Print

Email story

Comment

Email editor

A rich life without a high price tag

By SHEILA STOLL
Published April 26, 2005

	Pinching your pennies Whether you live on a fixed income or simply enjoy the thrill of the hunt for savings, many resources can help make the most of your money.

One of our favorite restaurants gives senior discounts, which makes it possible to eat there fairly often.

We live in a condo complex, and I have noticed that one of the main topics around the pool is where to find the best happy hour. But it's not about cheap drinks; it's about free food.

We have a favorite place and during happy hour, 4:30 to 6:30 p.m., it looks like a senior center.

I've wondered a bit about the demographic fact that, during those two hours, the place is crammed with oldsters eating tiny sandwiches, vegetables and dip and various finger foods. Very few stick around after the free food is finished.

I thought at first it was because the goodies were free, but I now think there's another reason: small portions. In talking with friends our age, I find a recurring theme: We are all put off by the large portions served as meals in most restaurants. Food that is both free and small is a gift from heaven.

There are a lot of places, attractions, that we would never visit were it not for the senior discounts. I'm sure we're not the only ones who dive for "twofer" coupons, but for us some are useless. There is never a time when we could eat two pizzas at one sitting.

The town in which we live has a wonderful park, and every Sunday during the spring and fall there are free open-air concerts. Some of the musicians are groups we would have to pay serious money to see in a club or other concert venue. We can combine a healthful walk in the park, terrific music, a chance to see friends and an opportunity meet new ones.

We get discounts at the zoo and the botanical garden. I also remember how nice it was to get senior discounts at Homosassa Springs. (I loved visiting that hippopotamus. He impressed my grandkids too.)

We all have to consider price when we do anything other than sit around the house. We clip coupons from the newspaper, eat stuff that's on sale at the grocery, and rediscover the pleasures of parks.

We have a friend, a Franciscan monk, who is the world's foremost genius at finding freebies. He lives and works at a mission in Guaymas, Mexico.

I recall a day when he was trying to get on a bus to go to the States, a nine-hour ride. He implored the driver to let him hitchhike. His reasoning was logical: "You're going there anyway and you have some extra seats. I'll just ride along."

Brother Ivo is old. He worries that he'll get Alzheimer's because several members of his family had it. He figures that constant activity and constant finagling will keep his brain agile. Being a monk and having taken a vow of poverty, it's a given that he has to finagle.

Darling Husband and Brother Ivo took 21 kids from Guaymas to Europe eight years ago for a three-week tour.

They got freebies everywhere, if you consider they paid in music, not money. They went to Assisi, the home parish of St. Francis, and to the Vatican, where they gave a televised performance for the pope. Neither Darling Husband nor I am Catholic, but we have both learned from Brother Ivo. He is cunning, crafty and knows how to find what he needs on the cheap. He is also a living example that the best things in life - love, kindness, friendship and good works - are free.

It's a little difficult to hold that thought in the face of soaring medical costs and gasoline prices that make one decide that walking really is a viable option, provided one can still walk.

I'm a great fan of senior discounts; they help a lot. But, thanks to Brother Ivo, Darling Husband, my children, my late parents and my friends, I know that what I give freely, what others around me give freely is more valuable than any discount. Love is free. Spring is free. Get out there and enjoy it - for free.

- Write to Sheila Stoll, c/o Seniority, the St. Petersburg Times, P.O. Box 1121, St. Petersburg, FL 33731.

[Last modified April 22, 2005, 08:50:04]