And it probably is…if you have no debts whatsoever, and your home is paid for before you apply.  Then you can take out a lump sum, based on the value of the appraisal (which will have nothing to do with the true worth of your home) less a percentage that is determined by your age and home value, or you can opt to take a monthly stipend.

 If you still owe money on your home, the story is quite different. So erase any of the sweet, nurturing commercials you’ve seen by Robert Wagner and the Fonz from your memory and prepare yourself to face the stark reality of FHA/HUD “protected” reverse mortgages.

 I am not saying that these reverse loans are scams…though a number of them are (hence the government protection and insurance offered by legitimate reverse mortgage brokers).

But the process you have to go through to finally close on one is frustrating, time consuming, invasive, and humiliating. Do not become a victim due to ignorance of the  FHA/HUD backed reverse mortgage process !

 It would be somewhat easier to understand if the seniors had a bad track record in the past, with low credit scores, a history of nonpayment, late payment, and penalties; but to one who has never made a late payment, never been in collection, never declared bankruptcy, and never applied for welfare, food stamps, Medicaid, disability, or any other help programs, the need to prove their independence, stability, honesty…literally, their innocence…can feel shameful, horrifying, and denigrating. It shakes a person’s pride and feelings of self-worth. Is this what Henry Winkler is recommending to senior citizens to enrich their “Golden Years?”

 I am asking you to send me your stories…first-hand accounts please…at  pitapuppy@yahoo.com

Let me know if you want your stories printed on my site, and if you wish to remain anonymous.  I may have to edit them for space and grammar, but no facts will be changed. If you don’t want it reprinted in your own words, I will rewrite and summarize them for you.

  I am depending on you to help me protect and educate seniors that are having trouble surviving this unstable economy. And sometimes, it just helps to know that there are people out there that care. Reverse mortgages and loans can be a good thing; as long as you know what to expect, and are prepared to deal with the unpleasantness of working with the FHA.

 Thanks, Readers…..Sandi

Here in Las Vegas we are luckier than some, since we can travel around the world without ever leaving the city.  And the other day I found a wonderful Armenian restaurant that transported me to another world; full of friendly people, delicious food, live music, and truly affordable prices. So welcome, Readers, to the savory world of SHISH KABOB HOUSE… 

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The secret of shabby chic décor is that it isn’t really a style at all. It basically consists of recycling old furniture, fabrics, and rugs that are worn, and even faded…but not frayed or torn. If you have been hit by this nasty economy, and are living with hand-me-down furniture and linens, you’ve got it made!  And if you haven’t been quite that lucky, never fear.  Garage sales, thrift shops, and flea markets will have everything you need, at a price you can afford!

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One of the nicest things about country cottage décor is the use of slipcovers. You don’t have to refinish, reupholster, or replace that sofa, easy chair, or ottoman.  You simply buy or make slipcovers…using a sturdy, washable fabric. Recover a few of your decorative throw pillows, and the whole room looks brand new.

You don’t have to buy new material, either.  Remnants, age-worn drapery fabrics, tablecloths, and even bed linens can be used to make your slipcovers. A piece from an old lace tablecloth or curtains can go right over your old pillows to give them a vintage look.

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Just about everyone, in all walks of life is having to contend with the weak economy, cost of living, and fear of job loss.  The way to survive this kind of uncertainty is simple. Keep living, but do it in an economical, money saving, and environment saving way. You will learn that you can still spruce up your home and not break the bank.  Over the next few weeks I will show you several design schemes on a budget.

Rustic décor is the topic for today.  If you live in a suburb, in the country, or in a rural community, rustic décor would be perfect for you. It is casual and comfortable, while still being chic and trendy. Best of all, it is quite affordable!

 If you didn’t need it in the first place, why would you buy a blouse that you had no pants to match, then go shopping for the pants and find another pair that has no blouse to match? Now you have two more items in the closet that you HAVE to go shopping for, and the vicious circle begins all over.

 Friends have told me that they want to know what is new and that is how they find out.  I say if you didn’t know there was a new style out there you wouldn’t miss it. When you need a new outfit for a special occasion is time enough to go look for a replacement and buy what is now in fashion.  Let’s face it, even if you have the will power to not buy that amazing jean jacket, you now feel like crap knowing it is out there in someone else’s closet instead of yours.  Ignorance, in this case, my friends, is bliss.

 The only time you should ever enter a kitchen gadget store is if you meet all of the following criteria:

• Entertaining is your very favorite pastime.
• Your family doesn’t find true happiness wallowing in junk food.
• You have more money than you know what to do with.
• You have a very large kitchen, with too much counter and cabinet space that you are trying to fill.

 Fact: wine racks are great, if you drink and store delicate wines with corked bottles that require aging and cool dark storage.  For the two bottles of white zin that you buy when the girls are stopping by with a rental movie, throw them in the fridge (laying the bottle down if it is corked, and standing it up if screw-top capped).And how many kinds of cork screws do you need to have?  Do you live in a wine cellar or a house?

 Unless you are kosher, do you really need three or four sets of dishes, plus a snack set, plus a set to use outside on the patio? Fine china, carefully stored, and brought out for those formal holiday dinners is great.  Every day dishes that are microwave and dishwasher safe are a necessity.  Paper plates are great for outdoors.  Teas sets and snack sets are for the kind of people who don’t need to be reading this article!

Small appliances for the kitchen can get out of hand, too. Everybody needs a can opener, either manual or electric at some time in their lives.  Microwaves have become a necessity in the kitchen. If you drink coffee, you have to have a coffeemaker.  Coffee grinders are fine, if you really buy only whole bean coffee.  However, you can grind you coffee for free at the supermarket when you buy it, too. On the other hand, coffee grinders also can be used to grind seeds, nuts, and some spices, which comes in handy at times. Think!  Are you going to use this item, or do you just want it?

How many of you need both a toaster and a toaster oven?  White and wheat sliced bread users can easily do with one or the other.  If you are into bagels and other odd shaped breads you need the toaster oven, which can handle both.  And speaking of ovens, don’t you think a portable electric roaster, a toaster oven and a Foreman grill are going a bit too far? 

If you are into health foods and juicing, it is a good idea to have a powerful, high end juicer.  They cost a bit more, but are both healthier and cheaper than buying the juice, and I have been told by one who knows, that replacing cheap juicers ends up costing much more than buying the right one in the first place.

 The same would go for blenders and food processers.  If you only use your blender on rare occasions to mix up a batch of margaritas and crush some ice, go to Walmart and pick up something cheap. I cook a lot, and have been using the same food processer for twenty years…a cheap one at that.  Only now, have I begun to think I might need a new one.                      

What I am trying to say is just this.  A fork scrambles an egg very easily.  You don’t need a special tool for that.  If you bake all your own breads you probably need a bread machine or a heavy duty mixer.  But for cake mixes, whipped cream, mashed potatoes and meringue, an inexpensive hand mixer is all you will ever need!

If you own a stove, a microwave and a pot, why would you ever need a special iced tea maker? Is it really difficult to throw a few tea bags into a pot of hot water, let it steep a while and then add ice cubes to it? And let us not forget those cute little electric egg poachers, the vibrating suction cup that scrambles your eggs in the shell,  and those darling little pans that grill your cheese sandwich on both sides at once!

Kitchen gadget stores should be taboo to anyone who is struggling to make ends meet, doesn’t live for the joys of cooking in and cleaning a kitchen, and who doesn’t have a kitchen the size of a studio apartment.

………………..Posted on February 10th 2010 in ……………………..Melbourne Feb 10 ANI A suggests that caffeine and alcohol taken together can have dangerous repercussions…The growing popularity of mixed drinks like the Jager Bomb Jagermeister and Red Bull or Vodka and Red Bull can have implications on road safety according to the study..The field study of over 800 young drinkers by the found that those who consumed caffeine-alcohol mixed drinks were often in a drunker state when they left the bar than those who consumed only alcohol-based drinks..Those who had caffeine-alcohol mixed drinks were also much more likely to say they intended to drive home…The problem arises from consuming a stimulant alongside an intoxicant which clinical studies show can reduce the perception of being drunk but not the impairment..For the study researchers wandered on the streets outside bars and clubs from 10pm to 3am to quiz young drinkers on what they had been drinking and assess their sobriety reports News.com.au..According to the study Patrons who had consumed alcohol mixed with were at a three-fold increased risk of leaving a bar highly intoxicated..

What makes you think that I care less for the environment than you do?  Do you really believe that someone who is shrinking about an inch every year really wants to drive an elephant of a car?  Or perhaps you think I really have nothing else to do with my money but  pump huge amounts of gasoline into it. So why do I keep driving this behemoth ? Let me count the reasons: 

• For starters, as age began to creep up on me, I became less flexible, shorter, and developed  nonstop aches and pains in places I never knew were part of me.  Climbing into an inexpensive, compact car and settling down on a hard, preformed seat is uncomfortable. Lifting a stiff and sore leg over a high threshold, and then falling into a low seat is sadistic at best.  SUVs without running boards should be outlawed!
• In small cars that do not have power seats, you can rupture your knees trying to find a spot that allows you to reach the pedals without resting your chin on your thighs.  Conversely, if you can hit a position where your toes still touch the pedals, you now cannot see over the steering wheel and are at risk for leg cramps. I have no need to lie down in the driver’s seat…why not make that adjustment one that raises my seat on those days when I cannot sit as straight and tall?
• Most people over the age of fifty have at least the beginnings of some form of arthritis.  When it affects your hands, it becomes very difficult to make a fist.  Have you noticed that the smaller the car is the thinner the steering wheel becomes?  A thicker, padded steering wheel allows me to hold it more securely and without pain.
•  It seems that only the larger “luxury” cars have power mirrors.  We oldsters not only need easily adjustable mirrors…we also would greatly appreciate large and wide-angle ones. And so would all the other drivers on the road. How much safer it would be if I could see to back up, park, and make turns even when my neck is stiff and my back aches!
• When I drove a Park Avenue, it was the only car that not only provided visor extenders, but also had a second visor that tucked behind it and folded up that was several inches longer in height, for those times when I was driving west in the late afternoon. What happened to that fine accessory?  Don’t younger drivers also suffer from glare?
• Which leads me to night blindness.  How many of the new, smaller, fuel efficient cars have automatic dimming for the mirrors, inside and out?  These things seem to be available only in your high end, larger luxury cars.  And so I drive one.

 Here is my plea to the auto manufacturers of the world.  There are over forty million people over the age of sixty-five that still depend on driving to get from one place to another.  If you really are concerned about energy, fuel emissions, and overcrowding of highways, then you need to be designing small, affordable cars that can be driven by people of all ages. A few manufacturers, most notably Hyundai, are making an effort to provide some of these features and still keep their cars in an affordable range.

These vehicles should provide easy entrance, and I am not talking about keyless entry.  If  someone is incapable of pressing a remote, he or she has no business driving a car.  I am referring to the threshold entry and uncomfortable seats. Lumbar support should be in all vehicles, though I do agree that heating and air conditioning the seat should remain a luxury. Two door cars are the main cause of parking lot dings, and are also too heavy to open and close easily. Get rid of them.

Seat belts should not require the dislocation of your shoulders and hips.  Eighty pound weaklings and small busted females should not have to wear a seat belt wrapped across their faces, or choking their necks. Nor should they be designed to wrinkle clothing…wouldn’t wider and softer, or narrower and round be easier on your wardrobe?

People range in height from under four feet to over six feet.  Why don’t all cars have adjustable steering wheels (both tilting and telescoping) and pedals?  Maybe then there wouldn’t be so many injuries and deaths caused by air bags. Larger knobs that are easy to grip,  read and reach will aid drivers of any age and cause fewer accidents.

Can we talk about head rests?  I have rarely met a person who actually benefitted from a head rest.  If you could lower it to be in front of the seat back, or make it disappear entirely, it might make a lot more sense. Adjustable?  Hah! Up and down a couple inches…but only if you’re lucky.

Stability control, brake assist, and anti-lock brakes should be required in all vehicles.  Why aren’t they?  And air bags ought to be adjustable to the individual, instead of injuring or even killing the passengers. The technology is there for night vision assistance, electrically assisted parking systems, collision warning, navigation,  and blind spot detection. Where do you find all these wonderful safety features?  In SUVs, and high end sporty cars that very few of the people who really need them can afford.

The knowledge exists that can save on fossil fuels, lessen emissions, and make the roads safer for everyone, regardless of their age. So I implore you …in this  unpredictable economy, can you not be satisfied with smaller profits so that even the elderly can do their part for the environment, and  keep the roads safer for us all?

Every time I flip on the television I see ads for new businesses that are offering short term loans that horrify me.  They are tremendously creative…you can borrow against your paycheck at a high interest rate.  If you are ridiculous enough to do this, you will end up receiving a paycheck that is even smaller than what you usually get and it will already have been spent before you cash it.

If you are not working because you have been in an accident and have a personal injury attorney on your case, there are companies that offer to give you the money up front…before you win  the case.  They say that if you don’t win, you don’t have to pay it back.  You can be sure, they will not make the offer unless they have been guaranteed a successful outcome by your attorney.  Again, in addition to giving 30-40 per cent of the settlement to your attorney and paying off the rest of your bills, you now owe the loan company their piece of the pie.

There are lots more of these schemes floating around.  You can pay someone a percentage of what you owe to have them teach you how to pay them, you can have someone negotiate your debts to get them lowered (and give all you save to them for doing it), and you can take out more credit cards, at unbelievably high interest rates to pay off the other cards. 

But my very favorite is the small, instant loans you can pick up to avoid paying late payment fees.  They tell you that, rather than paying those late payments, you can borrow $300  to pay your car payment of rent (does anyone pay that little any more), at a mere cost of $48 or so.  The kicker here is that you pay that $48 if you are able to repay the loan in one week.  It compounds at an alarming rate after that.

All of these schemes are there only to make them money…and put you deeper in debt.  It is unfortunate that many of you have lived in a world where you have gotten everything you want most of your life.  If you couldn’t afford, or your parents couldn’t, you simply charged it…assuming, I guess that it would go away or somebody would bail you out.

In simpler times, if you couldn’t afford that Christmas gift, you put it away on “layaway” and were given X number of weeks to make payments on it.  If you couldn’t pay it off…you lost the item…and the money.  That has evolved into “delayed payments” which allow you to take it home, use it, and get billed for it months later.  By that time, of course, you have forgotten you bought it, have no money to pay it off, and now get hit with huge interest rates.

This may be difficult to comprehend, but, kids, you do not need a new computer, iPhone, Wii game, and so on every time a new model comes out.  When times are bad and money is scarce you sometimes have to choose between what you would like to have, and what you need to have to live.  You have to save up for a special item, repair things instead of replacing them, or…BIG SHOCK…do without them. You can do it…your parents did!