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Aging in place checklist

Get a room-by-room checklist and a plan for if you fall.

The checklist needs JavaScript, which is off in this browser. The notes below still explain how to use a checklist like this and which guides cover each part.

Step 1 of 14

Where do you live?

So we can name local programs.

With what you've answered so far. You can come back and answer more.

No account, no names or numbers. Nothing you pick leaves your device.

This tool organizes information and is provided as is. It isn't legal, medical, tax or financial advice. Before you sign or rely on anything, check with a licensed attorney in your state or province. Terms

What's in your checklist

Most aging in place checklists and home safety lists stop at rugs and grab bars. When you live alone, the bigger question is what happens after a fall: who notices, and how help gets through a locked door. Your PDF covers both.

The first page is the plan: who notices, how you'd call for help, who has a key, and how responders get in. Anything marked "Not yet" has a numbered task that closes it. The rest is the room-by-room checklist.

How to use your checklist

Answering the questions

Every question is optional. Skip one and the checklist shows the general version of that task. Programs for lockboxes, check-in calls and home safety visits differ by state and province, so pick yours and the checklist names them where we have them.

Start with the plan

Fill in the names and numbers on the plan page by hand, then put it on your fridge next to your emergency card.

Then walk the house

Take the checklist from room to room and tick each box when it's done. Some tasks take a phone call: to the fire department about a lockbox, to the city about lift assists, to your building about keys. The script for each call is in the task.

Get a second pair of eyes

This check organizes what to look at. It doesn't judge whether you can live alone, and no checklist can. An occupational therapist (a professional who looks at how you manage daily tasks in your own home) can do a home safety visit. In the US, ask your doctor or your local Area Agency on Aging. In Canada, call your provincial home care program. The last task in your list says where to start for your state or province.

Do it again twice a year

Redo it after a fall, a hospital stay or a move, and when your key holder or check-in person changes. Keep the PDF to compare next time.

  • Living alone safety checklist: who notices, who gets in, who gets called.
  • If you fall and live alone, and who to call when you can't get up but aren't hurt.
  • How paramedics get into a locked house, and fire department lockbox programs.
  • Free daily check-in calls, and judging whether you can keep living alone.
  • Aging in place alone, and home changes for aging in place.
  • A power outage plan, and a heat plan for living alone.

Other free tools

  • Emergency contact card: a wallet card, fridge sheet and door note that say who to call and who has your key.
  • Next of kin organizer: where your papers, keys and pets are, for a helper who doesn't know your life.
  • Hospital discharge checklist: who takes you home after sedation, and who stays the night.
  • In-home care cost calculator: what the rides, hospital visits and check-ins family usually covers would cost to hire.

This checklist is general information, not medical advice.