Household, Family & Friends 6 - Have your Facebook Friends changed over the past year?

Household, Family & Friends 6

Have your Facebook Friends changed over the past year?

Back on January 3, when I first posted under this HFF theme, my oldest daughter, Annette, responded to the Facebook comment this way, which I thought was very useful:

“I find that Facebook serves three purposes:
1) Essential connections with my immediate family through personal pages as well as "closed" group page.
2) Important connections with close friends and family through sharing photos and keeping in touch.
3) Informal connections with acquaintances and others from my past. Not essential, but still lots of fun.
Each serves a different function, but is an easy way to stay in touch.”

First, do you agree with this assessment, or do you find you use Facebook differently (assuming you use Facebook at all, of course!)?

Second, do you feel you use Facebook differently now than you did, say, a year ago? How? Why?

Third, do you find you are spending more or less time on Facebook now than you did a year ago?

Finally, have the friends you regularly follow and communicate with via Facebook changed from a year ago? How? Why? Have you given it any thought? Has it been intentional?



Think about it. Share your thoughts.

Please use the Comments below, or Facebook, Google+ or Twitter, to let us hear from you.


Will you take the opportunity to leave a comment? Hope so! ;-)

Think Positive, Do Good! ;-)

Household, Family & Friends 5 - How do you define 'Friend?'

Household, Family & Friends 5

How do you define 'Friend?'

What is a Friend? Who is a Friend? What determines the qualification to be a friend, for you, and how is a friend different from an acquaintance? Do you make a distinction? Have you ever given it a thought? Do you have more than one class of ‘friend?’

Do you spend time with each of your friends? Is that a necessary issue for someone to be a friend? Whether you answer yes or no to that one probably tells a lot about how you define 'a friend.' Or, are there more important criteria you use.

When is someone no longer a friend? Or, are people you consider ‘a friend’ your friend for life! How do you think others feel about this? Do they have the same feelings as you, or do you perceive others as defining a ‘friend’ differently than you do?

Think about it. Share your thoughts.

Please use the Comments below, or Facebook, Google+ or Twitter, to let us hear from you.


Will you take the opportunity to leave a comment? Hope so! ;-)

Think Positive, Do Good! ;-)

Household, Family & Friends 4 - Family Spread

Household, Family & Friends 4

Family Spread

 

Is your immediate family scattered across the United States, or around the world, like ours is? Or are they mostly in one close-together area, like your home town? Which of these situations you face can have a serious bearing on what plans you make as you move into the ‘empty nest’ stage of live and beyond, as we mentioned in a couple of earlier postings.

We have immediate family in Utah, Texas and Missouri. Including our siblings, you must add Alaska, Iowa, Minnesota, and Louisiana. If you move to first cousins, several more states are added. Look or sound familiar? Have you decided where you want to spend your ‘Golden Years?’ Is that term still even used anymore? In planning for your ‘Golden Years’ having you considered this may include you and your spouse living to 100 years old or even older? What impact will that have on your decision? Can you even guess where your children will each be living in 10, 20, or 30 years? Most likely not.

What are you doing to stay actively connect to your close family members spread across the country (and the globe)? We’ll talk more about this issue in future posts. Think about it. Share your thoughts.

Please use the Comments below, or Facebook, Google+ or Twitter, to let us hear from you.


Will you take the opportunity to leave a comment? Hope so! ;-)

Think Positive, Do Good! ;-)

Household, Family & Friends 3 - Downsizing

Household, Family & Friends 3

Downsizing

From last week:
“As retirement approaches, proper housing for each of us becomes of primary concern. In retirement, the issue does not go away, sometimes it becomes even more critical. Have you thought about it? Of course you have! ;-)”

Many of you reading this are in your 40s, 50s, and 60s. Have you given downsizing serious thought? Have you done it? Even the extra money you save could come in real handy in your 70s, 80s, and 90s. Many of you in the above groups will live into your 100s… have you really thought about that?

Today, let’s think mostly about the empty nester couple or single person. How much space do you really need? How much of your house do your actually use regularly? Is that second floor necessary or useful? Use it for the kids coming home two or three times a year? Really?? Think of the heating, insurance, property tax, loan interest, etc. you are 'wasting' with that extra space sitting empty 300+ days out of the year.

A single floor, easy access, house, cabin, condo or apartment will serve you just as well… correct? And, you are in much better physical condition to do the downsizing and make a move now, then you will be a few years. Yes, really, you are. By 60, the aches and pains become much more noticeable, even if you are athletic and active - which most of you are, correct? ;-) It is time to get serious about this. What are you thinking as you read this? Let me know… I’d love to hear from you! ;-)

Please use the Comments below, or Facebook, Google+ or Twitter, to let us hear from you.


Will you take the opportunity to leave a comment? Hope so! ;-)

Think Positive, Do Good! ;-)

Household, Family & Friends 2 Tiny House or what?

Household, Family & Friends 2 

Tiny House or what?

 

As retirement approaches, proper housing for each of us becomes of primary concern. In retirement, the issue does not go away, sometimes it becomes even more critical. Have you thought about it? Of course you have! ;-)

I used the image of the Tiny House, above, for its striking image. I see this as a great tiny house for young folks, but not for older folks. Note the steps. I’m not convinced that tiny houses are for retirement, but ‘to each his own.’ What do you think? Have you considered them, at all. There are now several television shows that provide a lot of information on the tiny house phenomena. Would you live in one?

Are you empty nesters? Still live in your large family home? What would it take to get you in a smaller place? We’ve downsized a couple of times, but many are reluctant to even think about it. We’ll get back to this subject in later posts. Where are you at on the ‘downsizing’ issue?

 Please use the Comments below, or Facebook, Google+ or Twitter, to let us hear from you.


Will you take the opportunity to leave a comment? Hope so! ;-)

Think Positive, Do Good! ;-)

Household, Family & Friends

Household, Family & Friends

In retirement, household, family, and friends may well be the primary focus of attention most of the time. Certainly, my genealogy blog, Dr. Bill Tells Ancestor Stories, has been a focus of a lot of my efforts in recent years. I’ll make reference to posts on that blog regularly as we discuss some of these important issues.

Do you have a genealogy blog? Do you find that Facebook has often taken over for your blog in some aspects of your postings? I certainly have. Facebook has taken on a much bigger role in family and friends relationships than I would ever have imagined. What do you think? Is this a positive or a negative thing? Or, do you find your experience to be different?

The series of posts here on Tuesdays, in this category, will also take on such disparate topics as Tiny Houses, downsizing, use of storage facilities and many other issues. What would you like to see comments on? I hope we can develop some real conversations, using the Comments below, or Facebook, Google+ or Twitter, as well.


Will you take the opportunity to leave a comment? Hope so! ;-)

Think Positive, Do Good! ;-)