Frugal with your Time: Just Give 5

It's "We-Not-Me" Wednesday! Woohoo! Ok so today's We-theme is about giving your time not money. Now, I talked last week about volunteering and iParticipate, but this week I'm talking about giving of a SMALL amount of your time. FIVE MINUTES. Just five minutes. Can you be of help in five minutes... YES! I apologize that suddenly I've gone all caps happy in this post, but it's often easier to think that someone else will take action, but if everyone made small steps, we'd all be singin' Kum Bah Yah! Ok so maybe that's a little optimistic, but let's shoot for the stars. Here are two great resources... so take 5 minutes and visit these sites & sign up for their emails... don't worry- they're both free!

• Five Minutes of Caring: In my email box everyday, I get a 5 Minutes of Caring email blast from Cool People Care. They're quick nice messages that give you tips, information to build awareness and a quick action for you to take. Some of the blasts are as as simple as ways to be nice to people or yesterday's was simple ways to green your halloween. Join the list- it's a start!
• $5 or 5 Minutes= 1 Way to Make a Difference: I just found this site, The Causemopolitan, the other day and I'm kinda obsessed with it already. I'm also totally inspired by the author of the blog, Sloane, who is the poster child of just-doing-what-I can-and-actually-having-an-impact-on-others. Anyway, she has started a series with 5 simple things that take either 5 minutes or a donation of $5 and that really make a difference. Awesome and well-researched.

Be frugal with your time and just give 5 minutes. Even if you don't make a huge difference in the world with 5 minutes, you'll make a difference in your world- in your attitude, in your local environment, in your relationships, etc. And that IS making a difference!

We Day: Volunteering is FREE!

Ok so today is my second installment of "We Not Me" Wednesdays, my newly created weekly post to talk about things we can do for others that uses your frugalness for good. 

Do you remember last year when all the major networks got together and did that big Stand up 2 Cancer telethon? Well, the forces behind that have gotten together to promote volunteerism. I was super excited when I heard this because volunteering is super fab AND super frugal. So I'm all about iParticipate, a week of all the major networks (and some others) weaving the theme of volunteering & service into their shows. Philanthropy.com's live blog on the week is following the week of shows, but it doesn't seem like they're convinced that the shows have been doing a really good job integrating the topic. But there are a lot of PSA's about volunteering, so that's a start. And there's a lot of the week left. Have you guys noticed volunteering in your fav shows this week?

Volunteering is extremely frugal for a ton of reasons- you get out of the house without spending money & you often get free food or snacks. Obviously, you don't volunteer just because it doesn't cost money, but if your current priority is saving as much money as possible, you should budget in time to volunteer to help balance your perspective.  

Ooh Also, if you pick the right activity, you can skip a trip to the gym! For example,  TreesAtlanta has great volunteer ops every Saturday that get you actively outside, helping plant and care for trees. Plus you're done by Noon so it barely counts as taking up your Saturday. 

Here's a BONUS We-Wednesday FREE gift: Spread the love and get a pack of 5 free "You're Great" Stickers. These simple stickers are to pass on to others. They'd make a great insert in a thank you card- so write a card to let someone know they're appreciated!