Senior Tips for Living Alone

How to Stay Where You Want to Be for as Long as You Can

Living alone as a senior citizen can allow you to be independent and self sufficient.  For many seniors living alone is preferable to living with an adult child, being placed in a retirement home or even living in an assisted living facility.  But living alone when you are a senior can have its pitfalls and challenges as well.  These senior tips for living alone can  help to keep you safe while you enjoy the lifestyle you love.  

1. Live Healthy    Perhaps the best senior tip for living alone is to make every effort to live a healthy lifestyle. Sticking to a good, healthy diet, getting regular, age appropriate exercise, making sure to get enough sleep and taking your prescribed medications are essential to keeping you fit and able to deal with problems on your own or with limited help.  Don't let living alone mean eating out of a can with no fresh fruit or vegetables anywhere to be seen. Just because no one is checking don't skip taking that walk, for months at a time.  Passing by your medicine bottles with a shrug or substituting cat naps for real sleep, are also not a  good idea.  Your ability to continue to live alone will very much depend on senior tips that can keep you healthy. 

2. Get Organized      An important senior tip for living alone is to develop a system in your home that allows you to feel and be organized.  It doesn't necessarily have to be a system that works for anyone but you.    Being well organized in your home means having fixed locations for storing essentials like keys, wallet,  important phone numbers , appointment cards, and medications.  But  organization also means establishing a comfortable schedule that will allow you to complete routine tasks like shopping, appointments, meetings and visits without undue duress.  Putting that schedule and related phone numbers on a calendar in a prominent place  will help you to function independently and prompt you to get to where you need to go when you need to go there.