As a retired educator, I want to remain a life long learner.
There's a new studio about 25 minutes away that has classes and I've attended a couple of them. But they are expensive and basically a treat. But since I've married DH and we live in a small town, I'm on the lookout for more economical things.
I know many of us have talked about what a money saver the local library is. We live outside the city limits so I have to pay $60 a year to use the library, but it is a bargain nonetheless. Our library prints out a little receipt when something is checked out and says how much it would cost if you bought the books you checked out. So far, it says I've saved $820.88 since I started using this library. Besides the books I've checked out, they have different programs, all free. Once a month is "True Crime Night" and it's pretty interesting. We've had two authors come and talk plus another expert besides the library director leading discussions. They have craft nights where everything is available for your use. I've made a couple cute items including a macrame keychain and a carrot using foam, rope, greenery, and paint. Then they started a crochet night and they have patterns and yarn for different things. The first two or three times, I helped the instructor since I knew how to crochet.
In February I attended a class about Tussie Mussies which was offered through our local extention department. I learned about flowers and what many of them mean and we made a small one...again, all free.
Another small library near us had a doormat painting class last month and I had a granddaughter join and we did doormats for $20 each. Not a bad deal and a little bonding time.
We have a senior center in this little town and although I've seen some of the things they have, the one that caught my eye was a tea blending class. I attended that today. It was $5 and a herbalist led it and talked about the fundamentals of different herbs. We each got to blend a tea and take it home. I had a chance also ask some questions about some of the herbs I am interested in plus I have enough of loose leaf tea to make 3-4 cups.
In addition to these, I'm also looking things up online, trying to gather information on other things and be informed.
A friend of mine is going to retire in a few months. I get that she's tired of working, but I suggested she start looking for these free items to attend and she informed me she didn't need to attend anything. She was content with what she knew. Yowza...I was put in my place. I predict, and I hope I'm wrong, but she's going to retire and realize she has no money to do anything fun since she has not planned for retirement, just that she wants to retire because she's tired of working. What good is being retired if you cannot have some fun, even if it is done on a shoestring?
April 16th, 2026 at 05:06 am 1776315979
I truly believe that this is how individual households, all the way to great empires throughout history fall, because when it really comes down to it, it comes down to people somehow refusing to learn and grow, and ultimately survive.
I hope your friend fares well somehow into retirement. For me, I know that no matter what happens, I don’t want to go into the end of my life, years or decades down the road, to end up living in pain, suffering, and poverty. Can you imagine that, say, making it to 90 years old, and yet, you can barely afford your basic care needs, relying solely from the kind of family (but putting a toll on them) and suffering in life, with only death waiting to finally take you. What a horrible, regrettable way to go, and to me, that’s the whole point retirement planning: To make the rest of our life, the best of our life.
April 16th, 2026 at 03:47 pm 1776354430
April 17th, 2026 at 01:22 pm 1776432137
Good ideas, Patient Saver. I'll look into that.