Aging Baby Boomers Becoming Roommates

First there was Felix-and-Oscar. There were The Golden Girls. Such arrangements--adults living with adult roommates--are about to get less comic and more common, say experts on housing and on the aging of the Baby Boom.

Rachel Caraviello, vice president of Affordable Living for the Aging (ALA), says that nationally there are about 130,000 households where the cohabiters are aged 50 or older, and where they have no familial relationship or romantic connection.
Caraviello views these arrangements as one more manifestation of the “sharing economy”.  Here, one party typically is house-rich but cash-poor; and the other has money or services to contribute.
(Original Article)

I was a little taken back by the tone of this article. The author seems to be of the opinion that unrelated adults sharing living expenses is a new phenomenon, peculiar to today's economy.
I remember a time when it was very common for friends and acquaintances to pool their resources so as to live a more comfortable life. Most of my friends who moved out of their parents house after High School or College had apartments with roommates to offset the cost of rent and utilities. It was also a way for them to enjoy a kind of extended family and ease the transition to adulthood.
As a Yuppie, it was also de rigueur for a group of friends to rent a ski house for the winter, and then later "Summer in The Hamptons."

Is the author out of touch with what goes on in the real world, or is it me?
Your thoughts?.
  

This Website Compares All the Different Phone and Carrier Combinations for You

WhistleOut.com

For the average Boomer out there, it’s next to impossible to keep up with everything that is going on right now in the Cell Phone industry.
Luckily, you don’t have to.

 A brand new website called WhistleOut that just launched allows users to find the best available plans from every big U.S. wireless carrier. According to the site, nearly 80,000 different wireless plan combinations are stored in its data base for comparison.

You start by selecting the number of lines on your account and then choosing a phone model. There’s also a separate cellphone finder tool, in case you’re having trouble choosing a handset.
Next, you input how many voice minutes you use each month on average, as well as how many messages you send and receive and how much data you want. Finally, you can pick a target price range for monthly service, choose between prepaid or postpaid plans, and select your current carrier.
The result is a fantastic comparison of any and all service plans that might suit your needs from 16 different carriers.
WhistleOut is well-made and incredibly useful, and you can find it here.
(Original Article)

Naps Linked With Higher Risk Of Death

Middle-age and older adults who take daytime naps may be at increased risk of dying, a new study from England suggests.

In the study, people ages 40 to 79 who napped daily, for less than an hour, were 14 percent more likely to die over a 13-year period, compared to those who did not nap. Longer naps were linked with a higher risk: people whose daily naps lasted an hour or more were 32 percent more likely to die over the study period.

The findings held even after the researchers took into account many factors that could affect people's risk of death, such as their age, gender, body mass index (BMI), whether they smoked, how much they exercised, and whether they had certain pre-existing medical conditions (such as diabetes, cancer or asthma).
(Story Continues)

I was surprised at the conclusions of this study. I've taken naps on and off through out my adult life, and I'm still going strong at 70. Currently I take a nap in the early afternoon and it lasts anywhere from one nano second to 15 minutes; the average being 10 min. but who's counting.
Every time I see a dubious study like this, I always think of the old Woody Allen classic, Sleeper. The one where he wakes up after 200 years of suspended animation only to find out that greasy hamburgers, french fries, and milkshakes are health food.
I have a feeling this study will be debunked over time too.

Feel free to post your "napping routine" along with any other comments you have on the subject.

Everyday products you're using wrong

Sure, the way you use Reynolds wrap, eat from a Chinese takeout box, chow down on Greek yogurt and pour ketchup totally works ... but this video is about to make you see things a bit differently.
Even though it's been floating around the net for a few days, I thought I'd share it with you just in case you missed it. Plus, it's been so long since I've embedded a video in one of my posts, I just had to see if I still knew how to do it.
Enjoy!