One-Page View
Living Alone Support Plan
Making the few supports reliable rather than broad — and layering what can be layered.
A keep-close version. Read it here, or screenshot this page to have it on your phone — print and PDF copies will appear once final files are attached.
Living alone means support must be built rather than ambient. This plan builds it honestly: the reliable few, the delivered layer, the paid hour — and the word that means 'crashed'. Some people genuinely have limited support; this plan is allowed to be thinner than the need, and that's grief, not failure.
The reliable few
However short the list is. Distant counts. Online counts.
Who, and what they're reliable for
e.g. One neighbour (parcels); my sister, 200 miles away (the one word 'crashed'); the online group (2am)
The delivered layer
- Food delivery — the standing order, not decided weekly
- Pharmacy delivery
- Cleaning or laundry — the paid hour that matters most
- Delivered everything else, so errands are rare
The one word and what it means
Agreed in advance with whoever it goes to — one message, a known arrangement.
The word, the arrangement
e.g. 'Crashed' to my sister → she rings the neighbour once, and checks in by text each evening
The home doing a co-habitant's share
- Full rest stations — the system that catches bad days
- The crash kit stocked before it's needed
- Someone who knows the situation, even if they can't come
The honest gap
Naming it isn't pessimism. Some weeks the plan is thinner than the need — and holding the door open for help that may arrive later is a valid strategy.
What's missing, said plainly
e.g. Nobody who can physically come on a bad night. That's the gap, and I know it.
Building support when you live alone is slow, and it counts double. Statutory services, remote support and online community all belong on this plan — a thin plan that's real is worth more than a rich one that isn't.