Boston Gal's Open Wallet

pro·rate (pr-rt, prrt)
v. pro·rat·ed, pro·rat·ing, pro·rates
v.tr.
To divide, distribute, or assess proportionately.
v.intr.
To settle affairs on the basis of proportional distribution.

Haubner, who was born June 14, 1902, is blue-eyed and bald and answers to the nickname "Curly." He lived alone in a Fredericksburg apartment until he was 102. Locals knew him as the older fellow often seen cycling around town. But in 2004, he fell off his bike and was taken to a hospital.

[...]

Robert Prasse, a physician who treats Haubner for free, said he is in good health. "I don't see anything that's going to take him away from us in a hurry," he said.

Haubner never married and has no surviving family or friends. Other residents' families have adopted him, Miller said, bringing him Christmas and birthday gifts.

In his first two years at Greenfield, Ewing said, Haubner covered the $3,500 monthly bill with savings and $1,200 in monthly pension and Social Security payments.

But it became clear by 2007 that Haubner's bank account was shrinking even though he showed no signs of slowing down. Supporters launched savelarry.org to solicit donations, Ewing said, and media attention helped bring in 375 contributions.

Ewing has not told Haubner that he again faces the possibility of moving. "I don't want to worry him," she said.

Local governments, corporations and small businesses around the country are increasingly partnering with mobile-shredding companies to host free get-togethers, some of which resemble homespun carnivals. In addition to recycling the paper, there’s often another cause attached, such as raising money for cancer research or crime prevention. But the chief appeal is a more visceral one: preventing identity theft.

In Katy, Texas, Janine Godwin, a 47-year-old professional organizer, has donated her time to coordinate six free “festive” mobile shredding events over the past three years in her area. To lure participants, they feature extras like decorations, clowns, face painting, dogs and cats available for adoption, information booths, cookies and refreshments. “Just shredding can be boring,” Ms. Godwin says.

Mobile shredders—essentially retooled box trucks containing industrial-size paper shredders—may be to adults with sensitive documents what ice-cream trucks are to children on a hot summer day.

At the Brielle event last month, which was sponsored by Monmouth County, N.J., locals compared their loads and—competing with the roaring sound of the truck—laughed when confessing to how long, where and why they’ve been collecting the items while they waited. Conga-line style, every few minutes the group would shuffle forward carrying, dragging and kicking documents closer to the truck.

Labels: Smart Spending

I’ve pondered the question of how much is enough after receiving a perceptive e-mail from a reader and review copies of two thought-provoking books.

The e-mail, from a longtime reader in Wisconsin, embodies the philosophy guiding my own semiretirement.

“Many of my 50-something friends are wasting some invaluable time that they’ve been given on Earth,’’ this reader said. They are caught up in an “earning and spending cycle’’ (must keep working hard so they can keep buying things they don’t really need) while worrying they’ll need to save a lot of money to retire.

“I can’t believe the number of smart, talented friends I have who are not particularly happy doing what they are doing,’’ the reader said. But they believe “they must continue so they can stop working at (fill-in-the-blank age) to play golf or sit by the pool.’’

I must agree. What a waste, doing something you don’t like so eventually you can stop and do . . . nothing?