For those of you new to the Ripening, i reserve 5% of my after-tax income each month to give away. Here's where i used it this month:
$51 - Dinner - a high school buddy of mine and his g/f came into town and we went out for some food and beers. I decided to pick up the tab. The bill was more expensive than this but i didn't want to count my girlfriend's and my own food as "no strings attached."
$25.50 - Oath Keepers - from their website, "Oath Keepers is a non-partisan association of current and formerly serving military, police, and first responders who pledge to fulfill the oath all military and police take to “defend the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic.”
$25.50 - Buckeye Trail Association - i plan to hike a small section of the Buckeye Trail in early July so i'm throwing some funds its' way in advance.
I don't like to think of this exercise strictly as donation-giving. It's money I set aside to spend on something other than myself without expectation. Although many of the past expenditures have been donations to non-profits, i don't want to limit myself. Dinner with friends is a perfect example of using this money in different ways.
Do you do something similar in your own life? I'd love to hear about it in the comments section!
