Cutting Back Costs, Not Enjoyment
While you are working on ways to save on the necessaries — food, clothing, shelter, health costs — you might want to put some creative juices into finding economies in your favorite pastimes. No doubt you are looking forward, in retirement, to having more time to indulge in hobbies, travel, and other activities that bring you enjoyment. Since you are probably going to have to stretch your entertainment dollars further, at the same time you have more opportunity for the fun stuff, now would be an excellent time to find ways to get the most bang for your buck. In addition to seeking, and taking advantage of, discounts offered to seniors specifically, try to manage pursuing your interests with cost-saving opportunities available to anyone. Some examples include:
Going to the theater. Instead of the expensive weekend night tickets, buy mid-week matinee. Some cities have last-minute rush tickets for up to half off. Also, try community theater or college productions for a great value.
If you love baseball, look for games among the farm teams of your Major League Baseball franchise in your area, or college teams.
Be an off-season tourist. Foliage season in Vermont is spectacular, but when the leaves are green in summer it is great place to visit, too.
Special meals out. Besides the early-bird specials, sometimes you can enjoy the fruits of the same kitchen of a top-flight restaurant when you eat in the bar. Even with a more limited menu, it should be the same quality, while knocking off a chunk of the bill. Cooking schools also have terrific deals on gourmet meals that they serve to the public in their own facilities, and there are cooking schools in a lot of mid-sized as well as large cities.
Look for special early evening promotions, such as Happy Hours in bars, that include cheaper drinks and free bar food.
Hopefully you will be a lifetime learner and you will continue to learn ways to save money throughout your retirement. It's not necessary to wait until you actually are retired to find new interests or skills you might enjoy pursuing later.
While you still have the luxury of a steady cash flow, why not look into some adult ed classes on topics that may have caught your fancy but you never had time to explore. Knowing that this is, at best, going to be a superficial exploration should free you of any anxiety about getting overly involved in something you don't have time to undertake in a big way at the present.
Your friends and family may think you have taken leave of your senses if you branch out into something completely out of character for you, but let them laugh. It is your life. Never mind if you have been a lifelong armchair traveler diving into historic novels. If you want to try scuba diving, go ahead.
You can probably take a course at the local YMCA or similar organization. Have you always been annoyed by having to read subtitles in foreign films? Maybe you'd enjoy actually watching the action for a change. So why not enroll in an adult ed foreign language class of your choice. If you find you have a facility for it, you can delve into higher-level classes later when you have more time.
You may already be aware that you have a health or disability issue that will limit your activities increasingly in the years to come. You can use this advance knowledge to seek new ways to enrich and enlarge your life. You may be motivated to seek a support group of people who share your particular health issue and who can offer suggestions for ways to incorporate this into your recreational life.
The key is to incorporate new thinking about creative and cost-effective ways to expand your recreational pursuits in retirement, before actually getting there.
