The GypsyNesters

We were intrigued the first time we heard about Roommates4Boomers – what a great idea!, we thought. After delving deeper, we decided to interview the woman behind it and were offered the chance to make a teeny-tiny amount of money if folks decide to use the service by clicking links on this post. Just so you know. Oh, and as always, all opinions are our own.

We talk a lot about empty nest couples’ issues on our site, because that’s what we live and know.

But we are aware that there are a bunch of you out there that are not part of a couple.

How do I know that? Because we often get comments on our site and Facebook page asking us how a person can have a flourishing life while single and “of a certain age.”

It’s hard for us to answer those questions — not having that life experience ourselves — and usually end up asking our wonderful community to pitch in their thoughts/ride to our rescue.

So when I found out about Roommates4Boomers in this article in Midlife Blvd, I was intrigued.

Could this be a good resource we could share with our single, female friends?

I’m not gonna lie and pretend that I haven’t thought about what would happen if David kicked the bucket.

I often think about it during those panic moments when I do arguably stupid stuff to purposely overcome my many fears. It would truly suck if David were squished like a bug as we jumped out of an airplane, ziplined over a 300-foot waterfall or fed ravenous crocodiles. My life would change in a horrible, drastic way.

OR David could finally tire of my semi-crazy, rapidly aging and spreading butt and want to trade me in for a newer model. Though I look at that future as a far less likely scenario than the bug squish, I’ve seen it happen to much better women than I.

Following those thoughts to their ultimate conclusion, I know I wouldn’t want to live alone if I were to become suddenly single.

I have friends that are single and happily unfettered — and that’s fantastic — I just know I wouldn’t be.

I’d be lonely, wouldn’t be able to afford to travel as I’d want need to, and I’d certainly not want to do a reverse boomerang and move in with The Spawn (that’s the last thing they’d need after losing their dad in a spectacular insect-like fashion). I would also want the safety that comes with someone else being around.

Here are some interesting knowledge-bits I found on the Roommates4Boomers site:

· One in three Boomer women are single.

· Research shows that living alone as you age can lead to isolation and loneliness, as well as mental and physical decline.

· Research shows that men who have wives, live longer; women who have active female friendships, live longer.

· Sharing a home is a great way for Boomer women to keep socially connected, financially secure, safe, healthy and happy.

· Boomer women are turning to shared housing for positive reasons – for companionship, mutual support, independence, and fun.

That last one caught me off guard – because in my innermost thoughts about being without David, the overriding emotions are dark and sad.

To get more insight on that stat, I got founder, Karen Venable, on the horn.

Karen told me when she found herself single after her twenty-five year marriage ended, she moved in with a girlfriend who was also newly divorced. It turned out to be a wonderful experience.

After a few years she felt ready to start dating again, and is now happily married to a man that she met through an online dating site.

Karen now shares the best of both of these experiences — the benefits of finding that perfect roommate by using algorithms similar to a dating site — through Roomates4Boomers.

“Life at our age can be a lot of fun,” says Karen, “I wanted to help people be joyful and have adventure.”

Karen gave me permission to poke around the site a bit and I found it really easy to use. Members can choose to share space in their own homes or search for someone who has space to share.

I did notice that some areas of the country had a lot more matches (for the fake, single me) than others, however.

Karen explained to me that as the site has been growing (it launched in 2014), geographic pockets have sprung up organically. So in order to get more coverage, and therefore more good connections for everyone, members may create profiles and peruse potential roommates for free. It doesn’t cost one cent until you want to reach out to a potential roommate!

I can confidently tell you that if I were single, I’d give Roomates4Boomers a shot.

At least until I was forced to give Match.com a try like Karen, and you don’t want to know what would happen to GypsyNester.com if I started to online date (ohhhhh how the snark would fly).

Let’s hope that never happens.

Veronica, GypsyNester.com

We were intrigued the first time we heard about Roommates4Boomers – what a great idea!, we thought. After delving deeper, we decided to interview the woman behind it and were offered the chance to make a teeny-tiny amount of money if folks decide to use the service by clicking links on this post. Just so you know. Oh, and as always, all opinions are our own.

YOUR TURN: Isn’t this a great idea? Would you try a service like this or do you live alone and prefer it that way? What are the pros and cons of having roommates at our age?