Low Cost Ways to Have Fun

Recession in the economy or a personal recession, does not mean boredom for your family.  You do not have to slump down at home trying to sleep the recession away when you can still have fun without having to spend too much. Here are some ways to keep your family entertained without putting a big dent to your budget.

Grow a Green Thumb – Low Cost Way to Have Fun and Have Food
Gardening is one of the most productive and yet less-costly ways to entertain oneself. If you have the kids helping, you can double the fun. Just as long as you do not use high-maintenance, which are also usually expensive plants, you can have a ball growing vegetables and fruits that you can also use to make your own meals. This means more savings for your family!

Watch your Local Sports Team – Inexpensive Way to Support your Local Team
Kids enjoy watching sports. Support your local sports team by adding yourself and your kid as part of its seated cheering squad.

Go to community events – Low Cost Activity to Enjoy your Neighborhood’s Events
Your local local colleges, city bulletin boards, newspaper listings, and libraries usually post special entertainment events that you can attend for free.

Host a Garage Sale – Fun and Inexpensive Way to Earn Extra Income
It’s high time to get rid of your old bags that only gather dust in your closet. And what better way to get rid of it than to sell it in a garage sale. A garage sale is not just a way to earn you extra money, it can be highly entertaining, too. Getting the whole family to participate, from gathering the items, pricing and selling them can be a whole bunch of fun.

Backyard Camping – Go Cheap, Local and Fun
You do not need to travel miles to be able to enjoy camping.  Your backyard can be one cheaper and less-stressful place to have camping with your family or friends. Just make sure to make the ambience conducive to camping. If you want, you can even invite your nosy neighbors to join you.

Purchase annual passes – Low Cost Amusement
Amusement and water parks usually offer annual tickets that do not cost much. Take advantage of these offers if your family is into this type of entertainment.

Enjoy YouTube – Free Techie Fun
The Internet technology now offers free entertainment via online videos. YouTube is the most popular source of these videos. You can also watch movies through other free movie sites.

Belt it out – Enjoy and Learn while Saving Money
If you do not have a karaoke microphone, you can borrow from your friends. There is also an online version of karaoke that you can also use as a form of free entertainment.

Play Online Games – Not Just for Kids but for Your Wallet’s Health, too
There are millions of free online games that you can enjoy with your kids. Whether you want to play word games or puzzle games, the variety of online games is endless.

Set a Family Day – Regular Way to Save Money and Have Fun
Whether you play scrabble, go camping in your backyard, or watch online videos, setting a regular family day doing these simple and yet fun activities will condition your family to look forward to less-expensive ways of having fun. It’s a great way to bond with your family members, as well.

Still on a budget?

The economy may not be in recession, but many individuals are, for many reasons. Recession, for the uninitiated, is the decline of the economy of a country. It is a widespread decline in the Gross Domestic Product, employment, and trade, which lasts from 6 months to one year. A personal recession is a decline in income, employment and spending that lasts for more than 2 months. 

So, if you are running a household, how do you make sure the impact of your recession will not be too much to bear for your family? Here are some anti-recession tips that you can find useful during these hard times:

Grow Your Own Fresh Produce.

If you have been relying on the supermarkets for your daily meals, it’s high time to consider growing your own food. What can be better than taking advantage of your green thumb to avoid having to buy fruits and vegetables? If you are renting, growing vegetables and herbs in pots, also known as container gardening, can be useful. Mint, sage, rosemary, basil and thyme are great herbs for container gardening. If you do not have enough time, opt for low maintenance vegetables. Examples of low maintenance vegetables include garlic, onions, turnips, cabbage, leeks and kale. Now if you have a bigger backyard, growing your own fruits can be fruitful (pun not intended). Although this might require longer time since fruit trees can take at least about two years to yield crops. You can also do better in keeping a wide variety of your fruits and vegetables through trading with your neighbor’s grown fruit trees, vegetables and herbs.

Make Your Own Meal.

If you have the time, learning how to bake can be one great way to spend your free time. Aside from saving money, it can also be one fun way to relieve your stress. Fast food restaurants can be very tempting but if you have the skills (or not, since you can learn to cook), then why not prepare your own food from your own grown fruits and vegetables and home-baked bread. If you think your skills are too limited, the Internet offers gazillions of simple recipes that even kids can make. Make your own coffee and you can also brew your own beer if you want.

Improve your grocery shopping habits.

With the right shopping attitude, you can reduce unnecessary cost. You can prevent yourself from succumbing into impulse buying. You can do this by creating a list of items to buy before going to the supermarket. One tip is to not go to the grocery to shop when you are hungry. Yes, hunger causes you to buy items you do not need. Buying all the items you need in one go can help avoid using gas for unnecessary trip and also get rids of temptation. Also, before you unloading your cart, check again which items you can do without. You will be surprised that there are just so many of the items that  you picked up that you do not really need.

Cut back on non-essentials.

You like soda? You like steak? But do you like to survive the recession? Then, cut on soda, meat and other non-essentials. You do not have to stop drinking soda or eating meat. But if you will only compute how much you can save without consuming any of these as often as you used to, you will see that it’s enough to tide you over.

Baby Boomers Coping with Middle-Age Crisis

Kids love having birthday parties. Their parties are usually filled with games, great food, clowns, gifts, and many more. Celebrating ones birthday is an important occasion that should not be forgotten. You can't remain as a child forever though. As years pass, you will grow older. With older people, celebrating their birthday is different. Another year will again be added to their age, and this thought can be creepy to some individuals.

When a person turns 40, he is already in his mid-life. There is this phrase which says 'life begins at 40'. Although to some it may be true, others have different experiences. People who enjoy life even past their forties were able to overcome their fears of aging. But those less fortunate are having troubles in living a meaningful life. 

When one enters midlife, he must be able to cope with drastic changes in life. These changes are inevitable, and all people will go through this stage. He should be able to deal with mortality issues and aging which are but natural aspects in being human. If you can't cope up with the change, you're bound to suffer a major shock in your life. And this will not only affect you as an individual, but also your family.

When baby boomers were young, they didn't trust older people. But now that they have reached the midlife age, what do they have to say? People mature, and so did the baby boomers. They have long realized that life is not about having fun at all times but also living a meaningful life which can contribute to the improvement of the society he belongs in. The ages 40 to 60 are considered part of midlife, and many people undergo a midlife crisis when they reach this stage in their life, and baby boomers are not exempted from this change.

You may freak out as you face the mirror, and you will start to notice your thinning hair, flabby skin, facial lines, and other aging signs. Almost every person wants to look good, and the least things that they want to see are aging signs. Many people are not yet ready to face this fact, and they still want to believe that they are still desirable and young. Acceptance of the situation can be very hard for them. But this should not be; youthfulness will not last long so you might as well enjoy while you have it. Time will come when you will start aging and you can't do anything about it. Even if you try to use anti-aging products, you're still getting old. 

A lot of married couples are having difficulty during this time, even the baby boomers. The situation is even worse if both of them can't cope with their aging. Another change is in their emotional needs, and their behavior. They will likely end up in a crisis that may lead to divorce. This is true especially if one partner has found acceptance and love from another person.

Not all married baby boomer couples end up with divorce. There are also those who have a strong marriage foundation and are able to cope with the changes. Statistics show that only about twenty to twenty five percent of couples in their midlife suffer from any crisis. And the rest are taking the situation lightly, as if nothing has changed.

Being in your midlife is not an excuse to exhibit wrongful behavior. If you're in a crisis right now, your option is putting your life on the right track again or turning to another direction. It would all depend entirely on you; but you should also be aware that it is not you alone who suffers from this situation, but also your love ones.

Upon entering middle age, you should be able to recognize mortality. You should deal with sags, wrinkles, bags, graying hair, balding, weight gain, and death of relatives or friends. This is indeed a tough time for you; but life should not end there. If you can successfully cope up with the situation, life will and can go on.

Baby boomers love challenges in life. They are quite aggressive and as they finally reach their midlife, they will start to live a meaningful and productive life.  

Baby Boomers and Retirement Communities

"Old age" was never in the vocabulary of the boomer retirees. They live under a creed of despising the aging process throughout their history. Born as activists questioning everything, they combat inevitable aging and dispose antiquated retirement concepts embraced by their parents. Instead, boomers give more attention on how they are going to lace up rollerblades, download in their iPod's, or skate into sophisticated, hip energetic adult communities. They called this as lifestyle communities created all over the country to cater to their whim. 

The previous architecture director of Del Webb Corporation, Bill Parks foresees that the approaching great numbers of boomers retirees would delight and bewilder many developers. For a less period of time, adult communities will be springing up meeting the needs of active adults. 

There are over 1,200 adult communities all over the country and some are on the stages of planning. The underlying purpose of building such communities remains constant. To give a place for empty nesters to rationalize after their kids leave them. The location, ambiance, size, and amenities are great, too far from what had already existed. 

Home builders consider this as a very big trend. The senior housing councils for the National Association of Home Builders, Jeff Jenkins, announced that after the first set of age-qualified boomers availed more than 55 communities, it staggered the impacts since 2001. Boomers aged 55 years old and above accounted for about 1/5 (207,000) of the 1.1 million purchases of new homes in 2003. The adult active market accounted for approximately 51 billion dollars of sales in new homes. This is the main reason why adult communities are springing up in all places. 

The generation of World War II in fact invented the retirement standard of living in various ways. They outlived their work and accumulated significant wealth to enjoy their golden years. Their prospective places are Florida, California and Arizona due to its sunny weather with a handy golf course and pool and a country club or community center where they could establish their new social functions. 

However, the boomers have a different viewpoint according to the CEO and founder of ICAA (International Council on Active Aging) Colin Milner. ICAA is an adult active advocacy organization in British Columbia, particularly Vancouver.  

Baby boomers have acquired so many life experiences that will soon be reflected in their adult communities. The only difference is that they have adopted what they have learned. Take for example fitness issues. Boomers parents didn't incorporate fitness in their lifestyle considering it as a boring routine. So, the entire exercise trend was started by the baby boomers. It is not a turnoff for them because they have accessed it throughout their lives. Therefore, adopting it in their adult communities as a part of their lifestyle is not a big deal. Developers are creating adult communities reflecting their rich baby boomers history.

The major difference between the retirement villages of the first generation and adult active communities is location. Numerous surveys reveal surprising results. 2 out of 3 boomers wanted to live 100 miles away from where they lived and worked. The reason that motivated boomers to moving further does not mainly lie on the type of weather. But they chase their friends and family who have transferred in that location.

The phenomenon called as stay-at-home caught some developers off guard. They never realized that one day the resort-style adult communities near main urban centers will become lesser in demand. The Midwest and Northwest location was once the best seller. During the mid-90s one half of such communities are situated in Sunbelt. Washington D.C is not a very popular retirement location however there are dozens of adult active communities available wherein some people never believe it is possible. Today, three fourths of these communities are not within Sunbelt anymore. The price ranges 150,000 dollars and above for a town home having two bedrooms and two baths.

The boomers generation has been separated from its Me Generation. For ill or good, the history's largest generation changes the faces of everything on the path they once lived. They exchange health care from entertainment, investing from childbirth, and education from fitness. It will hold no surprise that boomer retirees will reinvent the entire retirement village.  Boomers regardless of their age still continue to make changes.