What's the Difference Between Assisted Living & Independent Living?

When you are trying to give your loved ones the lives that they deserve to have, or if you are looking for a new living situation for yourself, you might come across two very different sounding options: Assisted and independent living. These two things, while sounding very different, do offer a lot of the same things in terms of lifestyle and care. Here is a breakdown of both options so you can easily decide which is better for you.

What is Assisted Living?
With living assistance, you or your loved one will never be left without the help and care that you need. If you need to be reminded to take your medication at a certain time every day, if you need help taking your medication, or if you just need general help with tasks that are too difficult for you at this stage in your life, you can go to an assisted living home and you will get all of the help that you need. 

Benefits of Assisted Living
You get almost limitless benefits when you go about living with assistance, but these are only benefits to people who need the extra care. If you are finding that you don't need this extra help, these won't seem like benefits to you. Here are just a few of them:

• Medication overview: The workers will be there to assist you, remind you, and watch to make sure that the appropriate amount of medication is taken each day.
  
• Multiple meals a day, depending on the package that you receive.
  
• Help getting dressed, picking outfits, and cleaning the clothes that are dirty.
  
• Help with showers or baths that you may need to take but are unable to do alone.
  

What is Independent Living?
Opposite of that, independent living is a situation where you either remain in your current housing, or you move to an independent living center where help is available at certain hours of the day, but you are mostly left to your own devices so that you can live your life as normally as possible. This is a good option for people who aren't entirely able to live on their own but aren't in need of constant care and help at all hours of the day.

Benefits of Independent Living
While it might not be assisted living, there are still plenty of benefits to living independently. Those of which are:

• Housing that is affordable to people who are no longer working, can no longer work comfortably, or cannot afford to pay their current housing fees on their own.
  
• A quiet environment that you can live in peacefully.
  
• Plenty of ways to stay active and healthy like on-site gyms and pools.
  

There may not be as many benefits as the previous option, but that is why this is a good choice for people who are still able to take care of themselves and don't require assistance at different times of the day.

What are the key differences?
The biggest difference between these two selections is, with one, you are required to take care of yourself, your meals, your laundry, your physical health, and your medicine. But with the other option, the assisted option, you are able to do these things but with help on the side if you need it.


Which is the better option?
If you don't think that you are going to need help within the next few years, then living independently is a great option for many people. You don't have to have a bad condition, you don't have to be struggling with anything in your life currently, and you don't even have to be at a point in your life where you can't pay your own bills. You just have to fall into a certain age group, and you can find a home that you can afford easily through many different groups online.

But if you can't get around easily on your own, even if you don't need major help, assisted living is going to be the choice that you should decide on. This is to save you the time and trouble of moving once, just to turn around and move again when you are less mobile. With assisted living, you do have to be a bit immobile, or unable to take care of yourself properly. 

But you don't have to be too far gone to qualify for this living situation. If you have trouble opening up your medication, or you have trouble walking around, you automatically qualify. You can still go out and do all of the things that are offered with living independently, but you can also know that you are coming home to a supportive group of people who will help you whenever you need them to.

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