I am not that ambitious with money either. I don't love money enough to focus on it that seriously. Plus, it feels kind of, well, shallow to count every penny. I don't feel guilty for what I have but I do enjoy what I have more when others have something too.
On a sidenote: a friend who makes around $250K keeps track of EVERYTHING he gives, including $5 donations and then deducts them at tax time. He told me I need to start doing so as it really helps.
Next thing you know he'll be keeping track of all the tips he gives to restaurant servers who make 2 and a half an hour and expect to have that deducted at tax time as well.
My charitable donations are very similar to appy.... I've made a few donations to Doctors Without Borders and participated in a couple 5K walkathons. Those are really the only receipts I can come up with.
Next time I pass out a couple bucks to my local panhandler what am I supposed to do, get a receipt? Am I supposed to keep the receipts for all the bottled water and sandwich/snacky items I've bought to give away? How about the cans I put out next to the wastebin for my local street people? Should I be keeping track of those too?
How do I get a receipt for the leftover change I leave for various causes in stores/restaurants/city plaza, carwash for a cause? Sorry, but this kind of penny pinching is a little over the top....maybe that's why my tax burden is relatively high for my income level --- because I don't stash every single receipt.
Maybe. Maybe that's also why those who make a lot of money keep a lot of it. I claim things like goodwill donations and donations to charities, but I don't claim as much as I could. Although, I make less than $45K/year so it probably wouldn't help me as much to do so.
"No matter how dark the moment, love and hope are always possible." George Chakiris
“For those who believe, no proof is necessary. For those who don't believe, no proof is possible.” Stuart Chase
On a sidenote: a friend who makes around $250K keeps track of EVERYTHING he gives, including $5 donations and then deducts them at tax time. He told me I need to start doing so as it really helps.
Next thing you know he'll be keeping track of all the tips he gives to restaurant servers who make 2 and a half an hour and expect to have that deducted at tax time as well.
My charitable donations are very similar to appy.... I've made a few donations to Doctors Without Borders and participated in a couple 5K walkathons. Those are really the only receipts I can come up with.
Next time I pass out a couple bucks to my local panhandler what am I supposed to do, get a receipt? Am I supposed to keep the receipts for all the bottled water and sandwich/snacky items I've bought to give away? How about the cans I put out next to the wastebin for my local street people? Should I be keeping track of those too?
How do I get a receipt for the leftover change I leave for various causes in stores/restaurants/city plaza, carwash for a cause? Sorry, but this kind of penny pinching is a little over the top....maybe that's why my tax burden is relatively high for my income level --- because I don't stash every single receipt.
Tribalism, ethnocentricism, racism, nationalism, and FEAR is the Mind Killer... >:(
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On a sidenote: a friend who makes around $250K keeps track of EVERYTHING he gives, including $5 donations and then deducts them at tax time. He told me I need to start doing so as it really helps.
Next thing you know he'll be keeping track of all the tips he gives to restaurant servers who make 2 and a half an hour and expect to have that deducted at tax time as well.
I don't know that people always realize that they give as much as they do. I once answered a survey and reported that I hadn't given anything that year. A few hours after the survey, I opened my email and had 3 emails from organizations thanking me for my contribution. I had forgotten my Haiti contribution. All three of them. I had forgotten all the blood donations. I had forgotten about the breast cancer contribution I made. I forgot about the Depression research fund I contributed to. That didn't count all of the other silly things. Then there is the donations I make to the library. All the spare change I give to McDonald's. Those are just the regular stuff I do frequently. There are other causes I cannot even remember.
I had contributed but I didn't remember. Every working person knows that every time you turn around someone is asking to for blood donation, buy cookies for a cause, buy chocolate for a cause, go horseback riding for a cause, go boating for a cause, go running, walking for a cause. I don't know a single person who has not given something.
I think we do it so routinely, that we don't realize we are doing it. I am willing to bet the U.S. results are low because if I had been asked, I would have said I don't give anything. I have been asked that before and said that.
I agree. I give all the time to little things like you do (change, $5, $10, $20, etc...) and don't really keep track of it. I give blood every two months and recently submitted my cheek swabs to officially register as a bone marrow donor. I would probably say that I don't give because I don't write big checks to organizations.
On a sidenote: a friend who makes around $250K keeps track of EVERYTHING he gives, including $5 donations and then deducts them at tax time. He told me I need to start doing so as it really helps.
"No matter how dark the moment, love and hope are always possible." George Chakiris
“For those who believe, no proof is necessary. For those who don't believe, no proof is possible.” Stuart Chase
I don't know that people always realize that they give as much as they do. I once answered a survey and reported that I hadn't given anything that year. A few hours after the survey, I opened my email and had 3 emails from organizations thanking me for my contribution. I had forgotten my Haiti contribution. All three of them. I had forgotten all the blood donations. I had forgotten about the breast cancer contribution I made. I forgot about the Depression research fund I contributed to. That didn't count all of the other silly things. Then there is the donations I make to the library. All the spare change I give to McDonald's. Those are just the regular stuff I do frequently. There are other causes I cannot even remember.
I had contributed but I didn't remember. Every working person knows that every time you turn around someone is asking to for blood donation, buy cookies for a cause, buy chocolate for a cause, go horseback riding for a cause, go boating for a cause, go running, walking for a cause. I don't know a single person who has not given something.
I think we do it so routinely, that we don't realize we are doing it. I am willing to bet the U.S. results are low because if I had been asked, I would have said I don't give anything. I have been asked that before and said that.
Gallup's WorldView World Poll, using telephone and face-to-face interviews as well as questionannaires, has done a survey of 156 nations worldwide on the willingness of their citizens to donate time and/or money to charity, or to offer help to a stranger. Australia and New Zealand were in first place, followed by Canada, Ireland, the U.S. and Switzerland.
Gallup's WorldView World Poll, using telephone and face-to-face interviews as well as questionannaires, has done a survey of 156 nations worldwide on the willingness of their citizens to donate time and/or money to charity, or to offer help to a stranger. Australia and New Zealand were in first place, followed by Canada, Ireland, the U.S. and Switzerland.
What's interesting is that countries like China, Russia, and India ranked 'way down near the bottom.
Well, it's like they say; charity begins at home. (or not)
Great post. I have charities I donate to. As well as local community assistance centers and the human and animal food banks. If you're blessed, be a blessing.
"Remember, Jesus would rather constantly shame gays than let orphans have a family." Stephen Colbert
Gallup's WorldView World Poll, using telephone and face-to-face interviews as well as questionannaires, has done a survey of 156 nations worldwide on the willingness of their citizens to donate time and/or money to charity, or to offer help to a stranger. Australia and New Zealand were in first place, followed by Canada, Ireland, the U.S. and Switzerland.
