Who Will Change Your Lightbulb (Or unpack and assemble your new TV)? (Week 7)

 

Dr. Joe Caughlin, the Director of MIT’s Age Lab has come up with 3 simple questions that retirees should ask themselves to better understand the quality of their life as they age:

Let’s face it, as we age, many tasks that we once deemed simple become much harder – maybe even unsafe.  After reading last year how many older people get hurt falling off a ladder, my son told me I should never get on a ladder again.  I laughed at the time, but he has a point.  People over 60 account for 35% of all serious ladder injuries.  But it’s not just about changing light bulbs.  Even cleaning and maintaining a home becomes more challenging – especially if your home has multiple levels.

My wife and I moved into a new condo complex this past week.  The current plan is that this will be our forever home.  In fact, the light bulb question is a big part of why we selected this particular home.  We knew we wanted a single level that would require minimal maintenance and have easily accessible amenities.  The actual move really drove the light bulb question home for us.  Boxes that needed to be unpacked and discarded arrived for hours on Tuesday, thereby creating 4 solid days of lifting and toting.  Let’s just say, neither one of us felt a need to workout this last week.  Items had to be put on top shelves (so yes, I did get on a ladder) and items needed to be moved in and out of storage.

But the biggest challenge came on Friday.  The movers cracked the screen on our TV, thereby making it necessary to buy a new one.  Since I’m always looking for a good reason to buy a new TV, this mishap didn’t bother me much.   It didn’t take me long to find a new 85” TV on Amazon.  Better yet, the TV came with the enhanced delivery service which meant the TV was supposed to be brought up to our unit, unpacked, assembled, and placed on the countertop.  That didn’t happen.  It was simply left in the package room.  Now, if you’ve bought a large TV, you know how big and bulky the box is.  And while TVs that large keep getting lighter, they still require a fair amount of strength to lift and carry.  After verifying the box would indeed fit in the elevator, my wife and I had to get it up to our unit and pull the TV out of the box.  The instructions suggested that putting it on the stand was a 3-person job, but we did manage to get that done with just the two of us.  That only left lifting it on the countertop.  I’m proud to say that we pulled it off (barely) and we are now enjoying our new TV.  But I seriously doubt we would be able to duplicate this feat a few years from now.  In fact, we both agreed that this had better be our forever home, because there is no way we would be able to do this again when we’re in our 70’s.

This question refers to how mobile you will be.  If you want an ice cream cone, will you be able to go get it?  We all have little trips and excursions that we look forward to.  But what if it becomes a challenge to get there?  This is one of the reasons my wife and I live in downtown St. Petersburg.  It’s a very walkable city.  There’s an endless number of great restaurants, bars, and activities within a 15-minute walk. 

First, we have to ask if we can we even afford to have lunch, or will it be a luxury?  But even if the cost is not an issue, as we age our circle of friends slowly shrink.  Previous generations lived closer together – often in either the same household or just down the street.  Baby boomers are the first generation that is more likely to be many states away from family.  We probably all know someone in their 80’s or 90’s that don’t want to leave the home they’ve lived in for years but is now living alone.

Which of these questions resonate with you?  Do you have a plan to answer that question?