Money Saving Mom®

Welcome to December’s series on 31 Days of Giving on a Budget. In this series, I’ll be sharing inspiring stories from my readers and posts with practical ways to give — even on a limited income.

Guest post by Sia Hills.

Even more than frugality, I love generosity. So when there are opportunities be frugal and generous, I get really excited. Here are a five of my favorite ways to give:

1. Read a Book. Give a Book.

At WeGiveBooks.org, you choose a book to read online… and then you also select a charity to donate a free book to a child in need. My girls love this program, and it teaches them about giving at a young age.

2. Donate Extra Items From Your Stockpile

You can donate items to your local food bank or homeless shelters. Check out Feeding America for a food bank near you.

Do you ever wonder what you might be able to do with all of that free soap and shampoo you have stockpiled? Send it to Clean The World and recycle your soap to save lives. Diseases like Cholera are addressed best with soap and water. Your extra soap and shampoo can save a life. Work with others you know to combine your stockpiles and share shipping costs.

Another great option is to fill a shoebox with with school supplies, small toys, toothbrushes, etc. for the children in need in poor areas of the world through Operation Christmas Child.

3. Purchase Coffee For a Cause

If you’re a coffee lover, be sure to check out OneCup.org. For every $11 in coffee you purchase, $11 will be donated to help humanitarian aid work in Africa.

4. Buy Handmade Items from Entrepreneurs in Third World Countries

Heavenly Treasures, one of my favorite sites, offer the opportunity to purchase items that have been handmade by an entrepreneur in a poor country. These are recipients of Micro Loans, and you are supporting the growth of their business. They offer unique and affordable one of a kind gifts (many start at around $5).

5. Buy a Pair of Shoes, Give a Pair of Shoes

For every pair of shoes purchased, Tom’s Shoes gives a pair of shoes to a child in need. What is great about Tom’s Shoes is that they work from a replenishment model: the child who received the first pair will continue to get a new pair as they grow out of them or wear them out.

Besides the comfort of wearing shoes, it has a significant impact on health issues for the children that receive them. The shoes are not cheap, but your purchase will impact a child’s life!

Sia Hills is a wife and mother of three, who works in the humanitarian world. She loves to share money saving opportunities, as well as ways to give and live generously.

Welcome to December’s series on 31 Days of Giving on a Budget. In this series, I’ll be sharing inspiring stories from my readers and posts with practical ways to give — even on a limited income.

If you have a Giving on a Budget story to share of a way you or your family has given to others this year or this holiday season, please email me your story (or a link to your post on your blog) and a picture to go along with it, if possible. I’d love to hear it and possibly share it during this series!

A guest post by JessieLeigh from Parenting the Tiniest of Miracles

I love Christmas! I love the decorations, the music, the wrapping, the anticipation…I love it.

What I don’t love? Clutter.

So I love giving consumable gifts. It’s fun for children to have things to unwrap and it’s nice for me to know that once they’re gone, they’re gone.

Another way I like to cut back on clutter and help my children learn a little about giving is through gifts of charitable donations.

But how can we make this, well, more fun for our kids? How can we hold on to the joy and elation of surprise on Christmas morning while making the real gift something for others?

Here are a few tricks that help keep it exciting even for toddlers and preschoolers:

1. Double up.

Rather than purchasing a new or trendy game, pick up two copies of an old classic. Candy Land, Chutes & Ladders, Hi Ho Cherry-o, etc. often go on sale for $5 each during the holidays. Wrap them both together for your child to open and he gets to keep one, the other gets donated to a child in need.

2. Give a small toy that represents the charity.

Want to give to an animal shelter? Wrap up a little stuffed dog or cat. Is this the year you donate to the March of Dimes? Give your child a small baby doll. Let your little one know that while she takes care of her new treasure, your donation will help take care of even more in need.

3. Give them a gift card.

Children have amazingly giving spirits. They also love to get to choose things and to be “in charge”. Consider giving your child a ten or twenty dollar gift card to a local supermarket and letting them choose canned goods for a local food pantry. The adventure of getting to shop is as good as a new toy for many little ones!

Those are my three favorite ways to keep Christmas clutter-free and encourage a giving heart all while making sure there’s something to open under the tree.

Do you have any tricks for making charitable giving fun for children?

JessieLeigh is the mother of a former 24-week micropreemie and two full-term blessings as well. She is a determined advocate for the tiniest of babies, including the unborn, and a firm believer in faith and miracles. She shares about raising such a precious, tiny baby over at Parenting the Tiniest of Miracles.

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Welcome to Decembers series on 31 Days of Giving on a Budget. In this series, I’ll be sharing inspiring stories from my readers and posts with practical ways to give — even on a limited income.

If you have a Giving on a Budget story to share of a way you or your family has given to others this year or this holiday season, please email me your story and a picture to go along with it, if possible. I’d love to hear it and possibly share it during this series!

Guest Post by Katie from Intentionally by Katie.

In these uncertain economic times, it’s wonderful to see how many people are finally accepting the benefits of budgeting. I still remember many of the frustrations I felt when we transitioned to living on one income in preparation for our first child.

One of my biggest challenges was reducing the ability to give generously to friends and family. After nine years of marriage to a very frugal accountant, I’ve wised up about the money dedicated to “gifts” in our budget, I have learned how to get creative when giving… and am quite proficient at stretching our dollars.

Here are 7 of my favorite tried-and-true bargain shopping methods:

1. Develop a Gift Stash

I’ve always kept some generic gifts on hand. It began in the form of a box of picture frames, bath soaps, and candles. Gradually, it transformed into a small shelf in my linen closet and is now a large under-the-bed storage bin full of gifts for adults and children of all ages.

One of the things I’ve noticed over the years is that last-minute shopping can cost 2-3 times as much as you could have paid had you planned ahead. Having small items available at a moment’s notice for a hostess gift or a birthday celebration can save you time, money, and stress.

2. Shop the Clearance Sales

One particular Super-Target location in our area always seems to have the best clearance sales. Whenever I am near that side of town, I plan a trip to that store with the sole purpose of roaming the end caps. They often have toys marked 75% off, so I can grab $20 gifts for upcoming birthday parties for $5.

The key to shopping clearance sales is to think ahead. Plan for Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, and any upcoming birthdays and baby or wedding showers.

3. Think Generic

Don’t get hung up on buying a Hello Kitty present for little Sally Sue because you know it’s her favorite. If you know that Sally Sue’s birthday party is coming up and you see a Hello Kitty item on sale, by all means, get it!  But don’t feel trapped into individualizing your gift purchases. You can be generic, while still keeping it thoughtful.

There are lots of easy ideas for generic gifts for kids of all ages including: art supplies, puzzles, dress-up items and board games. I also like to stock up on nice picture frames to fill with our annual family picture and give them to my extended family for Christmas. It’s amazing how much they appreciate a 5×7 picture I printed for $0.50 in a pretty $3 clearance frame!

4. Shop After-Holiday Sales

Personally, I don’t go nuts with this, but I do try to hit a few clearance sales after Christmas each year. Why pay full price for a Christmas ornament in early December when you can pay one-fourth of the price in early January and hold onto it for a year?

Again, keep your eyes open and think ahead: Does your office have a White Elephant gift exchange each Christmas? Would your parents appreciate a picture of your child in an ornament frame? As always, don’t buy clearance items just because they’re a good deal. Give it some thought and have a recipient in mind when you make your purchases.

5. Shop Throughout the Year

We had no income this past Christmas because my husband had recently been laid off, so I was very thankful that I’d stashed a few particular items away throughout the year for our families. I’d found a great doggie gift in July for my brother-in-law at 75% off that I hid under our bed until Christmas, I took advantage of some free photo book offers in September and made books for each set of grandparents, and I had a pair of earrings for my mom that I’d found at a bargain a few months back.

However, don’t forget that you bought items for certain people once the holiday arrives!  I suggest putting a sticky note on the item with the recipient’s name and the intended time frame you want to give the gift.

6. Keep a Small Stock of Cards and Gift Wrapping Supplies

I save gift bags from presents I receive and store them in one giant gift bag near a standing box of wrapping paper and ribbons that I’ve bought on clearance. In addition to keeping stocked on wrapping supplies, always have a stack of greeting cards handy.

Before I learned to make my own cards, I used to go to Hallmark every few months with a list of upcoming birthdays and buy several $0.99 cards to have on hand. You can also buy a set of 8 or 10 blank note cards and write “Happy Birthday” inside. No one says you have to buy a card with a poem that someone else wrote!  Let’s be honest: people usually throw away their greeting cards, so don’t spend too much money on them.

7. Build it into the Budget

This is so important! None of these ideas will work for you if you haven’t built a line item in your budget specifically for “gifts.” Pretty much everyone buys gifts, whether they can afford them or not… so why not write down an amount that you’d like to spend on certain people for holidays and put it into the budget?

If you use the cash envelope system, put a little money in the gifts envelope each month so you have a pool to pull from when you find a great sale.  If your budget is strictly on paper, take some time with your spouse to write out who you plan to buy gifts for, and the amount you’d like to spend.

Having a $50 bouquet of flowers delivered to your mom for her birthday will likely seem excessive once you see the grand total of your gift-giving budget at the end of the year. You can buy her a beautiful bunch for $10 and deliver them by hand and save yourself a lot of money 🙂

Are you beginning to see a common theme here?

Plan ahead!

Put money aside for gifts, intentionally keep your eyes open for good deals, and pretty soon you’ll find you’re able to give generously while staying within your budget!

Katie is a Christian wife and a stay at home mom of 3. She blogs about managing her family, frugal living, cooking, organizing, and all things homemaking at Intentionally by Katie. 

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