Heading to Facebook!

I've spent two days now trying to get this lovely blog tied into facebook! I did buy a book called Blogging for Dummies but haven't read it yet.  Typical...try to jump through hoops without reading the directions! I've had this blog running for almost 5 years now but just decided to "monetize" it as they say.  In other words, put ads on the blog and pray that someone clicks on them or even better orders something from Amazon and I get money! In the past, the blog has been more to keep our friends up to date on our retirement journey and travels...I'll still do that, but more importantly, I want to share tips for retirement survival with all of you retirees or pending retirees!  So wish me luck and click away!

Reward Cards and Free Stuff!

We went to see a great movie today...No Strings Attached....and yes, it's a silly little romantic comedy but it was Woody's day to pick! I really enjoyed it too...we got in free and with our Regal Reward card (http://www.regmovies.com/), we got a free soft drink. Periodically we get a free ticket on our Regal Rewards card but we have a more reliable way to score free movies. Now, you ask...how did we get in free? We use our American Express to pay bills and buy any big ticket items and use the points to get free movie tickets and gift cards for dinners at our favorite restaurants. The AMX for bill pay came for convenience when we were always on the road and bills still needed to be paid...those that would take AMX earn us points and the rest come directly out of our checking account. We use AMX but almost all the cards have a points option. We've bought carpet, cruises and, in Woody's case, a pickup truck on our AMX cards!

We started the points thing when I had a corporate card and spent even more money than we do now. In fact, years ago we used Diner's Club points, our then corporate card, to buy Savings Bonds! Which come to think of it have probably gotten really close to maturity....hmmm....wonder if we have enough for a cruise? But back to freebies...who wouldn't want free stuff. Many of our favorite "survival" restaurants offer coupons. By survival, I mean those restaurants like Shane's Rib Shack, Sam's Sports Bar, China Buffet and lots of others where you eat when you don't want to cook. If you watch the local paper, coupons through the mail, and magazines, you'd be surprised at how many buy one get one coupons or 10% off or "two for one" deals are out there. By using coupons and watching for special offers, we haven't had to quit eating out in retirement. One of our favorite places is Red Lobster and we just scored two $25 gift cards for a mere 5,000 AMX points! Can't wait to use them.

We also have reward cards for my favorite vice...casinos! For years we didn't get those lovely cards that fit into the slot machines and passed up tons of free offers. Since I'm going to gamble and even occasionally win, we signed up for the cards and now we get free offers all the time. We saw Miranda Lambert in concert with free hotel...and we just got back from our trip to Jacksonville for the Gator Bowl and stopped off for two nights at the Harrah's casino in Biloxi free! Now Woody says our hotel rooms were about $130 for the two nights which is what I lost, but the rooms were still worth more than that so it's still a cost savings!!

And of course, my personal favorite, 5% off at Publix (http://www.publix.com/) on Wednesday for Senior Citizens! That discount, coupled with coupons (when I remember to take them) lowers our food bill...we do love to cook now and saving here and there always helps so I can tackle exotic recipes like beer butt chicken and omelets. Remember I traveled for years and forgot how to cook!

So...my tip for today is look for rewards cards, coupons, special offers and discount days and you'll be surprised at how much you can still do or get, even when the stock market tanks in your retirement!

A New Focus!

Are you ready for retirement? I've been sort of retired now for 4 years and have learned more about retirement than I ever thought possible. When I started this blog, my focus was getting ready for retirement and then progressing through retirement. I have to admit, it's been a blast! But now it's time to share with you what I've learned. The most important thing is don't retire at the same time the stock market is tanking! If you do choose to retire in a down market, plan on working at least part time...I've edited medical papers for non-English speaking authors, written and re-written web sites, written articles, sold a few photos and, of course, did a little healthcare consulting for the big bucks! Woody and I also worked in a gallery and high end gift store in Montana for 6 months when we thought we wanted a gallery of our own. Trust me, after two weeks we decided we didn't like retail and weren't too sure we liked people, especially tourists! We also tried the workamping life in our RV and spent a miserable six weeks checking people into an RV park in Florida! If you have an RV, there are tons of jobs that are fun...just be selective. We'll talk more about this in a later post!

So...while I'll still update you on our fun things, I'm going to sprinkle in some good advice too. The first piece of advice is related to financial planning...save all the money you can and be prepared to use principal since earning interest is not in your future and don't even think that the stock market is your friend. Or work part time! You'll be bored anyway if you don't have lots of hobbies or you're comfortable being a couch potato. You can only travel so much which is what everyone says they want to do when they retire! Just try to find jobs that are flexible and can travel with you. And sell all the stuff you've collected over the years on eBay since your kids are probably like our daughter who told us to quit bringing our crap to her! Oh well...one woman's treasures are another woman's crap!

Let's Bring You Up to Date

For those of you who didn't get a chance to read about my road to retirement, let's bring you up to date. Two years ago I decided that I wanted to consider retirement! I knew that I needed help in order to maintain what little sanity I had left! I really didn't know where to begin planning for retirement so I started my first blog. For almost two years I posted some of my progress toward retirement and I'll share a few here. My husband said I needed a hobby...I considered travel, boating, soap making, photography, writing, gardening...well you get the picture. Finally, it's photography (look at www.yessy.com/patedens) and writing (www.tranquilityfound.com) and a little consulting (www.globaloncology.com) and sold a few things on eBay. I also queried my friends about how will I know when it is time. One wise woman told me I'd just know...boy was she right! We've had a few life changing experiences the past two years. We sold our boat and bought two RV's in six months! Once we decided to retire for sure, the first RV wasn't big enough for extended trips so we traded up to a Winnebago Itasca Sunrise! (www.winnebagoind.com/products/itasca/sunrise/) A most fabulous RV. In fact our first extended trip was to Florida for six weeks and it was heaven.

The one thing that concerns me is that I seem to have less time in retirement than I had working! There is so much to do and so little time...I'm still not sure if I'll look back on my early retirement at some point and say I should have stayed in the workplace longer. I'm still not sure if I can keep myself entertained. Have I done the right thing? We'll just have to see!