Tips like these helped us pay off $127K in debt. You can read our story in  Slaying the Debt Dragon: How One Family Conquered Their Money Monster and Found an Inspired Happily Ever After.

Here’s my little Happy New Year gift to you. Each day in January, I’ll bring you a simple, concrete and easy to put in place tip to fuel your efforts to Save Money, Pay Off Debt, and Be Awesome this year. Looking for a quick plan? Well this might not to be the right place for you. Most things down well take time. But that doesn’t mean you can’t begin to implement systems in your life that will help you achieve your goals. I’ve said it many, many times before. Paying off debt isn’t complex. It’s just not easy. You have to punch the clock daily and do the hard work. Here’s another way to make that happen

Day 19: QUIT FUNDRAISERS

True confession: I’m a bleeding heart. I want to buy every box of cookies. I would order every roll of wrapping paper. I wish I could buy four Entertainment books, three discount cards, and two boxes of popcorn. Every Kickstarter, every 5K, every well being built, every GoFundMe, every mission trip, every single time I wish I could donate, buy, order, sponsor, contribute, and give away.

But I can’t.

If you want to kick debt in the teeth, neither can you. While we were paying off $127K in debt, practicing generosity looked completely different than it had in the past or than it does now on the other side of freedom. Then, we were completely selective and rarely purchased from fundraisers. As a rule of thumb, we only bought one item from our daughters’ school fundraisers. Typically I would purchase the absolute cheapest item from the catalog. For others requesting donations or selling something, we said no.

It was SO hard for me, Money Saving Lords and Ladies. I love to help. I long to give. I have a very difficult time saying no to small children who bat their eyelashes and hold order forms.

Giving away money is a very good thing. When we give away money, it loses its power over us. We realize that we are merely managers and not owners of the things we’ve been blessed with. 

However, there is such a thing as giving away too much for some of us.

I’m not suggesting that you quit tithing while you are paying off debt. However, you have to be very firm about and budget exactly how much you will give away to whom. For some of you this might be just as difficult as reducing your lifestyle.

Now, even after we have paid off all of our consumer debt, there are still limits for giving and fundraisers. However, we have a budget built for this exact purpose. The funds are still limited. We cannot give to everything or buy from every little sweet salesperson with an order form. We still only purchase things we LOVE and need, not spending money for the sake of spending, even if it’s a good cause. There is a limited percentage in our “gifts” budget beyond our tithe. Just like using cash at the grocery store, when it’s gone, it’s gone.

It broke my heart while we were paying off debt to not be able to give. However, now that we have a better plan and no debt, we’ve been able to give away money in greater sums than we ever have before. It. is. awesome. We’ve bought books. We’ve bought ice cream. We’ve given to mission trips. We’ve sent gift cards. Sometimes we give in secret. Sometimes we let the cat out of the bag. If we hadn’t limited our giving while we were paying off debt, we would never have been able to do the things that we’ve done in the last couple of years. Plus we know it’s just going to get more fun to be more generous and with a better plan in place, we’ll have more to give away.

We still don’t say “yes” to every request for donations. It wouldn’t be a wise choice. If you want to Kick Debt in the Teeth, think twice before you give away money. It might be that if you can pause for a brief moment, you’ll be able to be a radical giver in the future.
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I’m so looking forward to sharing this month of challenge and inspiration with you. Together, we can show debt who’s boss and give it a swift kick in the teeth this January and throughout the year in 2016. Away we go!

Miss the previous posts? Check out:

• 31 Ways to Kick Debt in the Teeth: BELIEVE
• 31 Ways to Kick Debt in the Teeth: STOP IT
• 31 Ways to Kick Debt in the Teeth: SELL, BABY, SELL
• 31 Ways to Kick Debt in The Teeth: USE CASH
• 31 Ways to Kick Debt in the Teeth: PLAN YOUR MEALS
• 31 Ways to Kick Debt in the Teeth: CHANGE YOUR MIND ABOUT BUDGETING
• 31 Ways to Kick Debt in the Teeth: READ A BOOK
• 31 Ways to Kick Debt in the Teeth: QUIT RESTAURANTS
• 31 Ways to Kick Debt in the Teeth: DREAM ON!
• 31 Ways to Kick Debt in the Teeth: SET LIMITS
• 31 Ways to Kick Debt in the Teeth: COMMUNICATE WITH YOUR SPOUSE
• 31 Ways to Kick Debt in the Teeth: MOVE IT
• 31 Ways to Kick Debt in the Teeth: WORK IT
• 31 Ways to Kick Debt in the Teeth: LEARN TO COUPON
• 31 Ways to Kick Debt in the Teeth: VISUALIZE VICTORY
• 31 Ways to Kick Debt in the Teeth: CHOOSE GREAT FRIENDS
• 31 Ways to Kick Debt in the Teeth: CLEAN YOUR ROOM
• 31 Ways to Kick Debt in the Teeth: EMERGENCY FUNDS

My book is now available: Slaying the Debt Dragon: How One Family Conquered Their Money Monster and Found an Inspired Happily Ever After. You can also check out Inspiration to Pay Off Debt: 30 Days of Encouragement from the Queen of Free on Kindle.  

This post contains an affiliate link. That means when you get a great deal or maybe even something for free, you also help our family pay off our mortgage early. And for that, we royally thank you!

Related posts:

31 Ways to Kick Debt in the Teeth: READ A BOOK 31 Ways to Kick Debt in the Teeth: SET LIMITS 31 Ways to Kick Debt in the Teeth: WORK IT 31 Ways to Kick Debt in the Teeth: CHOOSE GREAT FRIENDS