Retire In Style Blog Too

Financing our homes needs to be done with care. I was given permission to publish this article relating to unhealthy financial decisions we can make in our retirement.  I thought it was a good reminder. Sometimes we need to go back and review the basics. Our financial health is very important.  b+ As  you get older, it becomes more important for you to evaluate each and every major financial decision that you make in depth. One large mistake  that might have set you back when you were younger but still able to  work could have some very serious implications for individuals that do  not have the same earning capacity as they once did. You will find that  there are many different small mistakes that you may be able to  tolerate, but also many big decisions with high stakes that should be  avoided if you can. A few of the different unhealthy financial decisions  that are commonly made by retired individuals include: Loans With High Interest...

I have been thinking about the phrase "aging gracefully" lately.  The GenFab Facebook page is using it as the jumping off point for their bloghop this month. This group of women always have something interesting to say so I am joining the conversation. Aging gracefully...what does that mean away? The Skin I Live In: Reading glasses, no make-up and lot of wrinkles! This has been a hard one for me. Grace and manners seem to go hand in hand for me but I don't think that is what we are after here. Gracefully...like a ballerina or a tango dance. Gracefully as the palms in a gentle breeze. No, I don't think that is it either. Could it be that the noun we attach to the word... aging... changes gracefully  into something that is negative? I had a hard time wrapping my mind around that concept until it occurred to me that aging is all about change. Whether we like it or not somethings just are. Throughout our lives we have been changing, growing and learning. It really doesn...

We own a  park model  in an RV resort. If you aren't aware, a park model is a cross between a trailer house and a RV. It is still movable and when we look under, the axles and wheel are resting on the ground. In the world of state law in Arizona the Park Model is classified as an RV. But on the outside it looks like a small trailer. We paid a registration fee when we purchased the unit and pay property tax on the park model each year. The cost of owning something like we have, for example, can be pretty daunting. While we did not pay very much for the unit, rent on property where we park our small park model came to $4400+ this year. This fee is due annually in a lump sum. And the rent has gone up considerably since we bought a few years ago. Last year it was $4200+. We also pay an extra monthly fees to the park for electricity and water for the washer/dryer. Apartment Therapy posted an article recently titled Life Lessons: Smart Tips for Determining the Rent you Can Rea...

~shopping but not buying...looking for a change~ Note:  Be sure to check out Gift Boomer .  You will find wonderful ways to shop on Amazon.  Simple is good. Rearranging the furniture may be a symbol of  our life style. We like a change of scenery, a new restaurant and small changes that give us a fresh outlook on things. When we get bunchy or even cranky over things we do not control, small changes remind us that there is more than one way to look at things. A friend and I were talking about our life here in our RV resort and how we came to the life style we live now. We talked about traveling in an RV, timeshare travel, visiting with family, buying and selling homes and finally the our park model and the 6 months we spend here in the desert. When we talked about this 6 here/6 there life we are living now she said, " Oh, and that is when you decided that you wanted to do this forever !"  My answer that we still have not decided what we want to do forever  c...

How big should your insurance umbrella be? I am well past the age when "dependent" means much to me.  But I do know the cost of dying can be a worry.  If you have children that are still dependent on you for any reason, your need for insurances jumps considerably. Here is some very good information from Life Insurance Quotes website. How much life insurance does one need? If you are thinking about  subscribing to a life insurance policy, you might want to know how much  life insurance you actually need. Subscribing to a policy that is beyond your needs would be an inefficient way to handle your finances. Below, you’ll find things to take into account so  that you will know how much  life insurance you need and how much you should be paying on a monthly basis. Number of dependents Your life insurance needs should be calculated  based on the number of dependents that you have living with you. For instance, if you have children, your children would be con...

If I could go back and collect a penny for every book I wanted to read or movie I wanted to see or even places I wanted to go, I would have a lot of pennies.  If the age old adage ... wishes were fishes, the lake would be full! were true,   my lake would be very, very full! I received a my monthly newsletter from Simon and Schuster this morning and another penny went into my jar.   After Visiting Friends  by Michael Hainey topped their list of Indie Books this month. I want this book a lot. The book is a story of a man, mysteriously dead at a young age, as told by the son left behind at the age of six.  Hainey is a newspaperman like his father before him and evidently a very talented writer. He was haunted by what he did not know and no one was willing to share.  He finally began searching for answers when he became the age that his father was when he died.  Then there was the email from a promoter of travel in Scotland. He wanted to post promotions fo...

The lyrics from a Pink Martini song always make me think...then sometimes I laugh and sometimes I cry.  Their Facebook page describes them as " Breakfast At Tiffany's meets the United Nations."  Their songs don't fit into a genre...but I don't care because they speak to my heart.  When my husband and I attended the Tucson Symphony performance featuring the Pink Martini band I was not disappointed. They brought the crowd to their feet and had them dancing the aisles. It was not your usual symphony experience but Pink Martini is not your usual band. They reminded me again that being young was hard. But what was hard then is still hard as I age. Remember back when you started out and you wanted more and then, when you got it, you felt the same?  More doesn't fill the holes in our hearts even when we are older. When the song says, " Life's been moving oh so fast,  I think we should take it slow,  rest our heads upon the grass  and listen to it grow" ...

National Geographic: How to take lanscape photos. There is a lot we can learn from our grandchildren...especially when it comes to technology. We have known since forever that, when we could not figure out the cell phone or computer, all we need do is call a young person and they would teach us what we needed to know. But that is not all. It could be that we are only scratching the surface.  Teens get it that the online world can enrich our lives. Even though most adults think that their teens only like the social part of cyber space. But parents may be surprised to know that those same teens know about the internet that sparks their imagination and gives them opportunities direct their own learning. That is why I thought that The Atlantic article, What Teens Get About the Computer , might interest you. This article reminded me that, when we reach a certain age, we are more like teens than we are like professionals. We need to be free to learn, grow and use our imagination but we d...

"The Combing of Granddaughter" - "Το Κτένισμα της Εγγονής" (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) There they are all wrapped in sunshine and strawberries...those beautiful granddaughters running into our open arms. You can't help it, they are just sweet and pretty so we keep telling them so. You look so beautiful today...I love to look at you! We are only speaking what comes to our mind because we adore them. But, should we be doing that? Or, could it be that we are sending a message that, as girls, that is why we love them...because they are pretty? Are they hearing words that will affect the way they see themselves for the rest of their lives? In an article written for the Huffington Post back in 2011, Lisa Bloom had some pretty convincing arguments for changing the way we talk to our grandchildren. Her article had this to say: Teaching girls that their appearance is the first thing you notice tells them that looks are more important than anything.  The message girls get...

I was talking with Linda Myers of Bag Lady in Waiting a few weeks ago. The other places came up in the conversation because I had said that, if I were alone, I would go to Starbucks to read the paper or maybe a book. I thought it would comfort me and keep me from feeling so isolated in a life without a partner. I thought maybe I could just pretend it was my living room and lots of people had come to visit. I like the idea a lot. Friends from the other place! Have you ever hear the phrase before... the other places ? There is a Broadway play titled The Other Place and a pizza parlor chain in Iowa and Kansas with that name. There are many Facebook pages with variations on the name and someone has claimed it as their Twitter name. Linda told me there was a barista near her called The Other Place. But I for one had never heard the phrase or even thought about it. I liked the idea that a person could call several different locations home...the coffee shop, a pizza parlor or even the local ...

Is illness and aging a necessary part of life?  It is the age old question and on the surface seems almost silly. Yet when you get it you get it. And get it Sally Wallach did.  See, she figured out that illness and aging are side issues in our existence and can be separated from living .  Illness/aging should never be the tail that wags the dog. How we spend our days is our choice. Here is what she said: A Dogs Life: Happiness is pretending to drive the car!  Maggie the magnificent magpie died very suddenly Sunday. I've been doing the Oprah/Choprah meditation on total wellness program, and have been puzzling over their declaration that illness and aging are not a necessary part of life. It has come to me that, with two exceptions (Al, the crazed Dalmatian, and Murphy the Terrier who came to me with kidney disease) all of my home companion animals have lived until they died. Even Murph, who was given up for lost by my vet several times, died while digging wildly for a...

Carole (center) on the golf course! Girls having fun! We have had a lip-sync show almost every year since anyone can remember. This is one of the traditions that has remained here in our RV Resort. But it seemed that this is one tradition that might go away. Time has taken it toll and it could be that this will be the last show, at least for a while.  We know how to create our own fun and have the ability to pull almost anything off but a leader that has the talent for this type of thing is pretty rare. When my friend Jack decided that we needed a show just one more time, the young people planning our activities for us didn't believe that such a thing could be done. Imagine their surprise when the show went on last night to rave reviews with a very large crowd in attendance. Over 275 tickets were counted at the door, people were slipping in the back way and the hall was filled to the rafters. People stood around the edges and everyone laughed through an evening of outrageous fun. T...

I was reading one of my favorite blogs this morning. It was all about those many conversations he had with his family on Skype or the telephone. May of us that are older have a routine of calling family or friends on a special day each week.  It could be that running out of things to say is normal.   Here is what happens: Hi How have you been? Fine, you? Fine. What's up? Oh you know...same-old, same-old! I was told one time that I was a great conversationalist...that is a polite way of saying I talk a lot. Still, I do exactly the same thing. Why is it so hard? Why do we do that? Is it that we don't want to revisit our own lives but would really love to hear about the other person's? Then when the other person talks, we wonder why we asked so we let it go? I might have a solution...a list of things to talk about so the conversation will take the direction we want. You need to remember that words that will make people think are usually why and how .  Here are some ideas. ...

Galen Pearl ( 10 Steps to Finding Your Happy Place ...) shared a pearl of wisdom the other day. She was writing about the power of our mind and faith to help us stay healthy, both mentally and physically.  If you have ever made yourself sick with "worry", you know that we can actually create an illness out of thin air and spread our misery to those around us. This is what Galen said: Galen Pearl signing her  book " As Pema Chodron wrote, if we really understood how miserable we make ourselves with our habitual patterns, we would practice [ridding ourselves of those patterns] like our hair was on fire." ( Galen Pearl in a study for A Course in Miracles speaking of Pema Chodron, a renowned Buddhist Nun.)    Toxic thoughts are not a good thing so ridding myself of them could actually make me healthier. WOW! That is a powerful possibility.  I wanted to know more. This is what I found as I looked further into the idea: Habitual thinking patterns that cause intense fe...