Holiday Spending & Philanthropy Badassity- Challenging You to One-Up Me

[EarlyStart]

Today I was thinking about how to buy Christmas gifts without breaking the bank, and out of curiosity I decided to look up the average annual expenditure on holiday gifts by U.S. adults. According to polling by the American Research Group, the average U.S. adult planned to spend $882 on holiday gifts in 2015. Good God… that’s ridiculous.
Given that there are 254,321,000 civilian, noninstitutionalized adults in the U.S. (St. Louis Federal Reserve). A reasonable estimate of U.S. holiday gift spending is $224.3 Billion.
What else could we do with that money?
-   Buy every homeless person in the United States a $397k house
-   Provide clean water to everyone who doesn’t have it in the world for the next 10 years, twice
-   Increase spending on public schools in the whole country by 36%
-   If each adult invested it annually for their retirement between ages 20 and 60 they would have another $112k, assuming a 5% real return. This could reduce our unfunded liabilities for Social Security and Medicare by $28.5 trillion.
All that being said, I’m as self-interested as anyone else. I’m not spending $882 on anyone, underprivileged or not. This year I’m just going to be slightly less ridiculous than the average person. Instead of giving gifts to family and friends I’m giving small care packages to 50 homeless people and writing each family member and friend a note that says something to the effect of “Happy Holidays! Hope you’re doing well. This year I gave a small gift to a local homeless San Antonian in your name. [insert miscellaneous New Year’s well wishes]”
I haven’t given them out yet, but I bought and organized all the packages today (see attached pictures). In total I spent $150 and each person will get these things:
-   Toothbrush & baking soda (toothpaste would’ve added >$50 to the total)
-   A pair of socks
-   An Advil
-   Cheese crackers
-   Ramen
-   Five Band-Aids
-   Instant coffee
-   A handful of q-tips
-   Two cigarettes and a small box of matches
If I would’ve planned ahead, I probably could have done better, but $3/person isn’t too bad. The remaining $700+ is going into stocks.

[HAPPYINAZ]

It's a nice idea to help the homeless instead of buying people more junk they don't need. 
How are you deciding which homeless person gets a package?  Are you just walking around and handing them out? 

Personally I would have skipped the cigarettes, bandaids and advil since I have never encountered a homeless person who didn't prefer clothes and food, but maybe your homeless are different.  We find it effective to ask the homeless person what they need and then provide that.  Sometimes it's a jacket, sometimes it's food, sometimes a night stay at a motel where they get out of the cold and can get a hot shower (they really, really, really appreciate that!). 

this year we are supporting our homeless teen program through our church, which is buying clothes and providing food for homeless teens.  We work through the schools to identify them, then send the kids a questionnaire asking what they need and for sizes for clothing.  Then we buy the items and wrap them and send them to the schools with lots of food.  Our church provides three days of food every week for these kids throughout the year, but then we give them more things for Christmas.

[KBecks]

Skimping on toothpaste but giving out cigarettes? 

[Slow&Steady]

https://cornerstonesofcare.org/Get-Involved/Holiday-Adoptions

Find a foster care agency in your area, I am sure they have very similar Christmas wish list.

[EarlyStart]

It's a nice idea to help the homeless instead of buying people more junk they don't need. 
How are you deciding which homeless person gets a package?  Are you just walking around and handing them out? 

Personally I would have skipped the cigarettes, bandaids and advil since I have never encountered a homeless person who didn't prefer clothes and food, but maybe your homeless are different.  We find it effective to ask the homeless person what they need and then provide that.  Sometimes it's a jacket, sometimes it's food, sometimes a night stay at a motel where they get out of the cold and can get a hot shower (they really, really, really appreciate that!). 

this year we are supporting our homeless teen program through our church, which is buying clothes and providing food for homeless teens.  We work through the schools to identify them, then send the kids a questionnaire asking what they need and for sizes for clothing.  Then we buy the items and wrap them and send them to the schools with lots of food.  Our church provides three days of food every week for these kids throughout the year, but then we give them more things for Christmas.

I'm just keeping several in the car and handing them out to each person I see.

[EarlyStart]

Skimping on toothpaste but giving out cigarettes?

Yep. Baking soda is just fine as toothpaste.

[libertarian4321]

Skimping on toothpaste but giving out cigarettes?

Yep. Baking soda is just fine as toothpaste.

Perhaps.  My 84 year old "I was raised in the Depression!" mom would know that baking soda can be used as toothpaste.

But do you think a 30-year old homeless person knows this?

I hope you included an explanation, otherwise, many of them will probably try to snort it.

[Dicey]

Gotta agree that your heart's in the right place, but skimping on toothpaste to buy cigarettes is questionable. Helping and enabling are two different things.

Also, by "An Advil", do you mean a small, sealed packet of Advil? If you are repackaging things like Q-Tips, I hope you are putting them into small plastic bags. I recommend  putting everything into gallon size plastic bags, so your generous gifts stay clean and dry. Also, you can usually find six packs of travel size Kleenex-type tissues at the Dollar Stores. They would round out your assortment nicely.

I'll say this as gently as I can. As someone who has organized neighborhood holiday food drives for a number of years, I can personally attest to the satisfaction that comes from digging a little deeper into your pocket in order to help out just a little bit more.

[HAPPYINAZ]

Skimping on toothpaste but giving out cigarettes?

Yep. Baking soda is just fine as toothpaste.

Perhaps.  My 84 year old "I was raised in the Depression!" mom would know that baking soda can be used as toothpaste.

But do you think a 30-year old homeless person knows this?

I hope you included an explanation, otherwise, many of them will probably try to snort it.

agreed....without an explanation of what it is....why would anyone know what the unknown white powder given to them in a ziplock bag by a stranger is? 

Maybe when you hand out the items you can explain it to them.  You might also take advantage of that moment to ask them what they really need/want.  Perhaps you could provide that instead of your package or you could use the information to plan for what to buy for them next year. 

[Cassie]

I make scarfs for the homeless every year and then take them to a local shelter and dining hall which serves families that need meals, etc.  I also give food when their is a food drive and toys to kids that won't get any, etc. My DH and I stopped giving each other gifts years ago. We buy for our adult kids (usually dinner out at a nice restaurant for all of us versus gifts) and then the rest to charity.   

[guitarman4]

Today I was thinking about how to buy Christmas gifts without breaking the bank, and out of curiosity I decided to look up the average annual expenditure on holiday gifts by U.S. adults. According to polling by the American Research Group, the average U.S. adult planned to spend $882 on holiday gifts in 2015. Good God… that’s ridiculous.
Given that there are 254,321,000 civilian, noninstitutionalized adults in the U.S. (St. Louis Federal Reserve). A reasonable estimate of U.S. holiday gift spending is $224.3 Billion.
What else could we do with that money?
-   Buy every homeless person in the United States a $397k house
-   Provide clean water to everyone who doesn’t have it in the world for the next 10 years, twice
-   Increase spending on public schools in the whole country by 36%
-   If each adult invested it annually for their retirement between ages 20 and 60 they would have another $112k, assuming a 5% real return. This could reduce our unfunded liabilities for Social Security and Medicare by $28.5 trillion.
All that being said, I’m as self-interested as anyone else. I’m not spending $882 on anyone, underprivileged or not. This year I’m just going to be slightly less ridiculous than the average person. Instead of giving gifts to family and friends I’m giving small care packages to 50 homeless people and writing each family member and friend a note that says something to the effect of “Happy Holidays! Hope you’re doing well. This year I gave a small gift to a local homeless San Antonian in your name. [insert miscellaneous New Year’s well wishes]”
I haven’t given them out yet, but I bought and organized all the packages today (see attached pictures). In total I spent $150 and each person will get these things:
-   Toothbrush & baking soda (toothpaste would’ve added >$50 to the total)
-   A pair of socks
-   An Advil
-   Cheese crackers
-   Ramen
-   Five Band-Aids
-   Instant coffee
-   A handful of q-tips
-   Two cigarettes and a small box of matches
If I would’ve planned ahead, I probably could have done better, but $3/person isn’t too bad. The remaining $700+ is going into stocks.

I like your thinking,       I always chuckle when I think about how Christmas is supposed to be a Jesus holiday and the very Christians that go out on black friday and run up debt after debt after debt and the bible strictly discourages debt.