Who’s Spinsterlicious? We Are. And We’re Everywhere!

A few weeks ago, I posted a survey so I could get to know the readers of my The Spinsterlicious Life blog better.   As an incentive to get you to participate, we offered a first, second, and third place prize.  Response was tremendous, so many thanks to all of you who participated.

 

Sometimes when I participate in a sweepstakes and don’t win, I wonder if anybody won or was the prize offering just a scam to get me to participate? I’m sure I’m not the only one who thinks like this, so to make sure you know that this is real, here are the three randomly-chosen winners…and some of the survey results, follow.   And just in case you’re now rolling your eyes because you don’t think reading survey results is a good use of your time, you’re wrong!  They’re pretty interesting.  I promise.

 

First Prize Winner of a $100 AmEx Gift Card  

Bonnie Ginepro, in her own words:

My name is Bonnie, I’m a country girl from Middle-of-Nowhere, Massachusetts though I currently reside in South Carolina. I am single despite the oh-so-close offers that have come my way- I wasn’t ready. Someday marriage might be in my future, but I have a wanderlust, am very independent, & value time alone. After a spate of bad luck, I’m on hiatus from dating & very happy… the next guy will have a heck of a bar to meet!

I love to drive fast, dance often, & write copiously. I’ve traveled a bit, Germany, Italy, & all over the states. This is from a family trip (5 of us, all adults & we didn’t kill each other) it was one of the first times, I remember seeing the Pacific Ocean. Only 14 more states to go, though Ireland, Scotland, France, & Kenya are next on my list.

 

Second Prize Winner of a Spinsterlicious Gift Bag (Book, T-Shirt, Mug)

Willette Hill,  in her own words:

When I was 12 years old and living in the small town of Matawan NJ, I fell in love with Washington, DC while on a church bus trip with my grandmother.  After graduating from college, I made this city my home.  I’m 59, divorced 15 years.  For the most part, I enjoyed being married (almost 20 years), but I don’t regret getting divorced.  It took a while to find the “me” after  having been a “we” for so long.  After two serious long-term relationships — both of which ended amicably — I’m in no hurry to tie myself to another man.  At some point I might consider dating again, but at the moment, my life is full, enjoyable, satisfying, and enriching without a man in it.

 

Third Prize Winner of a $25 Amazon Gift Card

Paula Goldrup is off on what sounds like a very exciting adventure.  She’s Canadian, and just started a new job in Cairo, Egypt.  Perhaps we’ll hear from her later!  Good luck, Paula!

 

And now, the results from the survey.  We are a super-interesting bunch!

• We’re mostly female.  No surprise there.  About 5% of the regular readers of The Spinsterlicious Life are male.  Some of you want to hear more from them.  (More about that later).

• Eighty-five percent of us have no kids.  The rest have 1-3.  No one had 4 or more kids.  Of course, if they did, they wouldn’t have enough free time to fill out a survey, right?

• We’re a pretty happy bunch.  On a scale of 1-10, where 1 = miserable and 10 = delighted, the average response to “how happy were you last week” was 7.  That’s pretty good. 
• Most of us (79%) are not in a serious relationship right now.  17% are, with 6% in a really serious relationship…because they’re married.  
• One of the questions asked how we feel about our current situation.  See the range of responses, below.  And what was I thinking?  I forgot to give “I love being single” as an option.  And a bunch of you gave me an earful about it.  I won’t make that mistake again!
• And we’re a diverse bunch.  Most Spinsterlicious readers are white (70%), 25% are black, 6% are Hispanic, and 2% Asian.   Then it starts to get interesting.  Instead of choosing one of the given options, a few chose “other” and  identified their ethnicity as “Middle-Eastern Australian, Eurasian, Mixed, Native American, Cape Verdean, and English/Irish/Puerto Rican.”  That’s what I get for thinking we can fit everybody into neat little boxes!
• Not surprisingly, most of us (80%) live in the U.S.   I’m happy to see that we also have readers from Australia, Brazil, Canada, Egypt, Germany, New Zealand, Peru, Romania, Slovakia, U.K.  Spinsterliciousness is international!

• I asked what you’d like to see more of in the blog and I got a range of really interesting responses.  And here’s where you, dear reader, come in.  I don’t have the “expertise” to speak on many of the topics, so I’m going to ask you to.  That’s right: I’m opening this blog up to more guest writers.  Below is the list of topics you want to see covered.  If there’s something here you have an opinion about, send me a note.  We can talk about including your voice in a blog post or even having you write the entire post, if you want.  I think it’ll be fun.  Here’s what I want to cover in the coming months, at your request:

-How/Where to find eligible men to date.

- Personal stories from single women who live in small towns.

- The POV from single men.

- How to find friends, build a social life as a single adult.

- The experience of being single in other countries.

- Travel tips.

- Product reviews of things we really love.

- Financial advice for single women.

- Coping strategies for the reluctantly single.

See, that was kind of interesting, right?  And I’m serious about the guest posts.  If you want to address any of the topics above…or something not on the list, please send me a note.  Let’s figure out a way to make it happen!