I have a question for the "Seasoned" humans that wish to chime in.

kyleb said:
Other signs you're dealing with a much older mindset:

There's a piano. But nobody plays.
China Cabinet. With China. Unused for decades.
Formal Dining Room. Also never used. Sometimes temporarily repurposed as Amazon holding area.
Formal Living Room. Only used for special occasions. Which are special enough the room hasn't been used in 3 years. Often features an unused piano.
Silver set(s).
Antiques. <Extremely valuable until you decide to sell them. Then you realize antiques require a buyer who wants a specific antique or the antique is just something unwanted and old.>
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Bingo except the piano

Should have turned the LR and DR into revenue generating rooms decades ago (bitcoin mining or something)
 
I’m 58, and like to keep the house at 78. My wife has MS and is sensitive to heat, so we keep it at 76 during the day and 72 at night. This year I think we’ll install a mini-split in the master bedroom; the house temp won’t change but we’ll be able to drop the bedroom to 68 at night.

No china, just regular plates. Nice open floor plan with a big living room and the table on one side of it. There is a smaller dining area separated from the living room by a short wall, but it’s used as my wife’s art studio.

The one antique is a table that doesn’t look too bad. My wife loves it. Otherwise it’s pretty modern. All light colors, which goes well with the large windows - the back living room and kitchen wall is almost completely glass from floor to ceiling. I love lots of glass.

And dog toys strewn across the livng room.
 
kyleb said:
Other signs you're dealing with a much older mindset:

There's a piano. But nobody plays.
China Cabinet. With China. Unused for decades.
Formal Dining Room. Also never used. Sometimes temporarily repurposed as Amazon holding area.
Formal Living Room. Only used for special occasions. Which are special enough the room hasn't been used in 3 years. Often features an unused piano.
Silver set(s).
Antiques. <Extremely valuable until you decide to sell them. Then you realize antiques require a buyer who wants a specific antique or the antique is just something unwanted and old.>
Click to expand...
I'm on the low end of that age but definitely not the mind-set.

Piano on schedule to get tuned. Most of the time I use my Casio keyboard - habit from when I lived in an apt because I could plug in a headset and not bother the neighbors. Before I moved into the house, I had the basement finished with additional insulation so the neighbors won't hear much of the clarinet or sax. The piano is upstairs but the music studio is in the basement.
China cabinet - no china but it's my parents dining room set. Once I finish remodeling the kitchen, the entire set goes away. I donated the Wedgewood china to the Childrens' Hospital antique store years ago - let them deal with it. I always hated the china.
Formal dining/living rooms - first floor of the house is mostly one big room with the staircase in the middle. It's the perfect racetrack for the dogs when the weather is rotten.
Silver - once again, Mom's stuff - long gone. Should have waited to sell, as silver prices have gone bonkers.
The Waterford crystal is packed up in boxes on the top shelf in the back bedroom. No idea what to do with it.
Antiques - fortunately, only a few items Mom saved from her parents, and that wasn't much. Put the collectible china teacups on ebay, went in no time. On the other hand, Dad's grandfather was a jewelry merchant in Europe. Stones themselves not terribly valuable but in the settings, considered vintage or more appropriately Old European. I gave the engagement ring to my nephew when he proposed to his now wife, my niece got the wedding ring.

Big problem right now - the sofa. Again, from the parents. Very modern, rock solid frame, 70 yrs old, but multiple dogs have destroyed the upholstery. I either need it rebuilt/recovered or just buy a new one. About the same price. I'm leaning towards buying a new one but most of today's stuff is junk.

Writing this I just had an epiphany - almost all my furniture is from my parents' houses (they were divorced).

As for temps - furnace set to 64-66 in the winter, AC is 74-76 in the summer.
 
Old97 said:
old people are cheap, electricity aint, and blood thinners make you cold. All three of the aforementioned facts i learned in the early eighties from my paw-paw.
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No (owning 3 planes, winter living in Colorado for skiing, Rough River escapades and most importantly, my Girlfriend), No (LED's are cheap and a heat pump is great), and No (on Xarelto) from a mid 80's Geezer.

Thermostat 70 days and 67 nights in Winter, 72 days and 68 nights in summer. Lights as needed which is most of the time living with trees all around. Old generation things are gone except the Silverware as the rest went to a consignment shop many moons ago after the wife passed away. TV Volume is mid except when the grandkids are here. I do tend to keep cars until they disintegrate.

Age is just a number. And the more I have, the more time to enjoy life (God willing and the creek don't rise)
 
eman1200 and I keep fighting for the control of the thermostat. I go 68 night/70 day in the winter, and 78 summer. He sets it to whatever. I say whatever because that's how we talk in the Valley and set it back to where I want.
 
X3 Skier said:
No (owning 3 planes, winter living in Colorado for skiing, Rough River escapades and most importantly, my Girlfriend), No (LED's are cheap and a heat pump is great), and No (on Xarelto) from a mid 80's Geezer.

Thermostat 70 days and 67 nights in Winter, 72 days and 68 nights in summer. Lights as needed which is most of the time living with trees all around. Old generation things are gone except the Silverware as the rest went to a consignment shop many moons ago after the wife passed away. TV Volume is mid except when the grandkids are here. I do tend to keep cars until they disintegrate.

Age is just a number. And the more I have, the more time to enjoy life (God willing and the creek don't rise)
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Having met X3, in no way does he seem to be a mid 80’s Geezer
 
After 30 years of marriage I finally gave up trying to argue about the temperature. I just add clothes and blankets until I’m good, even/especially in the summer, lol!
 
455 Bravo Uniform said:
No one mentioned the TV volume being at 70+ (assuming 100 is max)?
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Every now and then I get a call from the train station asking me to turn down my moms Tv so they can hear the train horns...

There has been a few times I go into her house to find the A/C on, along with the pellet stove heat.

And for the last 147 years my mom has bought new Christmas decorations every year. If she ever passes I am not going to have a Christmas sale, I am going to pile it all in the front yard and put up a sign, FREE.

As for me, some of you may remember that I took a nasty fall last April. I have noticed this winter that I do not feel the cold. I'll be outside at 45 degrees and my wife has to tell me to put on a jacket. So I do but I do not feel any warmer. On my lower left leg, it feels as if I am standing next to an electric heater. Even when I lean against the cold bathtub, it feels hot.
 
Us “older” folks need it a bit warmer than when we were “younger” folks. Our thermostat is set to 73 - but it is located in a hallway away from drafts and windows, so the main living areas are likely in the 70-72 range. However I also like it light. We actually have lightbulbs that are bright enough to easily read by. And we have lamps all over the house. We also have a real piano in our living area (my wife plays) and I have a nice electric piano in my office area (that I am slowly learning to play). I also have a couple of guitars hanging around that I do play. We travel - a lot - and I fly my Ercoupe whenever I get the chance.

So, we are both in our 70’s - but we ain’t dead yet. Heh, I just started a new “hobby” - day trading in the stock market.
 
kyleb said:
Other signs you're dealing with a much older mindset:
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I guess I'm not of the mindset (though I have up there in the senior crowd)...
kyleb said:
There's a piano. But nobody plays.
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We have one, but it's a player and I do play it myself.
kyleb said:
China Cabinet. With China. Unused for decades.
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Ours has a few display pieces of art (not china) and a lot of wine glasses (which get used regulary).
kyleb said:
Formal Dining Room. Also never used. Sometimes temporarily repurposed as Amazon holding area.
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Ours used daily (but does get incoming packages dropped on it at tiems).
kyleb said:
Formal Living Room. Only used for special occasions. Which are special enough the room hasn't been used in 3 years. Often features an unused piano.
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Used pretty much daily. The piano is upstairs, however.

kyleb said:
Silver set(s).
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This we have and it's an antique and never gets used.
kyleb said:
Antiques. <Extremely valuable until you decide to sell them. Then you realize antiques require a buyer who wants a specific antique or the antique is just something unwanted and old.>
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Have a few but most of our stuff is pretty modern.

Of course, the only dark areas is the bar / TV room. The rest of the house is pretty much awash with natural light or well designed artificial.
My wife and I fight over the thermostat but it usually ranges from 65-75.
 
We have a formal LR and DR, and they do get used - just not daily. The dining room table is often covered in a sewing project, but just yesterday we had 10 people around it and another half dozen in the kitchen and living room. No piano, but the china cabinet does hold china (which we use a few times a year) and some other stuff we have that we like but don't need to be broken by little ones. No piano here, though; neither of us play. My mother-in-law "bestowed" her non-working 1970s vintage organ upon us a couple decades ago; she was pretty steamed when it disappeared. Not that she'd played it in years.

As for temps and lighting... I like plenty of light where I am, but see no need to keep the house bright enough to fade the paint on the walls when we're not in a room or are watching TV in the one we're in. We have grandkids who feel it their duty to turn on every single light in the house (and the bathroom fans), then leave. I get my exercise turning it all back off. I don't think our thermostat has begun its ascent to the upper 70s, though.

X3 Skier said:
Talk about old, that looks like a Heathkit.
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*chuckle* Heathkit? I've actually been looking for a couple of them and using another couple the last few weeks.
 
SixPapaCharlie said:
My MIL falls all the time. I swear we are 1 more fall away from having to figure out in-home health care or finding a facility.
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Serious question - does she wear a device that alerts you when she falls? She probably needs that.

My father lived alone after mom passed. During that time he had a knee replacement and one thing he couldn't do for a while was get up off the floor. Anyway, one night he got up to pee and fell. He wasn't carrying his phone (despite being told, I mean encouraged to do so.) Eventually (like several hours) he worked his way to a phone and called me. Problem resolved in 20 minutes, but if he'd hurt himself he'd have been up the creek.
 
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kyleb said:
Serious question - does she wear a device that alerts you when she falls? She probably needs that.

My father lived alone after mom passed. During that time he had a knee replacement and one thing he couldn't do for a while was get up off the floor. Anyway, one night he got up to pee and fell. He wasn't carrying his phone (despite being told, I mean encouraged to do so.) Eventually (like several hours) he worked his way to a phone and called me. Problem resolved in 20 minutes, but if he'd hurt himself he'd have been up the creek.
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The bigger issue that tends to happen with those LifeAlert (or competitor units) is that the person who has it doesn't wear the stupid thing. "Oh I don't need that because I'm just [doing thing]."

Don't get me wrong, a solution of some sort is absolutely important. But the challenge is something they'll actually use, and even better if it's got auto fall detection in case they hit their heads or something that causes them to pass out and potentially need more serious attention.
 
My MIL discovered that if you put your iPhone on the top of your car, it will trigger the fall detection when you drive away and the phone clatters to the pavement.
 
Ted said:
The bigger issue that tends to happen with those LifeAlert (or competitor units) is that the person who has it doesn't wear the stupid thing. "Oh I don't need that because I'm just [doing thing]."

Don't get me wrong, a solution of some sort is absolutely important. But the challenge is something they'll actually use, and even better if it's got auto fall detection in case they hit their heads or something that causes them to pass out and potentially need more serious attention.
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Yeah, we'd already gone through the "I don't need/not gonna wear one of those." discussion. Always having the phone in hand was the agreed upon plan. And on the night where he needed it, he'd left it behind - he was only going to the bathroom.
 
GoFly said:
Having met X3, in no way does he seem to be a mid 80’s Geezer
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I knew him back in the good’ol days. By definition, if you can’t ski those black diamonds anymore, you are an old geezer! So, yes he does! :lol:
 
We currently have 4 sets of dinnerware that I know of. The ones that we are currently using have chips and the wife wanted to buy new ones. We have a set off a boat we used to own and another set from my parent's motor home, both look great and not cheap. I think either one would work great for our daily ware. We will see who wins. The other set is Mikasa from when we got married. I know better to say to use them. Last time we used the Mikasa was probably 35 years ago. Married over 40 years.
 
kyleb said:
Yeah, we'd already gone through the "I don't need/not gonna wear one of those." discussion. Always having the phone in hand was the agreed upon plan. And on the night where he needed it, he'd left it behind - he was only going to the bathroom.
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A decade ago, I got my mother what was then a Phillips Lifeline unit. It came with a wrist band or pendant at the customer's option. Set up with the landline she had, it worked flawlessly. Came in handy at least half a dozen times.

Nowadays the company is just plain Lifeline, with more technology options. I don't know much about it, but can tell you the basic premise is sound, and helpful.
 
My 90+ year old mother sets thermostat to 78° and wears a sweater or sweatshirt.
 
Wife has a ton of china not just from her mother, but from BOTH grandmothers...including pieces they made by hand. Good luck finding a home for them; good luck even getting the bride to CONSIDER getting rid of some of them. Our recent move to Portland highlighted this, since we didn't do much culling out at the old house. Just boxed everything and sent it south. Really made it obvious how much stupid stuff we were still dragging behind us.

I've got a huge pile of older aircraft instruments and radios, including a half-dozen or so artificial horizons. Not sure what'll happen to them when I go; no other pilots in the extended family. The older instruments might be even more problematic, since they've got radium treatments that are apparently at a high enough dose rate that children should not be exposed to them.

Temperature wise, my wife couldn't tolerate heat until she lost 80 pounds. Now she tends to be cold. I like things warmer, so it's a welcome change. My old home office was on the second floor and stayed nice and warm without effort; the new one is on the ground floor and (to me) tends to be a bit cool. I've got a small heater tucked under my desk with a switch on the desktop.

On one of my major projects at Boeing, my office was too damn cold. We're talking 62 degrees...in the summer. I'd complain, facilities would send someone in to bump up the thermostat, no change. We named the conference rooms in the building; the one next to me was Ice Station Zebra.

Finally, the facilities folks looked into it more closely. The overall facility was typical of its 50's design, where a central plant generated hot and cold air that was passed to the individual buildings. Turns out our program's room used to be a computer center...and they'd completely shut off the warm air supply (while keeping the cold air).....

Along the same lines, about 30 years ago, a co-worker and his wife adopted a young Russian orphan. The girl complained that the house was too cold. "But honey, you're from Russia!"

"Nyet. In Russia, zey kip the orphanages varm...."

(side note: She spoke English with a Russian accent at home, but perfect English with the kids at school).

Light wise, I apparently buck the trend. I *like* well-lit rooms.

Ron Wanttaja
 
I'm lucky; my three older sisters got the china, and silver, and crystal, and fancy furniture, and...

I got Dad's tools and R/C stuff. :)

wanttaja said:
at Boeing, my office was too damn cold. We're talking 62 degrees...in the summer. I'd complain, facilities would send someone in to bump up the thermostat, no change... Turns out our program's room used to be a computer center...
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One job I had, the engineering office was the former computer room. The heat and cooling both worked (and the cooling was very effective...), but we had one draftsman who Did. Not. Understand. Thermostats. Every morning he would come in and turn the thermostat up as far as it would go, 90° or so, because he was convinced it would make the room heat faster. No amount of explanation about how they worked would change his mind. He wasn't well liked for other reasons, too, so naturally any time anybody else passed the thermostat it would be moved back down to 60 or lower.
 
And what's with the rubber bands? Drawers full of the darn things. More than 2 pencils? God forbid they not be strapped together. Five or six hold the tv remotes together. Twist ties from bread bags too, never know when you may need 25 or 30 of them.

We got around the unattended fall problem for my 90 yo MIL with Amazon Alexa and echo dots. One in the great room and bedroom/bath area. If she needed help all she had to say was "help" and it alerted and connected to a list of local folks who could talk to her and find our what was going on. She could call one or more of us by saying our names. Could also "drop in" on Mom to see how she was doing with her having to get up and answer the phone. Plus set lights, and tropical heat from her chair.

Worked very well.
 
Why don't people keep the temp the same year round? And get rid of the formal LR and DR and open it up to one great room?
If you have a piano, play it, or dump it, same with the rest of your toys.
 
I have a formal dining room. And for years I've said it may as well just be a painting all we do is look at it when we pass by it.

When I bought the house I should have prioritized a third car garage over pretty much anything else a home can offer.
 
SixPapaCharlie said:
When I bought the house I should have prioritized a third car garage over pretty much anything else a home can offer.
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We have a 3 car garage, but for most of the time we’ve lived here it’s been filled with not cars. Currently 2 cars live in it but that’s going to be temporary as my wife will kick them out for project space. They’re her cars so that’s her decision. Keep in mind we currently own 7 cars, one bus, and 7 motorcycles. That number is going to grow, not shrink, as our kids approach driving age and vehicles continue to follow me home.

The solution was to build a 40x54 shop. It’s full, and we have vehicles that permanently live outside because we don’t have indoor space for them. I need another shop. Fortunately we built this shop with overhangs on either side.
 
Ted said:
...as our kids approach driving age...
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Get them in the racecar. The track is the place to learn how to really handle a car, not the street. They'll pick up skills that can save their necks when street driving.
 
My parents, at 84 and 79, keep their thermostat at 65 day/50 night in the winter. When I was growing up, they did the same, but the thermostat was old enough they still had to manually change it. I keep mine at 70. :)

But - And I swear this has to do with having kids - I turn lights off all the time. Only when the rooms are unoccupied, though. Like, that's what dads do, right? Walk around turning lights off?

Their frugality also meant that my parents, while their house did have central air, did not turn on the A/C until I was 14 years old. Wasn't a big deal to me as my bedroom was downstairs and partially subterranean so the temps were always nice and cool even in the summer. Also, not sure how hold that air conditioner was, but after not being used for at least the 18 years my parents had been in that house already, it fired right up and worked fine. They don't make 'em like they used to!

Luckily, after my mom had to clear out my grandmother's house upon her death in 2003, which took the better part of a year, she started clearing her own stuff out. She's asked us all about what things of theirs we want, and of course found that nobody wants all that china and silver... All three of us wanted the cider press, though. :rofl:

Chrisgoesflying said:
If that is true, I'm in deep trouble. Not even 40 years of age yet and I keep the house at 76 summer and winter. Anything colder than that, I get cold. We're having a "heat wave" in Texas right now, high 70s, low 80s - still wearing long sleeves. It's not 90s or 100s so not true summer short sleeves weather. If I get cold even easier once I hit 60 or something, I may have to move into a sauna.
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Weren't you in Canada until just recently? :o

SixPapaCharlie said:
For reference, mid 70s but had parents that probably drilled that in to her as they were depression generation.
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Yep. My grandparents were born in the 1919-1922 timeframe, so the depression hit when they were kids/early teens, and they grew up and got married during the depression and WWII. Definitely a different age, and some of those habits have survived a couple generations.

SixPapaCharlie said:
I recall pantry in his house floor to ceiling front to back with canned goods. Never spent a penny that he didn't have to.
My kids' reality is significantly more wasteful by comparison.
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For me, it's the "clean your plate." I have at least 30-50 pounds of "clean your plate, son" that I carry around... And I *hate* the amount of food we throw away. I swear, our refrigerator is just the place where we store the leftovers until they go bad so we don't have to feel bad about throwing them away. We also throw away a lot of food off the plates after meals. But, I know that my kids will be healthier than me as a result.
 
flyingcheesehead said:
And I *hate* the amount of food we throw away. I swear, our refrigerator is just the place where we store the leftovers until they go bad so we don't have to feel bad about throwing them away. We also throw away a lot of food off the plates after meals.
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Every household should have a NON pet pig that is replaced each year. Each year start with a little new one and process the big old one. Turn that waste into bacon, hams and pork chops. Wasting a bit of food doesn’t feel so bad when it’s going into growing more food that will taste better from eating it.
 
It seems when you reach your 70s you set the thermostat at your age up till about 78. Got rid of the piano years ago. Still flying at 80 .
 
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