.
Upstairs, she’s refitted her bathroom with a walk in shower and one of those Japanese loos, which does everything.

Definitely not small, inexpensive tweaks, but she’s happy with the results.

Iam64 Wed 10-Dec-25 08:38:39

Trip hazards - I tripped over my dog and fractured my shoulder, it was grim.
I’ve kept the dog, it wasn’t his fault but I’m obsessive about rugs. I love rugs but I’m more careful about non slip

OliviaRema Wed 10-Dec-25 08:35:29

Hi again, my children have started gently nagging me about “making the house safer” as I get older – things like better lighting on the stairs, extra rails, non-slip bits in the bathroom, that sort of thing. I can see their point, as my joints aren’t quite what they used to be, but I don’t want to turn the place into a building site or spend a fortune.

Have any of you made small, age-friendly changes at home that have actually helped day to day? Simple things like where you keep everyday bits, little tweaks in the bathroom or kitchen, or low-cost gadgets that made more difference than you expected.