If you are asking yourself, “Am I ready for senior living?” then you’ve already taken the first step in acknowledging independent senior living might be a good option for your future. But where do you go from there? What’s the next step?
Deciding whether to stay in your home or move into a senior living community is a major decision, and there’s a lot to consider. Use our guide below to help you better understand the signs that it might be time to consider independent senior living.
5 Signs It’s Time to Move into a Senior Living Community
In general, independent living is designed to help active seniors trade in their chores and home maintenance for a more fulfilling lifestyle. Your reasons and motivations for making the decision are unique, and you should do your best to make the best choice for your future. Not sure if you’re ready? Below are some signs that it might be time to take the next step in your retirement journey.
1. You are done maintaining a household
If you own a home and especially if you’ve raised a family, you’ve spent most of your adult life cleaning, cooking, gardening, and taking care of a house. While you should be proud of everything you’ve built and accomplished along the way, you might start to realize home maintenance is interfering with your ability to do the things you love. Independent senior living allows you freedom to pursue your hobbies while all the housework is taken care of for you.
2. You are feeling socially isolated
Whether you recently lost your significant other or your children have grown and moved away, you might realize your life is getting lonely. This is common in retirement. Independent senior living offers you a variety of opportunities to socialize with other seniors through planned activities, events and outings.
3. You are ready to live a healthier lifestyle
When you live alone, it can sometimes be hard to motivate yourself to cook healthy meals, get daily exercise, and stay social. Helping seniors stay healthy and active is a core purpose of most senior living communities. Through wellness programs, fitness classes, healthy dining options, and planned outings, it’s easy for seniors to focus on their mind, body and spirit every day.
4. You want to start planning for the future
No one can predict the future. And while you might be healthy and thriving on your own now, there may come a time when you will need help with activities associated with daily living. Instead of waiting until you need help, it might make more sense to move into a senior living community that promotes health and wellness, and that also has a continuum of care for when your needs change over time.
5. You want to consolidate your finances
If you are lucky enough to have an extremely low mortgage or one that is paid off entirely, you might think moving to senior living would provide you with additional expenses. As you know, when owning a home there are a variety of expenses you can’t control. Things like rising property taxes, home maintenance, utility costs, and hiring help with household chores all add up. Selling your home might give you the financial freedom to pursue independent senior living and eliminate the costs associated with homeownership.
Moving to a senior living community is a major life decision. There is no pressure to make a rush decision. Explore your options, schedule some on-site or virtual tours, and do whatever feels right for you now and will make you feel confident well into the future.
Independent Living at Heritage Senior Living
With more than 16 locations in Wisconsin and over 2,000 residents at Heritage Senior Living Communities, we are dedicated to offering a consistent experience so independent seniors like yourself can receive the highest level of care, support and programming, no matter which of our locations you choose to call home. Live life to the fullest at Heritage Senior Living. Contact us today to learn more about our senior living options and to schedule a virtual tour.
