​Upgrades to make to your home during retirement

Collaborative Post | Have you recently retired? Or maybe retirement is on the cards for you soon?

Reaching retirement is a fantastic achievement and with fewer commitments, you are able to embrace life and do things you have always dreamed of. This can include once in a lifetime adventures such as travelling the world, as well spending more time with friends and family.

You may also use some of your newfound free time to make some upgrades to your house. Balancing a home and a career can be difficult, and DIY can easily fall to the wayside. Retirement allows you to get things ticked off that you may have wanted to do for years, such as improving your home and making it a more enjoyable space to spend your time.

Upgrades to make to your home during retirement (Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash)

Heating

An element of your home that is always worth investing in is its heating, whether it be upgrading your boiler or replacing your radiators. Making these types of upgrades is beneficial for several reasons; newer models are more efficient meaning you will save yourself money and lower your carbon footprint. Doing so can also increase the value of your home, perfect if you ever choose to sell.

If possible, you could make these upgrades during the summer months when tradesmen are less busy, meaning the temporary lack of heating won’t affect you at all. Plus, being retired means you have the means to get out of the house and give them some space while they work.

Bathroom

Many of us put off making changes to our bathroom as it seems too big of a task. As a room we use multiple times a day, it can be inconvenient to have it out of action for even a short period of time. That is why retirement is a good time to rethink your bathroom design and make some changes.

These can be as small or big as you like; the main aim of any bathroom renovation should be to make it more usable. This could be anything from adding in some additional storage to completely gutting and redoing the whole room.

Now could be a good time to consider how your bathroom will work for you as you get older. Even if you don’t require additional support at the moment, it could be beneficial to consider for the future.

Features such as a walk-in shower or support rail may prove invaluable later in life. Installing these measures doesn’t have to be at the cost of style, there are plenty of ways to create a chic and accessible bathroom to suit any home.

Garden

The perfect project for the spring and summer months during your retirement could be making some improvements to your garden. Like any home upgrade, these can be tailored to whatever space you are working with.

Whether you add some hanging baskets to your small balcony, or re-landscape the entirety of your large lawn, making these changes is a great way to try something new and benefit from the fresh air.

Garden related tasks are also a good way to socialise, why not recruit friends or family to help you plant some bulbs or install a bird feeder?


Disclaimer: this is a collaborative post.