Thinking about moving one last time - to a new single family home. Don’t know where yet. I’m 67, DW 68.
We have some elder care issues that prevent us from moving at this time. We tried to convince now 93 yo mil to move with us 3 years ago, but she wanted to stay put. DW will not leave her mom. MIL may be more open to a move now. Maybe not.
I’m trying to get an idea on how old would be too old for us to move to another single family home in another state.
Just wondering. For those of you who moved to your last single family home in retirement- how old were you when you moved and how far away did you move?
I moved just three miles from my last home into my "Dream Home" in 2015, when I was 67. I hired movers, but did all the packing, decluttering/downsizing/donating, and unpacking myself. I ended up having just 80 boxes for the movers to move, plus all my furniture other than the appliances. I probably donated an equal amount of stuff, and threw away about 2-3 times that amount of stuff.
I was surprised to find it was MUCH more physically difficult than I anticipated. I had a lot of bad falls, painful muscle cramps, bee stings, bad bruises and strains and sprains, threw my back out badly, you name it. My body was trashed! In the sense that I felt like a total wreck. I even thought I had a concussion after one super bad fall down a couple of stairs and onto my concrete driveway (where I hit my forehead hard) while carrying a full laundry basket, but didn't.
After that move I decided that if I ever move again, I'll take no more "stuff" than fits in the back of my Venza. I'll have the rest sold by an estate sale management company.
Then when I get to the hypothetical new place, I'll order all new stuff and have it delivered (slowly, not all at once), so that I don't have to do much of anything and can rest between deliveries. I think this also might help for somebody moving to a new state, as you are planning.
I am certain that if I need to move after age 80, my daughter will have to do everything for me and I will not be able to help in the slightest.
I noticed during our Hurricane Ida evacuation last year (at age 73), that even just driving to another state is far more difficult than it was 5-10 years prior. Don't want to be discouraging! If you need to move, you can do it. But be sure to hire enough help that you can enjoy the process.