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diy – Page 4 – Luv Saving Money

Category: diy

Affordable Home Renovations To Consider As You Get Older

Blogging is my side-gig, my day job is actually a Certified Occupational Therapy Assistant at a local hospital. I’ve been working as a COTA for about 18 years. One of the many things I do is to make recommendations for home set up when a person is discharged home to make their home safer so they can stay in their home longer. I recommend home health Occupational Therapy comes in because they can actually see the home and make specific recommendations for a person’s specific medical needs and of course their home.

When my husband and I bought our most recent home about 3 years ago I was already thinking of things that will need to be done and things that will help us when we get older.

There are often simple changes people can make in their own homes that don’t cost a lot of money. From preventing falls, to making it easier to get around these are things you can do fairly easily.

  • Remove throw rugs: This is a big one we recommend to elderly patients, patients with frequent falls, and gait problems. The reason being they’re easy to trip on, can move, and tend to bunch up.
  • Add hand rails to stairs: One of the first things i noticed in our home when we bought it was there was no handrail to go upstairs. I told my husband we will definitely need to add one. Not just for when we’re older but for the kids safety too.
  • Switching out door knobs: For those with arthritis or grip issue a regular round door knob can be hard for people to grip. Switching door knobs to a lever door handle can make it so much easier to open door. This can be done for entry doors and interior doors.
  • Create clear walking paths throughout your home: moving furniture and decor to create a wider, clear walking path throughout the house can make it much easier to navigate through your home, especially if you’re going to be using a walker or another type of device in your home.

Unfortunately, not everything is a quick or cheap fix. For some things like getting a lift chair or an elevated seat on the toilet insurance can help some. Then there are things such as adding a bathroom to the first floor or creating a ramp into the home that may take more financial resources. The Associates Home Loan of Florida can help you refinance, get a home equity loan, or get a home improvement loan if needed.

This post is sponsored by Diamond Links.

Getting My Gardens Ready for Spring

When we moved into our home about 4 years ago, we had some beautiful perennial gardens that were already started. I was excited to have some gardens to work with, more land to plant trees, and for the kids to run and play. Keeping up on the maintenance of 3 large perennial gardens definitely keep me busy but it’s so work it to drive up to my house and see the beautiful colors.

I’ve acquired a collection of gardening tools to help me with weeding, pruning, and prepping. One of the things I MUST have is a good pair of gardening gloves. A good fitting pair of gloves with latex grip protection has saved my hands more than once. Between these aweful prickly weeds to protection against bug bites, garden gloves are essential for me. I like Kaygo because they are flexible, puncture resistant, durable, breathable, and affordable.

I have no idea what this tool in my hand is actually called but it’s works the best for these prickle plants and dandelions. I just plunge it into the dirt at the root and then pull up with my gloved hands and these bad boys come right out. Kaygo makes an awesome and affordable pair of gardening gloves with rubber grips. And if you use code: LUVSAVING you can save 20% off too.

So after weeding I decided to lay down weed block this year to hopefully cut down on the amount of weeding I’ll have to do this year. It’s a bit of a pain to lay out when my gardens are as oddly shaped as they are and as big as they are but I know in the end it’s going to end up savings me some work. Work I won’t want to be doing when it’s 90 degree is 80% humidity outside.

Then we got mulch. We found it’s more affordable to just get the mulch by the scoop and use my father-in-law’s truck than to buy it by the bag or have it delivered. Plus, my father-in-law’s truck we could drive the truck to each garden and unload it.

I think the gardens turned out great. We still need to get a couple bags of mulch for touch up and I have a little pruning to do but it looks so much better than it did.

BEFORE
AFTER

We’re also working on fixing the steps up into the yard this year. I can’t wait to see how those turn out too. We’re adding a handrail to make it easier for our older relatives to get up into the yard for picnics and parties.

We also planted a cherry tree this year. I just love gardening!

Tools I used on my gardens:

Kaygo gardening gloves – save 20% off with code: LUVSAVING

Weed block fabric

Weeding tool

This post does contain affiliate links. I will earn a small commission from sales made through these links at no extra cost to you.