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Happy Valentine’s Day… STOP SPENDING!

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I was watching the news over the weekend and it seems all anyone can focus on is Valentine’s day date ideas. The anchor said, ‘I know we are all planning to spend a couple hundred over the holiday, so let’s talk about ways to save.’

A COUPLE HUNDRED!?!?

What planet are you living on!?!?

Then I realized… a lot of my friends drop a couple hundred on Valentine’s Day between dinners, romantic outings, and flowers. Hubby and I haven’t spent that much since… well… ever.

Is it just me? Or is everyone nuts?!? What will you be spending for today’s festivities?

Donating to Charity While In Debt…

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One of the goals we came up with after filing taxes last year was to be more generous in our charitable giving. It’s easy to get so focused on penny-pinching that you forget there are folks out there less fortunate than yourself. For me, it’s difficult to not want to apply that amount toward debt and promise myself, “I’ll help out when I’m debt free.” To be perfectly honest, I wouldn’t have donated any more than our usual amount… but like I’ve said before, I’m married to a great guy. That great guy has a heart for helping others. Now that we have a child of our own, he has become more active in giving to children’s hospitals, giving to help hungry children in famine areas, and to programs helping children with autism.

When I was preparing our taxes this year, I was surprised how much his *cough* I mean, our charitable giving added up.

We beat our giving amount from last year…

and it felt good.

Set some goals this tax season, you may surprise yourself.