My Budget for Effective Giving

Originally posted May 8, 2010

I do not know how much this cost me out of pocket, but sale prices before coupons for 35 Benadryl products, 5 Stayfree, and 5 Carefreewould was $189.55. If someone had told me last year that I would be able to give this much, and more, quality items away EVERY MONTH, I would not have believed them.

I like to give. I like big Christmases, big birthdays, big baby showers, etc. My giving has gotten me into trouble. Back when I didn’t have a budget and I would find great deals, I would buy them to give away. That did not work. Of course, back then I was not effectively couponing and spending around $400 a month on groceries.
Now that we are budgeted and Professor saw what I could do with coupons and sales last Christmas (to give away), we have a charity budget. Each month I go to the bank and withdraw cash and divide it into various envelopes. The grocery envelope gets $200 and the charity envelope gets $40; the only two envelopes I carry with me. Other envelopes for clothing, household, pet care, etc. are left at home, unless we are going out for those items. There are few impulse buys with this system.
I can get a lot for $40 a month and I pay more in Washington state sales tax than I do for the items I buy to give away. Tax is on the sale price—precoupon. OTC medicines are taxed and this is where the majority of my charity money goes. Food is not taxed, and food is a favorite item to give away.
Not all my giving is completely altruistic. I work on Single Check Rebates and accumulating purchases towards various rebates using items I buyto give away. Money from SCR and rebates go into a separate savings account and is not recycled back into the charity envelope. When I get catalinas worth money off my next purchase when buying items for charity, the catalinas are split; some buy food for my family and some go back to get more items for charity. My cereal crazyness last Tuesday required a little money up front: $3 for 4 boxes of cereal. Then I received $3 and $4 catalinas. After that, depending on what coupons I had, I would pay nothing or $1 for 4 boxes of cereal and I continued accumulating catalinas. I have not tallied all my Albertsons receipts from Tuesday, but I know there is still $5 in my charity envelope, which will get refilled on the 10th (Monday).
If you want to give, start with a budget. You can start with $5 a week, or month and see how far it goes. After some practice, you will find most of your charity money might go to pay sales tax too!