A Time to Give - Giving at Home

Welcome back to A Time to Give, my weekly feature where we share ways to give, ways to share, ways to be generous. If this is your first time stopping by, welcome! You can read the original A Time to Give post HERE. In a nutshell, I started this feature as a way for us to inspire each other to be even more generous. I tend to get wrapped up in finding great deals, and I don't want to lose sight of one of the reasons we live frugally... to be able to give more. Each week I'll share a giving idea of mine, and you share a giving idea of yours.

I have to start by telling you... I'm sick. The yucky kind of coughing, sound-like-a-frog-when-you-talk sick that no one enjoys. The inspiration for this week's topic, giving at home, came from that though. My husband has been incredibly giving while I've not been feeling well. He's so good about offering to do both little things (like cooking dinner) and big things (like getting up with Emma if she wakes up in the middle of the night) when I'm sick. He even offered to get up early and take Emma to school so that I could sleep in today. I don't take him up on every offer to help, but I sincerely appreciate his giving spirit.

It got me thinking... I can often find ways to be generous with people out in the great big world, people I don't even know. But do I always take the time to be just as generous - or even MORE generous - with the people under my own roof? I started thinking about some of the ways that I am generous with my family and some ways that I could be more generous with them. Here's the list I came up with. Maybe you can add some ideas to it.

• Make their favorite meals, cookies, etc.
• Do a job that's usually theirs before they even have a chance to get to it.
• Fill the van/truck gas tanks if I'm driving and they're low.
• Get up with Emma and let Jason sleep in a bit on Saturday morning.
• Ask them what they want to do rather than always choosing our activities.
• Watch for great deals on the things that they want or like.
• Offer a smile and a hug often.

There are so many ways to give and so many people in need. I certainly want to do what I can to be generous with others. I just want to make sure that those closest to me are feeling the biggest impact of my desire to give.

Now it's your turn to share your ideas for sharing, giving, and being generous. Note: If you are reading this post via an email subscription or a blog reader, you'll need to click the title of the post in order to see the links left by others.

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.