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“Oh Honey, don’t buy me anything. I don’t have anyplace to put it,” said my grandma whenever I asked how I could help her. I knew her budget was tight and wanted to help, but I could never get her to tell me anything she could really use. I finally came up with a cute idea that is also downright practical. And it took up so little space we were both happy!
I would buy her stamps. Yup, regular, garden-variety, get-em-from-the-post-office stamps! Except I would look for the interesting ones. I sent her Star Wars stamps because she loved those movies. I sent her exotic fish stamps because she loved Hawaii and its fish. I sent her wild cat stamps because she loved her cats. She enjoyed looking at the different stamps, always had plenty of postage available to mail bills and letters, and I was happy knowing that was one less expense and trip she had to worry about.
You can do the same thing today with your elderly relatives. Those particular stamps are probably long gone but they recently came out with some new ones guaranteed to be a hit with most of our elderly parents, and I suspect many of us Sandwich Generation folks will like them as well.
For the Hollywood lovers, they have stamps with pictures of Bette Davis and Frank Sinatra, as well as a five-stamp series celebrating Vintage Black Cinema which includes Duke Ellington and Josephine Baker. If sports is more your cup of tea, you will find a baseball stamp which celebrates the favorite song, Take Me Out to the Ball Game. Car fans will probably love the 50s Fins and Chrome collection of 1950s vehicles which includes a 1959 Cadillac Eldorado, a 1957 Studebaker Golden Hawk, 1957 Pontiac Safari, 1957 Lincoln Premiere, and a 1957 Chrysler 300C.
If they, or you, have a loved one with Alzheimer’s Disease, you might prefer the stamp recently issued to draw attention to this illness. It’s an excellent opportunity to help raise public awareness in this area.
Frugal Tips for Caregivers – For the ultra-practical senior citizens on your list, I would suggest the Forever Stamp with the Liberty Bell. It’s not quite as cute as the others, but they can use it as-is, no matter how much the postage rates go up. Now that makes good cents!
You can find all these 42 cent stamps and many more at http://shop.usps.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductCategoryDisplay?langId=-1&storeId=10001&catalogId=10152&categoryId=21902
While you’re there, you can even order them to be sent to your house or your recipient’s home. Now that’s the gift of time which all of us caregivers can appreciate!
What a great idea!