A Time to Give - October 8

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.

This week I talked to my mom to see if she had any specific ideas about giving for me to share. She brought up a great point. From what we're hearing, the supplies at local food pantries are down right now.

The irony of her comment is that I spent some time this weekend starting to organize our stockpile of dry and canned foods. I was sorely disappointed to find that I had six boxes of cereal that passed their expiration dates. That's six boxes of cereal that could have been donated rather than thrown away.

Rather than beating myself up over it, I've decided to stay on top of my food's expiration dates. As they approach, I need to either use the food or donate it. I don't want to donate food that's within a week or so of expiring, so I'll be checking for things that expire in a month or so. Whatever I don't think we'll use or whatever I have extra of, I'll be donating to the food pantry. I'll also be keeping an eye out for sales on items that would be free or almost-free that could be donated.

Most food pantries also accept personal care items. If you don't have a place where you currently share those types of things, you might consider your local food pantry.

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.