The Survive and Thrive Boomer Guide

Baby boomers deal with life in today’s world

 

The midterm elections are Tuesday and some of our baby boomer writers are getting excited about the outcome. America could be on the cusp of political change. It all depends on who comes out to vote.

This week, boomer bloggers are writing about:

• A 50^th high school reunion.

• A family’s immigrant past.

• Bullet journals.

• The child-like part of us.

• The deferred credit card trick.

• How Congress is out of step with the rest of us.

Rebecca Forstadt-Olkowski of BabyBoomster is the host for this week’s Best of Boomer Blog 571. Click here to get links to this week’s boomer articles. And be sure to join in the conversations. Boomer bloggers love to hear from readers.

Copyright 2018, Rita R. Robison, Consumer Specialist

Are you ready for a natural disaster? National Preparedness Month is a good time to get organized

Natural disasters and severe weather and can occur with little warning. Examples are this year’s floods and wildfires. Are you ready to leave your home quickly? You can reduce your worries about these events by making sure you’re prepared if and when they happen.

September is National Preparedness Month, and it’s a good time to get your family, pets, and property ready. Suggestions from the Federal Trade Commission include:

Are you ready for back-to-school shopping?

It’s hard to believe, but August is almost here, and soon kids will be headed back to school.

To help parents save money, WalletHub, a personal-finance website, has released the results of its “2018 Back-to-School Shopping Survey” and “Sales-Tax Holiday Calendar” to help parents save hundreds.

Highlights of the reports include:

33 funeral homes fail to disclose price information to consumers, the FTC finds

In 33 of the 134 funeral homes visited in 11 states during 2017, the Federal Trade Commission's undercover investigators found failures to disclose pricing information required by the FTC’s Funeral Rule.

The rule requires funeral homes to provide consumers with an itemized general price list at the beginning of a discussion of funeral arrangements, a casket price list before consumers view any caskets, and an outer burial container price list before they view grave liners or vaults. The rule also prohibits funeral homes from requiring consumers to buy any item, such as a casket, as a condition of obtaining any other funeral good or service.

By requiring a list of prices, the Funeral Rule allows consumers to compare prices and buy only the goods and services they want.

Enjoying the Olympics? It's a good time to multitask

Like many people, I enjoy watching the Olympics. However, I've got too much to do to sit for hours in front of the television.

That's why I decided to get caught up on organizing my photos while watching the Olympics. It's worked very well. I organized all the albums in the photo. However, what I organized were the brochures, thank you letters, and tourist information such as which wineries we visited and what we tasted. For 2015, I've ordered copies of my best photos and identified them on the back of the photos. For 2016 and 2017, I have to finishing getting copies of my best photos into a digital file then have them printed out. I have the photos, probably 500, for 2015, but I need to put them in the archival sleeves. It's going to be a time consuming task.

This would be a good stopping place for me now, and make the switch to working on my taxes. However, tax preparation isn't nearly as much fun. I especially enjoyed looking at the all the information I brought back from my Australian trip during mu album organization.

Since I hurt my back, a compression fracture, I've been resting and recovering at home. Maybe since I'm taking it easy, I'll get more work done on my photos and get my taxes done as well.

Copyright 2018, Rita R. Robison, Consumer Specialist

It's a good time to organize and file your receipts

Last night, I spent several hours organizing my receipts, then filing them. If you keep receipts, which I suggest all consumers do, it's good to get them in order before the receipts for 2018 start coming in.

Since I have a small business, I need to keep track of my business expenses. So, before tax filing time, I need to separate the business receipts from the others. I also make a file for medical receipts.

Last year, I sorted my receipts at the end of the year. That was helpful in February when I began working on my taxes.

For the last several years, I've been stuffing my receipts in a plastic 4-cup measuring cup on a shelf of my kitchen cupboard. I think I'll sort my receipts weekly this year. It would save a lot of time at the end of the year.

Copyright 2017, Rita R. Robison, Consumer Specialist

How's your Junk Drawer?

Today I had to face my Junk Drawer.

My fence is being repaired, and after a worker cut a board for the bottom rail too short, I had to go to Home Dupot and buy a new one. He was at the end of the job, so there weren't any spares.

I didn't want to have part of the six-foot long board sticking out of my trunk, so I thought I'd put down the back seat in my Honda Accord. The extra length of the board would be inside my car instead of sticking out of the back of the trunk.

A great idea, but where was the key unlocks the back seat so it folds down? Maybe in the Junk Drawer? I could only hope.

I began looking, putting the top layer of stuff on the counter. I found an envelope that said Keys, but it was the extra key to my locked mailbox. Darn. But, I persevered.

And there it was. A miracle, indeed.

Someday, I'll get that Junk Drawer cleaned out. Someday.

My mom had a junk drawer. It was the top drawer of a hutch for dishes, I think. I'll have to ask my sisters.

Copyright 2017, Rita R. Robison, Consumer Specialist

What boomers are up to on July Fourth

Meryl Baer, blogging at Six Decades and Counting, admits that she’s not a very good house cleaner. In fact, she says, she could probably win a prize for worst house cleaner.

Baer offers a short story illustrates this fact: Her three-year-old son – this true event occurred decades ago – saw her take the vacuum cleaner out of the closet and asked, “Mommy, who is coming over?” “Why do you think we are getting company?” she asked. “Because you are cleaning the house,” was the reply.

Baer was inspired to write about housekeeping when another blogger said there was some value to spring cleaning when she found a big surprise in her laundry room.

Getting your income taxes prepared: Watch out for H&R Block

Income taxes are due this year on April 18. Have you sent in your return yet? I mailed mine today.

Last year, I had a bad experience with H&R Block. I couldn’t get an estimate from the receptionist on how much it might cost to get my income taxes prepared, nor could I get an estimate when I took my draft forms in and showed them to a tax preparer.

The tax preparer said he’d give me an estimate when he finished my return. Then, I could accept or reject his work. I was shocked when he said the fee would be $472. I was worn out dealing with my taxes, so I paid the high fee.

How things have changed

Things are different these days, our group of baby boomer bloggers note in last week’s articles.

One ponders about whether it’s O.K. for a writer to wear her pajamas all day when she works at home. Another finds wise words in James Baldwin’s quotes from years ago that are helpful in today’s political situation.

How retirement is different these days with retirees seeking purpose, how to reduce your clutter, and how learning about your family history helps you know who you are today are other topics on boomer’s minds.

Then, there’s spring, a most exiting change for people like me who love emerging out of winter.

Tom Sightings of Sightings Over Sixty writes about these articles in the Best of Boomer Blogs #489. Click here to get the links to the articles so you can read all about change. And, be sure to leave a comment. Boomer bloggers love to hear from readers.

Copyright 2017, Rita R. Robison, Consumer Specialist