A Time to Give: Giving a Smaller Gift

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.

My family has always given generously at Christmastime. My parents modeled this for us as we were growing up (Thanks, Mom and Dad!), and now it's just part of the way we celebrate. As we celebrate God's gift of Jesus to us, we also celebrate by sharing what He has given us. Some years that giving involved taking names from the Angel Tree at the mall. Other years we would hear about a local family in need. No matter what form it took, the spirit of giving was always prevalent.

Now that we're a little bit older, the tradition continues. And we're giving together. One of the ways we've found the extra funds to give as an extended family over the past few years is to cut down on what we spend on each other. This was my brother's idea, and it's allowed us to increase our giving without increasing our out-of-pocket spending.

Each year we take half of what we would have spent on each other and spend it on someone else who's in need. We still get a little something for each other, but it's just a smaller little something than we would normally have bought. The thought is still there, and we add the joy of giving to others into the mix. It's frugal (doesn't cost any more than we would've already spent) and generous (blesses someone who needs it).... the perfect combination of saving and giving!


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.