#community | Design Services LTD

Rita, the downsizing designer, continues to inspire communities around downsizing, decluttering, and minimalist lifestyles.

What Makes a Great City: A General Theory of Walkability
What Makes a Great City: A General Theory of Walkability

What Makes a Great City: A General Theory of Walkability

“I walk everywhere in the city. Any city. You see everything you need to see for a lifetime. Every emotion. Every condition. Every fashion. Every glory,” Maira Kalman observed in considering the creative capacity of walking. Charles Dickens and Victor Hugo, too, came up with their best ideas while walking. For Peanutscreator Charles Shulz, walking [...]

By Rita Wilkins|2016-04-26T12:41:50+00:00April 26th, 2016|A Peek into Your Good Life, Baby Boomers, community, downsizing, lifestyle, Renting Trend, retirement, simplify your life, Start Your Good Life, Starting the Good Life|Comments Off

WALKABLE COMMUNITIES

America Walks just released an article, PopulationShifts and Implications for Walking in the United States by Peter Tuckel, which talks about the “walking revolution” in America by measuring three different demographic shifts: 1. Aging of the baby boomers; 2. Different transportation priorities of young people; 3. Decline of the outer suburbs. These demographic shifts are affected by the changes in [...]

By Rita Wilkins|2016-04-20T17:08:58+00:00April 20th, 2016|A Peek into Your Good Life, Baby Boomers, community, downsizing, lifestyle, retirement, simplify your life, Start Your Good Life, Starting the Good Life|Comments Off

Making the Most of Newfound Retirement Free Time
Making the Most of Newfound Retirement Free Time

Making the Most of Newfound Retirement Free Time

Remember when you always seemed to be late to the office, picking up your kids after ballet lessons and finally getting home for bed? Now, as the children have moved away and work becomes more routine, it seems as if you are becoming more punctual. Fashionably late has morphed into fifteen minutes early. Racing to [...]

By Rita Wilkins|2016-04-19T13:02:57+00:00April 19th, 2016|A Peek into Your Good Life, Baby Boomers, bucket list, community, downsizing, lifestyle, retirement, simplify your life, Start Your Good Life, Starting the Good Life|Comments Off

Baby boomers, are you fit for everyday life?
Baby boomers, are you fit for everyday life?

Baby boomers, are you fit for everyday life?

Old age isn't what it used to be. "Our expectations have changed from dying at 75 to living well into our 90s and even to 100," says Robin Robertson, a gym owner and trainer in Bellingham, Wash., who specializes in fitness for those 55 and older. "We could all use tips on how to make [...]

By Rita Wilkins|2016-04-18T12:46:25+00:00April 18th, 2016|A Peek into Your Good Life, Baby Boomers, bucket list, community, lifestyle, retirement, simplify your life, Start Your Good Life, Starting the Good Life|Comments Off

Here Come the Baby Boomers. Is Your Hotel Ready?
Here Come the Baby Boomers. Is Your Hotel Ready?

Here Come the Baby Boomers. Is Your Hotel Ready?

There’s been much ado about Millennials (born early 1980s through early 2000s) lately — and for good reason; as the largest generation in the U.S., tech-savvy Millennials have essentially driven the recent evolution of hospitality (think online presence, mobile apps, social media, and personalized experiences). However, in our warranted efforts to please the young’uns, we [...]

By Rita Wilkins|2016-04-17T13:04:36+00:00April 17th, 2016|A Peek into Your Good Life, Baby Boomers, bucket list, community, downsizing, lifestyle, retirement, simplify your life, Start Your Good Life, Starting the Good Life, travel|Comments Off

Boomers represent an untapped niche market

With unprecedented disposable income, free time and a powerful desire for new experiences, the baby-boomer generation represents a growing market segment. For the next 19 years, approximately 11,000 baby boomers born in the U.S. between 1946 and 1964 will retire every day. With unprecedented disposable income, free time and a powerful desire for new experiences, [...]

By Rita Wilkins|2016-04-15T16:19:49+00:00April 15th, 2016|A Peek into Your Good Life, Baby Boomers, community, lifestyle, Renting Trend, retirement, simplify your life, Start Your Good Life, Starting the Good Life, travel|Comments Off

Baby boomers: Studies back up exercise benefits for those over 50

Thanks to the baby boomers, who began turning 65 in 2011, the population of older Americans is expanding. By 2030, one in five Americans will be a senior citizen, nearly double the 12 percent in 2000, according to “The State of Aging and Health in America,” a 2013 special report from the U.S. Centers for [...]

By Rita Wilkins|2016-04-13T15:41:26+00:00April 13th, 2016|A Peek into Your Good Life, Baby Boomers, bucket list, community, lifestyle, retirement, simplify your life, Start Your Good Life, Starting the Good Life|Comments Off

“Communal” living is a growing trend for Baby Boomer Women
“Communal” living is a growing trend for Baby Boomer Women

“Communal” living is a growing trend for Baby Boomer Women

Women are Choosing to Age with the Support of Friends Some say the ‘60s hippies are going back to the commune. Others call the growing number of female Baby Boomers rooming together “‘The Golden Girls’ phenomenon.” Author Martha Nelson, who at 65 is on the leading edge of a tsunami of retiring Boomers, says it’s [...]

By Rita Wilkins|2016-04-12T12:53:36+00:00April 12th, 2016|A Peek into Your Good Life, Baby Boomers, bucket list, community, downsizing, lifestyle, Renting Trend, retirement, simplify your life, Start Your Good Life, Starting the Good Life, travel|Comments Off

City slickers: Why urban centers are drawing ‘population bookends’ of millennials, baby boomers
City slickers: Why urban centers are drawing ‘population bookends’ of millennials, baby boomers

City slickers: Why urban centers are drawing ‘population bookends’ of millennials, baby boomers

In a post-World War II United States, two achievements signaled someone's arrival at the doorstep of the American Dream: a house in the suburbs and a brand new, gas-guzzling sedan to get them there. Well, things have changed since then, and the urban neighborhoods, corner stores and coffee shops that Americans left en masse more than a [...]

By Rita Wilkins|2016-04-06T22:30:46+00:00April 6th, 2016|A Peek into Your Good Life, Baby Boomers, bucket list, community, downsizing, lifestyle, Renting Trend, retirement, simplify your life, Start Your Good Life, Starting the Good Life|Comments Off

Baby Boomers: A Billion Dollar Market

Baby boomers continue to be a potent force in travel, according to a new report from AARP. The 50 plus age group spends more than $120 billion a year on leisure travel, according to AARP’s recently-released Travel Research: 2015 Boomer Travel Trends. And baby boomers are expected to take four to five trips in 2015, [...]