Normally, Jack would be the guy posting this crap :lol:
We've sent out a request this year, for our family and friends to consider making charitable donations instead of giving us gifts.
Why? I'm not entirely sure. I give gifts at Christmas, but most of the time, I'm not sure that the person on the receiving end will make use of it, enjoy it, or just toss it in a closet. Anyhow, the process of clearing out our house and going through all of our accumulated stuff made me realize that we really don't *need* most of it. And easily 75% of that unneeded cruft came from people, who, like us, felt obligated to give us a gift but didn't really know what we might need or want.
Its pretty easy to go overboard and start talking about excessive consumption and consumerism, but I think that cutting out some of these obligatory gifts and replacing them with useful donations to charitable organizations is a great way to provide a real benefit.
Our recommended charity this year is Caring for Creatures, the animal shelter where we adopted Maggie and Bruce.
My two feet.
JohnC Wrote:Anyhow, the process of clearing out our house and going through all of our accumulated stuff made me realize that we really don't *need* most of it. And easily 75% of that unneeded cruft came from people, who, like us, felt obligated to give us a gift but didn't really know what we might need or want.
+1
I used to be to be a gift whore because I wanted more and more things but now I realize that most of it just collects dust in my house. I'm really half tempted to tell my sister that we should only trade like 1 small gift this Christmas. We're both married and each feels obligated to get 2-3 things for the other two people and you end up with stuff you really won't use. I feel bad just tossing it but it's not like selling Simpson's dominoes will be worth the effort.
Both our households are in the six digit income range so it's not like we need anything and if we want something we buy it for ourselves anyway. Spending a couple hundred dollars on each other because we feel obligated really seems like a waste.
'76 911S | '14 328xi | '17 GTI | In memoriam: '08 848, '85 944
"Here, at last, is the cure for texting while driving. The millions of deaths which occur every year due to the iPhone’s ability to stream the Kim K/Ray-J video in 4G could all be avoided, every last one of them, if the government issued everyone a Seventies 911 and made sure they always left the house five minutes later than they’d wanted to. It would help if it could be made to rain as well. Full attention on the road. Guaranteed." -Jack Baruth
We started doing the secret santa thing w/ family. Basically everyone just gets/gives 1 thing. Like most others everyone has $$$ and if they want something they just buy it themselves rather than getting junk. As for Birthdays I like cards stuffed with green paper with dead presidents printed on them from the USMint  .
white_2kgt Wrote:We started doing the secret santa thing w/ family. Basically everyone just gets/gives 1 thing. Like most others everyone has $$$ and if they want something they just buy it themselves rather than getting junk. As for Birthdays I like cards stuffed with green paper with dead presidents printed on them from the USMint .
This is what my family's done since I can remember.
2013 Cadillac ATS....¶▅c●▄███████||▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅||█~ ::~ :~ :►
2008 Chevy Malibu LT....▄██ ▲ █ █ ██▅▄▃▂
1986 Monte Carlo SS. ...███▲▲ █ █ ███████
1999 F250 SuperDuty...███████████████████►
1971 Monte Carlo SC ...◥☼▲⊙▲⊙▲⊙▲⊙▲⊙▲⊙▲⊙☼◤
HAULN-SS Wrote:white_2kgt Wrote:We started doing the secret santa thing w/ family. Basically everyone just gets/gives 1 thing. Like most others everyone has $$$ and if they want something they just buy it themselves rather than getting junk. As for Birthdays I like cards stuffed with green paper with dead presidents printed on them from the USMint .
This is what my family's done since I can remember.
well, that's only b/c the k-mart in your town only has like 20 things under $5, you can't go giving each other the same damn thing.
K-Mart? Don't you mean The Dollar Store?
'76 911S | '14 328xi | '17 GTI | In memoriam: '08 848, '85 944
"Here, at last, is the cure for texting while driving. The millions of deaths which occur every year due to the iPhone’s ability to stream the Kim K/Ray-J video in 4G could all be avoided, every last one of them, if the government issued everyone a Seventies 911 and made sure they always left the house five minutes later than they’d wanted to. It would help if it could be made to rain as well. Full attention on the road. Guaranteed." -Jack Baruth
i've started to get to this point as well. it's harder and harder to come up with ideas for presents that aren't clutter or very expensive. my gifts tend to be interesting consumables that someone wouldn't typically find locally (for instance i got my dad some really high end car wash gear last year).
JohnC Wrote:Our recommended charity this year is Caring for Creatures, the animal shelter where we adopted Maggie and Bruce.
that's a very honorable charity, i'll be looking into donating either time or money to something like this (or this particular one) a little later down the line.
kinda OT but i'm really excited about hopes to adopt a greyhound in a few years when i have more space.
2010 Civic Si
2019 4Runner TRD Off-Road
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Past: 03 Xterra SE 4x4 | 05 Impreza 2.5RS | 99.5 A4 Quattro 1.8T | 01 Accord EX | 90 Maxima GXE | 96 Explorer XLT
lol, I dunno about Apoc, but I know chad's from Lynchburg...as if that's any more affluent than Roanoke...
Either way..lame things of you both to say.
2013 Cadillac ATS....¶▅c●▄███████||▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅||█~ ::~ :~ :►
2008 Chevy Malibu LT....▄██ ▲ █ █ ██▅▄▃▂
1986 Monte Carlo SS. ...███▲▲ █ █ ███████
1999 F250 SuperDuty...███████████████████►
1971 Monte Carlo SC ...◥☼▲⊙▲⊙▲⊙▲⊙▲⊙▲⊙▲⊙☼◤
I think I'm going to have to do something like this myself. Not only do end up with things I don't need in many cases, but if I do ask for something I often times get the totally wrong thing, even if I send a specific link or tell exactly what I'm looking for. Perhaps I am spoiled, but it is rediculously frustrating to tell somebody one thing that you want in detail, and end up with something kinda close.
I think having a donation made in your name might be a great way to avoid this completely, and potentially a good tax write-off...
Ex: My dad has hook-ups for tools through vendors at work, so I told him I wanted a butane-powered soldering iron to be used to re-wire the Z. Instead he gives me two of something that looks like a fancy lighter from the dollar store.
Another thing that might not a bad idea are those organizations that send gifts out to our soldiers in Iraq / Afghanistan. I don't know if you can donate gifts to them in someone else's name, but I know those guys appreciate even the smallest of luxuries that we'd probably just throw in a closet.
I've gotten the "Gift of a Cow" before or whatever where people buy a cow and give it to some African family in your name, and I'm like whatever..... but helping make our soldiers more comfortable and feel like they're at home hits way closer to home for me(and I don't support any of the wars we're involved in right now).
Posting in the banalist of threads since 2004
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^^ Hey in fact, would any of you guys in MM be interested in setting something like this up through the club? I think it would be awesome if we sent a big care package of car enthusiast stuff or just generic gifts in general to some of our troops over there.
Posting in the banalist of threads since 2004
2017 Mazda CX-5 GT AWD Premium
Past: 2016 GMC Canyon All Terrain Crew Cab / 2010 Jaguar XFR / 2012 Acura RDX AWD Tech / 2008 Cadillac CTS / 2007 Acura TL-S / 1966 5.0 HO Mustang Coupe
2001 Lexus IS300 / 2004 2.8L big turbo WRX STI / 2004 Subaru WRX / A couple of old trucks
WRXtranceformed Wrote:^^ Hey in fact, would any of you guys in MM be interested in setting something like this up through the club? I think it would be awesome if we sent a big care package of car enthusiast stuff or just generic gifts in general to some of our troops over there.
i'd love to do this...my company did this recently by sending a couple skids of canned goods/candy/camping grills but i was stupid and missed the deadline to donate
2010 Civic Si
2019 4Runner TRD Off-Road
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Past: 03 Xterra SE 4x4 | 05 Impreza 2.5RS | 99.5 A4 Quattro 1.8T | 01 Accord EX | 90 Maxima GXE | 96 Explorer XLT
I'd be willing to look into it and set it up for us if it's not too late for us to do so!
Posting in the banalist of threads since 2004
2017 Mazda CX-5 GT AWD Premium
Past: 2016 GMC Canyon All Terrain Crew Cab / 2010 Jaguar XFR / 2012 Acura RDX AWD Tech / 2008 Cadillac CTS / 2007 Acura TL-S / 1966 5.0 HO Mustang Coupe
2001 Lexus IS300 / 2004 2.8L big turbo WRX STI / 2004 Subaru WRX / A couple of old trucks
too late? are we pulling out of iraq soon?
2013 Cadillac ATS....¶▅c●▄███████||▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅||█~ ::~ :~ :►
2008 Chevy Malibu LT....▄██ ▲ █ █ ██▅▄▃▂
1986 Monte Carlo SS. ...███▲▲ █ █ ███████
1999 F250 SuperDuty...███████████████████►
1971 Monte Carlo SC ...◥☼▲⊙▲⊙▲⊙▲⊙▲⊙▲⊙▲⊙☼◤
HAULN-SS Wrote:too late? are we pulling out of iraq soon?
Too late to get everything together and to Iraq before Christmas, douchenozzle.
1987 Oldsmobile Cutlass 442
It looks like there are still some sites where you can donate and send gifts for Christmas, but even if it was a little belated I think it would be great to do. The one that really piqued my interest was something like "Armor Up" where you get together money to buy Kevlar blankets to cover walls in unprotected sleeping quarters or even military Humvees that need them badly. I know if I was a soldier, some real protection against bullets would help me sleep a lot easier in my bed at night.
Posting in the banalist of threads since 2004
2017 Mazda CX-5 GT AWD Premium
Past: 2016 GMC Canyon All Terrain Crew Cab / 2010 Jaguar XFR / 2012 Acura RDX AWD Tech / 2008 Cadillac CTS / 2007 Acura TL-S / 1966 5.0 HO Mustang Coupe
2001 Lexus IS300 / 2004 2.8L big turbo WRX STI / 2004 Subaru WRX / A couple of old trucks
So, we finally sat down with a list of family members and settled on some charities that are (hopefully) meaningful to each of them:
Wheatens in Need - Wheaten Terrier rescue (my parents have a Wheaten Terrier)
Free Software Foundation - GPL FTW! (my brother is a tech geek, and OLPC doesn't accept donations under $200)
Salvation Army - specifically supported by a relative's church.
Habitat For Humanity, Baton Rouge - also specifically supported by a relative's church.
We're also supporting a child from an Angel Tree out in Highland County, as a gift to my in-laws.
So, is anyone doing anything similar this year? What charities are on your list?
My two feet.
JohnC Wrote:Angel Tree
we'll be doing this indirectly by spending some gift-money we recieve on a child's x-mas gift. we're trying to make it something we do every year.
this is also a cool charity thing to contribute to -- <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.lbeh.org/">http://www.lbeh.org/</a><!-- m -->
you essentially help pay for plane tickets to bring men/women in the military service home for the holidays, which they could not otherwise afford.
2010 Civic Si
2019 4Runner TRD Off-Road
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Past: 03 Xterra SE 4x4 | 05 Impreza 2.5RS | 99.5 A4 Quattro 1.8T | 01 Accord EX | 90 Maxima GXE | 96 Explorer XLT
ALS Association (Lou Gherig's disease)
<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.alsa.org/">http://www.alsa.org/</a><!-- m -->
scary scary disease. and its not one of the "politically correct" diseases so it doesnt get much research funding or exposure.
and I usually give a little to the House Rabbit Society (rabbit.org) and the spca
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