Calamar - Senior Apartments | Retirement Communities | Independent Senior Apartments

Moving into a new space presents one with an opportunity to meet new people, to personalize one’s space, and to even reinvent oneself. After all, one’s surroundings does play a huge part in shaping one’s mood so it is important to make your space comfortable for you. So what do you have to do? Make it your project. During retirement, you have all this free time at your hands so why not use that time towards making your downsizing process your project? Continue Reading ...

Wearable technology is all the craze right now with Fitbits and Apple smartwatches topping the list of most wanted gifts for the holidays. These devices promise higher motivation and improvement of fitness levels as it tracks physical activity, food intake, and sleep among other things. Now, are these devices as useful as they promise to be for seniors? Continue Reading ...

“Location, location, location”, says real estate agents, and they advise it for a reason. More often than not, people move into homes or lock themselves in houses that are too far from the things they need or places they value because they always look at the price tag. On certain instances, it is better to pay the price upfront than lose more of your time and money in the long run. One case where it is better to value proximity and convenience is when picking your next senior home. Continue Reading ...

As one ages, it is important to still keep up with one’s fitness routines whether that is daily yoga sessions or quick runs in the morning. Maintaining such a routine is helpful as ease of mobility and joint movements goes on a steady dip as people age. However, seniors who are keen to keep on exercising should also understand that a 25 year old’s capacity to exercise is not the same as his, and therefore, should be able to distinguish which exercise equipment or exercise regiment should they stick with. Using exercise equipment is great in making sure that you are safely exercising and not putting undue strain on their muscles and joints. There is a multitude of exercise equipment available but this guide will focus on three: resistance training equipment, cardio equipment, and stretching and flexibility equipment. Resistance training equipment is those geared towards building or maintaining muscle strength. Continuously maintaining one’s muscle strength helps in doing da

Among the best things about being retired is being able to spend one’s time with loved ones, especially grandchildren. As your grandchildren goes through their own life stages, their interests change as well in the same way you transition from having no social time to having more free time that you would like. So, what’s the best way to spend time with them as they get older? Here are some ideas and fun activities you can do with your grandchildren. When they are in their early years just around 8 years and younger, arts and crafts are the way to go. You can construct paper lanterns, help them learn the art of origami and spend hours flying paper airplanes or floating paper boats on streams. Painting is also a nice activity to spend with your grandkids. They will surely love the colorful paintings you will both end up with. Making lava lamps is also never goes out of style for kids and you may also pique their interest in both science and art. When they start their middle schoo

Retirement can either be exciting or daunting, depending on how much cushion you prepared for yourself. If you are part of the former, congratulations! Your hard work paid off and you can now harvest the fruits of your labor. However, if you find yourself to be the latter, don’t fret yet. You still have time but don’t rush to a retirement calculator just yet and start taking these actionable steps to help you get ready for retirement. The first step is self-awareness. Ask yourself, “How much do I have stashed away for retirement?” Second question should be, “What kind of lifestyle do I want?” Once you have the answers to these two questions, move on to the next step, you can now punch some numbers into a retirement calculator so you know how much money you should have saved up and how much more you need to get there. Just note that it is recommended that you retire with some saving of at least 10 times your last full time work year’s income. After getting that magic number, y

Retirement is a phase in life everyone looks forward to because it gives people the freedom to do what they’ve always wanted to do in life but never had the time to, like traveling, reaching the summit of Mt. Kilimanjaro, or watching a Broadway show in New York. After ticking off every single item on your to-do list, now what? You might need to starting looking for other things to keep yourself busy and here’s ideas to get you started. Volunteering Everyone has a cause or belief that they are passionate about, so why not pursue it? Volunteering not only gives one a purpose in life, it also helps out recipients of one’s time. A win-win situation. Volunteering is a social activity that allows you to develop relationships with the people you meet, and the best part about it is that these people has the same values as you and supports the same causes you do. Another perk of volunteering is you often get to access to events that often are not available to the public. If you like t

As one gets older, the more time is spent alone as shown in the American Times Use Survey. It just makes sense given that back in the younger years, one has to go through schooling and are surrounded by peers, then one enters the workforce where coworkers and one’s spouse take up most of one’s day. Spending time with children and taking care of one’s parents also are things that are expected, as one gets older. However, one’s free time significantly increase as one’s brood leaves the nest. In fact, the Administration on Aging says that half of women past 75 years of age still live on their own without anyone living with them. This lifestyle, while still good, can present a two-fold problem and may expose seniors to both mental and physical challenges. Isolation can dampen one’s mood, and the same is true for seniors living independently. If left ignored, depression, a condition two million of 34 million seniors in the US has, can set in. This can be aggravated when they have mo

Finding your retirement home is like finding a spouse, you look for what you want and fits with you well and not what everyone thinks you should go for. If you plan to live there for a long time, you might as well find one that you’ll find enjoyable and worthwhile to stay in. That being said, the perfect senior apartment varies from one retiree to the next and so this guide just gives you some ideas on what to look for when asking yourself, “Does this senior community meets my needs?” There’s probably two things you have to do, know what you’re looking for and compare your narrowed down options to just one. In doing so, you have to think about and compare some some of these key areas:   Location . Is it close enough to your family and friends that they can visit? The older one gets, the more one realizes how important having one’s family around is. With everyone getting busier, you mi ght want to consider making it easy for friends and family to visit you and vice versa

It is common for seniors over 55 years old to experience forgetfulness, but how do you know the memory lapse is simply from aging or a sign of Alzheimer’s disease? Alzheimer’s disease is a type of dementia that refers to loss of memory and of other cognitive abilities that usually interferes with seniors’ daily activities. While forgetfulness happens once in a while, Alzheimer’s worsens and becomes more prominent as individuals lose the ability to respond to stimuli in their environment.   As an example, most people diagnosed with Alzheimer’s have a hard time carrying on a conversation. The Alzheimer’s Association gives a guideline of 10 symptoms to watch out for to figure out if the symptoms their loved ones exhibit is just part of aging or a sign of Alzheimer’s. Memory lost is most commonly associated with Alzheimer’s, however; forgetting details such as names is also part of aging. What separates someone with Alzheimer’s is they tend to repeat themselves in asking t

Virtual assistants have finally found their place in independent senior homes. In hindsight, it does makes sense especially that technology is best used for repetitive tasks and Siri nor Alexa never gets tired of answering the same, “When will I take my next meds?” question. There are various reasons why virtual assistants are here to stay in senior homes. 42 per cent of adults 65 and up responded that they own a smartphone according to a Pew research. This is a significant jump from 18 per cent that the figure was in 2013.   With seniors being able to easily call their loved ones without being too concerned about bells and whistles of the latest smartphone, there is a lower tendency for them to feel isolated or lonely. Even if they are residing in one of the senior apartments in Indianola, IA , they can know how’s the trip of their favourite granddaughter travelling in New Delhi, India. Virtual assistants not only help them call friends and family, it can also enable vide

Retirement is one of those phases in life that can be considered life altering depending on how you look at it. For some, it means being independent and having the freedom to do everything they have always wanted to do while others may say that it is another thing to be dealt with. However, it should not be the case if you properly plan this significant transition. Proper planning of retirement involves not only the retiree but also the people close to the person retiring – their family and friends. If you are a retiree considering being part of an independent senior community, you not only have to think about what to do with your newfound spare time but also plan how to maintain or attain the lifestyle that will make you the happiest. While not the easiest to do, the long-term benefits of planning ahead of time will be worth every effort made. The first thing to consider is the people who will be affected with your move, your family. Given that such circumstance most likely have

The benefits of independent senior living communities are greater than many of the alternatives. Here's why more seniors are preferring to live in these independent communities. It will come as no surprise that the Baby Boomer generation is rewriting retirement as we know it. In fact,  three out of five Boomers  report working long past the median retirement age of 62. Why? It's partially for financial reasons, but also largely because Boomers aren't ready to slow down, or to settle for a life of golfing and shuffleboard. Increasing numbers of them are opting for independent senior living communities, as well, to further enhance their quality of life. Let's learn more! Social Butterflies Will Thrive One reason that Baby Boomers choose independent living is for the social aspect. Here, they can meet an entire community of new friends. Being surrounded by their peers is especially important for those whose children have moved away. Loneliness isn't just

With age comes the challenge of keeping one’s independence to do what one wants. Being independent means being able to move around without the aches and pains that usually show up as you get older. While aging is inevitable, it is never too late to exercise to define the lifestyle you want to live in your retirement. For most people, a good lifestyle includes: Being able to retain and constant improve one’s physical strength Being able to do everyday tasks without much help Being able to manage—if not avoid—diseases such as osteoporosis, diabetes, and heart disease Bring able to control one’s moods and feelings Being able to go back and forth between tasks and plans If any of these appeals to you, then you should look into exercising as it is easily among the best prescriptions to health aging. The National Institute on Aging recommends four types of exercises: endurance, strength, balance, and flexibility exercises. Endurance exercises are also known as aerobic activit

Like house hunting for the first time, finding and moving to new place to live is a tough decision. Planning everything on paper and picking a senior apartment based on things like price and location does not guarantee you it’s the best home for you. You have to have a feel of what it is actually like living in it, and the only way you can do that is to see and tour your potential home. Does it feel right? When touring grand estates on Greenwood , first impressions count. You have to take note of the mood and ambiance of your new home, the staff, and even the residents you will be staying with. Think of the other residents and the staff as your neighbors and the ambiance of the retirement home as the character of your new neighborhood. Think of it as a big move. Each senior apartment has a “personality” that you only get to know when you visit it so take the time to get a feel of it. Do the services they offer fit my needs? As much as it’s feels nice to be abl