Retirement is a big step that you take after working long hours to build a solid financial base. But it can also feel a little too empty and lonely if you don’t indulge in some hobbies. The good thing about retirement is the chance to do whatever you want with your free time. From tinkering in your garden to learning a new language, here are some senior hobbies you can pick up in your experienced age.
Tinker in Your Garden
This is one of the best ways to stay busy and productive after retirement. This hobby will not only let you get your hands dirty but also let you cultivate something beautiful right outside your home!
You can grow fruits, vegetables, flowers, or anything else you want. Gardening also promotes mindfulness and helps you keep your body and mind calm as you age. It’s a hobby for the head and the heart — you stay active while maintaining peace.
Cook Up a Storm
The best thing about being in retirement and senior living is that you have an endless amount of time. That extra time means having the scope to experiment with food in your kitchen!
It makes sense to make cooking your hobby because you need to eat regardless of your life stage. So, whether you’re fond of desserts or want to try making a wood-fired pizza, all is possible. This hobby is creative and great for your tummy.
Start a Business
When we say you can start a business in retirement, we’re talking more of a part-time business than a full-fledged company, so it’s still a fun senior hobby without it overwhelming you. For this, start with figuring out something that you love doing that you can profit from.
This could be anything from creating paintings to baking cookies! Hold onto this idea and start a small business from it. It’ll keep the innovative part of your brain active and provide you with a nice little income.
Hike a Little
Can’t seem to sit still even after retiring and have way too much energy to burn off? Senior living doesn’t have to be boring! Try hiking, a hobby even your doctor won’t be able to find a fault in. Every once in a while, put on those hiking shoes and get walking.
This hobby is all the more perfect if you live in a forestry area with many small trails around you. This adventure will not only provide some thrilling experiences but also increase your strength and immune system.
Get Into Crafting
The best thing about crafting as a hobby is its diversity. You can easily take up a project and move on to making something new once you’re done with it. This way, you can fill your home with new decorative and handy DIY items.
However, the best perk is that you can have a new item every time for gifting. Whether it’s a scrapbook for your family or a cute little photo frame for your dog, you now have gifts for everybody.
Choose Golf as Your Sport
Golf has always had two groups highly attracted to it — the first are business people, and the second are older adults hanging out at country clubs. This is mainly due to golf being a sport where movement is almost negligible. It does have quite a few advantages.
It has you out in the fresh air, it allows you to move your body, and it helps you to make new friends and expand your social circle. The best part? You can drive around in a little golf cart and wear those fancy clothes.
Take Up Writing
Writing doesn’t have any criteria for you to qualify for it. You can do it in your home office or out on your patio. Starting out with this hobby can be a bit challenging, but with writing, you can take it in any direction you prefer.
You can write about books, bags, cars, movies, or fashion — pick any topic that piques your interest and say whatever you want. You never know; you may even end up writing an entire novel!
Use the Internet to Blog
If there’s one place you can share your hard-earned wisdom and teach the younger generation (or even your peers) all that you know, the internet is the place to do it.
Blogging after retirement can be a way to pass your time, spread knowledge, and share your opinions with people. It can even turn out to be a great business opportunity to keep some passive income coming your way.
Pick a Book
Reading is a great hobby to pick up, retirement or not! Not only do you learn something new with every book you read, but there are also many other advantages to it.
Firstly, it allows you to travel without leaving your home. Additionally, it reduces stress, helps you sleep better, makes you more open-minded and imaginative, and improves your quality of life.
Paint a Picture
If your soul is creative and is looking for some outlet, painting can be an excellent hobby for you to pick up in your senior years. If you’ve never dabbled in art, you can order a simple painting kit online to help you get started.
Begin with simple landscapes or basic objects around your home (like the classic fruit bowl). Once you get the hang of this, there’s no limit to how much you can put down on your canvas.
Plant a Vegetable Garden
Who doesn’t want to eat fresh veggies? Everyone wants a bite of a juicy tomato or a crispy cucumber. If pretty flowers aren’t your thing, try your hand at growing a vegetable garden in your backyard!
The main benefit of this hobby is that you can eat what you reap. You can combine multiple hobbies with this one — gardening, vegetable growing, and cooking! Plus, you never know — you might even end up growing some hybrid fruits or veggies.
Opt for a Balcony Garden
If you don’t have the infrastructure required to grow an entire vegetable garden, you can convert your balcony into a green space and grow quite a few lovely things.
You can grow herbs, small veggies, and cute flowers using a small box. Once you figure out the logistics of it all, it’s much easier to maintain than a full garden. Since the space is limited, your work will also be minimal, and you can fulfill your hobby without stressing yourself.
Work as a Freelance Consultant
If you’re not ready to leave your work behind, becoming a freelance consultant can be a great way to keep working without letting it consume your life.
This way, you can share your experience and keep ideating. It’ll help you keep your brain active and use all the knowledge you’ve gained in your career. Opting for freelance consultation also gives you the freedom to pick and choose your projects.
Walk Dogs in Your Free Time
If you’re an animal lover, this is an excellent way to spend your time in retirement. It does the double duty of letting you lightly exercise, all while spending time with adorable puppies.
Becoming a dog walker will let you exercise those legs and keep you fit while making you some money. Many apps now allow you to register as a dog walker and quickly get gigs.
Take Care of Animals
If you want to do something related to animals in your golden years, there are many avenues you can take apart from dog walking.
The first and most obvious one is that you can adopt or foster a pet; since you have much more time, you can be around to take care of them. You can also volunteer at an animal shelter or work at a pet store part-time to get some interaction with the furry animals.
Camp Out
Become one with nature in your advanced life stage by camping. Your retirement days allow you to do what you couldn’t before, and camping is a great way to enjoy the moment.
Camping keeps you on your toes and fit, as you might need to incorporate other aspects like hiking into this hobby. It’s also a great way to spend quality time, especially with loved ones, whether friends or family.
Go Fishing
Another hobby that’s considered to be one of the more popular ones, especially for retired people, is fishing. Fishing requires time and patience. The first of those you already have in abundance post-retirement, and the second skill you can continuously develop with all the time you have.
Fishing can be functional, where you catch your next meal, or it can be purely for pleasure. It gives you time to destress and take a moment with your thoughts. You can also take your family to fish and start a new tradition.
Build a Collection
You must have heard of stamps, coins, and comic book collections. These are all hobbies people have — where they build a collection of things they like. The good thing is it’s never too late to start a new collection.
Building a collection requires planning, organizing, scouting, location, and maintaining. It’s not as simple as it sounds, but it can be uber-satisfying. You can build a collection of anything and everything, from bobbleheads to vintage cars.
Take a Swim
Swimming is a great aerobic activity that keeps the body strong and helps you stay in shape, even in your golden years, which is why it’s also one of the best hobbies you can pick up after retirement.
Swimming is a great recreational hobby that is fun and functional. It helps you keep your muscles strong and reduces the risk of many ailments. Just hop on to your nearest community pool or lake for some time in the water.
Start Freelancing Online
One of the best things about living in this era is the ease with which you can use the internet to achieve various goals. One of them is the ability to freelance online!
You can sell your services online through e-commerce platforms. This can be anything from working as a content writer or a consultant on a new project. Being online will allow you to do it from your home and earn a pretty penny on the side.
Dedicate Time for Daily Exercise
Just because you’re a senior in retirement doesn’t mean you shouldn’t have a routine! Starting your day with half an hour of exercise will make your entire day much better and keep your body strong and flexible in the long run.
You don’t have to do a 5k race right away or be able to lift heavy weights, but small exercises and stretching can make a big difference in the long run. Your body and mind will thank you!
Go Boating
Water is one of the calmest, most serene environments that help you make your mind and body peaceful. Boating is a great way to spend time on the water without stressing your body out.
You can combine boating with other activities like reading, fishing, or just plain old hanging out on the water. If you go to a lake where other people visit, you can even make some friends on the water. Living the dream!
Volunteer
Volunteer work is fulfilling in more ways than one. You’ll reap multiple benefits if you start volunteering in your free time post-retirement. Volunteering helps alleviate the loneliness that you can sometimes feel in your senior years after retiring.
Volunteering with different organizations can help you meet new people, develop new skills, and gain unique experiences. It keeps you moving and mentally agile and supports your social and mental health. Most of all, it’s a great way to support your local community and those who need help in your area.
Travel a Little
Free time equals the opportunity to see the parts of this great big world that you haven’t yet. It’s one of the most fun hobbies you can take up in retirement. Traveling allows you to broaden your horizons mentally and physically.
Travelling doesn’t mean just going to different countries. You can also take a short trip to a different state or even just another city in your district. You can even get yourself an RV and take a cross-country trip.
Start Cycling
Cycling is one of the best physical hobbies you can take up after retirement. It’s physically challenging without taking too much of a toll on your body — unless you’re thinking of competing, but there’s no need to go that far.
You can cycle for leisure and meander around or channel this energy seriously, participating in cycling events. This will also help you build a new circle. Not to mention, cycling is more than just a one-time investment — you’re helping your body and the environment by opting for no-fuel transport.
Play Some Games
Games are something that you can turn into a hobby post-retirement. Games like Rummikub and Monopoly are great options to bring together your friends and family, help you socialize, and get some fun out of it.
You can even host game nights at your house to bring your social circle together. Gaming keeps you active mentally while also feeding your social needs. There are always new and old games you can explore with this unique hobby.
Grab a Puzzle
Doing a puzzle is the ultimate activity post-retirement. It’s a time-consuming, patience-testing hobby — the satisfaction of which is unparalleled. It requires you to be focused and use your mental strength to plot the best avenue for you to finish your puzzle.
The more you build, the higher the number of pieces you can opt for the next time you buy one. You can also have a group of puzzlers where you can swap your boxes, so you won’t even have to spend so much.
Take Up Knitting
We know this one might be a bit cliché — but knitting is a fun and consuming activity that gives you time alone with your thoughts while also taking up all your attention. You can knit with a TV show or some music in the background, just you and those two needles trying to make a sweater out of a ball of yarn.
Knitting is extremely stress-relieving and calming as an activity. It also allows you to create new things and let the artist inside you explore some new creations.
Try Stand-Up Paddleboarding
This activity will help you calm down your mind when you’re retired while helping you maintain a muscular physique. Paddleboarding doesn’t require a lot of items, just an inflatable paddle board and a stable body of water.
This activity is perfect for you if you have a lake nearby. The soothing aqua environment and the concentration required will leave you feeling relaxed and much calmer once you’re done.
Dig Into Your Ancestry
One of the best ways for seniors to keep busy once they’re in retirement is to take up genealogy — the study of their ancestry. This is currently the second most popular hobby in the USA.
For this hobby, there are so many resources you can use, like your computer or your family members. Dig in deep and see how back you can trace your family tree. You never know what surprising tidbit you might uncover during your exploration.
Start Doing Some Photography
This is a hobby that your family can also take advantage of, especially in the age of Instagram and TikTok. Photography might be accessible to everybody thanks to smartphones, but taking really good photos requires some skills.
You can even create a blog and post photos that you take there. Your photos can feature trees or people, lakes or mountains — whatever appeals to your creative eye can become the subject of your artistic pursuit.
Take to the Skies
If you’ve dreamt of touching the sky, this hobby is the one for you. Flying can mean something other than sitting in an already-piloted airplane. Instead, you can get a recreation pilot license and become the master of your own little plane.
There’s no freedom as significant as being in the open skies yourself. Once you get the hang of this, you’ll have other people clamoring to get a ride — and soon, you’ll be a superstar to your friends and family. We told you… being a retired senior doesn’t mean boring!
Hunt for Treasure
When we say treasure hunting can be a hobby, we don’t mean that you head to the beach with a metal detector looking for lost jewelry or co*ke cans. Instead, we’re talking about trying out geocaching as an actual, serious hobby.
Just go to the geocaching website and enter your details. You’ll be directed to a treasure hidden in your area, which you can then look for. Or if you like the old method, the beach and the park always welcome you and your metal detector.
Bake Your Own Bread
Bread-making has become a popular hobby in the last couple of years. If the kitchen is where you find peace and are the most relaxed, then bread-making could be a great option for you.
It’s relatively easy to do but is a time-consuming job. Once you get the hang of the basics, you can start making fantastic recipes to wow your family. So get started growing your very own starter!
Experiment With Your Coffee
This is for all the coffee enthusiasts who can’t help but marvel at the skills of every barista they encounter. Stop your daily visits to your local coffee shop and experiment with the brews at your house.
You can even start your TikTok page talking about all the ways you try to make different kinds of coffee. Polish your skills and become the barista that you’ve always admired.
Start Running
Active people not only live healthier but also longer lives. A more active lifestyle helps you keep your strength and fortify your immune system. So, what’s better than running exercises to keep up your heart rate?
You can start by slow jogging around your neighborhood. Once you’ve got the hang of things, if you think running is something you can get behind, you can even end up training for longer marathons.
Power Walking
If running isn’t your speed and you need something that’s less exerting, then power walking is an excellent idea for you. This is for the people who love hanging out outdoors.
You can get together a group of your friends who live close by and start a power walking group together. It’s the easiest and cheapest hobby you could have — all you need to do is walk at a fast pace.
Take a Course
If any of you retirees have ever missed out on education or have the desire to learn something related to history, psychology, or finance, now is the perfect time to pick it up.
Thanks to the many websites and courses available online, you can easily pick up a new course of your liking virtually. Expanding your knowledge and learning something new and exciting is always possible. You can even enroll in your local community college and take some classes.
Take a Dance Class
Just because you’re getting older doesn’t mean you have to leave behind the youngster in you. So, if you’re looking for a way to stay fit and fine while having some fun, sign up for a dance class.
It’ll keep you active, help you make new friends, keep those hips moving, and help you on the dance floor at the next wedding you attend. So, get groovy in retirement and learn some new moves.
Try Birding
Birding, or bird watching, might not be for everybody, but it’s an excellent hobby to take up post-retirement. It allows you to keep your mind flexible while giving you a little walking activity.
Bird watching is a great hobby for older people as it allows you to indulge in excitement without giving your body extreme stress. You can go alone, or you can do it in groups, which also allows you to socialize.
Learn a New Language
If you’ve ever dreamt of walking the streets of Paris while flawlessly saying “Bonjour,” then picking up a new language might be an excellent way to spend your time in retirement.
You can start off with apps like Duolingo that allow you to learn a new language wherever you are, everything from phrases to pronunciations. You may one day get inspired enough to visit the country and get some traveling done, too.
Opt for Yoga
Yoga has always been a form of physical activity that focuses as much on the mind as it does on the body. This allows you to keep the body active while practicing being mentally balanced.
If you suffer from overthinking or are often anxious, this calming practice could be a great way to start the day. It’ll also keep you fit and flexible.
Aqua Aerobics
Dancing in the water is one of the more fun water activities you could try out! It’s a class activity, so you’ll also get to meet new people and make friends while having a ton of fun.
Aqua aerobics is done under the guidance of an instructor and helps you keep fit even in retirement. The combination of water and dance is just too good to pass up.
Journal Daily
Journaling is a mindfulness practice that helps you organize your thoughts more comprehensively. You can journal before the day to plan better or at night to gather your thoughts and evaluate your day.
Journaling helps you get a grip on your feelings and keep track of your life. Taking up journaling in retirement can be extremely therapeutic. If you’re creative, you can even take up bullet journaling and create beautiful and creative spreads.
Learn an Instrument
Retirement gives you plenty of time to learn new skills, and playing an instrument can be one of those. To all the wannabe rock stars out there, retirement is your chance to pick up that guitar or sit down by the piano for some lessons.
If you’re interested in music, this is an excellent hobby for you to choose. Music is an activity that is mentally freeing and can also be very socially fulfilling as you might end up meeting other people learning to play the same instrument as you.
By Susie Green –
When you have kids, money can run even tighter than you might be used to when you were just supporting yourself with your income. Still, that doesn’t mean that everyone else is lounging on piles of money with free time that they selfishly aren’t using to help parents. These parents took things too far when they asked for too much.
Some Daycare
We understand that childcare isn’t cheap or easy to come by. However, this solution seems to lack a bit of sympathy for stay-at-home moms and the work they do.
While the want for affordable childcare is understandable, this person is essentially asking someone to watch another toddler for $125 per 40 hours a week. No matter what job you take on, that pay isn’t going to go far.
A Nintendo Discount
If someone is selling their Nintendo system, they might be trying to get rid of it but they clearly want or need to get a little money for it. If they wanted to give it away, they would.
As this person clarifies, they were expecting to make a little money off of their Nintendo. So, they couldn’t just give away their Nintendo for a lower price than they’d already offered. This woman’s plea seemed to ignore the fact that she might not be the only one who’s tight on money.
The Influencer Effect
There are some things that people don’t have time for or frankly just don’t want to do. Take this mom, for instance. Clearly, baking isn’t at the top of her priorities so she’s decided to ask for some help. That’s okay! What’s not okay is asking for services paid in “exposure.”
Odds are, the people asking rarely have the following that they think they do to actually make this a worthwhile offer. Clearly, this person tried to get extra brownie points mentioning that it was for a child’s birthday and their love for small businesses.
Celebrating Spring Break
For kids, one of the most exciting things about spring break is the chance to have a break from school for a week. If your parents have an exciting trip planned, all the better!
This mom clearly wanted to do something special for her kids, which is admirable! What isn’t quite as sweet is asking for someone to totally sponsor the trip, especially with so many people potentially going. “Sponsor” makes it sound like they aren’t invited either.
As a Gift?
Believe it or not, this isn’t a plea on a post for baby clothes or toys that someone is getting rid of. No, this mom is going for a much bigger ticket item.
This mom is actually asking for a $14,500 car sale to be taken down to a total of $0. Not only did they ask for it because they were a mother but they also threw in a story about their daughter’s therapy when the answer was already clearly a “no.”
A Little Less Direct
While this person wasn’t directly asking someone to give away a car they’d put up for sale, they definitely made it clear that they’d really like it if someone did.
We guess this wasn’t guilting anyone in particular and it was more broadly aimed but it’s still a bit much. Not to mention, she had some nerve to specifically ask for a car that’s this new— whether or not she phrased it as a hopeful blessing in your life.
Valuable Trading Cards
If you aren’t interested in it as a hobby, the collection of trading cards might seem a bit wild to you, especially when you learn how much some of these cards go for.
Not many people would try to buy someone’s belongings from them when they aren’t for sale. This mom wasn’t ready to hear how expensive this person’s card was and only got increasingly angry when this person continued to stand their ground.
That’s… a Lot to Ask
Once again… this is a situation where, at best, we can only hope that this person might have mistyped a few numbers on their calculator to have made this mistake.
After all, they can’t possibly think that someone is going to take care of such a young child for less than minimum wage, right? This is a lot of work they’re asking for. At least, they’re kind enough to let you bring your own kids — even if you have to love this stranger’s baby just as much, if not more, than your own.
The World’s Cheapest Au Pair
When it comes to looking for someone who can act as live-in help and take care of the kids when needed, it’s not necessarily a choice that’s unheard of or weird on its own.
However, most people who hire an au pair or governess are willing to pay them a living wage. Maybe offering housing was what this person thought made the job worthwhile but they’d still be a full-time, around-the-clock nanny for a wage that isn’t livable.
Desperate Times?
Listen, it’s not easy to be a single mom. It’s even harder when you have to worry about running errands with two really sick kids who should be at home resting.
If this mom had asked someone to run to the store for her and she’d pay them back, that would be a pretty reasonable ask, even if no one replied. However, asking someone to stay with two children that are highly contagious so she can run out seems like it’s foregoing the babysitter’s safety.
End of Her Rope
We all want to help out our friends and when you care about someone, you might find it hard to say no. Yet, that kindness can sometimes be taken advantage of.
The OP clearly didn’t want to leave another struggling but it doesn’t seem that the other mom felt the same way. It’s hard to give that mom the benefit of the doubt after reading this post. Let’s hope this poster figured out a way to talk to her friend.
Wow, Just Wow
When your kid is invited to a birthday party by a classmate, there are some things you expect to do. You might buy a small gift or card and rub elbows with the other parents for a few hours.
What you don’t expect is for someone to charge you a price of admission. Honestly, the choice to have an expensive birthday party for your child is a personal choice and if you can’t afford it, the guests aren’t required to chip in like this.
No Respect
There are some things that you can ask your friend for. If you know a stay-at-home mom near you and you’re in a pinch, it isn’t unreasonable to ask them for an afternoon of help.
On the other hand, being upset that your neighbor didn’t volunteer to watch your kids when she was clearly busy with her own is a bit much. After all, you might not want to deal with more kids on top of your own for a neighbor who doesn’t pay you or return the favor.
What a Helpful Offer
We’ve already covered it but it bears repeating — the offer to give someone “exposure” for a good or service rather than money doesn’t usually actually net a profit at all.
In fact, since you’re now down the good or service that you offered, you probably net a loss more than anything. Plus, it’s a bit entitled to think the attention you can provide is worth the time and effort it would take to paint a room for you.
Happy to Help
When you need a little extra help, there’s no shame in asking for it. However, if someone doesn’t have what you need, it’s time to go another route.
Plus, most people turn to their close friends and loved ones for things like this. If not them, then financial institutions or community assistance might be able to help. Asking strangers on the internet is probably going to get a response like this at best.
Here it Comes
There is a degree of haggling that you can do on some Facebook marketplace purchases. However, that’s usually something that works for both parties.
Someone trying to get $35 isn’t likely to immediately drop it down to $5 without at least some haggling in between. Even then, it’s a slim shot. The potential buyer here only escalated the situation more until the seller was rightfully freaked out and definitely wasn’t going to give that discount now.
What’s That Saying?
There’s a saying about asking for things for free. What is it? Beggars can’t be choosers? It’s clearly not one that this person knows. Yes, you probably expect family members to get your kid presents for Christmas.
Yet, in keeping with “beggars can’t be choosers,” you can’t really demand specific ones. You especially can’t dictate how much other people should spend on their Christmas gifts for your kids. You have no idea what their financial situation is, so it seems a bit unfair.
You Can’t Be Serious
We’ll say it again and again — we really sympathize with the cost of childcare for parents. The answer to that isn’t to underpay the person who watches your child, though.
Especially when you’re looking online for a babysitter, most people are looking to do it for money. You have to make it worth their while to sacrifice their time and effort in watching another person’s children. For most people, $3.50 an hour just won’t do.
$100 a Week?!
Speaking of not paying the people you “hire” to watch your children, we have another example here that’s almost as shocking as the last one — if not more.
When it comes to compensation for watching a few extra kids — which comes with, at the very least, making sure the children are kept safe and fed — this mom was offering a whopping $100 a week. Uh, what?!
This Date Is Getting Expensive
If someone takes you on a date, it’s kind of up to you to find time in your schedule and the budget for a babysitter. After all, that’s just a part of balancing different aspects of your life.
It seems like this might be a first date, so it’s especially audacious to ask the person you’re meeting up with to pay for babysitting services. You don’t know this man and they’re not his kids, so he certainly doesn’t owe you diddly squat!
Child Support?
The idea of child support is there to make sure that parents who don’t have primary custody still have to offer some sort of support for the life they helped create.
This situation isn’t exactly what this is made for. When you have someone babysit your child, they don’t become a de facto parent. Can you imagine helping your neighbor out by babysitting and then they ask you for child support?
Redefining Needs
When you donate things for children, you often go straight for necessities. Things like clothes, food, and basic necessities are often the first go-tos when it comes to charity. As for this person, they were looking for a different kind of need.
You know, the kind that is actually usually classified as luxuries. This is no toy — it’s an expensive electronic device. Plus, it’s an electronic that this person was trying to sell to teach their own child a lesson. The buyer then had the audacity to insult the seller’s parenting methods. No, ma’am!
You’re Asking for Quite a Discount
There are some things that are inevitably expensive. Asking for a Steinway grand piano for this price is not only insulting to the seller but also to the piano itself!
If you can’t afford one, there are plenty of options on the market — especially for a young pianist who needs something a little more affordable and probably even a bit more portable. Instead, this mom demanded a rather steep discount and cursed them out when they refused.
A Strict Timeline
Buying someone dinner is a great way to leave a good impression on the first date. However, it’s not necessarily a requirement of modern dating.
It’s not really something you usually demand upfront either. This person had quite a few standards for their date. On top of the free date, this gal demanded quite a lot from their potential suitor. Now, this is one way to send someone running for the hills…
They Said It’s Not Happening
You can find some deals online that are unbelievable. You might even get something for free if you search in the right places, like Facebook Marketplace. To be fair, when he said no, she did offer an alternative where they’d get the money… given this person stayed true to their word.
Even so, you can’t just start calling names when someone says no to your offer — especially given the fact that there’s likely someone else who can pay it all at once.
A Live-In Nanny
Once again we have a mom looking for someone to move in and help with their kids. Usually, there’s a bit of incentive to try and get people to do this. The incentive here doesn’t seem too great.
After all, why would you want to move in to take care of kids that you don’t currently know for almost no money? Plus, this babysitter would have to pay half of the bills and buy their own food.
Yeah, You Would Be
This school seems to offer a really helpful service to parents without transportation. Unfortunately, their resources were limited and they couldn’t accommodate everyone. We can sympathize with the fact that this mom is struggling.
However, she jumps to some major assumptions about the neighbor down the street. It doesn’t seem right to put the other kids in the neighborhood at a disadvantage. We’re going to say, yes — it would be audacious.
Just Asking Around
There’s something about the way that some people beat around the bush that can honestly make some people less likely to really feel moved to help you.
One of the fastest ways to get people to not be on your side is to start with passive-aggression. Especially since people have their own financial needs and aren’t a part of this situation, the “no one cares” comment seemed to kill any sympathy this person had.
They Literally Need Him
There are some things that people just usually aren’t giving away. If someone has a service dog, they need that dog. You don’t just stumble across them. That’s not what this mom seems to think, though.
Not only is this extremely entitled but telling someone who has a disability that they “look fine” is so incredibly offensive that we can’t see how this mom thought that this would work in her favor.
As a Birthday Gift
Parents often want to make their kids’ birthdays feel as magical as possible. What’s more magical than your favorite princess giving you a call to wish you a happy birthday? That’s what this parent wanted for their daughter.
What she didn’t seem to understand is that people offer these services for money. So, this person wasn’t too tempted to just work for free, especially when you consider all the time it probably takes to get into costume and the energy it takes to stay in character.
People Can Say No
If someone doesn’t accept your initial bid when you’re haggling, what do you do? Do you try for a higher price that’s still a compromise? Do you accept no for an answer?
If you’re this mom, the answer is absolutely neither one of those — but rather, to go to a level 10. As step one, she started by accusing this stranger of falsely advertising the iPad when it really must be broken. When that didn’t work, she decided to get a bit more manipulative.
Plea From a Stranger
Once again, if you need to ask for help when you’re down on your luck, there’s no shame in that. Everyone needs help once in a while and being responsible for multiple people isn’t easy.
If you got this from a friend or loved one, you might answer the request without hesitation. This person hesitated but we can’t really blame them. After all, they had no idea who was requesting money from them, in the first place. They literally got this request from a stranger and they reasonably probably had questions about the legitimacy.
Getting Detailed
When it comes to stepparents, usually, they’re chosen based on things like a parent’s attraction to them as well as factors like them being good to their new stepkids.
That’s not the route that this mom was going. Is it really all that different from online dating than to put out a job description like this? Even on a dating app, this set of requirements would send most people away.
You’re Kidding, Right?
We’re pretty sure that the concept of a living wage for the people helping you seems to be lost on some. After all, why shouldn’t they have the same security you’re asking for?
Someone in the comments was happy to do the math when they were presented with this “offer” from a stranger on Facebook. When you break these terms down in an hourly wage, this mom is only offering four bucks an hour for babysitting services? No, thanks.
This One Might Be the Worst
Being hard-pressed for a babysitter isn’t easy. There are times that you need to find someone last minute but that can come with last-minute prices.
If this parent only needed help a few hours or evenings a week, this rate probably wouldn’t be too bad. However, when you consider that they want people working 13-hour shifts watching a young child, $0.52 per hour probably isn’t going to be enough incentive.
A Steep Discount
Some items that you have around your house tend to run a pretty penny. Believe it or not, $200 is actually on the lower end of what you might find when you’re looking for a nice, new couch.
This person asked for it for $30, which wouldn’t be so audacious if they hadn’t added the pretty manipulative phrasing there at the end. If they’d just put out the offer, it wouldn’t have stood out quite so much. Another commenter rightfully couldn’t stand by without defending the seller.
Well, They Aren’t Free
Dairy Queen isn’t necessarily known for handing out free ice cream. Like most businesses, they sell their ice cream at a cost so that they can make a profit.
Furthermore, the cashiers working at a Dairy Queen don’t have control over the prices. So, even if they sympathized with this mother not being able to get their child Dairy Queen, they may not have been able to do anything but please ask this mother to leave.
A Free Hairdo
There are some phrases that usually don’t spell out something good for someone trying to turn a profit. How can a hairdresser help a single mother out, as this comment says?
Don’t worry, she just wants this hairdresser’s time and effort for free. Not only that but she wasn’t exactly asking for a simple haircut either. She asked for quite a few free services that most hairdressers usually offer at an upcharge on the usual shampoo and cut.
All or Nothing
We’ve gone over this saying a few times but the term “beggars can’t be chooser” might not apply to anyone on this list as much as the complaint this person leveled.
The friend wasn’t even going to charge this mom, so it wasn’t a matter of making something free for them. She wanted someone to watch her kids yet the offer for two hours just wasn’t good enough. So much for trying to help.
