Car-buying adventures for single women

Take out the garbage. Clean up the dog puke. Nurse the baby. Order groceries (going to the actual grocery store is so last decade). Tell the nanny where the new formula is. Get an appointment with the doctor because you had a fever of 102 last night. Plan how to get to the doctor appointment before you go to work and how you'll find the time to buy a new car.

Whew. A not-unusual single hour in a typical single mom's day. But that buying a car thing, that's a challenge that takes a lot of preparation and research if you want to make a smart choice at a reasonable price and get through the process with minimal hassle. Our SWWAN partner, AskPatty.com, is collecting stories from women just like you and me about your car (love it? hate it? can't wait to get rid of it?) Go to CarBlabber to share yours.

Stay tuned. A great interview with Jody DeVere, founder of AskPatty.com, will soon be available for listening or downloading on SWWAN Dive radio for women!

And we're looking for some single women who'd like to share their stories with us for an article we're writing for AskPatty. So email us info at swwan dot org.

Touching on the spiritual

A friend, who seems to have been doing some exploring of spirituality, sent me a link today to a survey about what kind spiritual/religious person you are. The questions aren't simple to answer--on several of them I wanted to choose more than one, but that wasn't allowed. Turns out I'm a Seeker. Other options are Companion, Thinker, Believer, Maverick, and Lover. Take it here if you're curious how you'll come out.

She sent another link with some good moral-of-the-story tidbits. Here's one I enjoyed:

A monk in his travels once found a precious stone and kept it. One day he
met a traveler, and when the monk opened his bag to share his provisions with
him, the traveler saw the jewel and asked the monk to give it to him. The monk
did so readily. The traveler departed, overjoyed with the unexpected gift of the
precious stone that was enough to give him wealth and security for the rest of
his life. However, a few days later he came back in search of the monk, found
him, gave him back the stone, and entreated him, “Now give me something much
more precious than this stone, valuable as it is. Give me that which enabled you
to give it to me.”--from a story told by Anthony de Mello

Nice to think about during those times we face rough waters in our financial situation. Those who hav faith and trust in a higher power can change their outlook about anything to a more positive spin.

AARP survey: The Secret Lives of Single Women

Wow. Imagine finding single women all over the place who admit that life can be pretty tough but that they really are happy being single. AARP can reach a lot of people with its massive member base, so when they report on The Secret Lives of Single Women, it's worth hearing.

Talk about prejudice. Listen to a researcher found 950 college students describing married people--"happy, loving, secure, stable, and kind." Their words for singles were more like "lonely, shy, unhappy, insecure, inflexible, and stubborn." Good grief. Does that sound like you? I'm pretty sure nobody I know would describe me that way! But then, we're talking about "knowing" someone versus guessing what people you don't know might be like. A different ballgame--and therein lies the rub.

Love this myth buster: "Myth #10 Single women aren't as healthy as married women.
Reality: Generally true, but now single women are taking charge of their health just as they're taking control of other parts of their lives.For decades health researchers have consistently found that married women are healthier than single women. But the most negative health outcomes for women have been associated with those who are divorced or widowed. Very little attention has been paid to the long-term health outcomes of women who are contentedly single. One surprising finding to come out of the AARP Foundation women's survey, however, is that single women tend to think of themselves as healthy—46 percent said their health is excellent or very good (emphasis mine--what do we know about the power of the mind over the body???). In addition, 90 percent of the single women in the study said they're very or somewhat confident that they're doing all they can to keep themselves healthy. "These findings seem promising," says Jean Kalata, AARP research analyst and principal researcher for the AARP Foundation women's study, "but we need more research into single women and the effects of happiness on health."

Anyway, if you have a few minutes, read the report. It's fun to hear such good things about single working women!

US not alone in rising number of single-parent households

Even though the tradition to have a regular family with lots of kids has been strong among Jews, times are changing in Israel as well as other countries. The number of single-parent families in Israel has doubled over last decade. At 7% of all families, the single-parent household is a growing minority (90% of those are women-headed).

Here are the rankings of countries in order of their number of single-headed households, according to an NII report:

• United State ranked in first place with 16%
• Canada followed with 11%
• Finland, South Korea, New Zealand and Norway are ranked third with 9%
• Australia, the UK, Austria and Portugal ranked fourth with 8%
• Israel is fifth with 7%
• Denmark, Spain and Switzerland came in at sixth place (6%), and
• Germany, Greece, Japan and Luxembourg (5%).

The same forces seem to be at work in most countries--better pay and more opportunities for women are leading to fewer marriages and more women choosing to remain single after divorce or become moms on their own.