When moving into a retirement community, older adults often have a long checklist they have to go through to ensure they’re well-prepared for this new chapter in their life.
From ensuring their financial situation to maintaining positivity as they make this change, the transition into retirement can seem quite daunting for many.
If your loved one is moving into a retirement home, and you’d like to ease the process, there are several things that you can do to help. Today’s article will cover five valuable tips for seamlessly transitioning into a retirement community.
Afterward, you can check out this article if you’d like to learn some helpful downsizing tips for older adults.
1. Get your finances in order.
As we transition into retirement, one of the first things most people wonder is how they will fare financially. However, after you’ve considered living in a retirement community and secured the necessary funds, keeping your financial papers and information in order so you can access them at a moment’s notice is essential.
While preparing to move your things from your home to your new community, take the time to organize your insurance papers, social security, banking and billing information for your varied sources of income, as well as any other important financial information.
You can organize these papers in a filing box or digitize them. Either way, ensure they are kept safe during the move to prevent them from being misplaced and find a secure spot to store them when you move into your new apartment.
2. Be as informed as possible about your new home.
Once you’ve selected the retirement home you wish to move to, you must be familiar with their rules, regulations, standards, and operations before you move in.
For example, ensure you know the entire admissions process details to ensure you arrive at the residence on time during your move-in period. It’s also essential to confirm whether you’ll receive assistance from on-site staff to move your things into the building or need help from friends and family.
Furthermore, make sure you’re aware of any forms you may need to fill out before or on the day of your move-in, should any personal documents or identification be required to have on hand.
3. Stick to a familiar layout.
Uprooting to a new home can be stressful, especially while adjusting to your new surroundings. To make your retirement community feel more like home, do your best to set up your living quarters similarly to your previous living space.
Modelling your new home after your old one will help you remember where to find certain things, add a personal touch to your new space, and help lessen the displaced feeling that some older adults get when they move away from a well-loved house.
Even if the floorplan of your retirement home is quite different from your previous residence, you can do your best to mimic your old home’s layout by setting up your furniture in the same way, using the same organizational methods for your shelves and cupboards, and placing your pictures and wall art in the same rooms they were in before.
You can take your customization a step further by spraying air fresheners, lighting scented candles, and using cleaners with scents that remind you of being at home.
4. Set goals to stay motivated
Many older adults struggle with feelings of depression and anxiety when they move from their old home into a retirement community. They may worry about making friends in their new community, settling into their new surroundings, and finding ways to keep their day-to-day lives busy with all their newfound free time.
However, a great way to ease this transition is to set goals for yourself for the duration of the move and after you’ve settled into the retirement community.
Joining an exercise class, taking up a new hobby, learning a new language, furthering your education, and similar pastimes are all favourable pursuits that can keep you motivated and help you maintain positivity and joy. At the same time, you endure this change in circumstances.
Setting goals that involve increased social interaction with your fellow retirees can also help you to make friends more quickly. For instance, try sitting down to dinner in the community dining room at least once a week, or participate in scheduled group activities and enjoy getting to know your new neighbours!
5. Make time for reminiscing.
Finally, another way to smooth the transition from independent living to a retirement community is to allow yourself time to look back and reflect.
Many older ones have spent the vast majority of their adult lives in the same house, raising families, enjoying married life, and putting countless hours’ worth of work into the care of their home.
Therefore, as you pack and prepare your things to move out, spend some time looking through old photographs, home movies, and other memorabilia with your friends and family.
Doing so will help ease the pain of leaving certain cherished items and familiar rooms behind and is a good reminder that leaving your well-loved house doesn’t erase all the beautiful shared memories you have of your life there!
Conclusion – a smooth transition into retirement is possible
While transitioning into retirement can be stress-inducing and a bit scary, you can make the change in an organized, enjoyable manner by applying a few key strategies, such as those outlined above.
If you’re assisting an older loved one with their move, consider the tips mentioned above and share them with your family member to lessen the stress of the moving process and ensure all of their affairs are in order.
Lastly, take the time to talk about the memories created in their old home. Many find the moving process to be emotional, so offering support and focusing on the positives will help make their retirement transition more seamless!
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