There is something that I would like to bring to your attention today. I am very passionate about it and no I am not talking about spreading the debt free message. You could say that my passion to spread debt freedom pales in comparison to my passion for giving. I would even go as far as to say my desire to become debt free really was ignited by an even bigger desire to help others out by giving.
I don’t know about you, but giving excites me. Today I would like to ask that you please head over to My Super-Charged Life and check out what big things he is trying to do, for someone other than himself. More specifically, the Make-A-Wish Foundation. In case you are unaware of what they do, here is their mission statement:
“We grant the wishes of children with life-threatening medical conditions to enrich the human experience with hope, strength and joy.” ~ Make-A-Wish Mission Statement
Jeff was really hoping for a better response for such a wonderful fundraiser, and I have to be honest—so was I. If a lot of people give a little, dreams will come true. Here’s what I know.
- He’s asking for as little as $2.50 per donation, but more if you can afford it.
- The donations will help children experience something once, that you may get to experience many times in your life.
- You enter to win a free ipod nano, which Jeff is providing with his own funds.
I have already donated once, but I plan to donate again today. I think that no matter what your situation you could always take a step back and see that there is other pain in the world much bigger than anything we could ever understand. I have never been diagnosed with any life-threatening disease or illness. I’ve never been told how long I would have to live. These kids have heard words like this, and the only thing I keep thinking is—what if this was my kid? This could happen to my children. This could happen to your children and your friends children.
So what does all that mean? To me, it means that if I, or anyone I know was going through something similar, I would hope that enough people like you and I, would attempt to make something bad, just a little better.
There are lots of things I could do with the money I plan to donate, but there is nothing else that I could do with that money that would help a precious child get their wish. (I did not budget to give any of my money to the Make-A-Wish Foundation this month, but it was pretty simple to adjust my budget after I found something I could cut in order to do this.)
I am not asking you to go out there and use your house payment or your credit card payment to do this. I just want as many of you as possible to go over there and help out. We always have the option to go out and earn a few extra dollars to fix our financial woes, but there is nothing these children can do to make their situation any better.
How to fund your donation:
- work an extra hour or two at work if possible.
- sell something on ebay or craigslist that you have around the house.
- skip your morning coffee for one day.
- brown bag your lunch for work.
- check your house and cars for loose change.
- when grocery shopping, put back a few things you can do without.
- instead of taking the family out to eat, go on a picnic at a nice park.
- instead of a family movie, go on a family hike.
- pretend the Government raised your taxes.
- claim less on your W-4 form at work.
- make a quick budget adjustment.
You get the idea. I am sure you can find something to do that would save you some money, in order to keep from going to the poorhouse for making a small donation. Give up something small, so that a child can experience something big. It would mean THE WORLD TO ME if you did!
So go over there and make your small donation! Help make a difference! PLEASE!
P.S. Super Secret News!
I am working on a project that is going to make a difference for YOU—coming soon!! I’ll just say this. I am going to put my money where my mouth is and YOU are the recipient! I will be posting about this soon so if you haven’t already, please subscribe now to be sure you don’t miss out.
Teaching Your Kids Early On Is The Best Way To Ensure Financial Responsibility
Since approximately February of 2009 we have been adding small amounts of change to Isaac’s piggy bank periodically. He gets money for doing certain things like cleaning up after himself, helping around the house, etc. He loves to help and we want him to learn the value of hard work. If he works he does get paid, and if he doesn’t work then he doesn’t get paid—just like the real world.
We have a pretty loose system as Isaac is only 3, but as he gets older it will become more realistic. In the beginning we wanted to encourage him to do certain things so we would often help him. We noticed that he became very excited as he added any new money to his piggy bank, so our plan to encourage him was working.
Last night before Isaac went to bed we took the time to count his money. He was very excited as we laid out the “monies” as he calls it. He learned what a penny, dime, nickel, and quarter looks like, as we separated them together—his hard-earned money. He was proud!
Here Is The Breakdown
Pennies: $5.12
Nickels: $2.85
Dimes: $8.40
Quarters: $17.00
Gold Dollar: $1.00
Dollar Bills: $3.00
TOTAL: $37.37
Parent-erest Paid: $4.00
ADJUSTED TOTAL: $41.37
Now for this next part there really is no right or wrong percentages. Isaac is only 3 years old, so we just wanted to start early with teaching him the basics of handling money. We chose to have him give 20%, save 30%, and spend 50%.
Giving – $41.37 X .20 = $8.27
Now most people suggest giving 10%, but we feel that when you do not have expenses you have the ability to give more. We chose 20% for no other reason. We will be putting the $8.27 in an envelope so that Isaac can physically hand over the money he worked so hard at earning, so that he feels how great it is to give.
Isaac knows that this is his money that he earned. We want him to know that he is the one giving/sharing it with others.
Saving – $41.37 X .30 = $12.41
The recommended percentage to save depending on who you get advice from is anywhere from 5-15% of your annual income. Again, because Isaac does not have any bills we have chosen 30% as a starter percentage. We just want him to become used to saving money every time he gets paid as a habit.
Once Isaac has enough money to start a savings account, we plan to open one for him. $12.41 is a lot of money to a 3 year old. As he continues to get older he will see his money grow, and will know first hand, the benefit that comes with setting some money aside for a rainy day.
Spending – $41.37 X .50 = $20.69
Now we realize 50% is a lot of money, especially for his age. As he gets older he is going to have to realize that when he wants to buy something for himself or for someone else that it will have to come out of his spending money. For now we wanted him to enjoy the fruits of his labor, so we are just fine with allowing him to use all of this money to buy himself a toy. We will be doing so today. 
The Tax Talk
NOT for a 3 year old. One day we will have to have “the talk” about how the Government will steal money from him by force, before he ever sees it. For the record though, I am not at all against paying some taxes to help with basic infrastructure, however, I believe that it should be more fair across the board. I do not believe that robbing from those that have worked and giving to those that have not is the way to go about it, which is why I am for the Fair Tax.
Plus, the Government proves every single day why it cannot be trusted to manage money. Trusting the Government is like giving your broke and in debt relative money and trusting him/her to manage it responsibly.
Teach Your Children…
…because if you don’t, then they will learn from every other broke person around them, including our untrustworthy and inept Government. Spend the time to teach them how money works. Teach them about hard work and the value of their labor. They don’t teach financial matters in school, but even if they did, it is still up to you. You are the best role model for your children. Help them avoid debt and learn about saving for things that they want. Help them avoid bondage and dependency!
A Debt Free Christmas Is A Stress Free Christmas
The first challenge I put out there was to make it through this Christmas WITHOUT accumulating ANY debt at all. That’s right, a NO credit card Christmas. I received such a great response to that post I wanted to step it up a notch. I will be posting updates to allow everyone to share their debt free Christmas goals starting next month. Start thinking about how much you want to spend this year and make a plan to start saving that goal amount. No debt this Christmas! You can do it!
When I wrote the last two Christmas posts it really got me thinking about how much I dislike what Christmas has turned into over the years. Marketing has really been effective in making us believe that love is in the stuff we receive from others. I love Christmas! I think it is such a wonderful time of year. Let’s make it more meaningful for those around us this year.
Christmas Stimulus 2009
We are all experiencing the down side to our current economic situation. Washington has declared themselves our savior but I think we are more capable of having an impact privately. Let’s do something BOLD! Let’s put together our own Christmas Stimulus Package and really have an impact.
Not only should you have a debt free Christmas, but you should try something else very different this year. Challenge #2 is to pledge to spend from your Christmas budget a specified amount to be donated to a charity of your choice, or used to help someone close to you feel a little less stressed financially. This amount is NOT to be added to your current Christmas budget, but instead it is to be deducted. You can give on top of this amount, but the purpose of this challenge is to get you to take from what you currently spend in the name of passing out tons of stuff, and use that money to give in order to help someone in need instead.
If you were going to spend $300, pledge to spend $200 and use the other $100 to donate to a charity or help someone in some way financially. Here’s a Christmas idea. Donate what you were going to spend on your mother, brother, sister or father, to a charity in their name. Put the receipt from the donation in a Christmas card and let them know it was given in their name. I don’t know about you, but I would LOVE it if someone sent me a card with a receipt saying that instead of buying me a useless gift, they donated the same amount of money to a charity in my name! That’s money well spent!
Christmas Challenge Summary
Christmas Challenge #1 – Have a DEBT FREE Christmas in 2009
Christmas Challenge #2 – Take from your current Christmas budget and donate that money to charities or someone in need of some financial help.
My Pledge: Our Christmas budget this year is going to be $250, so we are going to pledge $150 of that to be spent giving to charities or someone we love and care about. That leaves us $100 to spend on the children in our family. We will likely donate to charities, in our family and friends name like mentioned above. This is a new idea for me this year so I am excited about it. I am curious to see the response we get from family members. I think it will be positive!
We also may give more whether it be financially or physically, but this is what we plan to do with our current Christmas budget. I have never donated my time on Christmas but I like the way that sounds. I’ll keep you posted!
So what do you think? Is this something you would be willing to try? Please share your thoughts in the comments section below.
The Spin-Off
First I just want to thank everyone for participating in yesterdays discussion. I enjoyed it so much and am pleased to see that all of you did too. SO THANK YOU! To be honest yesterdays post started as just another Christmas Gift idea article. Then it transformed into what you enjoyed so much, so I left out the original idea to shorten the post.
People go absolutely insane come Christmas. They let guilt, popular opinion, and the need to impress others take over their wallets. They say things like, “I have to get them something, they might buy me something”, and go and spend money they probably can’t afford to spend all because of guilt or to make that impression. People justify spending hundreds of dollars on their kids because they only live once, and they deserve a good Christmas. What’s your definition of a good Christmas?
I don’t know about you but Christmas doesn’t mean those things to me. Maybe it used to, I’m just saying. It doesn’t anymore. I think Christmas is bigger than what it has become. Whether you are a Christian like me or not, Christmas is about family and friends and love and kindness. I am much more impressed by something that someone spent hours trying to perfect, didn’t curse them financially, and came from their heart in the process. I’m impressed by those that put down all of the shiny jewelry and expensive electronics, and decide to help a single mother or surprise a unsuspecting orphan. I’d rather spend my money at Christmas like that. At Christmas, we don’t go ALL OUT buying gifts, but we love to give, so we do.
Shawanda from youhavemorethanyouthink.org, and myself, see this issue close to the same.
People don’t need more stuff! They need more time, more love, and more effort! For the record I am not a scrooge as I may get accused of being, I enjoy gifts like anyone else. I just enjoy one kind of gift more than the other, and don’t see the point in diving head first into a hole to make someone believe I love them. I do enjoy making the kids smile, but you can do that with a fourth or less of what you usually spend now, can’t you?
With that in mind, perhaps you can consider some alternatives to the normal pride-fest that some falsely refer to as Christmas. Like I said you don’t have to be a Christian to understand that Christmas is about more than material possessions. Even some Christians miss the point as well. And while I am pointing fingers, let me point one right back at myself, because I have sometimes forgotten as well. I am just saying, it is something we should think about more often before going and burying ourself in debt to make an impression.
If you still want to buy everyone in your family a Christmas present go right ahead, but what if you could help them REMOVE something from their life, instead of add something? There are a range of things that you can do depending on how wealthy you are to help someone you love have a great Christmas.
You could:
- Invite them over for a nice Christmas dinner
- Pay off one or more of their debts
- Pay their electric bill for that month
- Pay their mortgage payment (if you’re wealthy why not?)
- Pay their car payment
- Give something that matters
Now I realize their are people out there that would probably get offended if you tried to pay their mortgage. It is true, but there are lots of people who won’t. There are lots of people that are in need and that could use the helping hand.
You could try something new and see how crafty you can be with a potato stamp and fabric paint. Think I am joking? Not a chance, click on the link to see the list Money Funk has put together for having a frugally fun Christmas. If you have kids you can come up with all kinds of inexpensive ways to show you care about your loved ones. I know this- potatoes are cheap, but the memories they can create are priceless. I have heard Dave Ramsey put it like this. Give somebody something that they would want to grab if there house was on fire. If your house is on fire are you gonna grab the 60-inch Plasma, or the homemade picture that your 13 year old neice made you 5 years ago?
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