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New to this group... I "think" I fit the Squeaking By profile... I'm not sure I want to think about it as "squeaking by". I more like the idea of living a simple life (no charge cards for over 15 years; older model car; bartering for goods and services; recycling clothing, furniture, household goods -- and not junk, either). I love the Stone Soup idea of creating something beautiful from basically very little. I have never been able to work in a 9-5 corporate kind of box. I've always wanted a certain amount of daily freedom (to come and go as I please; say yes or no; spend time with my grandchildren; help my kids in a crisis situation; have coffee with a friend in the middle of the day, etc.) so I've been in business for myself for over 20 years.

I believe in the "just in time" theory of life... That my needs and desires are always met just in time. It has always worked for me. I have my social security retirement (for now...) which is not much, but bits of work come to me in odd ways... Of course, I still do massage, Reiki, and my readings (part time). I also often fill in for temp and odd jobs that someone or other calls me about (receptionist, housesitter, dog walker, helping older friends with housework, driving internationally located people to spiritual retreat centers, etc.)

A lot of my work is "off the books" and I generally love my life. Things might be a bit tight for traveling, and so on, but whenever I need a bit more money, work seems to open up in odd ways. Right now I'm housesitting for pay, and it's like a mini-vacation (big house, nice view, big tv, garage parking, blah blah)

I definitely would love to hear how the rest of you manage your retirement or semi-retirement. For me, I expect to always be working in some way or other. And truthfully, that appeals to me. I always want to add more, so I'm also exploring possibilities for volunteering my time... somewhere/somehow.

This morning I got up and took an early walk with my neighbor...it is a bit cool for Arizona and as I returned home, I thanked her for getting me up and out every day and she said she was grateful to have someone to walk with, too.

This Thursday, many of us will be with friends and family - sitting around a table full of food but some of us will be Squeaking By - for whatever reason.

I will be with friends...my first year as a widow and while I have a lot to be sad about but through it all - I am still grateful for a lot of things...including YOU...my Eons friends.

So before we get baking and peeling and tied up in the events of Thursday...I wanted to say that. I also wanted to tell you that I am grateful for a lot of other things on this list I will start in my first reply. Feel free to add...

I am working tday so I am posting a message late Sunday night for Monday morning...today's topic is about feel safe and secure in your home. Do you have a home security system? Are you Concerned about security? Would you ever do something to improve security at home? How about rolldown screens?

I just happened to catch a financial segment on CNN this morning that mentioned a website for checking items online, now that Black Friday is almost here. Here are some additional websites for shopping, checking prices, etc. See below.

In addition to our member who has already posted bing.com, here are a few more.

phonescoop.com (cell phones)
refurbdepot.com (refurbished computers, etc)
retailmenot.com (CNN anchor says she and her husband use this site often)

Of course, use pricegrabber.com and bizrate.com for price comparison. A couple more are froogle.google.com and shopping.msn.com.

Costs considered with preparing our Thanksgiving meal, are we going to make our usual? Plans for more or less people to feed. Any one grouping with other families or people to save money on the meal ? How about going out to have your meal instead of home made? We are cooking at home and having some family and maybe a few friends come by to eat. We hope to have enough to fed them all. Some of these people would not have another place to go or get a meal if we cannot provide it.

I was so depressed last night thinking about the economy, the wars, jobs, Savings, Social Security, retirement funds, my personal situation, etc......

I called Lifeline.

Got a freaking call center in Pakistan .
I told them I was suicidal.
They all got excited and asked if I could drive a truck...



LOL! A friend MariaGrazia posted this in another group...love it!!

This is a very old household hint but it comes in handy every year at this time. I have some inexpensive "silver"
for Thanksgiving I wanted it to look nice but didn't want to polish. I took the silver and laid it in an aluminium pan and poured baking soda and very hot water.
Magic, nice shining silver.

Today - we have tea for our tea drinkers!!

I am working again today...have you noticed, I work a lot lately. Yesterday, I left work at 4:00pm and met a friend for dinner. Let's see - what else is new with you??

I am having a problem with graphics lately...I post and the message is that I am exceeding bandwidth - what is that?!? I had to repost this...

Today's topic is about collections....one of the ways you can spend or make money is on collections.

Did you collect anything as a kid? If yes, what happened to your collection?

Do you "collect" anything today?

Do you have anything today that you could sell and make some money in the "right' market??

Do you have a plan to get rid of your collections??