Caregiving is the Buy of the Century

Last weekend we traveled to Chicago to visit our middle daughter who is studying and working at an internship there. It was my first trip to this city, and, not knowing where to go or stay my husband and I chose a hotel via the internet based strictly on location - it was the only choice close to our daughter's apartment.

We clearly should have checked the number of stars this hotel had received in the past - it was a dump. I truly believe that no maintenance person had touched the building in the last decade - or two.

Despite this condition, the daily room rate was $179. Maybe that's cheap for Chicago, but here's the math I found myself doing in my head:

$179 bought us a room with clean sheets and towels and not much else. The upkeep was deplorable, and we got no meals or additional services for this price.

If we stayed here for a month, the cost would be about $5,370.

According to the MetLife Market Survey of Assisted Living Costs (October 2006) the typical cost for assisted living in the U.S. is $2,968 per month, or less than $100 per day.

And for that, you typically get 3 meals each day, laundry service, housekeeping and at least a minimum of care services.

What an incredible value Assisted Living is! Spread the word!