Cheap Ways To ...

Do something good for your soul this holiday weekend by giving something away -- whether it be goods, services or cash. Here are some ideas:

1. Mow a neighbor's yard when they're not home.
2. Gather up some clothes and household goods and call The Salvation Army on Monday for a pickup.
3. Clean up a public area (like a dirty toilet seat) when you encounter it.
4. Pick up trash on the ground that you didn't put there.
5. Send a card to a widow and/or include a check to help with their expenses.
6. Read a book to your child or niece/nephew.
7. Take pictures of a friend.
8. Bake a cake and take it to a neighbor you haven't met or don't know well.
9. Pray for someone who's on your mind, then send them an email to let them know.
10. Leave a note and a snack in the mailbox for your mail carrier tomorrow.

It's easy for life to be all about you. Make an effort to serve someone else. Mark a day on your calendar to do one or more of these each month.

Posted by Cara Davis at 08:13 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Participating Wendy’s ® stores will be donating 50¢ of every Frosty product sold to the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption this weekend.

Posted by Cara Davis at 02:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

This Saturday, leave a bag of non-perishable food items by your mailbox and your mail carrier will collect them as part of the Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive.

Posted by Cara Davis at 10:28 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Here's a neat trend: artists painting items they want. They paint something they want, and charge the amount of the actual item for the art itself. Called Wants for Sale, its counterpart website is called Needs for Sale. Same concept, but the proceeds go to charity.

Posted by Cara Davis at 07:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

If you live in Orlando, donate your change for a good cause and get a free lunch at Panera. Details here.

Posted by Cara Davis at 05:49 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I found a website today sponsored by the Xerox company. They will send a postcard to a soldier at no cost to you. You pick out a design (created by children across the country), select a pre-written message or write your own, add your name and hometown and submit. They hold it until they have enough for a full print run, then print and mail it. For something that's free and takes about 30 seconds of your time, it's the least we can do!

Posted by Cara Davis at 11:51 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Buy candy canes in bulk and make a variety of holiday treats that are easy on your budget.

Shop at a warehouse store like Sam's Club or Costco, or shop online for bulk deals.

Peppermint Bark
Buy meltable Almond Bark from your grocery store. Melt it in a microwavable safe dish, then pour it into a 9x13 pan. As it begins to cool, sprinkle crushed candy canes over the top. After it has hardened, use a knife to break into uneven pieces. These make great gifts packaged pretty.

Gift embellishments
Top your hand-delivered Christmas cards and gifts with wrapped candy canes.

Sweet Stirrers
Use your candy cane as a stirrer in hot cocoa. You can also place a hot cocoa packet in a pretty mug, then place a candy cane in it as an economical gift for coworkers.

Ornaments
Use any leftover candy cards to decorate your Christmas tree as ornaments! Let your child (or yourself) eat one each day until Christmas.

Posted by Cara Davis at 10:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

• What a card! Keep your Christmas cards each year. Cut the covers off and use them as postcards the next year. You'll save on postage and recycle! You can also attach these to gifts to use them as name cards.

• Cut it out! Reduce the number of people you send cards to or give gifts to! If you haven't talked to the person in a year, don't feel obligated to send them a card!

• That's a wrap! Use paper of all kinds to wrap gifts. Here are ideas on how to do it.

• Do your homework. Before buying (whether it's gifts or food), check the newspaper for the best deals. And for items that can wait, plan your purchase for after the holidays when clearance prices are at their lowest. Before you buy in the store, check prices online. Many sites offer free shipping during the holidays.

• Go out! There are lots of free holiday programs around Christmas. Check local church websites and chamber of commerce websites to find local parades, concerts and other free events.

• Get together. With many "buy one, get one free" deals around, get with a friend and split your purchases to save money and avoid buying more than you need.

• Give. If you're investing in new technology or toys this year, donate your old stuff to charity or a family you know needs it would appreciate it.

Posted by Cara Davis at 09:17 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Suntrust has a promotion where they'll donate $100 to a charity of your choice for opening a new account with them through the end of the year. If you're in the market for a new bank, this is a good way to go. You can also opt for a $50 gift card instead of the donation, but that would just make you feel like a real heel, wouldn't it?

Here are some other sites that donate to charitable causes when you use them:

• Sites like GreaterGood.com and iGive.com are called “charity malls” and give a percentage of the purchase price to a charity of your choice.

• Goodsearch.com is a search engine that donates 50 percent of its ad revenue to the charity of your choice when you use the site.

• FreeRice.com is an online vocabulary game donates 10 grains of rice to the United Nations World Food Program for every word and definition you get correct.

Posted by Cara Davis at 10:18 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I'd like to recommend a movie if you haven't seen it yet. The Ultimate Gift is a film that came out last year based on a book by the same name written by Jim Stovall. It is one of the most stirring and impacting movies I've seen in a long time.

I wrote an essay about the film for Everyday Woman magazine and I'll post a portion of it on this post so you can get a feel for the plot.

There is also a family resource kit to coincide with the book and the movie that is a great way to introduce the values found in the film to your children.

So if you're looking for a unique gift for a birthday or the upcoming holiday season, I highly recommend this DVD, which just released in August. The film stars some major actors including James Garner, Drew Fuller, Bill Cobbs, Lee Meriwether and Abigail Breslin.

Continue reading "'The Ultimate Gift'" »

Posted by Cara Davis at 05:59 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Being that I'm pregnant, a friend turned me on to a great blog about saving money with a baby. http://babycheapskate.blogspot.com is geared toward mommies in the Atlanta area but still has plenty to offer others outside of the region. Why am I mentioning this? Because during the month of June, the blog's author will be keeping tabs on how many visits her site gets. At the end of the month she will donate money to charity according to how many unique users come (a penny per visit). It's her birthday and she feels like giving back. I think it's a great idea. She's challenged other bloggers to do the same during their birthday months. Check it out!

Posted by Cara Davis at 09:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Tomorrow, leave a bag of canned or boxed foods next to your mailbox. The mail carriers are picking up donations for the "Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive" for America’s Second Harvest. Click here to visit the website.

Posted by Cara Davis at 11:22 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

In this post I cover: service-oriented gifts, subscriptions, personalized gifts, photo, print and video gifts, themed gift baskets and gift cards. Also, I link to an article Radiant ran in its current issue that highlights $20 for $20 this season.

Continue reading "Cheap Christmas Gifts, Part 3" »

Posted by Cara Davis at 11:59 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

In my last post I talked about the approach I recommend for planning Christmas gifts. In this post I’ll talk about specific gift ideas. I’ve broken them down into categories to give an overview. My hope is that these broader categories spark other gift ideas, even if the few specific ones mentioned don’t work for you.

Please share! Post your comments with your own ideas—I’d love to hear some additional gift ideas and how you guys approach holiday buying.

Continue reading "Cheap Christmas Gifts, Part 2" »

Posted by Cara Davis at 09:02 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Reader Danielle posted this comment on the previous post:

“Do you have any good ideas for cheap Christmas gifts? Christmas is coming quick—and I’m just trying to think of how to be creative and still give a nice gift to everyone on my list from ages 2-52. Any tips or do you know of any good websites that don't just teach you how to make ornaments, candles, and potpourri—that's all I've really found. Any thoughts on the whole Christmas gift thing?”

Great question! Thanks for the prompt, Danielle. Gifts are my dominant love language so I have a few strong opinions in this department.

Continue reading "Cheap Christmas Gifts, Part 1" »

Posted by Cara Davis at 12:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

A 100-year-old woman, Eugenia Dodson, designated $35.6 million of her wealth to go to diabetes and cancer research after her death last year.

Most of the money went to the University of Miami’s Diabetes Research Institute. Donald Kubit, co-trustee of her fund, said Dodson inherited her wealth from her husband and lived frugally in a small condo and refusing in-home medical care until she was nearly 100.

“She denied herself the trappings of wealth," he said in this article. "She was dead-set on doing good for humankind. She had a big heart.”

Posted by Cara Davis at 01:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

The fastest way to change your perspective about money is to give it away. To those living from paycheck to paycheck, saving money is at best optimistic; giving is nothing less than unrealistic. But giving could just be the best thing that ever happened to your checkbook.

Continue reading "Give It Away" »

Posted by Cara Davis at 11:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

"Generosity is giving more than you can, and pride is taking less than you need."
— Kahlil Gibran (from the Daily Thought from Real Simple)

Posted by Cara Davis at 10:55 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Jeff and I sold our condo a couple of weeks ago. This being the first time we've ever had this much cash in our hands from the transaction, we made some responsible (and fun) choices of how to manage it.

A portion went to the church, then we paid off my car (a used Honda Accord we got one year ago that will hopefully last us for a long time!), opened individual Roth IRAs, set part of it aside for the downpayment on our home we're closing on this month, set another part out to beef up our savings, set a small amount for home improvements, furniture, etc. and then bought two iPod nanos! (that was the fun part)

It certainly is hard to hold on to cash once you get it. But I feel we made some good choices and look forward to those investments doing well for us down the road. I like having a plan with money!

Posted by Cara Davis at 03:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

NPR has a story about a trend where couples are giving philanthropically through a charitable gift registry program, or asking guests to donate to a charity of their choice in lieu of buying gifts. Check it out ...

Posted by Cara Davis at 10:22 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

If you’re unable to sell some of your items after a yard sale or before a move (like I’m about to go through) and want to drop them off at Goodwill, follow a few steps to make sure you get credit on your taxes next year.

Write down a specific list of what you’re donating.

Assign a dollar amount to the donation. The market value is what you would get if you sold it at someplace like a consignment shop. To help figure out the worth of an item, use www.goodwillpromo.org or www.salvationarmyusa.org.

Get a receipt when you drop it off. Donation centers should have receipts available. (I normally receive a blank receipt when I drop off. I’m responsible for detailing the list of items donated and assigning their value.) If you are mailing your items to a charity, send a SASE so they can send you a receipt (shipping costs are tax-deductible, too, so hold onto that documentation as well).

Posted by Cara Davis at 09:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)