“Life must be a mixture of frugality and luxury.” — Marilyn Whelan
Caviar Living is a hand guide of home-spun lessons from a life well lived. Marilyn Whelan shares her wisdom from how to connect with your community to how to play your mortgage like a game.
With short snappy chapters Whelan gives us tips and tidbits on:
Fun ways to teach your kids and grandkids about money
How to keep a clutter-free house – and why!
Creative ways to get a tax break
How to stretch a dollar on everything from real estate to creative vacations
Part budget guide, part spiritual manual, and a whole lotta charm, Caviar Living is a lifetime of lessons wrapped up in this 98-pages of fun.
Meet the Author:
Marilyn Whelan has worked as a reporter, a district supervisor in a first time youthful offenders program, and President of Shoppers Critique International. Her want is to die with something remaining on her bucket list, because when something is crossed off, something else is added.
Marilyn currently lives in Clearwater, Florida, where she is Granny to seven, and Great Granny to three. She loves to travel and plays Mah Jongg twice a week.
Purchase Links
Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Caviar-Living-Fish-Stick-Money/dp/1508958416
Excerpt
“The world is a book,
and those who do not travel
read only a page.”
– Saint Augustine
Travel
75
Travel is and always will be my passion. My
vacations are planned around volunteering,
family, adventure, learning and fun. As long as
I can be warm, I am willing to go anywhere at
any time. I have had the good luck to experience
many different types of getaways.
Volunteer Travel
Because my husband was retired military,
this allowed us to travel on military cargo
planes. We often would sign up for five destinations
and take the first one offered. Our main
objective was to cross the ocean. We traveled
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often to Spain, Italy, Germany and England and
branched out from there.
We served a tour of duty in the United States
Peace Corps. We served in the Philippines, and
I still keep up with good friends we made there.
Many people do not realize Peace Corps volunteers
are drawn mostly from two groups: people
fresh out of college and retirees.
There are many wonderful opportunities for
volunteer-oriented vacations. Perhaps you’d like
to try an archeological dig, or pulling weeds on
a mountain trail, or counting turtles on a distant
island.
One of my favorite adventures was a month
I spent volunteering for the National Park Service
at Andersonville, GA. Andersonville was
the site of the largest prisoner of war camp in
the South for Union soldiers during the Civil
War. It is now a national park that includes a
museum devoted to POWs from all of America’s
wars. I was a greeter in the museum, helping
visitors look up their ancestors, and I sometimes
helped in the gift shop. My two days off
per week were spent touring the area. While
I was there, I stayed in a small cottage in the
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cemetery. I was the only one on the grounds
at night. It gave me lots of time to reflect, and I
took several projects with me to work on. There
was no television reception in the area, nor did
I have Internet access.
My second-favorite volunteer location was
with Pueblo Ingles. This is a for-profit agency
that helps Spanish executives perfect their English.
For the Spaniards, it is a very expensive
program paid for by their employers. The program
does not accept participants who speak
only Spanish, because the goal is for them to
totally immerse themselves in English. Once
you are accepted into the program as a volunteer,
you work with program personnel to select
a date. If you’re coming with friends, they
work with you to offer a week to your party as
a group.
We paid only for airfare. We were met in
Madrid the evening before departure for the resort
and taken to a banquet and flamenco show
with our fellow Anglos. Anglos come from all
English-speaking countries, such as the U.S.,
England, Ireland, Wales and South Africa.
78
The next day we were taken by bus about 2
1/2 hours from Madrid into the mountains near
the Portugal border. The resort was beautiful.
Each of us was assigned with a Spaniard to a
casita with a bedroom and bath for the Spaniard
upstairs and a bedroom and bath downstairs
for the volunteer. We shared a small living
room and kitchen area. A chef prepared three
meals a day, with wine accompanying lunch
and dinner. It truly was an unforgettable week
for a lifetime of memories. You can learn about
this program at http://www.diverbo.com/en/jobs.
Vacations are for fun, excitement and trying
something new. Consider participating on
a cattle drive. Dryhead Ranch in Montana is
a working cattle and guest ranch. One of the
most popular activities there is driving the cattle
50 miles on Bad Pass Trail. This is a three-hour
drive that gives you to chance to get acquainted
with the beautiful Montana country. For more
information, go to http://www.dryheadranch.com
dsmcknight.com 