A little thing you can do to help your favorite charity

I am guessing that if you are reading this blog you may have heard about the concept of an “envelope system”. It essentially means that you budget money at the beginning of the month and divide it into categories-Gas, Groceries, Restaurants etc and put those divisions into actual envelopes with those titles. When the cash in the "Grocery" envelope runs out for the month, you don't go to the grocery again until the next month. You eat what you have or you borrow (wisely) from another envelope. Very clear system of budgeting.

I love getting cash back on my credit card. Dave Ramsey says that studies show that you spend 12-18% more when using a credit card and the my cash back reward  of 1% doesn’t offset that spending. Erghhh…

One day, while my friend Rebecca was reading my blog, she was inspired to share with me a scenario where I can simulate an envelope system AND get credit card points.

Kroger has a program called “Kroger Cares.” YOUNG LIVES in Richmond VA, along with lots of other charities, is tied to this program.

1. You get a card from Kroger that is tied to your charity of choice. It looks and acts like a gift card.
2. Every time you use that card to pay for Kroger purchases, Kroger donates 5% of your purchase to your charity of choice.
3. The card can be loaded again and again and again with more money at customer service and serves as your way of paying for your groceries/gas each time you make a Kroger purchase.

 

 Here is my Kroger Cares Card.

Soooo…once a month I just use my CREDIT CARD to reload my card at customer service (getting the credit card points). Let’s say my grocery budget (the amount I would ideally put in an envelope) is $300/month. I load that amount to my Kroger Cares Card at the beginning of the  month and I can’t spend more than that each month because if I do, my Kroger Cares Card will run out of funds.

1. It keeps me from running over my grocery budget.
2. It still allows me to get cash back rewards by using my credit card.
3. Most importantly, YOUNG LIVES gets 5% of what I buy using that card.

If you live in Richmond and want to give to Young Lives, just let me know and I’ll have my friend Rebecca get you linked in.