INPUT ARTICLE: Article: There are no great answers to the problem of how to retire without savings, but one possible solution is a partial retirement. After a lifetime of work, many retirees have considerable skills they can parlay into an income stream, and many employers like employing retirees because they're more dependable and loyal. If you're close to retirement now, you might want to take some steps to develop a consulting business, particularly if you have a white collar skill set, such as engineering, law, or business. If your skillset is more blue collar, like carpentry or welding, consider how you might turn some of your skills into high quality craft products you can sell on the side. By delaying Social Security payments until you're seventy, your monthly benefit increases to 132% of the original payment. After age seventy, however, there are no further increases. Another common strategy is to delay until age 67that would get you 108% of your monthly benefit. Delaying Medicare doesn't increase your benefit. If you elect to keep working after 65, taking your monthly Social Security benefit and investing it can be a smart strategy to maximize your payouts. There's not a blanket rule; investing your monthly checks will only make good sense for a minority of retirees.It's not for everyone. To see where you fall, you just have to do the math. For example, assume John, at 65, draws a very average benefit of around $1000 per month and makes $50,000 per year in salary. His employer matches contributions to a 401(k) dollar for dollar up to 20% of his salary, which is a great plan. If he only contributes the $12000 he gets in Social Security to his 401(k), he would actually have $24,000 in the 401(k) at the end of the year. If he retires at seventy and lives till he's eighty, he'd have an extra $120,000, and that doesn't even count whatever accrues in the account through investments. If he had waited till seventy to retire and taken the 132% benefit instead, he would have only seen an extra $38,400 over the same 10 years. Another way to increase your income during retirement is to rent out a room in your home. While it probably won't cover all of your expenses, when combined with other strategies, it can really help defray some of your costs. For example, if you rented a bedroom for $500 per month, drew a $1000 per month Social Security payment, and made another $1000 through a part time job, your yearly income would be $30,000. You won't be rich, but if you had little to no mortgage debt, you would be able to maintain a comfortable standard of living.

SUMMARY: Keep a part time job. Delay Social Security benefits. Invest your benefits check. Rent out rooms in your home.

INPUT ARTICLE: Article: Many Irish people wear Claddagh rings as a symbol of their Irish heritage, rather than as a way to display their romantic status. Claddagh rings may be worn on any finger and may be turned in either direction, whichever is most comfortable for the person wearing the ring. They don't have to be worn to indicate a romantic status, and can be worn on the left ring finger without a relationship or engagement or a marriage. Some people wear Claddagh rings on necklace chains, rather than on their fingers. Claddagh rings may also be worn on bracelets, or kept in the pocket as a charm. Claddagh rings make meaningful gifts for friends and relatives, whether or not romance is involved in the equation. If you received a Claddagh ring as a gift and would prefer not to wear it to show your romantic status, it's just fine to wear it however you choose.

SUMMARY: Wear the ring to display your heritage. Wear the ring to remember someone special.

INPUT ARTICLE: Article: When you're about to throw something out, think about if it could serve another purpose in your household. Often, even if it can't continue to serve its original purpose, it can be put to use doing something else. Use old t-shirts and towels as rags for household cleaning. Clean grout and other small spaces with old toothbrushes. Reuse containers you are going to throw out. For instance, fill paper egg cartons or the bottom of plastic beverage containers with potting soil and use them to plant seedlings. Alternatively, store food, office or craft supplies, or other small items in leftover glass jars. Composting is a great way to keep extra trash out of the landfill. In addition, you can use what you make to provide nutrients to your yard and garden. Basically, composting is where you take organic materials and let them decompose to create a fertilizer. You can compost everything from food scraps, coffee grounds, and eggshells to other household waste like clean, shredded paper, grass clippings, and ashes from the fireplace. Collect the items in a small, lidded container in your home. Most compost piles are outside. You can just have a pile that you turn periodically, but you can also use a wooden, open-sided bin or a wire mesh bin. If you don't have much outdoor space, you can also compost inside. You can purchase ready-made indoor compost pails, or create your own using two garbage cans of different sizes. Place a brick at the bottom of the larger can and add dead branches and/or leaves. Drill holes in the bottom and sides of the smaller can, and place it within the larger can. Your compost will be ready to use when it is dark brown and crumbly, usually after about three or four months. Incorporate it into your garden, or use it as nutrient-rich mulch. If you don't have an interest in composting, some cities offer composting and mulching for items like tree branches and grass clippings. regularly. At the end of the day, you're still going to have some waste. The best option for this waste is to recycle it instead of putting it into the landfill. Most communities have recycling programs now, and you can recycle items like glass, plastic, paper, cans, and cardboard. It helps to have a separate trash can specifically for recycling, so you can separate it out as you toss out items. If your community requires it, you may need to separate different types of recycling. In that case, try having a small bin for each type. Labeling the bins clearly can help ensure everything is recycled properly. Check for the recycling symbol on the package before sticking it in the recycling. Always rinse off items before recycling. Also, you can't recycle items like pizza boxes that are covered in grease. Additionally, you should remove the lids from plastic bottles, which are not recyclable (unless your community advises otherwise).

SUMMARY:
Repurpose old items. Compost what you can. Make a compost pile or bin. Recycle Designate an area in your kitchen just for recycling.