Don't forget to have fun!

Not all tips about retirement have to do with money or saving money or working...throw in grandchildren and it makes everything perfect! While I worked some this week, I also took time for a sleepover with Savannah, a movie with hubby, spending my Groupon at Barnes and Noble, dinner and a fast trivia tournament, not to mention cleaning out the closet and a snow storm.  Busy, busy, busy! Sometimes you just have to play.

While moving through retirement, don't forget to have fun.  We get so focused on managing our dwindling portfolios or working to make up shortfalls, that we forget that retirement is supposed to be fun.  Like many of you, I graduated from nursing school on a Friday night and went to work on Monday, rapidly followed by marriage, children and more school! When our kids graduated, we encouraged them to run and play for a year...sort of like a gap year that so many of our European friends' children do between high school and college...our one hippie like daughter really embraced it...truth be known....she still does!  The other two work a lot but do have a bit of fun along the way.  We love our kiddos but we really love our grand-kiddos! They are so much fun to play with, shop for and just all around spoil.  So plan on spending some time with your grandkids and rediscover your inner child. Life is too short not to have fun!

Have fun with your spouse! Woody and I truly are best friends and would rather be with each other than anyone else...well, most of the time. When I make him clean out his closet, he might rather be somewhere else! Remember when you fell in love and before the kids and bills and stress and work...try to recapture that feeling if you've lost it. If you're single, consider your options. I have a friend in her late 50's who just got married to a wonderful man she met through an online dating service...I think it was eHarmony.  Another friend is a perpetual volunteer.  In addition to seeing everything from plays to football to basketball free, he's met a few cuties along the way.  Hasn't settled down yet, but at 70 he says he has a few years before he has to grow up. 

Don't be a couch potato. Get out...have fun...remember why you wanted to retire in the first place!  Volunteer. Join a dating service. Find a club or group to join. Do all those things that you always complained that you never had time to do!! When all else fails, go to a funny movie and just laugh. You are responsible for making life what you want it to be...I can't imagine a day without laughter...can you?

Don't forget Groupon!

One of the best deals I've found is Groupon! Once you sign up at http://www.groupon.com/ and select your city, you get a daily email with deals in your city. I just got a $20 Groupon for $10 for Barnes and Noble (http://www.barnesandnoble.com/ ), our favorite bookstore that can be used locally or online. Our dinner club as a group all bought Groupons for a wine tasting at Belle Meade Plantation in Nashville (http://www.bellemeadeplantation.com/ ) and can't wait to use them.  Other recent Groupons included spa treatments, restaurant discounts, and gym memberships! We got a great deal on dinner and a play at the new Nashville Dinner Theater (http://www.nashvilledinnertheater.com/ ) in downtown Nashville! If you are traveling, you can also enter your destination city and see what's available.  So free sign up and huge discounts! What could be better in retirement?

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!

Non-traditional Work in Retirement

When we decided to retire, we had planned on selling our house and storing our stuff and taking off in the RV. We have a saying in our family...God laughs when you tell Him your plans! Needless to say, the house didn't sell.  We decided to still try to travel in the RV and work part time along the way. Hiring house sitters and lawn services is not the most cost efficient way to do it, but it will work.  The best option is to become a work camper...also known as a workkamper! You sign up for a service that matches employers with employees who want to work in retirement!

With or without an RV, you can find part time jobs by going to http://www.workamper.com/  and signing up for their job lists for a small fee.  Here's the way it works...employers post part time or seasonal jobs of all kinds, you send a resume, and then you get hired. If you have an RV which is most often the situation, the employer provides you a spot for your RV, you work a certain number of hours without pay to "pay" for the spot, and then you get paid for all other hours worked. Some jobs are as few as 10-20 hours a week up to full time. Jobs are usually in resort or vacation areas. We spent almost 6 months in West Yellowstone, Montana, the gateway to Yellowstone National Park! We worked 28 hours a week in a gallery and gift store and spent the rest of our time exploring the Park and surrounding areas including Jackson Hole and Cheyenne, Wyoming!  It has been the most fabulous "vacation/part time job" we've ever had. We also took this job because we thought we wanted a gallery...decided really quickly that we didn't like retail. We also tried working in a campground for 6 weeks checking campers in and out...not fond of that but we have friends that are staying free in a resort area all winter in return for some outside maintenance and cleaning the restrooms a few days a week. Restrooms sound gross, but most campers use the RV bathrooms and if they do use the resort baths, they are usually neat! One retired CEO said it was the best job to have because it takes only a few hours a week and if you factor in campground fees it's the highest paying job he had ever had! Jobs may also be in a theme park and Disney Resorts hire tons of people for part time, seasonal jobs.

There are also other options if you don't have an RV or are traveling alone. Both the National Park Service and a company called Xanterra hire seasonally and provide "dormitory" accomodations http://www.xanterra.com/ at parks across the country. We met one single woman who had worked for about 20 years at Yellowstone from summer employment while a school teacher to part time work in the summer in retirement. If you want to travel internationally, options are available through both volunteer and paid positions. If your health is great and you are adventuresome, there is always the Peace Corps who encourage healthy, active adults to apply!  The Peace Corps provides health coverage so that's also an inducement if you are too young for Medicare. Just search online and you'll find tons of opportunities.

If you aren't quite this adventurous, there are lots of local part time jobs you can explore...remember, you are supplementing your retirement income until the market comes back! You can work in day care and after school care settings if you want to work with children, the YMCA (I got offered a job teaching swimming which was also, by the way, the first job I ever had), a gym, or Chicos (my favorite store!). In addition to a salary, there may be perks such as discounts, free memberships or even access to health insurance! Think about all the things that you wished you had been able to do before you had to take a "real" job.  Because of my healthcare background, degrees and love of writing, I work as a contract medical editor for a firm based in Taiwan and China. This allows me to work when I want and from anywhere in the world! All I need is a computer and internet service! I also found a consulting company that lets me work select jobs without commiting to full time work. I've even worked for my old company a few times.  Keep an open mind...my neighbor wanted a fancy closet retrofit and while getting a quote, found out they were looking for help on Wednesday and Saturday making appointments and were even somewhat flexible on her desire to still travel occasionally! She even got a hefty discount on her new closet.

So...bottom line...you can always travel virtually free and spend long enough in an area to really see it. You can stay at home and make extra money to enjoy your retirement until the market comes back. You can take part time jobs that allow you to explore things you've always thought you wanted to do.  But most importantly, you'll feel better if you are out and about and exploring the world rather than being a couch potato! So combine a little work with a lot of play and embrace retirement! And so...with a memory of Yellowstone and the Lower Falls...happy retirement from Woody and Pat!

Saving Money is Fun...and Other Fallacies!

Living on a budget is important to retirement success...to date...I am a miserable failure! I am addicted to Chicos and any place that sells children's clothes. I do try to check sales and stores like TJMaxx, but I still spend too much for an old retired girlfriend. There are a few tips...Chicos has a passport club that automatically gives you 5% off all your purchases and some days even more. You also get coupons that apply to purchases.  When you shop their sales and use the coupons and the passport discount, you can get cool stuff cheap! Plus their clothes are designed by real people so even if you're a bit square (physically not emotionally!) you can still wear things that don't look like your grandmother gave them to you! Coupons for department stores are a source of free money...keep your eyes open in the Sunday papers for deals! Another tip is to cash in your American Express or other credit card points for generic gift cards that can be used to buy things! AMX points can get you $50 gift cards that will go a long way to buying things that aren't on your budget! You can also give them as gifts.

Now for the grandchildren!  Each year I set a budget for birthdays and Christmas for the kiddos...and do pretty well for those two holidays.  It's the spontaneous purchases when I gravitate first to the children's department in any store I enter and the other holidays like Valentines, St. Patrick's Day, Easter, Ground Hog Day and 50 other major and minor occasions for which I am compelled to purchase presents! I can't give you any tips other than never enter a store again or at least shop the sales racks first. I do try to stay away from toys as I never know what they already have unless I get their Toys R Us Christmas list...that worked great!  I could pick things they wanted and didn't already have.

I'm also trying to write a closet plan...a closet plan lists the things that I have and the things that I need to make the things I have work.  Like more pants.  Last year it was tops and jackets.  I can't seem to get organized.  I also need to move the things I can't wear because I still haven't lost that 10 or 20 pounds.  By moving, it needs to be to eBay but it may just be to my storage closet in the attic.  A girl can dream! You can sell high end stuff on eBay without too much trouble.  I had several Brahmin purses that went really high.  A closet plan should be a realistic plan based on what you really wear in retirement...not what looks really cute.  An Ellen Tracy suit does not really fit in at WalMart, regardless of how great it looks. Let's face it...when you are retired you don't need as much...and if you have a closet plan you may actually only buy things you need and would wear.

I think shopping for clothes, shoes and grandchildren stuff has been the hardest thing for me to control. So...if you have any tips besides just say NO, let me know.

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!

Here's Why I Don't Post As Often!

Here's why I never post! This is baby Savannah all bundled up for her first snow on her way to WalMart! Our life has really changed since she was born in April. We are so thankful that she's healthy, happy and fun! Her mommy and daddy let us keep her once a week or so for an overnight. I can just sit and watch her and be perfectly happy. She may be number 5, but we're still enamored with our babies! She is the first one that we've had when neither of us are working and she's only 45 miles away! If our house ever sells, we'll move even closer. While I

would love to have our other grandkids closer, they live where state income taxes are too high!

Now where to start? We went to Florida for a while in early November since Libby was determined that we would stay here for Christmas this year! We're also planning a Bowl trip to see Mississippi State play...even though Notre Dame is also playing in a Bowl this year (will wonders ever cease!) it's Woody's turn since we've been to more ND bowls and only one MSU bowl game. Wouldn't it be great if they would play each other and save us some money? TOG has some jobs where they may use me in January so now I'm not sure what we're going to do about heading south! We bought new tires for the RV and still have to get some new batteries as we're having starting issues! It will be ready to roll fairly quickly if we can ever figure out when and where! Our house is still for sale by owner as the real estate agents just wanted to drop the price way down to try to unload it! We don't have to sell as long as we're healthy enough to drive back and forth to Lib and Led's to get the kiddo. I love H'ville and love my "retirement" house, but I want somewhere I don't have as much to clean and a smaller yard preferably with someone else doing the yard work! I plan to eventually get lazy in retirement! Not sure when that will happen but I've heard it's fun!

Oh and most exciting! I get to sign up for Social Security this coming week!!! I will be 62 in March...we plan to save the money but are afraid not to take it with all the changes being discussed. As I understand, I can pay it back when I reach full retirement age of 66 and then refile to get my full benefits. Certainly hope the Stock Market continues it's little mini rebound. It's nice to look at my 401K going back up. I don't plan on touching it for a long time, but I like it better fat! Otherwise we become a burden on the kiddos.

So now that I've primed the pump, maybe I'll keep the blog more up to date!

Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Happy Holidays and Happy New Year!! May you and your families have lots of blessings in the coming years. Be sure you do at least one nice thing over the holidays. We made a little donation to the Nashville Rescue Mission in honor of our blessings! They do such good work for the homeless...we forget that there are so many children facing homelessness as our economy continues to decline. For those of us with many blessings, we need to figure out how to pay them forward! To whom many blessings are given.....