A good deed get way out of hand.

[NotMe]

Elderly neighbor couple (long story short -- really really nice folk) had problems with plumbing in the kitchen. My son and I, at the behest of my grandkids, volunteered to fix the problem(s) that flooded their kitchen.

Seems some yahoo used superglue on EVERYTHING including drain lines, disposal and dishwasher.

Took the better part of eight hours to get everything undone, an hour or so to get the parts and another two hours to get it all back together again properly.

Going back next week to check the rest of the house. Hopefully they ran out of superglue before they did more damage.

Old man offered us, each, a class of the best home made peach brandy brandy I ever tasted.

The lady promised us all the scratch brownies we could eat. (I expect the grand kids will get most of those .. it was their idea after all)

[Stormin Mormon]

Sounds like what my father used to call a "ten minute job". I sure hope you get blessings from Heaven for taking care of people. The brownies sound good.

Please write and tell us how this works out.

- . Christopher A. Young learn more about Jesus .

. .

[Mindy]

Elderly are some of the wealthiest people on the planet, don't cut them any slack when you write the bill. How do you think they got so stinkin filthy rich? By being nice? Are you daft?

[Snuffy "Hub Cap" McKinney]

Need a helper?? :O)

[ItsJoanNotJoann]

ny slack when you write the bill.

Maybe they worked hard all their lives, didn't whip out the credit card for every little frivolous thing they saw and convinced themselves they needed . Maybe they didn't trade in their car every two years because they had to have a brand spanking new shiny one. Maybe they didn't take expensive vac ations at overpriced 'resorts.' Could be a lot of reasons elderly people a re 'wealthy.'

[ChairMan]

you have to be a democrat(chuckle)

[Stormin Mormon]

I don't know the stats, but I'd guess many are living paycheck to paycheck, on shrinking retirement dollars. I do try to be gentle when invoicing elderly folks.

- . Christopher A. Young learn more about Jesus .

. .

[Moe DeLoughan]

Yep. They're like everyone else - some are well off, some are comfortable, some are getting by, some are barely hanging on.

It does seem to be true for many people that the more money they have, the tighter they hold onto it. Those types think other people should provide their labor and expertise as a favor to them.

[No name]

I don't know about the rest of the world, but I've read many places that the elderly in the US are, as a group, the wealthiest demographic.

It makes sense. Their mortgage is probably paid off, so is their car. And almost everyone gives them some kind of senior citizen rate. They get a discount on taxes. They pay, at least here, 25 cents to ride public transportation while younger people pay 3 dollars. The local governments all have an active senior citizen program with all kinds of programs. Here they have classes on how to fix up your house, but they don't expect you to do it yourself. They tell you what should be done, and give you a list of contractors that have senior rates. They have cost of living increases in Social Security and many pensions. Politicians cater to them because they have a very high voting rate, whereas many younger people don't bother to vote The list of breaks for senior citizens goes on and on, but I don't have time to list them all because I am a senior citizen. The only area I can think of where they (as all of us) have a lot of expenses is for medication, especially where one would expect them to need relatively more as their health deteriorates.

I'm sure there are some seniors who are needy, but I suspect that most of them have had a hand in their own situation and what can you do to rescue someone from a life of mistakes.

[Ed Pawlowski]

Yes, there are all sorts. As you get older, priorities change too. "Things" are less important so spending tends to go down and knowing income will change as you near retirement, savings goes up. Smarter spending too. Instead of paying that car insurance in 10 payments, you save and make one and save $60 or so in charges.

[Moe DeLoughan]

*This*. It's why I don't buy the claims that you need an arbitrarily huge amount of savings to retire on. Seems like that number is always based on maintaining one's current lifestyle - except that your lifestyle changes over time. Generally, as you get older, it gets simpler and thus cheaper (except for medical issues, if you have any).

Most of my elderly neighbors fall into two groups - the ones who are barely hanging on/just getting by; and the ones who are comfortably off but don't do much anymore. That second group splits into those who hit the casinos and spend some money just to kill time, and those who have committed to spending as little as possible so they'll have money to pass on to their grand-kids and great-grand kids after they die.

[Ed Pawlowski]

The people that say you need millions are the ones making money by managing your funds. You do need more than just Social Security though.

I hope to die broke spending my kids inheritance. They were brought up to be capable of earning a living. Meantime, figure I can get by OK, but not extravagant. I really don't need more "stuff"