Challenging You to Stretch a Buck to Give More Plus Giveaway

UPDATE: Congratulations to Desiree for winning this giveaway. Be watching for upcoming challenges!

What if you could take a dollar, stretch it to five and give to a local food bank?  What if without money but your time you could offer a women’s shelter the supplies they need and request on a regular basis?  What would you think if you could purchase some diapers cheap and give them to your local pregnancy crisis center?  How much impact would we all have if we all pledged to do a little but in the end could do a lot?

This is the heart of what we refer to as thrifty giving – or the ability to take something small, something that we would consider insignificant and through wise stewardship and working together we could in some larger way affect the lives of others in an impactful and meaningful way.

We have always felt that one way as The Thrifty Couple we could cause the most impact was by providing you the tools and resources to give the most you can by maximizing your buying potential.  If you remember last holiday season, we encouraged many of you to do this exact thing with your local food bank and Angel Tree.  We have mentioned other opportunities where you could help provide free photo books for the troops or even help donate diapers one click at a time.  We want to take the next step and give you more – the tools and resources to continue this year round!

When we are wise stewards of what we have been given, all the sudden we can give more.  When we all come together, respond to the challenge and pledge to give united (even through your charity of choice) we can make drastic changes to those who need our help.

Overview of the Challenge

In the weeks heading up to Thanksgiving, we will be running a challenge – our goal is to get as many that would love to participate to pledge what small way you can help in your community with the goal to grow that small investment into more.  What do I mean?  Here are some examples to help you out:

• Stretch a buck for the food bank – Last holiday season we pledged to you that we would stretch $20 each week as far as we could to help our local food bank.  During this challenge we pledge to you to provide you the tools and resources to maximize those deals and each week buy very cheap or even FREE items that you can turn around and give to your local food bank.  Whether you pledge $20 or even $1, our goal is to help us all maximize what we can give!
• Samples for a local woman’s shelter – We have a local shelter that houses battered and abused women trying to rebuild their lives.  Our local shelter loves any donations for these women including toiletries, makeup, and a number of other items we consider small but they value more than you could imagine.  Possibly you would like to donate your time by spending a few extra minutes on the computer each week to sign up for samples or free products that you can turn around and give to your local shelter – for the simple price of FREE!
• Provide pet food for a local animal shelter – Recently we have posted some amazing deals (including FREE) on dog and cat food.  What if you were able to commit to buying or picking up your free food to then donate to your local animal shelter?  Sounds like a thrifty way to maximize your giving – and you may not even own a dog or cat!
• Purchase cheap diapers for your local pregnancy crisis/care center – Not only do these centers help women through pregnancies, many often help these new mothers to provide for their new addition.  Instead of buying retail price diapers, consider using our list on the best deals on diapers to maximize your giving.  Giving twice the diapers (or more?) than you could for the same retail price will make your gift go that much further!
• Keep bags of food in your vehicle to give to the homeless – We try to keep a few bags of food in our van especially during this time of the year as many families and homeless are struggling to find something to eat.  When you can take your coupons and buy (or get for FREE) items you normally wouldn’t buy, you can meet needs that you never would have imagined before.
• Donate your time at a local charity – If you are looking for even more ways to donate consider your time!  When you donate your time you are giving an amazing gift.  Call your local charity and find out if you can assist for a few hours and see how the gift of yourself can be a blessing to others.
• Because you save so much you can give more – When you save more you don’t only free up your budget to live off less.  You also free up your budget to allow you to increase your support for a local charity, a ministry, or more!
• And many more – The list abounds, whether you are preparing to donate money or items to your local charity, consider doing it the thrifty way and stretching your giving!

We pledge to you:

We will give you the tools necessary to maximize your giving

Keep following our site daily to find out how you can maximize your giving.  Each week we will post the best of the best – deals that are so hot that your giving will be maximized.  You will see free items that don’t require purchase.  All of this we promise and dedicate to you so you can truly take what you set aside and give the most from it.  In addition, we promise to post samples as well so you can sign up for them and collect them to give to your local women’s shelter.  You name it, we will try our best to give you whatever resource we can to help you!  Be watching for specially marked posts to help you identify the most relevant and hot deals to help you with this challenge.

We will help keep you accountable – through a fun Giveaway!

How are we going to do this?  In the most fun way we can – through a giveaway!  We are giving away a $25 Amazon gift card (possibly more – see below) to one awesome participant in this challenge!

1. You first enter by pledging to be part of the challenge.
2. You receive another entry by sharing this with your friends and encouraging them to participate.
3. You can leave comments on what you are doing or suggestions for others on how they can maximize their giving.  When all our minds come together we can find ways to give we would have never imagined!
4. You get one last entry for sharing your story and even any pictures you may have with us!  You can either email us (if you choose to share a picture) or leave a comment.  If we have your permission we would love to share with our readers as well – so please indicate whether you allow us to share!

What this does is allow you a single place to track your progress and help you and your family to get excited – knowing that you could in turn win a fun giveaway to make this even more exciting and fun while you are helping those that are in need!

We will keep you updated with our status and yours

We would love to share with you our progress.  But even more, we would love to share yours!  When you send us your story and your pictures, just tell us if we can share with everyone.  Our goal is to see others encouraged and to know that yes, even a small portion is part of a much larger whole!

How can you help?

Will you  join us?

We would love for you to join us in this giving challenge – we start today!  Be watching for our first post and know that you can join us at any time.  We hope and pray that the lives blessed by our thrifty giving will be even more affected abundantly!

Are you a business and would like to help?

We are putting up the $25 Amazon gift card.  But if you would like to encourage others in this giveaway challenge we would love for you to join us and add to the gift!  Contact us directly and we would love to have you participate and add more to the prize for this giveaway!

This giveaway is now closed and is no longer allowing entries.

The giveaway will run through Thanksgiving Thursday, November 24, 2011 at 11:59 pm MST. The winner will be randomly selected and notified via email after the close of the contest. Must be 18+ to enter and reside in the United States. This promotion is in NO way sponsored, endorsed or administered by, or associated with, Facebook. The information collected is utilized for entry into this giveaway only.

Thrifty-size your gift and watch it grow into more than you could imagine.