Saving and Giving has moved to savingandgiving.net! I hope that you'll all join me over at Saving & Giving's new home. I'm planning some fun giveaways to kick things off. I'm still working on the site, and I'd love to hear your input. Let me know which features you want me to keep. You can email me at savingandgiving@gmail.com. If you're currently an email subscriber, you shouldn't see any change in your daily email newsletter. I switched the feed over so that you should continue to receive your daily updates.

Wednesday, August 26, 2009

A Time to Give - August 27



Thank you to those of you who have been stopping by A Time to Give. I appreciate those of you who have taken the time to post your own giving stories and link them here. You have shared some amazing ideas and opened my eyes to new ways to become a more giving person. If you're new to this feature, you can read the original A Time to Give post HERE.

I often post about ways that we share our surplus of food and personal care items. Sometimes we share baked goods with friends and family. And have I mentioned the child-sized zucchini that we gave our neighbors?

Today I wanted to talk a bit about giving things other than things. Sometimes things are exactly what people need. But what about the value of a smile given to a stranger at the grocery store? It's amazing how that simple act can startle someone!

Last weekend, my Kroger store was tripling coupons. I saw several people pushing carts containing coupon boxes. I mentioned the triple coupon event (which wasn't posted anywhere) to a couple of them and even gave one of them a coupon I knew I wasn't going to use. It's interesting to see the comraderie spark when fellower couponers take the time to greet each other at the grocery store.

I'm trying to make myself more aware of things I can do for others, even if they don't involve things at all.

Now it's your turn to share your ideas for sharing, giving, and being generous.

You can participate in a couple of ways. If you're a blogger, write a post about a way that you've been able to give. It can be something simple or something out-of-the-ordinary that you did. It can be something from this week or from last year. Don't think of it as bragging... It's a way to encourage others to take action and be more generous! A few guidelines for bloggers:
  • Please add a link to Saving and Giving so that your readers can find everyone's ideas all in one place.

  • Make sure the link that you add here takes people directly to your A Time to Give post, not the main page of your blog. To do that, publish your post, view your blog, right click on the title, and copy the shortcut. Then paste that shortcut in as your URL here.

  • Bloggers who link to other posts or their main pages will have their links removed. This eliminates confusion for others who are looking for ideas on how to give.

  • Please do not link to giveaways, contests, or ads.

  • Feel free to use the image above in your post. It's not mandatory, but you're welcome to it!

If you're not a blogger, you can participate too! Simply click the comments link below this post, and leave your ideas there. I would love to hear from you!

If you have any questions about A Time to Give, please feel free to contact me at savingandgiving@gmail.com. I look forward to being inspired by your ideas on giving! And stop back each Thursday for a new edition of A Time to Give.



6 comments:

Unknown said...

Hey Jennifer,
I try to do the same thing. If I have extra coupons for items I see other people buying I say here have a coupon and save some money. They look at you like you are crazy, well at least me they do (lol). I guess they don't know what to think when someone is giving them something and is not asking for anything in return. It makes my day if I can make a complete stranger smile over such a simple small act of kindness!

Rachel said...

Hi Jen,

I am going to try to practice hospitality, as Paul tells us to do in Romans 12:13. Opening up your home creates deeper relationships with people. It also exposes yourself. I want to practice being hospitable and invite people over - to encourage them and to encourage myself.

Gabrielle said...

I've been at work all day, and I just now read your post AFTER I wrote mine on Random Acts of Kindness for the carnival. How funny that we were thinking on the same lines! I'm loving this carnival and hope that more people catch on and post soon. thanks for all you do!

Michelle said...

It was great seeing this new mom to-be well on her way with child, I just handed over 2 coupons to get free jars of baby food. She was taken back for a moment and said thank you. She was talking to others about coupons and is finding out you can really save...That was cool to me and to know that I just happen to have it on hand. God works in misterious ways!

Jennifer said...

Ladies, you have all shared some great ways to give... of yourself and of your stuff. Thank you for sharing your thoughts here! Doing this feature every week is helping me to keep giving more on my mind.

MT said...

Jennifer, I am SO sorry - I need to get this link up on my list for this coming week! I know we emailed and chatted about it a while back.

Best to you!

;-)