Life Hacks for Seniors
# 60 Helpful strategies for Making Life Easier
Have you heard the term “life hack?” I hadn’t! According to Dictionary.com, it’s “a strategy or technique adopted to manage one’s time and daily activities more efficiently.” In other words, we’re talking about simple ways to eliminate some of life’s daily frustrations by utilizing methods not previously considered.
You can find tons of life hack suggestions on the internet. Typically, the strategies are for young people or parents of small children, but there are also recommendations for older adults and care providers.
As people age, certain daily activities can become more challenging due to reduced mobility, health problems, or memory issues. Life hacks can make a person’s life or the lives of seniors they care for easier and safer.
In this newsletter, I included several relevant websites and noted two or three pertinent tips from each. Knowing them as a caregiver would have been beneficial; however, now, I plan to use them now as necessary. Look them over and see what might be helpful.
The HuffPost has an article entitled 25 Life Hacks Anyone Over the Age of 50 Should Know. I want to take more pictures of important information and store them on my cell phone – like where the car is in a parking lot or something important. I want to use double-sided tape on a throw rug to hold it in place and take a night light when staying at a hotel because finding my way in a dark, unfamiliar space can be challenging.
AARP offers a video library of Caregiving Tips and Hacks, which seniors can use. Topics they cover include Tech Hacks, Home Life Hacks, and Bathroom Hacks. Check it out!
ComforCare offers 13 Simple Life Hacks, Tips and Tricks for Caregivers. Significant ideas from this site were to become a techie - using available apps for organizing and planning. For example, the pill tracking app tells what medications to take and when. A second recommendation is to spend a couple of hours once a week making a batch of food. It gives a head start on having healthy, regular meals. Finally, having an up-to-date list of prescriptions, medical information, and history should be a priority.
The Senior Safety Advice website offers simple hacks to make life safer for older adults such as putting rubber bands on a glass to get a better grip and using red nail polish to mark a key. I recently used a red nail polish dot to identify my phone from other phones in the house.
The Caregiver Connection website 50 Life Hacks for Seniors and Caregivers provides great suggestions in specific categories. I already use a chair for exercising; this is a favorite video.
I am also in the process of re-organizing storage areas, so the most-often-used items are located at arm’s length or within reach.
Care.Com offers 8 Life Hacks For Seniors Living at Home, such as replacing doorknobs with levers you open by pushing down, placing light-sensitive night lights around the house, or using a key turner if you have arthritis.
In Summary
For people who want to age at home, the AgingCare website is a great resource. It offers information regarding equipment and products for people aging in place. Barbara Beskind, the grandfluencer introduced in a previous newsletter, helped develop similar products.
I am particularly interested in memory life hacks, given my husband’s experience. I found several informative sites.
13 Science-Backed Ways to Improve Your Memory. I want to try the method of loci and chunking strategies.
The Great Senior Living website discusses Memory Help for Seniors: 11 Proven Tips for Boosting Your Brain. Essential memory hacks are changing one’s mindset about aging, removing sources of stress, and keeping challenged. I also read that brain training apps are questionable.
Currently, my favorite life hack is using walking sticks. I could not manage my 3-4 mile hikes without them. I track my phone using an app and write reminder notes. I exercise but not on the floor and put things within reach to work on rather than bending over.
What life hacks work for you?