Save More, Spend Less

We got a foot of snow here on Thursday. Now I know how long it takes one small but determined woman to shovel a foot off my 90-foot driveway: 2.5 hours.

It may not sound like much time but it was pretty intense "hard labor" and I had to break it up into 3 separate times: first on Thursday morning, then again Thursday afternoon and finally once more yesterday.

The car's still in the garage, but I have to get out today for some groceries as there will be a few more inches and very messy weather tomorrow, and then again Sunday into Monday.

I got a new assignment for the higher education website: the best schools in Utah. Brigham Young University has quite impressive facilities. I've already done the best online schools in Alabama, Montana and Indiana.

I also had a talk with another website, one that needs a personal finance writer to write 10 to 20 short stories a month. I will likely do a test writing assignment next week. They pay better than the education website but still not great.

I don't think I could do both jobs, but I am feeling cautious about dropping the education job til I'm sure I'll be comfortable with the personal finance job. So I was the one to suggest I do one or two writing assignments to see how it feels, and make sure they're happy with my work.

If I wrote the 10 or 20 a month, the income would mostly or wholly cover all my monthly expenses. I'd only be grossing $36K a year, compared to a similar job I had back in 2008-2009 where I was writing 3 stories a week and 2 blog posts, roughly comparable to what this job calls for (5 stories a week max).

In 2009 I was grossing $70K with benefits, so you can clearly see how desirable it is for me to find a perm job with benefits. This job would just help tide me by.

This new job for a NYC content generation firm, would actually require a lot more brainpower than the education job. The stories would be along the lines of what you see in Money or Kiplingers, and the 1st story they suggested was on the recent TX court ruling on the fiduciary DOL rule. They would provide some talking points but I think I would still need to do independent research.

The education job is pretty straightforward and just requires hunting for specific types of information on a given school's website, making sure to hit on certain things and insert various keywords, etc. But given what they pay, it's quite a bit of work. I DO appreciate they pay fairly quickly, in about 5 days time after you hand in the assignment.

PS The little image you can insert in your profile is now working! I've been in touch with Nate and James. It took a few tries but I see they've fixed it as I have one of my mother's weavings in my profile.

We're in the middle of a major snow event. They've forecast 18 to 20 inches by the time it's done toward end of day.

It looks deep. Shovel time is coming.

Luther is bored, and slamming the kitchen cabinets. He's figured out how to pry open the doors (and drawers), but not all the way, so they slam shut again if his paw isn't there.

Ah, Luther, you're so clever, and handsome, too. The perfect catch for any feline except for the fact you're shooting blanks, if you know what I mean.

I got a response back on one of the freelance writing jobs I applied for yesterday. It's in NYC and she asked me for my rate, a question I REALLY hate, becus of course it puts you in an impossible situation, not wanting to lose the job by quoting too high a price, but not wanting to shortchange yourself, either. So I avoided answering and said in as friendly a way as possible that since I was relatively new to freelancing (not true), I found rates to be all over the place (true), and then flipped her question back by asking if she could tell me what they typically would pay for a story like such and such.

This is personal finance writing and includes interviews, so should pay higher. I'll keep the $1 per word rate in back of my mind, which someone here mentioned, but even tho it's NYC, I kind of doubt they'd pay $500-$750 for a 500- to 750-word story when they want 10 to 20 a month.

I spent all morning trying to get Waldo to eat his food, which contains his 2 meds. I finally succeeded by 12:30 pm. If I were working outside the home, doing this would not be possible.

He's on steroids for his asthma, 1 pill every other day. He does ok on the days he gets that pill, but on the alternate day he's usually completely stuffed up, can't breath and can't smell his food so he won't eat, which means he also isn't getting his thyroid medication.

I try using the pill pockets first, as this is easiest and ensures he's getting the whole pill, but about half the time he turns his nose up at the pill pockets and especially so when he's stuffed up cus they have no smell. So that's when I crush the pills and mix it in a small amount of food, maybe a teaspoon, but still, if you know cats, he will eat one or two tiny bites, and then walk away. I have to keep coaxing him.

The only other option my vet had offered for the asthma was an inhaler-like mask I'd have to put on him daily, and I ruled that out since Waldo would freak and probably hide from me after a few times of doing that.

I have an air purifier running in the bedroom, and I bought a new vacuum with HEPA filter, and changed to a no-dust cat litter, but none of those things seems to have helped at all.

So I have one remaining option which I'm going to call the vet about tomorrow: giving him the steroids once daily, instead of once every other day. He had told me that over time the steroids can cause him to develop diabetes, and this is why I resisted doing this since seeing the vet 2 months ago. Becus that would pretty much be the end of the road for Waldo. Injections on top of 2 meds neither one of us could handle.

I am hoping that with the daily steroids he will do better and continue eating. He is 16 now so am hoping he will live out his natural lifespan more comfortably, before he develops diabetes. The vet said he'd never had that happen to a cat but it would be very upsetting to know I brought that on if it happens.

I knew today was going to be a freezing rain, sleety kind of day, so I planned to hunker indoors, not go anywhere and focus on my current freelance assignment. I'm glad I was able to gt in an hour long walk yesterday.

I was able to finish my assignment today, 2 days ahead of schedule and turn it in. I should have at least a few days before she gives me the next one, and now this frees me for tomorrow, when I'll be heading to one of my galleries, 35 minutes south, to bring new art, to pick up some jpgs from a photo shop created from my mother's old wedding slides (can't wait to see them, just 18 slides encased in plastic that went with a viewer), to BJs and Shop Rite. And then the dump, if there's time.

I applied for at least 5 jobs today, many found on Craig's List, believe it or not. Most are more freelance/contract jobs. While the gig I have going on right now is good (low pay but reliable), I will only gross $800 monthly at best, so I need another similar ongoing thing writing for some other website. If I find it, the 2 jobs could be enough to cover most of my monthly expenses.

Today I noticed (happily) that the IRS had deposited $1234 refund in my checking account. I was in a little too much of a hurry when I filed and wound up having to file an amended return becus I overlooked 2 things, one of which will result in an additional $45 refund.

With that and my last full unemployment check, my checking balance stands at $6800, the most I'm going to have for a long time or until I find another f/t job. It's going to start slowly shrinking, I'm afraid, as bills I have to pay dwarf the dwindling incoming income. Long sigh.

I was planning on going to see that new movie with Meryl Streep, just $3 here in town, but I only remembered it a half hour after it started. Darn. It's one of the few little treats I allow myself being under-employed.

Waldo and I enjoyed some sockeye salmon for dinner tonight.

I scheduled installation of my new Lennox central air unit for March 31. I'm happy this is in the works. I've already started dreaming about a longed for wall of shelves in my dining room. My carpenter did not return my call, an indication he's too busy to do it. He's really cheap. Somebody finally caught onto that, a company that manages several properties, and now they're keeping him busy nonstop, which he really needed so I'm happy for him.

Let's see, here's what I did today:

1. I walked 85 minutes...excellent! It was fairly mild out, for February, at about 37 degrees.


I walked in an area that has one main trail going straight but then there are multiple side trails you can take into and around open meadows, like this one.


It really wasn't as desolate as this barn photo makes it seem. There were a fair number of dog walkers and hikers about.


I tend to seek out out-of-the-way trails; this one was new to me and meandered along a river until I decided to turn around due to mud.

2. I continued working on my newest higher education assignment (online schools in Montana).

That's about it!

In other news, I was very disappointed at what I got from Safeco for spending 3 long months driving like a granny.

I earned a 17% discount, which I thought was off the entire premium of $900, or $150. No, I got just $57. I have to call them tomorrow to see how they calculated that. I think I'll just drop my collision at the same time to achieve an instant $211 savings, especially since, not working, I'm also driving very little. The discount is for every year, moving forward, so that's something. I hope that my dropping the collision that doesn't affect my discount.

I now have quotes from 2 guys to install the central air, and I'm unsure whom to hire. I don't think I need more quotes as the 2 I got are solid.

#1 guy is with what appears to be a well-established company with 3 locations. They have an average A rating on Angie's List.

He's recommending a Carrier Model 24ABC636AON3, which is a 3 ton model, not budget model but not top of the line either.

Comes with a new Honeywell programmable thermostat, 1 year labor warranty and 10 year manufacturer warranty on compressor and covered parts.

SEER (energy efficiency) rating is 16, which is again not the most energy efficient, which would mean a higher price tag, but not the very lowest, either. I decided I didn't need the best here because I don't plan to use it nonstop, just enough to dehumidify the rooms and keep it comfortable.

They would also include the 1st year's maintenance, which would cost me about $175 for every year thereafter.

He told me the unit would not be eligible for any state or federal rebates/credits becus I'm pairing it with an existing oil furnace, which compared to natural gas, is not very energy efficient.

Price: $5400. If I pay in cash or check, the price would be $5200. (Note to self: ALWAYS ask for this discount.) They also had a $300 coupon on their website for new AC installs; I forgot to ask him about that, but if I applied that coupon and paid cash, total cost would be $4900.

He wants 50% down with 50% upon completion.

#2 guy: He recommends installing a Lennox Xc14, also a 3 ton unit. SEER rating is also 16.

Warranties are manufacturer 10 years and he told me if anything went wrong with the unit the 1st year, he would take care of it, so i guess that sounds like a 1-year labor warranty.

He did not offer the 1st year free maintenance but did offer $200 off for cash only (not checks), so with the cash discount, his price would be $4650, or $250 less than #1 guy. Also, he said their annual maintenance costs about $118, quite a bit less than #1 guy.

#2 guy is a young guy who bought the business with a partner 5 years ago when the former owner wanted to retire.

He wants 1/3 down and 2/3 upon completion. He also got an average A rating on Angie's List.

What do you think? I'm honestly feeling like I don't want to say no to either one of them becus they both were very nice. Typical girl reaction, I guess.

At this point, I'm thinking of going with #2 becus I have faith either one could do the job, so #2 is not only $250 cheaper but his annual maintenance is, at least now, substantially cheaper than the larger, more established company. #2 guy also even offered to cut down a partly dead foundation shrub that would need to go to make way for the outdoor compressor, which #1 guy didn't offer to do. #2 guy also said he'd throw in the cover for the outdoor unit. They both will give me a new thermostat.

I hope that some of you who commented on my earlier post on this will weigh in again. Any feelings about whether either Carrier or Lennox makes a better AC? Any other thoughts?

I'm thinking maybe I'll approach #2, tell them that the 2 quotes are very close in price, and that if he threw in the first year free maintenance like #1 guy did that I would give him the job.

What do you think?

I was very pleasantly surprised by the first estimate I got on central air. It wasn't nearly as much as the single quote I got over a decade ago which scared me off from seriously considering it...until now.

The extreme humidity is not good for my mother's art, and that's what truly spurred me to move forward with central air, even though I'm not working much.

So he spent over an hour here, answering my questions, measuring and looking outside to determine where the compressor would go.

I ruled out the new ductless units because while they are more energy efficient, it would require more wiring to all go to the single outdoor unit, and my ceilings are not at all high so the units would kind of dominate the rooms and be more noticeable, I think. I would need 4 of them, 2 on each floor.

So going with a conventional Carrier system and 16 SEER, which I think is pretty good efficiency, it would cost just $5,200 and they throw in the first year's maintenance, which runs about $175, for free.

I would feel confident they could do a good job but I do have one other place coming out tomorrow, so I can compare at least the two. I might also like to get a third estimate.

I'm excited. The thought of living in air conditioned comfort and not sweltering during the worst parts of July/August. It gets so humid in this house that i have gotten mildew on wood and leather furniture. I would not run it often as I dislike super cold indoor temps anyway, but I would run it just enough to dry out the indoor air and be comfortable.

The one remaining issue would be how to deal with my family room, which was a later addition over the garage that is not served by the existing oil furnace duct work.

So I might have to keep using my current portable AC just for that room, I guess. He said while it's really hard to say how much the AC would add to my electric bills, he said it would be at least $100 a month if I ran the system continuously (which I wouldn't). Maybe it would be more, who knows. But if it was an extra $200 for the months of July and August, I think that would be decent and cover most of the bad summer heat.

Nothing seems to have panned out, job-wise, of several promising contract positions. So, I'm continuing to web-write the school stuff and volunteer writing/editing for another site. (I just wrapped up editing three of them today, which is my weekly quota I've set for myself. I don't want to commit to more in case I get busy with paid writing.)

It's snowing steadily now and there are probably 2 or 3 inches on the ground. Nothing too serious, weather forecasters tell us.

I went this morning to pick up about a dozen pieces I had dropped off a month ago at my favorite art gallery and learned that one small piece ($125) of my mother's sold, and the check will be forthcoming. After some discussion, I only took home about 6 pieces and left the gallery owner with 14 remaining pieces.

I was glad to get home before the snow began flying.

Once I was home, I promptly emailed another gallery representing mom's work with jpgs of 2 of the items I brought home from the first gallery as they are small in size (space is limited), which is what the second gallery likes. Sure enough, she indicated interest in 2 of the 3, so we'll have to schedule my visit and discuss pricing.

Dad and I had another great dinner at an Italian place in town that has mostly flown under my radar. Meaning, I hadn't realized just how good their food is. Dad expressed an interest in having me take him to Aldi's, and possibly BJs, so I was hoping possibly tomorrow if the snow gets melted; if not then, we can do it Thursday.

I did my January expenses and see my net worth continued to grow. That probably won't last long since I haven't contributed anything to savings and with my benefits running out in a week, I will likely have to begin digging into savings to cover monthly expenses. Big bummer. It will be painful.

I finally got around to changing the filter on my furnace humidifier. When a friend of mine helped me change it a year ago, I carefully wrote down instructions for myself because I know from prior experiences that simple things stump me. I procrastinated a while, simply because I don't like spending time in my cold, dark and cobwebby basement. Anyway, it's good for another heating season now.

I cooked up a big eggplant last night and made baba ganousch, an eggplant spread/dip with lemon, tahini, sesame seeds, garlic and a touch of olive oil. So good slathered on crusty toasted bread. Tonight will be a hearty salad with beans, raw onion, mushroom and a sliced, hard-boiled egg (not vegan, me bad).

Yesterday I started the federal return and made much better progress than I anticipated, since I knew there'd be a few extra forms or schedules this year.

I finished the return today and filed the federal one, which has been "accepted" by the IRS. I did realize, belatedly, that I forgot to record $20 of interest I paid on some bank accounts but it's too late now...maybe they'll catch it; if not, not a huge thing.

I also did the state return and will file that tomorrow.

I will get a refund on the federal and owe money on the state return, so my net refund will be about $500.

I was NOT looking forward to doing that at all. SO relieved this is almost behind me for another year, and next year's will be simpler.

Met a friend at Starbucks last night; meeting dad for dinner at our favorite Italian place tonight.

I ran to the library and faxed a letter to Speaker of the House Paul Ryan telling him I don't appreciate them dismantling ACA without something else in place. Thanks to Dido for bringing this to my attention on Facebook. It's all happening very quickly.

Yet another job possibility....a perm, f/t job working as a financial writer for a consulting group where I once worked in 2001; it turned out to be just a 9-month stint, since once 9/11 happened, all their business (financial services companies, many in the Twin Towers) dried up. My recruiter friend is presenting me to them today.

I checked on Linked In and found that only 3 people who were there when I was there still remain: 2 partners and the HR person! So it's a whole new crew. It would be very good money, a 40-minute commute and longish hours, also pretty challenging.

I've been trying to step away from financial jobs, but oh well.

The job at Ivy League is still up in air as the planned meeting yesterday was rescheduled.

Spent just $16 at Aldi's and they would not refund me (just $1.50) for the canned organic black beans that were marked down to .49/can and they charged me .79/can for. They said I was looking at the sign for mixed vegetables below the black beans, but I know what I saw.

When I discovered this last week, I TRIED to call my local Aldi's store but was unpleasantly surprised to see they DO NOT list their phone number anywhere. Neither does their website; I tried sending a message to corporate aldi's and they directed me back to the local store.

I guess not the end of the world; still a good price for those beans. Today's deals included .79 pink grapefruits, .79 carton of white mushrooms (the brown mushrooms were higher priced, for no reason at all except that they look more healthy) and $1.29 eggplant, plus the organic, non-GMO soymilk at $2.19 is a great price. And blackberries, $1.69 per small plastic carton, another great price.

Over 80% of the soybeans grown in US are Monsanto GMO soybeans, which means the pesticides are in the genetic material now, and studies have found these soybeans have much higher pesticide residue than organic or non-GMO soybeans. So non-GMO soymilk is very much appreciated.

I'm mostly limited to buying fresh produce there but given that's largely what I'm eating these days, it covers a lot of my dietary needs. I'll have to go elsewhere to get my 4% (not 6%) concentration of balsamic vinegar for some oil-free salad dressings I'm going to try.

Left to do today: Long walk and hopefully start my taxes, which I'm not positive I can do myself this year due to some complicated looking Form 8949 stuff related to inheritance. Doing my taxes is probably first on my list of Things I Hate Doing.

Health coverage that encourages non-use is really nothing new, but this is a good example of how even deductibles that would be considered modest by most people can discourage people from getting proper healthcare.

I decided yesterday I should see my neurologist as I've been experiencing some low level sensory symptoms related to my MS, and since it's been over 10 years since my last MRI, I was thinking it wouldn't be a bad idea to have another one now, to see whether this is just a flare-up of old symptoms or possibly new disease activity, which might mean reassessing my current medication.

I was able to get an appointment to see the doc today and while he didn't say it was absolutely necessary, he agreed it wouldn't be a bad idea to get the MRI, which would be of both brain and spine. He said sometimes significant changes in your sleeping patterns or stress could bring on flare-ups. I sleep pretty well and I don't feel stressed, although the job situation is a concern.

He went to the trouble of calling the imaging center where I had my last MRI done; we weren't sure they'd have the film since legally they're only required to keep the records for 7 years. Luckily, they did, so I stopped over to pick them up on CD on my way home from doctor's; I would bring this to the imaging place so the radiologist there could compare the old and new films.

When I got home I called insurance company to double-check on the copay, which I was guessing would be about $200. Alas, because I have a $500 deductible which I'd forgotten about, my cost for the 2 MRIs would be about $625.

I don't want to spend that kind of money, especially when I'm not working. Getting the MRIs could have given me some peace of mind if they showed, as they did over 10 years ago, very little change, although they could also trigger further discussion with doc if it indicated a big change for the worse. None of the MS drugs are 100%, so you can't expect no issues at all.

So the question is, are my symptoms a flare-up of old disease activity, or something new? I'm guessing it's the former, since I've always been affected on the right side of my body and these symptoms similar to what I've had before. Plus, my symptoms are on and off and don't last 24 hours, which is what technically constitutes a relapse.

Unless they suddenly worsen, I'll just watch and monitor. If at some point I have another need to pay for the $500 annual deductible, then I could more easily consider going back and getting the MRI done in the same year.

So I did waste the $40 copay for seeing the doctor today, because seeing if he'd agree with me about the MRI and telling him about my symptoms was the sole reason for my visit.

Honestly, sometimes it seems like you just can't win.

The recruiter who submitted me for a contract job with Ivy League school to do editing and writing called me tonight and said preliminary feedback from the school was they wanted someone who did more "editorial writing, not advertising."

I've done relativity little advertising copywriting. But I know sometimes when people aren't in the marketing business, they muddle the words and think marketing is advertising. And I think what the woman really meant was marketing. Yes, I've done a ton of marketing, but I've also done a ton of journalism-type writing where you're not trying to sell anything, aka "editorial."

I tried to relay this to the recruiter, reviewing with her in great detail examples of this. I learned she submitted 4 other candidates to the school besides me and will be talking to the school tomorrow morning.

After I got off the phone with her, I followed up with a lengthy email just summarizing everything for her in case she missed some points taking notes while I was talking.

It's the best I can do.

I'm so frustrated.

This morning i had a phone interview with the home remodeling company.

The woman who interviewed me has only been in her job for about 6 months and the marketing department referenced in the ad consists of her and a designer they just hired.

I could tell she was inexperienced because at one point she asked me when I graduated from college, which is basically like asking how old I was. I avoided answering.

She wanted me to write 2 unpaid 500-word articles on 2 different topics and turn them in within a day or two as she wants to decide who to call in for interviews, based on the writing samples, by end of this week.

It's a full time job that would require me to be there on site but they will pay based on an hourly rate of $12 to $14 an hour, which is less than what I'm making now freelancing for the higher education website where I don't have to drive anywhere. Of course, I don't work a full 40 hours weekly for the higher education website.

This new job would be a 65-minute drive one way and benefits that include medical coverage and paid vacation would not start til AFTER 1 YEAR.

Ridiculous.

I told her I'd think about it but I already sent her an email declining to pursue it, and I laid out all the reasons above.

The classier companies that ask writers to do unpaid work as a "test" will pay for their time (like the company I interviewed with last week) and to ask for more than one free piece of writing is a bit much, let alone they need it in a day or two.

Having to wait a year for medical coverage just wouldn't work since my COBRA would run out before I was eligible to get medical coverage at the new company.

Just like when you're dating, you have to weed through a lot of crappy jobs to find a good one.

Job activity seems to have picked up a bit lately. Learned of a few dead-ends today but something new also that I'm excited about.

First, the dead-ends....

There was one contract job I applied for thru a recruiter with a toolmaker here in Connecticut, but I was told today they passed on me because they wanted more "creative" writing samples. I had sent more technical writing samples given its manufacturing. Go figure. I have a ton of creative samples online on my Coroflot page, which is shown at top of my resume, but I guess they didn't bother to look. I decided to let it lie.

There was another contract job through a different recruiter with an in vitro/fertility company, but I learned today they had a problem with funding, which was based on some sort of grant, for the position so for now it's a no-go. Not a huge loss since they were only paying $20/hr.

The perm job I had an interview for last Monday is still up in the air as he is traveling.

But today one of the recruiters came back to me with another contract job with Yale School of Management, writing and editing for a few months. This sounds most interesting to me of all of them. Pay is $30/hr.

I often see writing jobs at Yale but have never gotten a response when I sent a resume; maybe having done some contract work for a few months would be enough to break the ice and pave the way for more. It also would look nice to have an Ivy League on my resume.

New Haven is a lengthier drive, probably an hour with traffic, but it would only be for about 3 months so I think I could deal with it.

If I got that job and assuming I'd start around Feb. 1, it would be just in the nick of time since my benefits run out about 3 benefit checks from now.

UPDATE: Ok, there's one more possibility...I applied for a writer job for a remodeling and renovation company in NY state. This job would be easy for me becus I've done so much real estate writing about construction and design trends and so on. I assumed it was some big company. I got a reply back from the company saying thanks, but we were looking for someone local. I replied back that while I'm in CT, it's a commutable distance (well, barely, at 65 minutes, more than I've said in the past I wanted to drive) and she said ok, i'll let you know and I assumed I wouldn't hear back from them becus maybe they meant more local than 50 minutes.

Later in the day she asked me via email if i could be available for a phone interview tomorrow and I said yes, so I think we're good for 10 a.m.

However, I took some time to review their website and it looks like just one guy with a fairly blah website. So I'm wondering, how in the world could he afford to pay a full-time writer? Granted, they're only looking for someone with 1 year of experience so I am way over-qualified, but even then, my check of salary.com tells me that an entry-level writer in that part of NY should pay about $50K, which would be enough for my needs. I just can't imagine this guy could afford to pay that though, plus benefits. Maybe that's not what he has in mind. The ad specified "full time" and referenced a "growing marketing department."

So I'll be real curious to find out.

In the meantime, I turned in my latest assignment to the higher education website a day early because a nor'easter has arrived, the winds are picking up and we may lose power later today or tonight with strong wind gusts. So I wanted to make sure she got the project on time.

Update on the SafeTrack program. My 3-month tracking period finally ends Jan. 26, 3 days from now. Seems like it was forever. Right now I'm held steady at a 17% discount, which should be applied to my account with 24 to 48 hours, and a refund check will be issued! So that would a savings of $153.

It's been wonderful to see the turnout of the Million Women (and men) March in cities around the world. As I sit here at home writing letter after letter to my Congresspeople, it sometimes feels like a lost cause, but the marches this weekend of so many like-minded people told me otherwise.

We have only just begun.

Not much news to report...I am now more steadily writing for the higher education website; I have about 3 weeks left of unemployment benefits. I still need something more though.

I'm going to be more exclusively shopping at Aldis since they beat Walmart, BJs, Shop Rite and Trader Joe prices. They don't have everything I buy but they have a fair amount of stuff I buy regularly like old-fashioned oatmeal, almond or soymilk and some fresh produce.

I walked 50 minutes today and filled all 24 boxes of the Daily Dozen, not an easy feat.

Did anyone see the first episode of "Victoria" on PBS? I thought it was very good and can't wait to see the next showing. People just can't seem to get enough of made for TV movies on British royalty, but about all the other royalty in other countries?

I had my phone interview just now.

As usual, I over-prepared with lengthy written notes and touch points, but I find this is always a helpful process for me to organize my thoughts and ensure that I touch on the most important things; it also helps me formulate questions for the employer, should they ask, and yes, he did.

I found the hiring manager pretty easy to talk to and I felt he was especially candid in telling me about the challenges of the job, i.e., he said there was a "high degree of stress points" due to clients' unreasonable expectations, tight deadlines and sales reps breathing down your neck.

The writing I'd be doing is not directly related to higher education, although having some general knowledge in that area helps. I'd be writing "sponsored content," aka paid advertising, in the form of thought leadership interviews and longish articles about various clients' products or services which would be of interest to C-level university execs/readers of this company's magazines.

There's also the fairly technical aspect of much of the writing to consider. A lot of the stories I browsed were about products used to streamline dining card processing at universities or other software or systems that simplify mass transactions of one kind or another. There would be a definite learning curve.

So I am feeling some hesitation. I want a job I will enjoy and be challenged by, yes, but not one that raises my blood pressure too much.

My interviewer said he's traveling soon and the candidate selection process would probably start with a paid writing assignment for some of the candidates, followed by an in-person interview.

Coincidentally, the man's son graduated from my alma mater.

Patient Saver has been patiently waiting for the right job to come along.

I saw an online ad this morning that sounded like it could be a good fit, writing case studies and thought leadership interviews for an educational publisher of 2 magazines about 35 minutes from home.

Literally 5 minutes after sending my resume and writing samples I got a reply from the hiring manager. Which is SO nice when I stop to consider how many jobs I've applied for and never heard a word from. We scheduled a phone interview for this Friday morning.

The job doesn't pay much....mid $40s, which is less than half what I made at the bank. Gosh. It's amazing how much pay for the same writer could vary, depending on the employer. After taxes, it would probably JUST cover my annual expenses (usually around $40K), NOT including any further retirement savings. However, it comes with full benefits and the all-important health insurance.

I have to keep reminding myself that with the mortgage paid off and a very nice retirement nest egg, that I can afford to take a lower paying job..as long as I get the health insurance coverage. Even with no further contributions to my retirement savings, I think it would grow over the next few years to where I want it to be.

Right now health insurance thru my former employer is $525/mth. It's a huge expense, and COBRA expires early next year, so I knew I'd have to leapfrog to another employer-sponsored plan some time in 2017 or face who knows what costs under the Trump administration.

My health is great, but the MS meds I take daily would not be affordable if I had no health insurance. Something like $3,000/mth. So employment, for the sake of health insurance (not a paycheck) is really the biggest thing for me.

Back in 2004-2007 I worked at a job right in town starting at $50K. I worried at the time whether that salary was high enough (it was), and that was when I still had the mortgage. So I should be able to swing it making $5k less than that, without the mortgage and not worrying about further contributions to retirement. I can still easily max out my annual IRA contributions by simply doing a transfer from taxable savings into a Roth account. No fuss, no muss.

Anyway, it's just a phone interview at this point, but I hope it works out. I've been trying to ramp up my freelance writing for the educational website I've mentioned before, but I would be hard-pressed to gross more than $900 monthly with them due to their pay scale, and that's just not going to cut it long term.

I'm working on my 3rd freelance assignment from the online education site. This one is 2250 words compared to the previous ones in the 1000 word range, so I earn $225 instead of $100, but it's considerably more work.

The 2250 words are broken up into descriptions of 15 different schools, or 150 words each.

Problem is, when I make a point to track my time, I see I'm spending too much time on each 150-word school write-up, like 1.5 or even 2 hours. I spend half the time reviewing the site and gathering info and the other half, roughly, to write it but inevitably i wind up with 300 words or more so i then have to spend more time to get it down to just 150 words without taking out the good stuff. It's a fairly time-consuming process.

I hold myself to pretty high standards, and if I want these to be something I could use as writing samples, then they need to be well-written. It's just that it brings my hourly rate down very low, which i guess bothers me more from a psychological point of view than anything else. I think I need to stop worrying about the hourly rate, since I'm home all day anyway, and just focus on how much money I'm making and how much I need.

From that point of view, grossing $900 monthly instead of $400 monthly (or nothing at all) sounds better than nothing.

Does anyone have a Sierra Trading Post near them? A new store opened up by me and while I haven't been to the physical store yet, the website seemed to have a lot of things I might like to buy.

I'm on day three of Dr. Greger's Daily Dozen diet and doing pretty well although I've noticed there are so many servings of beans and greens required daily that you pretty much have to include beans and greens in both lunch and dinner, and I could see where I would get tired of this after a while. On the plus side, you don't have to count calories or do much measuring. And you also certainly don't go hungry.

Ugh. I'm taking a break with my chai tea and suppose I should really try to write a 3rd school (out of the 15 total) I need to complete for this assignment.

I saw a racoon wandering by the house earlier and so I threw out a pot of burnt popcorn for him although I don't know that he found it.

So I walked past all the processed crap (and they do have a lot of it) and spent all my time by the fresh produce.

6 oz of blackberries at $1.99 each? I got 2 of those!
A whole fresh pineapple for .79!
Another clamshell of 6 kiwi for $1.99 (or .33 each).
A mango for .49.
A bunch of bananas for $1.
A bag of organic pears, $2.99
A half gallon of organic almond milk for $1.99, which beats both BJs and WalMart.

I even found organic mini cucumbers (organic cukes of any kind seem nearly impossible to find) and they were a bit pricey at $3.49 but what the heck.

It's nice saving money. I think I'm hooked on Aldi's now and will make a point to include that store in my weekly stops, or whenever I'm in that area, which is often.

I treated myself to a nice little hyacinth growing long roots in a clear glass jar for $2.99. It's looking good on kitchen windowsill and can't wait to see it bloom. I can keep the glass to use again and just buy the bulbs if I like.

The weather's warm today (and tomorrow) for January. I should walk before it gets dark.

I was getting ready to head out to run several errands when I got a call out of the blue from a recruiter about a remote, p/t, 3-month contract job.

Even though it's of limited duration and only pays $20 an hour (I usually average between $30 and $50/hr for contract work), I would love to get this job since it would represent the first steady work I've had in nearly 6 months.

The company is about an hour from here and is in the IVF business, helping infertile couples conceive.

Doing this work would add to my healthcare copywriting body of work, making it easier to get more healthcare writing jobs in the future when I have a largely financial services copywriting background. I've always had the interest in doing this but employers tend to pigeonhole you, making it difficult to do anything different than what you've BEEN doing. It's always good to broaden your horizons and your capabilities.

I sent the recruiter my latest resume version, which includes the volunteer writing I'm doing for NutritionFacts.org, which should help, along with a bunch of healthcare-related writing samples. Even though I've done mostly financial copywriting, while at the bank I wrote some healthcare-related case studies for the bank's small business division, and also some medical debt web stories while working for another employer a few years back.

So I'm sort of holding my breath and afraid to leave the house, in case the recruiter calls and wants to schedule an interview. I haven't asked the recruiter if they are exclusive with their client or if they're competing with other agencies, which is usually the case.

Didn't do a whole heck of a lot. But then, it's darn cold out there.

1. I shoveled out another portion of driveway so I can turn around at the top as I usually do (instead of going in reverse down the whole 100 feet)

2. Would you believe an equipment rental place that works with the nursing home where my mother was actually billed Medicare for a wheelchair and leg rests, 1 year after my mother passed away? These people are inept. So I had to scan and email the people to let them know.

3. I made a new batch of granola.

4. I made a potato corn soup that came out way to watery but I will eat it anyway since I hate wasting food; I was just trying to use up some potatoes from a bag of organic spuds I'd bought for some Christmas recipe.

5. Researched costs associated with making my own turmeric capsules. Daily turmeric is among the Daily Dozen recommended in Dr. Greger's book, which i'm a big fan of, and since I don't always make something where I could sprinkle turmeric on it, i could save money by making my own capsules. Each bottle of pills with about 4 months worth is about $16.

Buying it in bulk and just sprinkling in a smoothie or on food would be even cheaper, but I'm not into the daily smoothie habit yet.

6. I made myself a little grid so I could more easily track whether I get all of the Daily Dozen foods in. These include x servings of fruits, veggies as well as nuts, berries, flaxseed, turmeric, beans and cruciferous veggie.

7. Picked up Waldo's meds at vet.

Honestly, that's all I did today.

So BJs has a credit card they're always pitching to me. It's 3% cash back on club purchases, 2% on dining out and gas purchases and 1% on everything else.

Plus. you get .10 off per gallon of gas all year long. In 2016 I only spent $558 in gas, mainly because I worked at home 2 days a week and then I got laid off. So figuring I'd get about 10 gallons of gas a week, the savings with BJs credit card would only be $52 saved a year, BUT I see they are now saying you also get $10 off your membership renewal every year, so I'd pay $40 instead of $50.

I used to split the membership with my mother and pay $25; I just sent off a note to my cousin in Jersey to see if she'd want to split it, since you can add one family member to your membership and get them a card.

So, I don't know, would you bother getting yet another credit card to save just $62 a year, but also for every year I had the card? I guess not....I suppose my driving mileage could increase should I get a job.

DRAT. I'm back down to a 16% savings on my car insurance with just 3.5 more weeks to go. And that doesn't include today's driving, which may have included 1 or 2 "hard brakes." It's virtually impossible to drive without "hard brakes," is what I have learned.

Great Falls, woven painting

I tried a recipe for lentil burgers that someone posted on a Facebook site I frequent and it came out really good. It was equal parts rice/quinoa (but you could use any kind of grain) and walnuts, and a bit less lentils, plus carrot and spices. I think it was the walnuts that made it so appealing. I'm having the last patty for dinner tonight.

Speaking of food, I was at Trader Joe's today and will be at BJs tomorrow. There are certain items I like to get at certain stores, either because of price or because I can only get a particular brand at a certain store, so I end up going to countless grocery stores, it seems.

Now that I'm getting the $10 off Staples coupons with some regularity (because I'm using them), I'm going to start using those coupons exclusively on Charmin TP. When I calculated the per roll price I pay at BJs, even with their $3 coupon, it's not especially cheap at .84/roll. The price for same item at Staples would be .79/roll, and if I use the $10 coupon for it, it's just .37 a roll.

It's the little things that make me giddy.

Today I was up at the gallery to fetch the art (nothing sold) and hopefully collect payment for art sold last year. Seems she has cash flow issues so I should receive half of it in a week or so. And she can keep all the art for another month, which is fine by me, cus i don't have room at home and it won't sell sitting at home.

She also put me in touch with a place that can scan large photos. I have an old family portrait from probably the late 1930s which is beginning to develop tiny black spots of mold or whatever. It's upsetting, given it sat in my grandmother's dining room for decades perfectly fine. I guess it's just age, but I do feel responsible for preserving this irreplaceable sepia photo of 20 members of my grandfather's family.

The photo is too big for my printer scanner and the place is local, so I will go there tomorrow. He can create digitized copies I can mail to my cousins and to keep myself, but I probably can do nothing to preserve the original itself, which makes me a little sad. Photos just don't last forever, and the high summer humidity in my home probably didn't help. So I'm anxious to do this. My cousin's son will ultimately get the original from me anyway, in about 30 years, but in the meantime he could get an enlargement made with what I send him.

I'm totally annoyed with the woman who is supposed to be feeding me freelance assignments at this website where I wrote 2 pieces. She is totally unreliable. She keeps saying she will get me the next assignment "next week," and then by next Friday when I say do you have something for me, she says I'll have something for you today, and still nothing. Just annoying. It's happened 3 times already, and I'm still waiting. NOt much I can do about it but I almost feel like sending a note to someone at her company.

I squeezed in a walk toward day's end and ran into a neighbor who used to live on my street but then got divorced and later moved into a house still very nearby. She's always out walking her dog so we walked together for a bit, and she invited me to "knock on my door" if I ever want to go walking together. Which I think would be nice. She works at home part of the week and at some other job 3x a week, exactly the kind of schedule I aspire to, although I really need employer-subsidized health insurance.

I met with my Vanguard adviser today to discuss in more detail my retirement savings and the report they did in response to my question, if i never again get a f/t job, will i manage in retirement? The plan still includes my earning at least $24k annually starting this year and until I'm age 65. I need to do some rearranging of my portfolio, consolidating certain funds and so on, which could somewhat reduce my annual fees becus I'd be consolidating into fewer funds. But overall it looks okay.

I managed to copy all my photos and disks onto 3 CDs for backup, something I'm really bad at doing and of course I'd be horrified if my computer ever went on the fritz. Not sure if I'm crazy about storing stuff "in the cloud."

I'm making progress finishing reading Garth Davis' book on proteinaholics.

I really need to go to Aldi's more. You know how you go to a wholesale club like Costco or BJs and the final bill is kind of...staggering?

I got a good enough amount of healthy food at Aldi's and the bill came to...$18.

I won't buy 80% of the stuff they sell there that's processed or has various ingredients like preservatives or high fructose corn syrup, to name a few, and I also shy away from canned foods due to BPA lining in most of them and even plastic containers. I look for paper or glass packaging. A little limiting, yes i know.

However, I bought 2 half gallons of organic soymilk for $1.99 each, which is really a great price. I also got a small bag of 6 red onions for $1.99, a fresh pineapple for $1.29, grapefruit for .89 each, a small bag of sweet potatoes for .89, an eggplant for $1.29, organic arugula for .98, a carton of kiwi for $1.99 and both blackberries and raspberries, non-organic, 6 oz containers for .99 each. (Last winter I relied more on frozen organic berries, which can be had for a good price at BJs, but truth be told, I don't like them frozen in my cereal.)

And now they take credit cards.

On a sad note, I only today learned that Sicily Yoder, the Amish fiction writer who liked to post here, passed away 3 years ago from the flu, shortly after asking us here which photos we liked best for her upcoming book.

I'm just shocked. She was only 44. I only learned of it because someone here left a comment on a blog post (causing the entry to show up as a message in my email) where someone in Sicily's family, probably a daughter, told of her passing a few months earlier, after her last post here, in 2014.

Happy New Year to all my SA friends. Here's wishing you a year without financial worries, the wisdom to invest in what's meaningful and the clarity to know what's not.

I decided to do this a few days early....

Total 2016 expenses: $42,970, a 4% increase over last year. Here they are, ranked in order of amount.

New driveway: $12,655, or 29% of total budget. I love the driveway, but this one expense dwarfed everything else. I could have saved money by paving with asphalt, but I do love the pavers. It's nice to know that not counting the cost of the new driveway, I was able to live on just $30,315 for the year.

Property taxes: $5,856, about the same as last year.

Food: $4,083, about the same as last year, surprisingly. But its' a lot for one person isn't it?

Health insurance: $3,711, or a 51% increase over last year, mainly because when I lost the job in July, my monthly premiums via COBRA shot up. I'm paying $520 a month starting with the January payment, which was only about $7 more than the 2016 rate. Still, it's a big chunk of change each month when you're not working f/t.

Cats: $2,955. This is about 5% more than last year and I really hope I can rein these costs in a bit next year. I did change vets; the prior vet said he had to pull one tooth and once he got the cat in, he pulled many more; he did that with both cats this year and I wonder if he milked the opportunity.

Household: $2,157. This is my only "catch all" category where I put expenses that don't seem to fit anywhere else. This was about the same amount as last year.

Lawn & garden: $997. This was 18% less than last year, mainly because, once I was laid off, I asked my mower to mow every other week instead of weekly, and it saved me a bit. I plan to continue alternate week mowing in 2017 for as long as I remain underemployed.

Out-of-pocket medical: $961, or 30% more than last year. This was due to physical therapy related to my pulled hamstring/numb toes, which it proved to be a waste of time, and also meds and supplements when I thought I had Lyme disease.

Phone/Internet: $915, or 23% more than last year. This included the minimum amount of cell phone minutes I had to buy ($100) and I plan to not buy any minutes in 2017.

Entertainment: $897, or 50% more than last year, mainly due to my Amazon Prime subscription, my Ancestry.com subscription and DNA test.

Car insurance: $887, 17% more than last year but that's before counting whatever credit I will get from Safeco once I finish Right Track at the end of January, and right now I'm at 16% savings. I did increase coverage as well.

Electric: $863, about 5% more than last year.

Dining out: $755. Hard to believe I spent this since dad always pays, but during the first 7 months of the year when I was working, I would eat at the cafe a few times a week.

Homeowners insurance: $639, or 7% less than last year.

Heating oil & Cleaning: $610, or 48% less than last year, but that doesn't include an oil delivery I'm getting tomorrow.

Clothing: $583, a 47% increase over last year. Purchases made when I was working; I plan to cut this to nothing until I work full time again.

Gas: $558, or 28% less, due to less driving since I'm not commuting.

Car upkeep: $427, or 75% more than last year. This bothers me, since the car is just 3 years old. Mostly due to more expensive oil changes; since it's a newer model, it requires more expensive synthetic oil, or lat least that's what they tell me.

IRS: $364, paid at tax time.

Charitable donations: $360, while I was working.

Home maintenance: $346

Car tax/registration/license: $338.

Vacations: $231

Water: $204

Gifts: $189

Borough taxes: $151

Sewers: $100

Dump sticker $85

Haircuts: $45

So this gives me a pretty good idea of where my money went this year, but when I put the top 10 expenses in a pie chart form, it really reinforces things:



Namely, that the new driveway was a BIG expense!

How do my expenses compare to yours? Are there any that stand out for being very low or very high?

Oh, before I forget, here is my little tree. None of my decorations were any more elaborate than this:



A low-key day. Not that I'm complaining. Here's what I did.

- Eye doctor appointment
- Dropped off trash at landfill
- Returned an item at BB&B for a refund
- 50-minute walk
- Applied for a few freelance writing jobs
- Vacuumed out my car
- Swept up some leaves that collected in the driveway
- Removed a largish folding table and a few other things from my garage, from garage sale last summer, so I can drive the car in there before the next big snowstorm
- Mailed off my DNA sample (saliva) to an Alzheimer's registry so they can better match me to various upcoming studies

As usual, I wasted time online, particularly Facebook. I belong to about 20 groups, and each time someone posts, my speakers go "ding" and like a Pavlovian dog, I feel compelled to read the comment. I will have to start doing Facebook-free days soon.

It was 55 degrees out today.

Do you remember high school gym class, where they’d have those ropes you could shinny up and climb? On Christmas night I dreamt I was climbing a rope like that, way high up into the clouds. I was as high up as a jumbo jetliner, and at that height, looking down made me weak in the knees.

I was at the top of the rope, and any further passage upward was blocked by a broad ledge. The ledge was actually a picture window without the glass, like the cut-out between a dining room and kitchen, through which I could see some food on a counter and people walking around, going about their normal routines.

I’m clinging to this rope, so high in the stratosphere with nowhere else to go, and I knew I had to get onto that ledge before my strength gave out and I lost my grasp of the rope.

But I didn’t have the strength in my arms to hoist myself up. I remained suspended, hugging the rope, unable to move up and afraid to look down. I wondered how long I could hang on. Then I found that by rocking gently back and forth, I could generate enough momentum so that on an upward swing, I could lift my right leg just over the ledge. Once I’d done that, I slowly, laboriously, pulled my body up and safely over the ledge, through the picture window instead of under it.

I rested there quietly on the edge hunched on all fours, not wanting to move away because I knew that eventually I would have to get back on that rope to return to safety down below, from whence I came. I was afraid I wouldn’t remember the sequence of where to put my hands and what to grasp, to get back on that rope. And looking down was making me very, very scared. I wondered how I would ever be able to get back onto that rope without losing my grip.

Later, a woman whom I did not know offered to help me get back on the rope. That, I knew, was the hardest part. Once I’d done that, I could slowly inch my way down. But the hardest part were those critical few moments when I would have to let go of that ledge and grab hold of the rope without tumbling headfirst to the ground. That was the hard part, and I gratefully accepted the woman’s offer.

Soon after, I woke up, and immediately the dream struck me as such a powerful metaphor for my life right now. I knew that Christmas would be tough this year because at this time a year ago, mom was in hospice and rapidly declining. She died three days after Christmas. My dream reminded me (as if I needed reminding) that getting over my mother’s death and moving on has been the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do. That, and wondering how I will face my advanced years alone, something I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about lately. The future, at times, looks incredibly frightening. Just like in the dream, where I wondered how, as I hung suspended up high in a silent world, clinging to a rope without a safety net, I would ever feel safe again.

The dream also reminded me that the help of others can do wonders. I look back over the year and remember the many small kindnesses of others, others who probably didn’t realize the significance of their actions to me. If we are judged at the end of our lives, I don’t think it will be for big things. “I saved a woman from being hit by a car” or “I dove into a lake to rescue a drowning swimmer.” No, the truly heroic actions of most ordinary people will be the smallest acts of kindness: rendering aid when one sees a need, doing something thoughtful when there’s no one around to notice, offering a helping hand to someone having a tough time. These are the actions never counted or recorded. They are often overlooked and soon forgotten, yet together they add up to a whole lot of goodness.

Just a few of my thoughts for the day, all triggered by a vivid dream.

I earned $610 in credit card rewards this year. It wasn't really something I was focused on (or needed to focus on) while I was working, although now it would be more helpful to do so.

I've been eating a lot of arugula salads lately with lots of chopped raw onion, raw broccoli, nuts and seeds.

It's incredible how quickly the day goes and I don't get done what I wanted to do. I DID go grocery shopping, take a longish walk (50 min) and apply for a few freelance writing jobs. Yesterday I vacuumed and met dad for lunch. I'm starting to get sleepy again around 2 pm and sometimes I take a nap. Not good!

I feel like I'm wasting lots of time at the computer...Facebook especially, where there are a few groups I like to follow. I need to wean myself away from it. I love answering personal finance questions.

The education website I've been writing for pays very quickly. It's remote deposit into my checking account and the money's there within days of my turning in an assignment. Nice. I hope to have another one to do on Monday but I'm still looking for other freelance jobs to supplement this or possibly replace it if they pay better.

I applied for one job writing for a furniture company that sells on Amazon. I'd love to write for them! Writing for Amazon would look great on the resume.

So as we approach the final few days before Christmas, I'm not very overloaded with things to do, fortunately. Aside from small gifts for my cousin and the German pastor who helped me with family research, I only bought for my father, and even that will surely elicit protests.

My cousin, by the way, loved the key fob I had made out of my grandmother's old silverplate set.



I got a matching pair (1 for each of us). It also has special meaning becus we both loved my grandmother, and it was from her set.

The package of nuts and chocolates also reached Germany safely and he was very appreciative. The shipping greatly exceeded the cost of the purchase.

I'm planning a modest brunch for Christmas Day and have mapped out the game plan prior to then, as far as cleaning the downstairs and the food prep. I'm making a salmon corn chowder, a cranberry quick bread, some chocolate-dipped strawberries and some tapioca-chia pudding, but everything else will not be "homemade."

I'll have Trader Joe's crabcakes, veggie rolls, faccacia bread with a roasted onion/garlic spread and my one concession to my very picky, meat-eating friend, some of those mini hot dogs with mustard. So mostly finger foods.

I would love to display my grandmother's 1975 Christmas tablecloth, with its sequins and beads, but I don't dare use it on the table lest someone should spill something. I could only spot clean it. It's a family heirloom at this point but I never get a chance to enjoy it becus I don't even have a couch over which to put it. It's in remarkably good shape, considering its age (41 years) and numerous beads and such that could become loose or lost. I remember this fondly from many Christmases; it's so bright and garish and, well, a little over the top, but I loved it.




She even stitched her name and the date on it.

I downloaded my new Roots Magic program but have to figure out how to easily export my Ancestry data to it; having to do it all manually would suck up a huge amount of time.

If you're not getting too tired of hearing about my family research, I have found 4 new cousins and learned that my great uncle (grandma's brother) is alive and well at 89. It was very exciting; we thought maybe he died. He's the last of my grandmother's many siblings...she was the oldest, and he was the second youngest.

I've been corresponding with a daughter of his. We want to visit him/them in Philly, but now that it's cold and maybe snowy, we may wait til spring. Will have to consult with dad. It would be a 3-hour drive.

I recently purchased a book on Amazon called You Can Retire Sooner Than You Think. It was meant for me, but then I remembered a conversation I'd had with my cousin M. on Thanksgiving Day. When I shared my hope that I could still retire in 3 years, despite my layoff, she longingly said she would love to retire too (she's 64) but that she had withdrawn a lot of money from her 401(k) to pay the bills when her husband was ill (Parkinson's) and she wanted to keep working until she had replenished $100,000 to the account. (I hope that's not all she has, but I really don't know. She'll probably have a pension from her employer as she's been there over 20 years.)

Anyway, I decided she might like to read this book, especially since I had already suggested that she might want to leverage the value of her home in a very expensive part of NJ and move to a lower cost area when she retires.

Her husband is gone now and her one son lives in Florida and spends the holidays, as far as I can see, with his in-laws. She has a much older brother who lives in AZ. So there are really no family ties left for her in NJ, and truth be told, I'd love to have her closer to me.

I even sent her an MLS listing of a comparably sized home in CT that cost $100,000 less than her current home value, has half the property taxes and 2 fenced-in acres for her dogs compared to probably a quarter acre she has now.

So I was going to buy a second copy of the book and send it to her for Christmas, but becus I am so frugal, I decided to quickly read the book for my own benefit and then mail that copy to her as a gift. That's what I did, being careful not to open it too wide because I didn't want it to look "used," or thumbed through.

As it was, the book only cost me $5 becus I took advantage of an Amazon holiday promo where if you bought $20 worth of books you got $10 back, so I'd gotten 2 books, and this was one of them.

There were 2 thoughts that interested me the most in the book. One, he emphasized the importance of having multiple income streams in retirement, something I've heard before but never really had anyone talk to me about in detail.

During their careers, most people have just a single income stream, their paycheck. But it's desirable to have at least 3 income streams in retirement so in case something happens to one of them, you're not left hanging. Many people have just 1, and many others have 2, but 3 or more is ideal.

Your retirement income streams could include any combo of the following:

1. Your Social Security check

2. Interest and dividends from your savings and investments. (The Vanguard CFP I spoke to recently suggested opening a designated account that would receive all the dividends from my stock mutual funds. I thought this was a good idea so I could clearly see just how many dividends my funds are spinning off and know what I had to spend each month, or each year; I've reinvested them for so many years I have no idea, really.)

3. Income from p/t or f/t work.

4. Rental income.

5. Freelance writing (I added this one myself since to me this is at-home, one-off computer work compared to finding a local, ongoing p/t job somewhere)

Can you think of any more income streams? I guess you could add things like focus groups and market research studies, although they are not ongoing.

Now I have no interest in being a landlord, but do hope to have #1, 2, 3 & 5 when I retire. So I think I will keep this idea more in mind as I prepare for retirement.

The 2nd thing the author talked about was the importance of having at least 3 "core pursuits," things to do that you're really passionate about. It has to be something more than a mere hobby, meaning it's something you find yourself thinking about at odd times and you get real excited doing.

It also CANNOT be reading, which his research shows is something more unhappy retirees do than happy retirees. He emphasizes the social aspects of any possible core pursuits.

At this point, my core pursuits include:
1. Genealogy research: Granted, this is a solitary pursuit much of the time, but I do excitedly share my findings with dad and others, and I hope to attend more genealogy meetings here in town. It's definitely something that gets me very excited and I think about it a lot in my spare time.

I now have 206 people in my family tree!! Remarkable!
Now granted, with some of these people, all I have is their name and nothing more. Others, I have their name, birth date and death date, where they lived and where they worked, who and when they married, were baptized, when they came to America and even, in some cases, a physical description, which you can get from a WWII draft registration card.

I have a detailed description, for instance, of how my great grandfather died, gleaned from what I found on his death certificate. He was hit by a truck in an intersection near where he lived in Philly. My cousin said he was drunk at the time. He was 75 and was admitted to the hospital with a broken arm. He died 10 days later of pneumonia, no doubt a result of laying prone all that time and further proof to me that hospitals are not a good place to be if you can avoid it! And kind of a shame, because he shouldn't have died of a broken arm. He was a larger than life character in the family, a drunkard and widely feared.

I sometimes daydream about, if I could magically know all the people in my family tree, which ones would I like the most, and which might I not like as much? (I'm sure there were some bad apples in there.)

When I was a news reporter, one of my weekly assignments was the "man on the street" interview, where I had to snag some unsuspecting passerby, ask them a number of personal questions about their life and take their photo for publication in the paper. I never liked doing it because there'd always be a bunch of people who didn't want to do it, or they agreed to do it until I whipped out my camera and then all my work interviewing them was for naught. I had to look for the extroverts.

My local newspaper here in CT has the same sort of feature. One of the questions they ask is, if you could spend time with anyone in the world, past or future, who would you spend it with?

A lot of people name their parents or some other long gone relative. Others name a famous person or the US President.

I always had a hard time pondering who I would spend time with, until I got into my genealogy. Well, I still don't know if I could narrow it down to one person, but I definitely would love to meet any one of my ancestors whom I've researched as living in the 1700s, 1800s or around the turn of the century. How interesting that would be!

Even though they are all dead, and have been for many, many years, I have such warm and loving feelings toward all of them. It's hard to describe. I still think that part of it is a result of my mother's passing, that the need for strong family bonds is still there and seeking a port in a storm.

2. OK, back to my list of core pursuits in retirement. My 2nd one would have to be walking, my primary form of exercise.

I'm pretty widely read on health and wellness topics, especially diet/nutrition, and for me regular exercise is a way of fending off a litany of problems including Alzheimers, weight gain and obesity, diabetes, osteoporosis and depression, to name a few. (I also practice balancing on one leg for a minute or more, when I think about it.) My goal these days is to try to walk 5 days a week, at least 30 minutes each day, or fewer days, but for longer periods, as long as the total reaches 150 minutes at least.

I've been a walker all my life.

3. My 3rd core pursuit....hmmm....not sure if there's a 3rd that really stands out in my mind, although I do like reading, quality time with my cats, and, when I can push myself out of the house, attending meetings of the historical society, book club, or garden club. I did love kayaking, but I haven't used it in years because it's too much for me to manage by myself and I haven't found the right person to kayak with. (Yes, I know there are clubs, but I'm an introvert, remember?) I do also enjoy cooking and trying new recipes, although I haven't really felt I've had the time lately.

TRAVEL would be a huge core pursuit but again not something I've done much at all since my 30s/early 40s becus I have 2 cats at home and always feel bad about leaving them, plus Waldo needs his twice daily meds now. But he is 14, and Luther 7 or 8, so I am biding my time...someday, I really hope to spring loose and visit friends (one of them Dido in PA, from here on Saving Advice, and another also in PA near Lake Erie).

And now I have some cousins in PA, one near Harrisburg and the others north of Philly. Honestly, I've long thought of PA as a good place to retire for its low cost of living compared to CT, NY, NJ, but I wouldn't want to make that kind of move alone.

Who knows, I could talk my cousin M. into retiring with me in PA near the Philly area and be back to where one arm of the tree started their lives when they traveled across continents from Eire. Everything that goes around, comes around.

So....can you come up with other types of income streams during retirement? What are your core pursuits?