Welcome to your new favorite Senior playbook!
Lonely? Secretly bored? Terrified of outliving your retirement savings? You’re not alone. The number one fear for retirees today isn’t aging—it’s running out of money. But hiding at home watching TV isn’t the answer.
Cheap Thrills flips the script on retirement budgets. This isn’t a book about deprivation, cutting coupons, or skipping your morning coffee. It’s a high-energy guide to reclaiming your social life, boosting your brainpower, and filling your calendar with adventure—all for less than the price of a fast-food meal (and often, for free — no cost at all.)
What You’ll Discover Inside:
Thrills of a Lifetime: Most popular Bucket List adventures, on land, sea and air, with all the excitement and a lot less pain to your budget.
The Art of the Ask: Scripted ways to unlock hidden community perks, senior discounts, and no cost admissions without feeling awkward.
Culture on a Dime: How to access world-class entertainment, plays, and museums on a shoestring budget.
Fresh Air, No Fare: The best low-cost outdoor adventures, nature passes, and urban exploring secrets for all mobility levels.
Brain Games & Social Gains: Low-stress ways to build your brain-power and a thriving new social circle without spending a dime. And more.
Retirement shouldn’t be about fearfully watching your nest egg shrink. It should be about making your world bigger. And when you open this guide, you will start beating the penny-pinching boredom, and discover how to live a million-dollar retirement on a piggy-bank budget.
READ Cheap Thrills now in either paperback or Kindle.
Other Senior and Retirement Guides
Practical, inspiring guides for seniors and retirees including the best-selling ‘Working After Retirement‘. All are in paperback and Kindle Unlimited too.
Romance
Love stories for the seasons of your life from San Francisco in the 1960s to Los Angeles today. Both are on Kindle Unlimited.
Vampire fiction
Not even remotely like your traditional vampires. These will bring a smile to your face. Both are on Kindle Unlimited.
Hi. I’m glad you stopped by today. I’m Carol Lightwood, author of several non-fiction guides for Seniors. Under the nom de plum of Annie Carroll I also write fiction, mostly romances of one genre or the other. (Even the vampires find love!)
And I’ve written a children’s book set in Arizona: “Javelina Cousins and the Magic Compass”. Read the first chapter free.
Blogs
I also write several blogs. The most active one is about Tucson, where I now live.
Hot Gardens – gardening in hot dry climates
I Saw It in Tucson – unexpected Tucson
LA City Pix – images of people and events around Los Angeles
Wandering Lady – travels across the Southwest and South
Las Vegas Neighborhoods
Long Beach Neighborhoods
Real Life Retirement
Entire website, wording, design, photos © Copyright. 2026 Carol Lightwood All Rights Reserved.
