Life Hacks for Senior Women

June Retirement Sparks 

The older I get, the more I appreciate the hacks that make my daily life easier. I’ve started collecting them in one place so that I can share some of them with you. The ones you’ll see here will be especially helpful for senior women. Most of them come from my personal experience.

 

My balance continues to deteriorate. Sometimes I use a walker, even at home. A shopping cart serves a similar purpose when I go to the store for groceries, which I still do. A lot of my peers have their food delivered. I like to cruise the aisles and especially the produce sections to see what catches my eye and also to see what items are new or on special.

 

 I’ve found that the safest way for me to walk without an aid is to waddle from side to side. I call it my “wobble waddle.” I feel safer and more in control when I walk this way. It’s the walk I use at night when I make one of my frequent trips to the bathroom in the wee hours. My waddle helps me prevent making a piddle puddle on the way to the john.

 

Some of these hacks are ones you should become familiar with even before you actually need them. No one gave me a heads up on this and now I struggle with some of them. In particular, I’m referring to my toenails. I assumed that as long as I could still reach my toes, their nails would not be a problem. I was wrong. Even though my house shoes aren’t confining, my toenails seem to be becoming ingrown. I struggle to trim them and often rely on filing their edges instead. I need to find a local podiatrist, but that’s just one more thing on my medical to-do list. I wish I’d taken care of this much sooner.

 

Another personal care routine that’s become more difficult as I’ve aged is plucking the goat hairs on my chin. My fingers aren’t as dexterous as they used to be and my eyesight has become weaker. I have difficulty seeing those little white hairs. I’ve thought of a great solution but have yet to implement it. It’s based on the book club concept that’s popular among women these days. Simply collect a group of women who agree to help one another pluck their goat hairs as they grow. You could call the club “Grandmother Pluckers!” In the meantime, I’ve been using a small, battery-powered shaving wand that I found in the local drug store in the “As seen on TV section.”

 

I watch a lot of Hallmark romantic comedies. I’ve noticed that the female leads often wear silk blouses or tunics, usually with jeans. They all wear them in a specific way. The front of the top is tucked neatly into the waistband. But the back is left out completely. It’s an interesting look and I’ve recently learned there is actually a name for it. It’s called a “French tuck.” Leave it to the French to come up with something this stylish and sensible. The back of your blouse almost always comes untucked anyhow. Why not just start out with it that way?

 

Let’s face it. A lot of good things come from the French, especially if we’re talking style. When it comes to hair, we have the French twist and French braids. These aren’t easy to do on your own, so best to find a hair styling partner. You can’t dress French without a beret. But to be truly French, you need a striped top, called a "marinière." You might as well throw in a red scarf for good measure. You can’t find a much easier hack than that. Even senior women can pull that look off!

 

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Elaine M. Decker’s books include Retirement Downsizing—A Humorous Guide, Retirement Sparks, Retirement Sparks Again, Retirement Sparks Redux and CANCER: A Coping Guide. Her essays appear in the anthologies: 80 Things To Do When You Turn 80 and 70 Things To Do When You Turn 70. All are available on Amazon.com. Contact her at: emdecker@ix.netcom.com