Before You Donate, Make A Budget! Also, one time donation ideas.

OH NO!  YES, I said BUDGET.  As if that's a dirty word or something. 

The definition of a budget is: an estimate of income and expenditure for a set period of time. 

Really you just need to know what's coming and going and when. If you are like so many people in this world you don't know where your money is coming or going on a daily or even monthly basis, which can cause a lot of aggravation for yourself and especially in a marriage. I'm not going to bore you to death with talk about budgeting, instead I will put some links to some various websites that I've found helpful in the past.

http://www.crown.org/
http://www.daveramsey.com/
http://tolovehonorandvacuum.com/?s=budget
http://family.custhelp.com/app/answers/list/kw/budget/search/1

I currently use Mvelopes.com as our software to track all our finances, I've been using it now since the 1st year of our marriage.  It just works better for me.  It can be very simple to use and you can use it for more complicated things as well. 

There are a lot of budgeting forms you can download for free online, a lot of different advice from various sources and you can even get some free tracking tools to see where your money is coming and going.  However, a lot of the free tools don't allow actual budgeting, so do a little bit of research and then make a decision.  If you still don't know which is better, try some out.  A lot of places will give you a free trial and those that are free you can try out and see if you like it or not.  Check out your bank customer service as well. A lot of people don't know that there is financial assistance available for budgeting and investment, usually for free at your local bank or even over the phone.
Once you have some type of knowledge of where your money is going , then you can decide how much you are going to donate and where. How to decide how much to donate? Well there is a lot of information out there and they vary from person to person. Is it too little, too much, is there such a thing as too much and why?

https://www.gotquestions.org/tithing-Christian.html
https://www.charitynavigator.org/index.cfm?bay=content.view&cpid=40
http://time.com/money/2792145/the-right-amount-to-donate-to-charity/


Now, some of you might be saying there is no way I can find any extra money to give. If you have a heart to give there is always a way.  Especially one time gifts. So if you find that you can't commit to something monthly and you want to give, here are some ideas of what you can do:

1. Ever heard of an eat down?  
This could be as simple as eating down your pantry. You know those cans of soup, beans and other canned goods you might have bought because they were on sale and then didn't use them? Yeah, those.

To the extreme. Quite a few years ago a friend of mine literally ate down their entire house and she had 4 boys. Of course toward the end of the eat down they were eating cake for supper and the boys loved it. Then whatever your budget you had for groceries for the time of your eat down you would put toward your donation.  

Don't forget about your freezer too.  Here are some links that talk about eating down.

http://goodcheapeats.com/2012/12/prepare-to-eat-down-the-pantry-2013-challenge/
http://www.littlehouseliving.com/cooking-challenging-eat-pantry.html
http://www.thekitchn.com/how-i-save-money-by-eating-down-the-freezer-love-your-freezer-215862
http://abcnews.go.com/Lifestyle/eating-pantry-save-eating-whats-cupboard/story?id=28821545

A lot of people give up on this, myself included, when you can't find easy recipes for what you have.  Sometimes you need to give up on recipes and just go with the flow.  Eat breakfast for supper or just have a plate full of food that satisfies hunger. 

Another thing you can do is the beans and rice challenge, this challenge can also be helpful to help you empathize with a lot of countries around the world where this is their main source of food, and often times it's only once per day. Just be prepared with some beano or something before hand, because otherwise it could get explosive in your house!  I haven't done this with our kids, but I would like to try it when they are a little older to help them understand a bit more.

https://www.solidrockinternational.org/riceandbeans/


2. Give up something indulgent for 30 days and give the money as a one time gift
For example: coffee, chocolate, shoes, anything that is extra for that month. Or go all out and give something up that you find you can't live without, this can be a real stretch for most people including me. But it can show us how to empathize with those less fortunate than ourselves.

Check out this article about Lent, it starts March 1st this year.
https://www.gotquestions.org/what-is-Lent.html
This is an interesting concept for Lent:
https://40acts.org.uk/

I enjoyed this broadcast as well recently:
https://www.moodyradio.org/programs/building-relationships/2017/02-2017/2017.02.04-the-good-of-giving-up/


3. When you go grocery shopping pick up some things for your local food pantry as part of your groceries.

This is a website where you can search local area pantries and if you click on the more information it'll give donations times/dates as well as some contact information.

http://ampleharvest.org/find-pantry/


4. Have any spare change hanging around?  Some people still carry money with them and when they spend those dollars they receive change. You'd be surprised what you can find hanging around your house-check under those couch cushions(but make sure you have your vacuum handy when you do) , your car, or in the bottom of your purse-if you have one. Put aside a jar and put all that excess change in it, at the end of 30 days count it up and donate it to something your passionate about.

5. Get kids involved. Do they get an allowance?  Do they have a job? This would be a great way of teaching compassion and some type of budgeting with them. Talk about various reasons to save and get their heart involved with something. Ask them what tugs at them and have them donate to something that gets them excited. 

Operation Christmas Child with Samaritan's Purse
https://www.samaritanspurse.org/what-we-do/operation-christmas-child/
Samaritan's Purse Gift Catalog, You can give things like chicks, goats and wool bearing animals. As well as clean water, food, blankets, fun things like soccer gear or spiritual things like gospel booklets
https://www.samaritanspurse.org/our-ministry/gift-catalog
Some other Local Charity.
https://www.guidestar.org/NonprofitDirectory.aspx


6. Don't have the extra money right now, how about volunteering your time or gifts in some way.

Here's some biblical encouragement on the subject.

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=James+1%3A5&version=NIV
James 1:5

If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you.

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2+cor+9%3A7&version=NIV
2 Corinthians 9:7

Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give,not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.