Entering my 60’s I often find myself using my toes to pick things up. A sock, a Cheeto, coins (difficult), pretty much anything. I don’t even do it consciously, not sure if it is due to laziness or a desire to not bend over. Usually once I begin the process of a toe-grab, I will not revert to bending over no matter how difficult the task becomes.
I’m older than you, and if I picked things up with my toes, my knee and hip problems wouldn’t allow me to raise the thing more than a few inches. I’d still have to bend over to retrieve it.
And I find that when bending over to pick things up, there’s always the question “Is there anything else I need, while I’m down here?”
Is that an old thing? I’ve been doing that since I was a kid.
This gets my vote.
I could grab lots of things with my toes when I was young. I could even write, badly, but readable. Now, it’s arthritis. I have to flex my toes several times before I get out of bed so I don’t immediately have a crash landing. I have a bad back as well, but it still lets me bend over if I do my stretching exercises each day.
I stopped picking up stuff with my toes in my 60s. What good will that do me anyway? I’ll be holding something in my toes less than a foot off the ground and I still have to bend over to grab it with my hand while balancing on one foot.
A guy that went to high school with me could get a match out of a box with his toes and strike it. He had no need of the skill but learned it after seeing my one-armed neighbor roll a cigarette in his one hand.
I’ve been grabbing things with my feet all my life. If anything getting older and stiffer makes it more difficult.
My biggest issue is my sight. I absolutely cannot go without glasses. And they’re progressives, and that makes some tasks really tricky. I’ve been doing some home improvement - mostly painting, but also disassembling and assembling, installing and uninstalling, mainly involving screws that aren’t in my direct line of sight. It’s a challenge to look first at what needs to be done, then try to do it mostly by feel. Many naughty words are said.
The other annoyance is upper body strength. I never had very strong arms to begin with, but as I’ve aged, it’s more and more difficult to lift things above waist level. Putting boxes on high shelves can be quite an operation. And unfortunately, my husband is recovering from spinal surgery #10, so he’s limited to maybe15# lifts. Thankfully, we have a young, strong son-in-law who helps cheerfully. When he’s available - he seems to think his job is more important than tending to us… 
Grabbing tools are important to have stashed away various spots around the house and barn. Likewise magnifying glasses. Also, soups basically don’t work any more unless they are very thick like stew, or can be sipped from the edge of a bowl or mug, as the shaking spoon slings them everywhere.
There are many stabilizing spoons on the market for just this issue, not too pricey either.
For me, I am in need of hearing aids, but have not yet made them a priority. I’m sure I am not alone in saying that my hearing is fine when people speak relatively clearly, at a moderate pace, and enunciate an average amount. But, if any of those are not up to snuff, yeeesh-oh-petes. “Could you repeat that?” “Pardon?” “What was that again?” Covid masks really don’t help matters.
I definitely agree with the “what else can I do now that I’m down here.” Every morning, I change from slippers to shoes before leaving the house and grab the doggie door cover when I’m down there dealing with shoes.
In my wood shop I long ago got myself a dustpan on a stick. I ain’t bending over to pick up sawdust.
Huh. My Mom does not have Parkinson’s but an essential tremor that makes her hands shake. I have to remember this.
I’ve noticed that when I get on the floor to do something, I always look for something to grab onto to get back up. Didn’t stop me from throwing a climbing rope over the house, clipping in and putting the Starlink dish on the house. It was a rough couple of days though… I was very, very careful, new climbing harness, some other gear, and did not go up on roof unless my Wife was home.
Ha! I am also needlessly stubborn, often to my own detriment.
Not me, my legs just don’t move that way any more. Even bending over is a challenge.
I used to laugh at the “Help, I’ve fallen and I can’t get up!” medical alert device commercials. It isn’t funny to me anymore.
My mom has one of those alert buttons, but she hates to use it.
My latest “getting older” gripe: I seem to be getting sensitive to dairy. When I drink even a small glass of milk, I get acid reflux. I first noticed it if I had a cookie and a small glass of milk as dessert after dinner - when I went to bed, I could really feel the acid backup. Yesterday I had a very small glass of milk as a snack in the middle of the afternoon, and I was in trouble the rest of the day. And I drink lowfat.
Sigh. What’ll I put on my cereal in the mornings? And so far a bit of milk in my tea isn’t bothering me. So far.
Just yesterday in the grocery store I noticed that it might’ve been senior citizens day as there were many 70+ shoppers. What really caught my eye was the ability of a few of these old oldsters still having the ability to squat on their haunches and rummage on the lower shelves. They were ALL the way down, but could they get back up ? I lingered spying and to my amazement it was with ease and grace they glided back to standing.
I can bend/squat but not all the way down.
Without falling over. Damnit when did I lose that ability?
I haven’t been able to squat or kneel in 20 years.
A better question is “How can I work to get it back or keep it from getting worse?”
There’s old, and then there’s old+out of shape. The first half is mandatory; the second (net of injuries) is optional. To be sure, “in shape” at 70, 75, and 80 is different from “in shape” at 30, 35, and 40. But the concept, and the difference between in shape and out of shape is the same.