Thrift Doesn't Need To Mean Cheap-Living On Less Part V

Here is a Columbia jacket, that Grandpa Gary so generously bought for Mara!

Why is it that some of the cheapest people are wealthy? I am not talking about thriftiness. The subject here is cheapness. Even if you don't have many resources, I am pretty sure you can find ways to not be selfish with others. As I tell my children, you are so much happier when you aren't as concerned with yourself as you are with others. Maybe it's because I was born a giver but for whatever reasons, all my life I have enjoyed giving to others even when I don't have many resources. Yes, it's true that I am not able to give quite as nice of things to family and friends that I used to but I still find ways to share. Looking ahead for good buys & storing things away are two ways I can keep up with my joy of giving. Sending packages to friends & relatives is a special thing I do & although the postage can be pretty painful, it's something I have tried to continue with from time to time. It's important that my children learn giving to others early on, so we periodically pick up a bouquet of flowers from Trader Joe's or some chocolate for their teachers and I try to have them help with the package sending. They also help gather up food from our shelves when their schools are having food drives. Another way you be giving to others while living thrifty is donating clothes & household items to charity. One of my favorite places to give some of my children's outgrown things is PACS in Portland. They are a tremendously wonderful mission. There is a friend of mine, who also enjoys giving to others & she has blessed me with much needed items many times including clothes for my son & myself, some of which we wear on a regular basis. She could have tried to resell those things but she chose to share & in doing so, blessed me tremendously. Several months ago, this same friend invited me to use some store credit she had to pick out a bunch of clothes at a local resale store. An anonymous family has a monthly food box from Organics To You delivered to my family. The lift I feel in my heart every time that box arrives is amazing. A nursing friend of Matt's sent home a few pairs of shoes for Mara with him. I know for a fact that she could have resold them but she gave them to us instead & Mara was thrilled (as was I)!. Now, I am not trying to suggest you give everything away because even I don't do that, but think of how much better we would all feel if in our frugality, we remembered that being thrifty doesn't need to mean being cheap!