Flood relief help for Nashville.

I know that most of you have heard by now about the horrible floods here in Nashville.  I have been avoiding the news when at all possible because I have ostrich syndrome.  You don't know what that is? Oh! well, it's where you don't want to face up to problems so you stick your head in the sand and hide from them.  NEVERMIND the fact that your problems are STILL there (and closer and bigger) when you pull your head out of the sand. :)

I recently heard that the floods that hit us at the beginning of May are the costliest non-Hurricane disaster in American History, causing over 1 billion dollars in damages.   I want to share some of the photos from my facebook friends with you...

The photo to the left is about 13 miles from my house.  It is I-24 Eastbound, heading out of Nashville.

As I look through some of the photos that people have posted online, all I can feel is sick.  The economy is already bad enough and now all of these people have lost their jobs. My old workplace in Clarksville, TN  was totally underwater, and I don't know when they will be able to re-open, if at all.

I am just at a loss.  The great news is that there are several organizations who are out there DOING something to help folks!

*People Loving People teamed up with WAY-FM, The Band Mike's Chair and a few other artists and collected 40 tents, 40 sleeping bags, over 400 lbs of canned food, plus money and all sorts of other necessities for Nashville's Homeless community.

The photo to the right is taken from inside a church as the waters rise outside the doors.  I cannot even imagine seeing that in person.

*This Saturday, (May 15) join WAY-FM artist Brandon Heath, and WAY-FM staff members along with Cross Point Church for a day of work in the devastated Bellevue Community. Just meet at the new Cross Point Church campus in the old Circuit City building in Bellevue at 9am, prepared to work. We’ll do all we can until 4pm that day to make things better for our neighbors struggling to get through these unbelievable times. Just wear work clothes, bring gloves and if you have them, any light tools.

For information, contact Cross Point Church at 615-298-4422, or at the websites: Crosspoint.tv, or WAYFM.COM.  WAY FM has many opportunities to help listed on their website HERE.

 

Photo to the right shows Joe's Crab shack, water has risen to roughly 6 feet or so outside of the buildings.

 

Another way that you can give is through Swagbucks.  They have added an option for you to donate in increments of 10 towards the overall donation to the redcross..  You can actually donate up until June 1st.

Here is the breakdown (From the swagbucks website) of how much money they will donate to the Red Cross:

10,000,000 SB = $100,000.00

7,500,000 SB = $73,750.00
5,000,000 SB = $47,500.00

2,500,000 SB = $23,250.00

1,500,000 SB = $13,750.00

1,000,000 SB = $9,000.00

750,000 SB = $6,375.00
500,000 SB = $4,050.00
250,000 SB = $1,925.00
200,000 SB = $1,500.00
135,000 SB - $1,000.00

The photo to the right depicts a man kayaking near Broadway, in Downtown Nashville.

If you would like to give via Swagbucks (Or rather help our voice be heard) then please feel free to sign up via my affiliate link and I will donate any swagbucks I accumulate between now and then, along with the swagbucks I plan to donate anyway.  Then it is like you are doubling your donation.

You should be able to click HERE and see the rest of the photos that go with this.

Why I maintain a "Toy Closet"

I have tons of toys in my home that my children don't know about.  I have toys that I bought before Christmas 2009 for my son's Christmas 2010 OR possibly his birthday in 2011.  Does that sound ridiculous to you? It used to sound ridiculous to me.
If you have an out of the way place that you can store stuff like that, it can sometimes save you tons of cash just by being at the right place at the right time.

I bought his bounce & spin zebra for his first birthday back before Christmas and let me tell you...it took a lot of the pressure off.  I didn't have to worry about not having money, I didn't have to worry about finding him a present in the weeks before his party, I didn't have to worry about what he'd want to play with because I had already found something for him to play with.

It's also nice to have little toys in the closet for you to pull out when you need them.

Forgot to shop for a birthday party? Low on cash before a birthday party? Want to give someone a gift of appreciation? Need a rainy day boredom solution? Want to give your child a treat and not break the bank??

You can even just call it a gift closet and keep things in there for all ages.  I have a spare bedroom where I keep everything but sometimes you just have to be creative.  Get a rubbermaid tub and store the toys in the attic or in the garage or under the bed.

My daughter had to get a shot yesterday and she's terrified of the doctor anyway.  The toy to the left here, the Vtech - Write & Learn Letter Pad...I found 2 on Clearance at Kroger last May for $2.50 each.  I bought them both thinking they might make cute Birthday presents or something.  I pulled one out of the closet the other day and took it to the doctors office with us then surprised her with it in the waiting room.  It occupied her the whole time and she has played with it pretty extensively since we got home and I think it took some of the sting out of the shot. 

Special thanks to my cousin Candy for the idea of the toy closet.  She actually shops the after-holiday sales (especially halloween) at Dollar General Stores and she buys the penny clearanced items then i've seen her pull out cute little character sunglasses or purses or ninja swords for Christmas goodies or birthday gifts for cousins and whatnot.

Give Christmas away

I am sitting here struggling with how to start this post and I don't know why. So I guess I will just start the post by telling you that I am having a hard time finding words!! :)

I am blessed beyond measure. I am a single mother who is in a very low income bracket and I am still able to provide my children with a Christmas. I am even adopting a family in conjunction with a friend of mine to provide them with a Christmas.

I feel it is extremely important to teach my children the importance of having a giving spirit and the importance of helping those less fortunate. We donate (as a family) to good will and our local food pantries and we talk about why we are doing it. My children are 9 months and 2 years old. I figure if I start now that they will grow up with a giving spirit and not have to struggle to want to share with others when they are older.

As most of you know - I have a HUGE soft spot for the homeless and less fortunate (poor - like me!!)
I follow the blog of a man named Kevin Barbieux.....in his words:

"I became homeless for the first time in February of 1982. I have been in and out of homelessness ever since, experiencing about 13 years worth of literal homelessness. According to HUD's definition, I am Chronically Homeless. Currently, I am living in housing provided by Nashville's Homelessness Commission through their Housing First program. I have been off the streets, this time, for a year and a half. You can email me at thehomelessguy (At) gmail dot com."

He has an incredible idea to really help some of these folks have a much better Christmas and if you live in Nashville you have a much better shot at doing this before Christmas than a lot of folks... from his post:

"I have an idea I'd like to run past you. Do you have any dvds or cds that you no longer watch or listen too? Want to see them put to good use? Want to help make the homeless guy's Christmas a little better? Message me and I'll send you my address. What I don't use, I'll distribute to the other recently unhomeless people now living in my building."

Now that's what I call a great idea!

Make a Difference Monday Part 1:: Christmas in August!!

Even though it's still hitting the 100's daily....I have been thinking about Christmas for several weeks. If we aren't careful about time it will speed past us and then, we will turn around and that old fat man will be "Ho ho ho" ing all over the place!!! Money will be tight and time will be tighter.

In 1977 I was 25 months old at Christmas. . . The day I met with Santa that year, I must have been hungry. I only asked Santa for two things. Ice Cream & Hotdogs. Christmas morning under my tree I found....why...that jolly old elf had been so nice to this little girl!!! There was a rocking horse and Hotdogs and Icecream. Children have such simple wishes, don't they?
Our wishes get much less simple as we age. In 1993 I was a teenager and at the height of a very self-centered streak...(almost all teenagers are self-centered to some extent..it's part of growing up!) Our first period class chose to sponsor a large family of 6 at Christmas. For some reason, our teacher had another student and myself drop the items off. When I took the items to the family's trailer to drop them off I dropped off a giant ham and all the trimmings for a very NICE Christmas dinner, roughly $100.00 in Gift Certificates from Kroger for future groceries, a coat for each person, an outfit for each person and a toy or two per child.

I don't remember why I was elected to play elf-girl but I'm glad that I was. That really affected me. How awesome was it for those parents to be able to give their children a Christmas because of the kindness of others?

I feel burdened...as I said yesterday...God has been speaking to me, so I am challenging myself and I want to share my challenge with you: Encourage a group you are a part of to adopt a family for Christmas and really do it up for the family. In this area I understand an organization called HUGS handles that and I have looked for a link for them for days, hopefully someone "in the know" will comment or email and let me know contact information so that people involved in other churches can participate too if they are looking for a program like this

Imagine how much stuff you would be able to stock up for Christmas giving if you start using coupons & shopping sales now. The challenge is not to just stock up random items but try to stock as many of the "Essentials" as possible before Christmas time giving gets underway.

I think I may just save my items and give them to the church to choose distribution to fill in holes depending on what the church chooses as their goal.


What a Glory to God it will be when that family receives a gift basket from the church that contains not only a BUNCH of food but also toothpaste, mouth wash, dental floss, toothbrushes, deodorant, shampoo, body wash/soap, etc. and then because you were able to stretch your charity budget that much farther just using coupons, maybe there will be an extra toy or so in there for their babies.

Looking for a way to adopt a family? Gladeville Baptist Church does this every Christmas & Thanksgiving. Please feel free to contact the church at (615) 444 - 9550 to see about donating and helping meet the needs of people within this community!


Not from this community? Check with your local churches & Department of Human Services to locate an organization that may offer the same thing. I don't know about you folks, but I am super excited about this Holiday Season!!!


Please find a way to bless a teacher this week. It doesn't have to be anything big, but please take the time to write a note or buy a .49 pack of pens during the back to school sales and send them to a teacher.

Make a Difference Monday: Generous Gifts

Over the past 10 years I can't count the number of times I have wanted to give a brighter day to someone and was unable to do so. Being extremely creative and frugal I have come up with a way to make a difference for someone and stay under budget.

Shopping with coupons you can make extremely nice gift baskets for an extremely low cost. If you catch baskets on sale that's great! If you don't, be creative. Look around for non-traditional containers for your gift baskets. There is a college student I am in the process of making a "Gift basket" for. I have yet to come up with a very creative container for the bulk of things but I did put some Koolaid singles, a few Crystal light single serving packs, a few granola bars, some cereal bars, some individual bags of kashi crackers all in a ziploc bag that has snowmen on it. I wrote on it "Stay Cool, We'll protect your snacks!!"

I also plan to include some shampoo & bodywash and deodorant. Hopefully I can come up with witty little statements for those items - for the Deodorant I plan to attach a tag that says something like "For when your exams start to make you sweat!" I've gotten some packs of pens for free recently, I think I may include some of them and maybe a notebook also. This is a college student after all. I have a few rather LARGE insulated mugs/cups that may be suitable or actually I just emptied a large formula can. I bet I could make that look rather stylish with some paint or some contact paper with funny phrases written on it.

If you don't have a large stockpile at your disposal or have random containers to fill at your disposal try this:

Sometimes you can manage to get plastic cups for free or extremely cheap with coupons - the solo cups are perfect for this!!!

Remember that it is totally okay to open packages. I was stuck for a long time being stingy with my Kashi. I wanted to share it with people so they could see how AMAZING this food is but I also wanted to eat it myself so I was conflicted. I know it seems simple but I realized if I open the box I can put individual items in a gift basket or share individual sized snacks with people.

In our cup I mentioned, you could put 2 different flavors of granola bars, two or three different flavors of crystal light, Do you request a lot of samples to get the coupons? stick a sample of something appropriate in the cup. Look around your house for ideas. Packets of koolaid are bright and make a great addition to little snack cups that you are giving away.

It is a simple and inexpensive gift that can show appreciation to someone without your having to spend a lot of money. If you are a member of swagbucks You might want to see about gifting them a $5.00 amazon.com gift card you have bought from the swagstore.

I'm telling you - if someone left me a plastic cup with some pens, a granola bar, a cereal bar, an instant coffee stick, an instant creamer stick, some crystal light and a post it note with a handwritten note advising me I have an amazon.com giftcard waiting for me - I'd be a happy girl!!! I don't know about you :)

Just be creative in your giving. Giving doesn't have to be boring or feel like a chore :)

Have you recently given anything or been creative in your giving and want to share? please comment below and share with us all :)