I agree, Mountain Ash. Everyone does what they think is best for themselves.

My husband is 73. We live in a 3-storey, 3-bedroom, 2-bathroom house and it's ideal for our lifestyle. We have the guest room we need, the third bedroom is our "travel room", where we store all the stuff we buy all year for Cuba, plus our many suitcases (because we need different ones for different types of travel, weightwise). The basement holds our freezer, pantry, treadmill, laundry room, desktop computer, hubby's TV (where he can watch all the war and pirate movies he wants to) and library.

We can't imagine enjoying living in a smaller house. And if we were to move, we would still look for a 3-bedroom, 2-bathroom with a basement.

The big benefit for us living where we live is that it's a townhouse in a condo development, so our condo board looks after all of the outside maintenance...shoveling, mowing, roof and window repairs, so hubby never has to climb a ladder. As for cleaning, etc, when the time comes that we can't do it anymore, we'll probably hire someone to come in and do it for us. And if stairs are a problem, we can install one of those hydraulic stair climber thingies.

Really, it's up to the individual to decide for him/herself what she/he wants/needs/is capable of handling. Whatever limitations and restrictions we choose to put on ourselves is our business...why is there any need to apply or impose our choice of limitations on someone else?