What are your living arrangements?

We had to make HUGE changes. My husband and I sold our small condo and had to buy another house (we had sold our big house 5 years before). We bought a 3 bedroom home, My Dad can't nogotiate the stairs,so, we made the dining room his bedroom. We are planning in putting up doors in the near future. We wre lucky that the house has a bath with a shower just a few steps away. One of the bedrooms upstairs my husband uses as his private T.V. room (so he doesn't have to fight with Dad over the remote). We have doubled our mortgage payments and more than tripled our utilities and food bill. It's kind of kind of scarey in this economy.

Wow, you're right- those are some major changes! Any kind of move is stressful and even more so when it results in a rise in mortgage payments. I can definitely relate to the tripling of the utilities bill- that was something I was unprepared for. I didn't realize how much of an impact just one person would have on the bills!

I'm glad your husband has his own T.V. room- sharing a remote with someone else is NOT fun. How are you coping with the TV situation? Do you usually just watch whatever your husband does or are you not a big tv person to begin with?

Lisa

Initially we refinished our lower level to be an apartment with a kitchen, 2 bedrooms, a bathroom, living room and laundry room for my grandparents..My grandfather had cancer and was in the hospital and my grandmother took one of the kids rooms while we spent our weekends for almost a year building the apartment for them..My grandfather died of cancer and so it was just my grandmother and she loved her apartment..She stayed there for years until her health became so bad that we had to move her upstairs again into our master bedroom and change the bathroom so that I could easily get her in the shower to bathe her daily..

She lived in the master bedroom for quite a few years and we moved into the next largest bedroom..

It was a great set-up because she had her own bathroom and we had a lift chair for her to sit in and watch TV in her room..

For a while we actually had grandma, our 2 kids, my sister, a granddaughter and a son-in-law all living with us at the same time..Full house was an under statement...lol

The bills were high but both my sister and my grandma, on an attorneys advise payed us $100. a month..I took grandmas money and put it in a seperate acct in case she would need it later..

I eventually paid part of my grandfathers medical bills with it because the small amount of social security she got wouldn't cover the high bills from his treatments..

My kids grew up with their great grandmother living with us so to them it was a normal thing..

She would play games with them and they loved having her there..

When she got really bad I had to quit my job because she couldn't stay alone and that was a big transition for us to get used to paying all the bills on only one salary..

Grandma died last Sept and its so strange  not having her with us.. I miss her so much but it was her time to go and she is in a better place now...

Kudos to all of you who have taken the big step to care for your loved ones in your home. I've seen all types of living scenarios. I think the most important thing is - Do what works. That's it. Don't worry what others think. Adjust what you would have thought before this. Just do what works.

I lived in my family room for two years while recovering from a life-changing 'event.'  If you have the money to make changes, do so. But if not, make do. I think it is more important to that person that you are taking them in, rather than that they get their own 'in-law' apartment or their own bedroom. I think we take space for granted in our society. If you look at other cultures in the world, multiple generations share the home and bedrooms. Give yourself permission (and a pat on the back) to do what works.

I was living in an apartment and my father in condo, when i decided he needed care.  I had him sell his condo and I bought a three bedroom house.   i have what is called the split plan.  I have the master bedroom on one side of the house which I use.  I then turned the other two rooms on the other side of the house for him.  He has his own bedroom, den and bathroom.  It has worked out well for us.  We have lived together for about 10 years...