I try to help our elderly parents with as much as I can these afternoons.
Although both of them were severely active through their entire lives, the past 10 or so years haven’t been kind to either 1 of them. My father had several heart attacks about several years apart, necessitating a triple-bypass surgery on her heart. My mother on the other hand fell and broke her hip last year. She was bed ridden for a long time and required correct physical therapy. It’s good to see her moving a tiny bit with a walker these afternoons, although she still needs as much assistance as possible. I change light bulbs for them and take care of other small chores around the house, but recently I started running grocery errands and going for prescription pickups. I am thankful that several of the businesses in our area offer discounts for senior citizens. There is an insurance broker nearby that finds low cost car, home, and health insurance plans. This can be a lifesaver if you can’t afford to get insurance of any kind. Then the two of us found out that a heating and cooling company down the road was offering discounted maintenance contracts to people over 65 years old. They would cover everything from filter swings to coolant refills all for 1 small annual fee. It was such a small amount of cash that I decided to pay it myself every year. Now I have the peace of mind knowing that their a/c and oil furnace are being checked and maintained by professionals on a correct basis. It’s tough to beat that kind of service, especially when you add up all of the expenses that you would normally pay otherwise.