Although for us saving money is a big deal, we do also like to help out charities, it’s important to think of others and look to spending some of your money or time helping out those in need. Even if you can’t afford to donate much to charity every little helps, donating your time or unwanted items are equally as valuable.
Recent research from My Voucher Codes suggests 42% of us Brits lie about how charitable we are, exaggerating how much they have raised for charity or donated. These shocking figures were part of a study to see how honest people are about how charitable they are. There always seems to be some sort of money raising effort going on each month whether it’s at work, in school or even on TV so it can get quite expensive for people if they feel like they should help out.
However that isn’t an excuse to lie about how charitable you are just to look good in from of your peers. You can read more about the study here, but we look at ways to be charitable without costing you lots of money especially if budgets are tight and without having to resort to lying!
A good clear out
When we find ourselves with too much junk, we have a good sort out and make 3 different piles; one to keep, one to donate and one to bin. Our donate pile is usually the biggest, whether its clothes we have not worn for a long time but are in good condition to bits of furniture or home interior accessories that no longer fit in our home.
We live in a consumerist society and it’s easy for us just to sling away unwanted stuff, but think about those presents you were bought and never even opened you don’t have to re-gift them, donate them. Just because something doesn’t fit in your home doesn’t mean it won’t fit into someone else’s. Many Charites now accept furniture from sofas and tables to bed frames.
Some spare time
If you’re active sometimes it’s hard to sit still, if you end up just wasting a weekend going shopping because you’ve not got anything better to do, why not save some money and donate your time instead. Whether it’s taking a shift in a local charity shop to spending time volunteering for needy.
Not just money
Charites don’t just want your cold hard cash, which is great if you don’t have a lot, but as we have discussed they do want your spare time if you have it or your unwanted stuff. However with the increase of food banks in the UK a lot of places also want food, drink and toiletries. So when you’re shopping think about adding an extra item to your trolley to donate.
BOGOF offers might be too much for just one or two people, but you could get the extra and donate it to a food bank, it’s not really costing you any extra.