Recent Comments

1. Organise Your Money (What You Want To Give Away) - 17 Feb 2006

   I am also already doing this, and I find the CAF fund very useful. I have set up a number of regular payments and try to find time to review how much and who we give to at least once each year. If one of us gets a payrise, I do the review immediately because, as Katie says above, it’s easier to give away money that you haven’t yet got used to having. I also keep a file for requests that I get out of the blue and consider them all together when I review our giving. That way I can be sure that we are giving to the charities who are important to us, rather than those that shout loudest, or that I tend to meet collecting in the street. Please also think about the proportion of your charitable giving that goes overseas – we are trying to make sure that we give at least 0.7 per cent of our gross income, as a personal “mirror” of the request made to governments by the UN General Assembly in 1970 (and not yet achieved by the UK!).

2. Get Rid Of Some Of Your Books - 17 Feb 2006

   This is going to hurt… but I’m going to give it a go…

3. Get Rid Of Some Of Your Books - 05 Feb 2007

   After months of no activity, I have now sold three books through GreenMetropolis in the last two weeks. Because they sell the books in the order that they are posted, it can take some considerable time for your books to make it to the “head of the queue”. Don’t give up hope! My sudden success has motivated me to add some more books to the site, so perhaps I will finally make a dent on the mountain of unshelved books for which there is no room.

4. Become A Blood Donor - 05 Feb 2007

   I’ve been giving blood for twenty years, but lapsed when pregnant with my daughter (you can’t give for some months afterwards). I need to focus on this so that it becomes a habit again, and I also plan to try to sign up for the bone marrow register.

5. Stop Taking Plastic Bags From Shops - 05 Feb 2007

   Have now run out of carrier bags, which I think is an achievement!

   I bought some large cuboid insulated bags from Lakeland, and keep those in the boot for major supermarket shops (although they may not be very “generous” as I suspect that their manufacture was at some cost to the environment!). I also have a collection of cloth and jute bags from Traidcraft and others, and keep those hanging on the same hook as my coat. It doesn’t look very tidy, but it does mean that I remember to take one with me when I go out.

6. Buy Ethical Palestinian olive oil - 05 Feb 2007

   I managed to get five friends together, and we bought a case of twelve bottles. We were able to pick it up from the distribution point in Oxfordshire, so didn’t have to pay the expensive delivery charge. I think that the fair trade shop in Wallingford also keeps it, if you live in South Oxfordshire.