Payday

I don't generally make New Year's resolutions. I'm just against the idea that there's a particular time of year for self-improvement, so I usually try to make my resolutions when I think of them, and then not really do anything different for New Year's. However, that also means that some of my resolutions do fall around New Year. Since this one is coinciding with the first paycheck of January, I guess it can be a New Year's resolution.

Having a steady paycheck is cool. The coolest thing about it, though, is finding good ways to give parts of it away. Towards the end of last year, I was starting to realize that I actually make enough money to do that now. So I did a few things like registering some shareware programs I've used a lot, making a small donation to The Stanford Fund, and buying a Christmas present for a needy child at MyTwoFrontTeeth.org.

The New Year's resolution part comes in for making this sort of thing a habit. So I want to make a point of earmarking a certain amount from each paycheck for giving away. It's not going to be huge, since I'm still not super rich, but it will be something. JustGive.org is a site that I found that lists about 1,000 charities and non-profit organizations and lets you make donations to them online. It's a lot to sort through, but when you find ones you like, you can save them in a separate list on your account to come back to, so it's pretty handy. First one on the list for me will be the United Methodist Church of Walnut Creek, in memory of Grandpa Marsh.

[For being good influences on my consciousness, thanks go to Eric C., who tends to keep me aware of these sorts of things, and the Abundance angel card, which I drew on my birthday last June.]