House Rich and Cash Poor

[FrugalFish]

I tend to agree with you, but our feelings aren't relevant to her situation

I was saying to someone the other day that I hope when I get older to have the forethought to minimize possessions and move to a community where I no longer own real estate. Why? Because going through this with older relatives, it is just horrible being left to clean out/throw away their myriad of possessions and then have to deal with selling of property. My perspective is one of making it easy on my child in the long run if at all possible. But that is largely based on personal experience that was unpleasant enough that I would want to spare anyone that, especially my kid.

BUT, then I reflect on someone like my dad and realize that for him, even in his demented state (or especially in it), he could not imagine leaving his home. I don't think it was so much the house, or that he couldn't have had a great life elsewhere, it was that leaving his home would have signified a big step toward the last phase of his life. That would be hard for most of us to face.

Maybe your coworker is somewhat like that- feeling like downsizing or moving from her house is the same as having to face that life is short, especially the further you get into it. I think it's amazing that she is working at 84.

[disneysteve]

I was saying to someone the other day that I hope when I get older to have the forethought to minimize possessions and move to a community where I no longer own real estate. Why? Because going through this with older relatives, it is just horrible being left to clean out/throw away their myriad of possessions and then have to deal with selling of property.

I don't know that the selling of property part is that bad but dealing with the possessions can certainly be a nightmare. I'm very grateful that my mom cleaned out her house and moved to an apartment 12 years ago. Even so, when she dies, it will be a chore to clean out her apartment, but just a fraction of what it would have been to clean out her house. And the vast majority of what she has now will go in the trash or shredder. I'll just need to get someone to come haul away the furniture but I'm sure I can find a good charity for that. I'm not even interested in getting any money out of it. There will be a few items that I want for sentimental reasons but I suspect that won't be more than 3 or 4 carton boxes.

I will also have the task of cleaning out and selling my cousin's house in Florida. I was there last month and we pretty much went through all of his stuff and he gave me some direction as to how to get rid of things, which charity to use for the furniture, and some places to sell a couple of high value items.

[LivingAlmostLarge]

I shudder what my parents will do. I had lunch with that same older woman friend coworker. She was limping because she stumbled on the stairs. I didn't want to pry and say fall? But she was limping. She said stumbled. I don't know and I dropped cookies and card for christmas but I dont' think she should be living in a house with that many stairs. Looked old from the outside. And it was a huge mess when I saw it. I'd never seen her house before. Just her talking about it.

[disneysteve]

I shudder what my parents will do. I had lunch with that same older woman friend coworker. She was limping because she stumbled on the stairs. I didn't want to pry and say fall? But she was limping. She said stumbled. I don't know and I dropped cookies and card for christmas but I dont' think she should be living in a house with that many stairs. Looked old from the outside. And it was a huge mess when I saw it. I'd never seen her house before. Just her talking about it.

Stairs are a huge issue and falls are one of the top causes of injury and disability among the elderly (not just on stairs but in general). I'm glad that my mom went from a 3-story house to an apartment. As I said in the thread about house requirements, if and when we move to Florida, I would definitely want a rancher so that we don't have stairs to deal with as we age.

[Thrif-t]

Habitat for Humanity comes and picks up furniture and household goods that you no longer have use for. When we cleaned out my mom's condo that's who we called to pick up what was left. Just throwing that out there.

[disneysteve]

Habitat for Humanity comes and picks up furniture and household goods that you no longer have use for. When we cleaned out my mom's condo that's who we called to pick up what was left. Just throwing that out there.

I would definitely call them. They have a few stores around us. We were just shopping at one of them last week actually.

[LivingAlmostLarge]

yeah people talk about not doing stairs as they get older, but they don't always mean it since they refuse to move out of homes with stairs.

[disneysteve]

yeah people talk about not doing stairs as they get older, but they don't always mean it since they refuse to move out of homes with stairs.

Maybe my family is the exception. My mother, one aunt, two sets of aunts and uncles, my cousin, and several others all sold their multi-story homes and moved to either apartments, condos, or ranch homes when they got older.

[TexasHusker]

Stairs are a huge issue and falls are one of the top causes of injury and disability among the elderly (not just on stairs but in general). I'm glad that my mom went from a 3-story house to an apartment. As I said in the thread about house requirements, if and when we move to Florida, I would definitely want a rancher so that we don't have stairs to deal with as we age.

To heck with the rancher, just go for the ranch.