What Would You Give Up?

This week we are putting our house up on the market.

The process of getting it ready has been eye-opening for me.

I have been a bit overwhelmed by how much STUFF we have.

We started putting things we didn’t need on a regular basis in storage a year ago.

Our 5×10 storage unit is now packed with things – most of which we don’t need period. I don’t even know everything that is in there, but I can promise a big garage sale as soon as we sell our condo. Because if I have lived without that stuff for a year, I am pretty sure I live without it ever.

Americans propensity to have a lot of material goods is so the norm that sometimes it is hard to take a hard look at our things, isn’t it?

What can we spend less money on so we can give to those in need?

Today, I am linking up with World Vision to discuss the needs of the people in the horn of Africa. As you probably know 12.4 million people in Africa are being impacted by severe hunger, with 35% of all children now facing emergency levels of malnutrition. These people are also experiencing the worst drought in 60 years.

World Vision is challenging each of us to give up one thing that we typically spend $10 on and donate that to famine relief in Africa. You can text your $10 donation to 20222 (with the word FAMINE).

This past week I spent $10 on the following:

• lunch because I didn’t bring my lunch to work
• shipping on some new clothes
• decor items for our coffee table

I am planning to bring my lunch to work all week and will be donating $50 to this effort. World Vision has assisted communities in the Horn of Africa for 3 decades. Even now, its teams in Kenya, Ethiopia and Somalia are responding to this crisis with food, water, blankets and other critical needs for families and I know that our dollars will be used well.

Will you join me in giving something up and donating $10?

And, if you are a blogger, consider writing a post about this effort and linking up on the World Vision blog.