Can I manage the house on my own?

The short answer

Perhaps with help, and help can be hired. List what the house needs each season, and mark what you can do, what you can hire, and what worries you. The worries tell you more than the list does.

This chapter explains how things usually work in the United States. It is not legal, tax or financial advice, and the rules where you live may differ. Before you act on anything here, check it with one of the people named at the end of the chapter.

What to do

1. List what the house needs each season, on one page.
2. Mark each job: do it, hire it, or worried.
3. Get prices, in writing, for the jobs you would hire.
4. Ask the local Area Agency on Aging (eldercare.acl.gov, 1-800-677-1116) about repair or modification help.
5. Talk through the “worried” list with someone you trust.
6. Give one neighbor or friend a spare key and your phone number.

What can wait

• Major renovation.
• The ten-year changes. You can write them down now and decide about them later.
• Learning every job. You can learn each one when it turns up, or hire it.
• His list of unfinished repairs, unless something on it leaks or feels unsafe to you.

Who can help

The Eldercare Locator, 1-800-677-1116 or eldercare.acl.gov, finds your local Area Agency on Aging. At 60 or older, the agency can say whether you qualify for home modification or repair help.

A friend, a neighbor or someone you trust can go through the worried list with you.

If nights alone in the house are very hard, Where to get help tonight, at the back of the book, lists who you can call.

The rules, phone numbers and web addresses in this book were checked against the agencies’ own pages in October 2026. They change, so check anything you rely on with the office itself.

Hear when the next book is out

Five or six short emails a year at most, and a note when a new book is out. Each one is about something that tends to come up in the first two years. You can unsubscribe whenever you like.