New Jersey Baby Boomer

The media is reporting that the first Baby Boomers in New Jersey, and all over the United States, have started collecting Social Security.  I’m a “Baby Boomer”, but still have 3-6 years until I can collect…though if those years go as fast as the previous years have, I’ll be there in no time.  Because I didn’t work outside the home for as many years as some…was a stay at home Mom as many years as possible, I don’t think my contribution to our household will be very significant, but it will be better than nothing.

Many predict that the baby boomers are going to eat up all the social security available, there’s quite a bit of talk and quite a few sites on the web projecting this.  Time will tell how all of that goes.  I’ve heard gloom and doom predictions before and they don’t always turn out as bad as predicted, but we are living in challenging times now, so it’s hard to say.

This gloomy article from foxnews.com states that 10,000 Baby Boomers will be retiring each day…and will start collecting Social Security, not to mention Medicare for some and Medicaid for others, things that we’ve just taken for granted that we will have available to us, just as they were available to our parents.  There are also interesting facts at the Social Security Reform Center website.

Fear does come along and rears it’s ugly head as I try to sort it all out in my thinking, and it’s good to think and plan as much as we can, but there’s a lot of things we can’t plan for…it’s those things that can bring fear.  It’s at those times that I love remembering and singing this old hymn of the faith, my faith:

I don’t know about tomorrow;
I just live from day to day.
I don’t borrow from its sunshine
For its skies may turn to grey.

I don’t worry o’er the future,
For I know what Jesus said.
And today I’ll walk beside Him,
For He knows what is ahead.

Many things about tomorrow
I don’t seem to understand
But I know who holds tomorrow
And I know who holds my hand

It’s black Friday…or grey Friday if you look out my windows. No, I didn’t run out the door to hit the midnight sales last night, or the 3 am sales at Kohls, or the early sales at other stores. Those days are done for me, for some they may be a tradition, for me, they were something I did when my children were young….and there was no such thing as “online shopping”.

I’m an online shopper but this year, with a challenged economy and how it has challenged us financially, I’m going to try to rediscover my creative side, and see how we can save.

Thanksgiving holidays…yes, we have lots to be thankful for, there is no doubt about that, but it’s a deeper more meaningful kind of thanksgiving, not the kind that is thankful because we own this or that, but the kind that is thankful that someone in the family who is aging is still with you, the kind that remembers those that are no longer with you with thanksgiving for the part they have played in your life. There’s missing, the missing of those loved ones, missing children that may be overseas in the military, missing children that have married and moved out of the area. Everyone’s circumstances are different, so their approach to the season varies.

This was maybe not the best Thanksgiving I’ve ever had, not feeling well and various circumstances, but still, there are so many things to be thankful for, always…it’s a good exercise to take time to count your blessings, to count my blessings, especially if my mood isn’t lining up with the season as it should.

I’m thankful for you, my readers.

I finished mine yesterday…online.  You can do your New Jersey Income Taxes free online if you like, but since I’ve been using TaxAct for a few years now, and my records are all in their “system”, I just used it again this year….it was only $17 and change to file both returns.

But for those of you who want to do yours free, the New Jersey State return, that is, you can go to this link - you will probably qualify, I always used to when I used the service.

The IRS also has a FreeFile service that might be useful to you.

Your life circumstances will determine which is best, for us, paying the small fee to have our information carried over from year to year, and the Federal information transferred to the State return, and all filing managed by TaxAct works well, as do other similar income tax services.

What have you used to file your New Jersey returns?

In New Jersey, Auto Insurance is required, and according to New Jersey’s “Dept. of Banking and Insurance” site “the type and cost of that coverage can vary significantly. Every day, consumers are finding that there are options available to make it easier to comply with the law. The Automobile Insurance Cost Reduction Act mandated that a Basic Policy be available to all drivers.” Because of this, it’s not a bad idea to look into auto insurance quote for your own State to see what’s available.

While the rates you pay may be competitive, the penalties for driving without insurance are very severe…not only because of fines you pay, but because of the potential of losing your drivers license and not being able to drive to your place of employment, or the possibility of having your car empounded.

For more information on what to consider when getting a basic policy, click the “live link” above, and also visit the state.nj.us website and search “basic auto insurance policy” for our State guidelines.

What a surprise it was to be called by Sid Johnston from the Suburban Trends, a local/regional paper, to ask me questions about my blogs and websites. As much as I share in writing, verbally, I’m relatively quiet (some may disagree, but it’s true, I promise LOL!) by nature, so just say that I live in Northern NJ on most of my sites to maintain some privacy, but Sid was persistent, and tracked me down, and then put together this wonderful article…thank you so much!  Actually when you think about it, there isn’t a lot of privacy when you post to blogs and on the web, your audience is huge, hmmm. Well anyway, never expected a full page article, and very much appreciate it.

Everything is true in the article…well, almost…I guess since I have a blog for Work at Home Grandmothers, and a small but growing network of Work at Home Grandmothers one would imagine that I’m a grandmom…not yet, but maybe one day.  Most if not all of my other blogs and sites will be listed in my blogroll as soon as I finish typing this.

One thing I wasn’t “savvy” enough to do was figure out how to make the images so that you could click on them and bring up a bigger image, so if you’d like to be able to read the article, email me at claudiascorner[at]gmail.com and I’ll send you larger images, or if you live locally, stop by the store and pick up a copy of the Trends, and for more information about the paper, or to subscribe, click here.

3/19/09 Update:  Suburban Trends has added the article to their site, and IZEA did a post on their blog, you can click here to find the post.  Thanks to both of you!

Just last week a friend of mine stopped by to say hello who is a nurse, and has been out of work for months, so when this website came across my path, it was hard to resist posting about it….I’m going to share this with my friend.

This is about job opportunities in the Travel Nursing field. There is a staffing service called Procare USA that provides registered nurses with assignments throughout the United States, and has been doing so since 1990. Assignments can last up to 13 weeks, or may be more permanent, depending upon the job requirements.

If you’re lifestyle is flexible enough to take advantage of a job opportunity like this, you can look forward to good pay, travel, and the can choose from hundreds of nursing jobs throughout the USA.

There are also benefits beyond just receiving good pay, they include free housing that is private, medical/dental/health insurance, 401k with company match, immediate vesting, expense reimbursement, and a lot more, so please do take a look at the procareusa.com site and see if this is for you.

Now I’m off to email or call my NJ Baby Boomer nurse friend to tell her about this opportunity.

With the increase in job loss, or fear of job loss in the present recession, there are support groups beginning to form in New Jersey. I just received an email from a fellow NJ Baby Boomer, and thought I’d share the content with you. If you know of other support groups forming, please leave a comment:

UMDNJ-University Behavioral HealthCare to Provide Free Support Groups for People Affected by the Economic Crisis

NEWARK – Panic over job loss. Fear of unemployment. Profound worry about meeting mortgage and tuition payments. Unfortunately, these are the realities of this severe recession.

If you are experiencing any of these kinds of reactions to the current fiscal crisis, it is important to know that you are not alone; there is a place you can go for assistance.

Beginning March 3, UMDNJ-University Behavioral HealthCare (UBHC), a statewide mental health and addiction services network, will offer free 90-minute support groups, run by experienced counselors, for those affected by the economic downturn. Sessions will be held weekly at the following locations on the days and times specified:

-Newark: Wednesdays at 12:30 p.m. at UBHC, 183 South Orange Avenue;
-New Brunswick: Wednesdays at 3 p.m. at 303 George Street, 2nd Floor;
-Edison: Thursdays at 3 p.m. at 100 Metroplex Drive, 2nd Floor, Suite 200;
-Monmouth Junction: Tuesdays at noon at 4326 U.S. Highway 1.

• Sessions are open to the public and no appointments are necessary to attend. Participants may remain anonymous.
• People interested in attending may call (800) 969-5300 for more information.
• Members of the media interested in more information about this new initiative should contact Zenaida Mendez at (973) 972-7273.

PLEASE VIEW THE COMMENT(S) BELOW if you are viewing this as a single post, or click the “comments” link under the title of the post, for more support group information that has been added since this post was published.  Thank you.

We’re all pinching pennies these days, and here’s another way to do it!

You can now pay NOTHING to make a call to any land line or cell phone anywhere through CallingAmerica.com Free USA Calls!, all you have to do is watch a short ad before you make your call. This service works domestically and all over the world….you can call the United States free from any cybercafe or Internet-enabled computer virtually anywhere.

If you’re a registered caller, your call can last for up to 15 minutes. If unregistered, just to give the service a try, your call can last a couple minutes. I look forward to registering and experimenting with the service…there are times when this will come in handy, like when I want to make a daytime call and don’t want to use my cell minutes (we don’t have a land line), or…well, take a look for yourself and see what you think by clicking CallingAmerica.com Free USA Calls!.  The “totally free” part of it is very appealing!

Thanks for reading.