1-in-8 adults want to stay in their home as they age, and most of them are being proactive to ensure that they can.

1-in-8 of them made simple modifications to their home. 1-in-7 made major home modifications to their home, according to an AARP survey conducted in 2000.

They have learned that it doesn’t have to be a large and expensive chore to make their homes easier to use. The most interesting stats were how people were making their homes safer with simple solutions:

• 63% installed nightlights
• 50% added non-skid shower strips
• 32% screwed in high wattage light bulbs
• 25% used lever faucets
• 22% purchased telephones with larger numbers
• 20% used carpets and rugs with double-sided tape
• 15% added emergency response systems to their homes
• 14% installed lever door knobs
• 12% used non-slip strips on their stairs

Simple solutions are often inexpensive and don’t take much time to implement. The major modifications that one in seven correspondents claimed to have done are more complicated and may require a contractor, but can a big difference in your life. Here are the leading examples of major changes people made to their home:

• 40% installed light switches at the top and bottom of a stairwell
• 34% made changes that allowed them to live on the first floor of the home
• 25% have handrails on both sides of the stairwells
• 23% have grab bars in their bathroom

The IM Blog has created checklist on how to make the bathroom, kitchen, bedroom and living space easier to use. Please refer to them for more details on how to make a specific room easier to use.

The IM Store, our partner store, focuses on products to make people lives easier. The IM Store screens many products to insure that only high quality and highly rated items are available to sale.  See our IM Editor’s Choice section to discover the highest rated items by our experienced judges and customer reviews.

Source: http://www.aarp.org/research/surveys/stats/surveys/public/articles/aresearch-import-783.html