Getting on in years is not all bad. Yes, there are the inevitable health problems that come with age, but there is also the chance to do more of what you want and spend time relaxing in your own home. This should be easy, but unfortunately, this isn’t the case for everybody.
With the ongoing pandemic and various disruptions in society, you might well be justified in feeling less safe than you did 20, 10, or even just 5 years ago. This will obviously include while you are out and about traveling to and from the store or church, but it can also mean that you don’t feel safe in your own home either.
While you might be able to do very little about what happens when you are outside of your home, you can take back control regarding what happens immediately around it.
Stop People from Loitering Outside
If there is something guaranteed to shatter your calm when you are gardening or reading a book in the evening, it is a group of youths loitering outside your property. They are usually loud and will sometimes engage in behavior that causes damage to your property (even if it is as the result of high spirits rather than any malicious intent). So, while everybody was young once, you would rather they hung out somewhere far away from your home.
You might toy with the idea of asking them to move on, but the all-round safer solution might be to just make them feel as uncomfortable as they make you. As the name might suggest, using something like a mosquito alarm can allow you to take back control of the personal space around your home. It sends out an annoying sound at a frequency that youths can hear but older people can’t (another advantage of old age) and can make them move on without any sort of confrontation.
See Exactly who is Calling
Another thing that seniors find annoying and possibly intimidating is unwanted callers. You might be sitting there (again with a good book or when gardening) and the doorbell rings unexpectedly. You might even think that they could be operating some sort of scam to defraud people or call at the front of the house while their accomplice tries to gain entry at the back to commit burglary.
For your own peace of mind, you could install a video doorbell, which allows you to see and communicate with whoever is at your front door without leaving your chair. This way, if you don’t like the look of them, you can tell them to be on their way without any face-to-face contact, and if you never physically answer the door, you can keep an eye on anyone trying to climb over your yard fence.
A Few Final Thoughts
Reaching retirement should give you the chance to rewind and relax, but unless you have the peace of mind that you are safe in your own home, it can be a hollow victory. However, by ensuring that you control who approaches your home, and who has access to it, you can feel more in control.
