”They Have Books and Things That They Lend For Free ….”
(oh come on!  If you’re of a “certain” age, you’re already humming
the tune in your head!!”)

Question – do you know where your local library branch is?

If not, shame on you!

Do you have an up-to-date library card?

If not, double shame on you!

(And if you have school-aged children who don’t have an up-to-date library card either, triple shame on you!!!)

The first question you should be asking yourself, right after “can I afford to retire”, is “do I know the way to my local library branch?” 

I promise you, it’s not your high school library anymore!

As soon as you have retired, you should waste no time in making your local library branch your new best friend!

It may have been so long since you’ve actually been inside a library, you’ve forgotten just what the library has to offer, especially for retirees:

a) Computers and internet access.  If you don’t have a home computer, you can book time on one of the library’s computers.  And since you’re probably going to be looking for a computer at 10 a.m. on a weekday morning, chances are very good that all of the computers are going to be free! If you have a home computer, but no internet provider, pack up your lap top and head to the library.

b) Printers.  If you have a home computer, but no printer – down load your files and head to the library.

c) Just bought your first lap top in anticipation of retiring but aren’t really quite sure how to make the thing work – betcha there’s a free computer workshop being offered at your local library.  (Most of the computer classes at the Mississauga library branches are being marketed specifically to and for seniors!)

d) Speaking of free workshops, there are tons of them being offered through the Mississauga library system.  And I’m sure the same is true of the library system in whatever municipality you call home.  I haven’t seen a library system yet that isn’t offering workshops on how to use the library’s resources to trace your family tree, for example!  (A top ten project for most retirees, it seems!)

e) Drop-in’s and book clubs.  Join a library book club and the book will be provided to you!  Drop in on the monthly knitting club (or scrapbooking or model airplane club).  Or ask if you can start a drop-in for a particular hobby that interests you!

f) Monthly speaker’s series – cancer, Alzheimer’s, diabetes, arthritis.   Guest speakers from various organizations will undoubtedly being making the monthly rounds of your library system. 

g) And let’s not forget the primary raisin d’etre for the library system – books!  Don’t buy the next bestseller (do you really have money in your budget to buy hardcover books anyway?)  Pick it up at the library.  May have to get yourself on the “wait list”, but you’re not going anywhere, so you’ve got the time to wait!  And once you have read the book and have decided that you can’t live without your very own copy, then you can go out a buy a copy!

h) And magazines and CD’s!  Before you go out and buy a new CD or the next monthly issue of a favorite magazine, check the library first.

i) DVD’s.  Some libraries keep a library of recent releases, some don’t.  Just check before you buy!

j) Discards.  Most libraries cull their collections of books, magazines, CD’s and DVD’s on a regular basis.  Get to know your library staff and find out when the monthly, bi-monthly, bi-annual or annual cull happens.  Can usually pick up a myriad of items for less than a buck!

k) The bulletin board/brochure rack.  The bulletin board and brochure rack in my local library branch have become one of my prime sources for information on the goings-on in my neighbourhood.  And I suspect, the smaller your home town, the larger the library bulletin board.  All of your local sports and arts organizations are bound to have a flyer in the rack.  The bulletin board is also a prime source of information for notices from your local government – planning hearings, New Year’s levee, Canada Day Celebrations, etc. 

l) The Mississauga Library E-Bookmobile made a stop in Celebration Square last fall.  I don’t have an e-reader (yet), but if you’ve got an e-reader, check your library branch for free downloads.

m) Music – I can download x number of free music selections from the Mississauga Library (I have an IPod sitting in a plastic case on my bookshelf.  No excuse now for not trying to figure out how to work the thing!)

 

n)  I can access a 3-D printer at the Mississauga central library branch

… and I’m sure there are loads and loads of other services and activities available in your local library branch that I haven’t even thought of!
 

So, right after you submit your notice of retirement to human resources … get out a map or a GPS or a bloodhound and go and find your local library branch.
 

(And the same goes for any Community Centre in your area!  I’ll bet the smaller the city you eventually retire to, the more events and activities you’ll find offered at both.  And the bulletin boards and brochure racks will be proportionately larger as well!  And no doubt, many of the activities offered will be free!)

Money Makes the World ‘Round

The holiday season is finally officially over and I’m guessing your January credit card statements have just arrived in the mail.  I know mine has. 

But I’ll bet my credit card statement has a heck of a lot fewer charges on it than your’s does. 

And you know why? 

Cash. 

Good old-fashioned, cold-currency cash.

If you are long retired, newly retired or thinking about retiring – let me re-introduce you to the concept of paying with cash.

We baby boomers were the first generation to be introduced to the concept of credit cards.  Easy and immediate credit to buy whatever we wanted, whenever we wanted it.  And as long as we paid the minimum amount due on the monthly statement, there was no limit to the amount of potential credit we had access to.

Virtually from childhood, we have been bombarded with advertising, magazines, style and home improvement television shows, etc., etc., etc. telling us the best and most beautiful ways to exercise all that credit the banks were pushing on us.

And now, at the dawn of the 21^st century, we don’t even have to go to the time and trouble of actually fishing those credit cards out of our wallets. We can just wave our expensive cell phones in the general vicinity of a chip and pin machine and everything from a cup of coffee to a slightly-used car and even the down payment on a house can be had on credit, no questions asked.

Well, I’m here to tell you that as a retiree, the cashless society is not your friend. 

In fact, by the time you actually retire, you should no longer be on speaking terms with your credit cards.

If y’all remember, I suggested that you start seriously looking at your finances at least five years prior to your actual retirement date.  You need to figure out exactly how much money you are spending on a monthly basis.  That means your mortgage payment or rent, all monthly utilities, home and auto insurance, transit, gas and auto maintenance, groceries and spending money, debt repayment and banking fees, cell phones and internet, pets, etc., etc.

Basically, you have to figure out where every last penny you are earning is going.

Then you use this information to put together a monthly, retirement budget. 

So starting today, you are going to re-introduce yourself to the concept of paying with cash. 

Look at the pretty colours of the various bills, memorize the dollar amounts on each bill, get the feel of the plasticized paper, be mesmerized by the holograms.

And learn the hard, cold lesson that when you’ve used up all your monthly allotment of currency on something ridiclous like an expensive lunch or a new pair of shoes – you are essentially broke. 

Once you’re out of cash, you have to wait for the next pension cheque to drop into the bank to get some more. 

You don’t get to use your credit card for a tankful of gas.  You don’t get to go the ATM and withdraw “only” forty bucks.  You don’t get to go to the movies with your friends.

It’s a b**** of a lesson.  And the lesson is – learn to live on a budget!

Now that you are retired, you should always, always, always be using cash for:

Groceries

Transit tickets and passes

Gas for the car, as well as your driver’s license renewal, yearly sticker, and bi-annual emission testing

Movie admissions

All lunches and dinners

Trade show, exhibition and amusement park admissions

Clothing and shoes

All personal care items, including make-up and hair salon appointments

All beverages of a social nature purchased at the liquor or beer store

Pet food and toys

…. basically, once you are retired, you should be paying cash for absolutely everything.  If you are using credit to pay for anything listed above, you aren’t doing the budget thing correctly. You need to revisit your monthly budget and make some realistic adjustments.

Because of all of the easy credit we have had access to all of our adult lives, we baby boomers are also the first generation attempting to retire while at the same time, carrying record amounts of personal debt. 

So when you eventually do retire, you need to become extra conscious of exactly how much you are spending in relation to the size of your pension cheque so as not to increase that debt load.

And one of the best ways to monitor your spending habits and overall personal debt, retired or not, is to pay with cash whenever possible.

Hey, I watch re-run episodes of “’Til Debt Do Us Part”!