Best Senior Living Blogs by Individuals 2013

Senior Living bloggers share their stories, tips, and travails as caregivers. Their blogs make us laugh and cry and help us to realize we are not alone. We have found the most engaging, insightful individual blogs in the senior living space to share with you.

Winner

The winner of Best Blogs by Individuals is awarded to the finalist that earns the highest rating during the Best Senior Living Awards. Congratulations to the winner of Best Blogs by Individuals!

  • The Care Company Blog
    29 Judges Score  116 Popular Vote
    The Care Company is the solution center for America’s 60 million unpaid family caregivers, who every year provide more than $300 billion in free care and services to loved ones, family members and f...

People's Choice

The people have spoken! The People’s Choice Winner of Best Blogs by Individuals is the best senior living resource that earned the highest number of votes during the voting period. Congratulations to the People\’s Choice Winner of Best Blogs by Individuals!

  • The Dementia Queen
    28 Judges Score  268 Popular Vote
    A blog by occupational and geriatric therapist Sue Paul, aka The Dementia Queen, TheDementiaQueen.com is a blog dedicated to dementia care. Sue's posts and helpful tips are mixed with a little bit of...

Finalists

To earn a spot as a finalist for the Best Senior Living Awards, the following senior living resources received the highest number of consumer votes. Our dedicated panel of experts rated these senior living resources. Here are the Best Blogs by Individuals as ranked by our panel.

  • Age in Place Technology
    26 Judges Score  11 Popular Vote
    Laurie M. Orlov, a tech industry veteran, writer, speaker and elder care advocate, is the founder of Aging in Place Technology Watch, a market research firm that provides thought leadership, analysis...
  • Help! Aging Parents
    26 Judges Score  65 Popular Vote
    Hi, I'm Susan. I was a far-away-living adult child whose parents died during this decade. (Mother predeceased my dad by three years.) I continue to be a far-away-living daughter-in-law (her only "dau...
  • As Our Parents Age
    26 Judges Score  69 Popular Vote
    As Our Parents Age deals with issues facing adult children taking care of their parents...
  • Moving Solutions Blog
    26 Judges Score  153 Popular Vote
    A Blog by Senior Move Manager Margit Novack, the Moving Solutions Blog presents ideas both practical and thought provoking about dealing with all our stuff. Margit has a wonderful way of mixing great...
  • Marshall Elder and Estate Planning Blog
    25 Judges Score  10 Popular Vote
    Helping seniors preserve health and financial security for themselves and their loved ones...
  • Mom's Brain
    25 Judges Score  133 Popular Vote
    I started this blog in January 2009 with the plan to remain anonymous for my mom’s sake, for my sake, and for the sake of anyone who might be uncomfortable by what I write from time to time. Eventua...
  • Alzheimer's Speaks
    24 Judges Score  103 Popular Vote
    Alzheimer’s Speaks was developed for professional and public alike to have easy access to a variety of services, tools, concepts and products when dealing with the disease. Alzheimer’s Speaks be...
  • We Were Five: Our Journey w
    23 Judges Score  40 Popular Vote
    Lizzie's blog is an up-close and personal account of her family's personal journey with Alzheimer's and dementia, after her mom was stricken with the disease and Lizzie and her four sisters struggled...
  • Encore Life with Joyce Joneschiet
    22 Judges Score  109 Popular Vote
    Encore Life with Joyce Joneschiet provides regular updates on creating comfortable living environments, tips on aging in place and aging well, health and wellness advice and news, money and finance in...
  • Confessions of a Master Caregiver
    22 Judges Score  133 Popular Vote
    Pamela Rivers is the sole caregiver for her aging mother, who suffers from Alzheimer's disease. Pamela blogs about her journey at Confessions of a Master Caregiver, sharing her personal challenges, ob...
  • Alzheimer's 24-7
    22 Judges Score  141 Popular Vote
    Ann Romick has been writing her blog, alzheimers24-7.com for about 4 years. She is currently a spousal caregiver for her husband who has had the disease for about 14 years. Prior to that Ann took care...
  • Aging Abundantly
    22 Judges Score  229 Popular Vote
    I began Aging Abundantly at a time when I was trying to make sense of the changes that were taking place in my life, both physical and emotional...
  • 3 Years and 13 Dumpsters is a blog written by Joy Walker, a writer, caregiver advocate, hospice/bereavement counselor and care manager for her father who suffers from Lewy Body Dementia. She also publ...
  • Family Home and Life
    20 Judges Score  32 Popular Vote
    Connie writes about her experiences as a grandmother and senior...
  • Grandmother Diaries
    19 Judges Score  27 Popular Vote
    The ‘Grandmother Diaries‘ is just that, a diary of my adventures as a grandmother. You will find a variety of topics here. Everything from health to recipes to clothing to apps, and the list goes...
  • Naked at Our Age / Better Than I Ever Expected
    19 Judges Score  44 Popular Vote
    This blog is the written by Joan Price,the author of "Naked at Our Age: Talking Out Loud about Senior Sex" and "Better Than I Ever Expected: Straight Talk About Sex After Sixty." This blog presents se...
  • "Had a Dad" Alzheimer's Blog
    16 Judges Score  24 Popular Vote
    "Had a Dad" Alzheimer's Blog is published by Bert Piedmont and chronicles her personal experience with a loved one with Alzheimer's disease. After her father's 1,253-day journey with Alzheimer's disea...
  • My Mom's Blog
    12 Judges Score  192 Popular Vote
    At 87 years young, Millie Garfield is one of the Internet's oldest bloggers, according to The Ageless Project. With an authentic and humorous voice, a knack for story telling and frequent updates, Mil...

Nominees

The following senior living resources were nominated for a chance to earn the title of Best Blogs by Individuals. All of our nominees deserve an honorable mention for the valuable resources they provide for the senior living community!

  • Written by Alesha E. Churba, CAPS, CD, of A.E.Churba Design, LLC. resides in Pocatello, Idaho. A.E.Churba is a Certified Aging in Place Specialist (CAPS) writing, designing and decorating with her cli...
  • Senior Care Corner is your source for insights and tips about caring for senior adults, whether you are doing so at home or remotely or if your loved one resides in a nursing home or other residential...
  • Aging Bodies
    5 Popular Vote
    I am a 63 year old trying to understand the changes my body is undergoing as I age - doing research and writing things up as I look into them on the above site...
  • Anthony Cirillo provides an essential companion for senior living with Who Moved My Dentures?, a blog which accompanies a book of the same title. Who Moved My Dentures? covers health issues, financial...
  • Sandwich Ink
    4 Popular Vote
    I'm Kaye Swain, the Sandwich Generation granny nanny, busy dealing with the multigenerational issues of caring for elderly parents and babysitting grandchildren and having fun writing all about it her...
  • This is partly a journal of our experiences as caregivers in general and in particular as witnesses to the gradual decline of Carol and Judi’s elderly father...
  • Time Goes By
    3 Popular Vote
    Time Goes By using the tag line "What it's really like to get older." One interesting thing of this blog is that they use the term "elder" because as they describe it as a "lovely old word in need of...
  • This blog talks about the dilemmas and sometimes the delights of being part of the sandwich generation and responsible for the care of multiple generations...
  • It is the mission of Minding Our Elders to shine a light on the isolation often felt by caregivers and seniors and to give them a voice. The book Minding Our Elders: Caregivers Share Their Personal St...
  • Confessions of a Grandma is a wonderful blog for retirees looking for ideas for craft projects, food tips and household planning. The author of the blog, Olga, shares her journey of finding things tha...
  • The 70-Something Blog
    1 Popular Vote
    Judy F. Kugel has been writing The 70-Something blog for five years now. It's a daily look at the life of a 70 year old woman (and sometimes her 80 year old husband). Her personal touch and openness a...
  • Age of Rieson
    0 Popular Vote
    Age of Rieson is written by an 87 year old scientist who still gets joy from learning something new or getting a fresh insight. She got her PhD in Physical Chemistry when she was 46. She posts a lot o...
  • Aging Parents
    0 Popular Vote
    AgingParents is a unique nursing/legal/psychology team that helps families address conflict, communication,and planning issues related to caring for their elder loved ones. They are knowledgeable and...
  • Aging Us
    0 Popular Vote
    This website is a resource for information, opinions, personal experiences, philosophical positions, spiritual explorations, delving into policy, medical topics and on how all these areas interact wit...
  • John Schappi was diagnosed in 2009 with Parkinson's disease at the age of 80. In part thanks to getting the right medications and learning what he was dealing with, he considered 2010 to be his best y...
  • A blog about the guilt, frustrations, humor and sweet times that come with caregiving with a focus on Parkinson's and Alzheimer's...
  • Geezer Guff
    0 Popular Vote
    Proclaiming to be for "funny and fiesty seniors" it is a fun take on a variety of topics including senior health, travel and love...
  • Just My Life
    0 Popular Vote
    Just my life is written by a woman who describes herself to be on the "backside of midlife." Still an active attorney, she uses her blog as an outlet for writing and shares her life which is one of se...
  • NanaHood
    0 Popular Vote
    Teresa Kindred has authored numerous books and is author and publisher of NanaHood.com, an insightful look at the ups and downs of grandparenting and life as a whole...
  • Past Imperfect
    0 Popular Vote
    Written by a grandmother who says she is "still a girl at heart." Married to her true love. Has had three careers: trained pediatric nurse, National photographic model and business woman. Enjoying her...
  • Retirement: A Full-Time Job is wonderful site for people who are retired and looking for sensible tips on the economics of retirement. Authored by a woman who was able to retire in her 40s she has wea...
  • David Solie tries to provide readers with new ideas and strategies for understanding and communicating with aging parents...
  • SeniorMatch.com
    0 Popular Vote
    The SeniorMatch.com blog is not like a traditional blog. It allows users of the site to blog in almost a forum style so that everyone can contribute a blog on any topic they choose about love and dati...
  • This baby boomer's blog is woman's blog about life, travels and travails, friends and relatives, and occasionally rant about goings-on in the world. She is beginning a second career as a freelance wri...
  • Spotlight on Elder Abuse is a blog that posts information on elder abuse legislation, new laws, and articles about elder abuse. It's mission is "Empowering Seniors with relevant Information on Elder A...
  • The Cataract Club (formerly known as) The Musings of a Middle Aged Woman is a blog that strives to share the lighter side and benefits of aging saying "getting older isn't just about arm flab or memor...
  • The Internet Grandad
    0 Popular Vote
    The Internet Grandpa is a vlog, or video blog, hosted on YouTube that started in 2006 by a 79 year old man. It covers a range of topics that are helpful for seniors such as "How To Make Your Computer...
  • The Joy of Six
    0 Popular Vote
    Joy of Six is written by a mother of four grown children focusing on tales of love, life and laughter. She writes nothing about politics or about controversial issues, she just wishes to tell her joyf...
  • Karen Bojar's blog, The Next Stage: Women and Retirement, is intended for women who are retired or thinking about retirement...
  • bigjohn
    0 Popular Vote
    If you want a senior living blog with a real a sense of humor "bigjohn" is a great blog. With a warning sign saying "Warning! Elderly Person Blogging" john shares his spirited take on the world and da...

Award Program Details

  • Content related to caregiving, assisted living, independent living, Alzheimer’s/memory care, skilled nursing care, and home care
  • Blogs, which means that the content is displayed in reverse-chronological order
  • To qualify, a blog must have at least six posts per year
  • Blog must be maintained and owned by an individual, and not by a corporation or organization
  • Consumer focused content
  • Vlogs by individuals also included