How to Give The Gift of Time

What do you give the person who has everything? What do you give when you don’t have much money to spend? The answer to both questions is TIME. No matter how many things you have, each one of us has only 24 hours in a day. Most of us live incredibly busy lives and have to pay for services we don’t have the time to do such as wash and fold, eating out, maid service, tutors, and landscapers. If you aren’t working, you can give your time for one of the best and most thoughtful gifts of the season.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

1. SCHEDULE and FOLLOW UP You can make a Gift Certificate or Coupon for the receiver to open and learn of their wonderful gift. But don’t assume that giving the coupon is the end of your gift giving. Many people will feel uncomfortable “cashing in” on the gift and may just keep it. Follow up a week later with a call or email asking to schedule a date and time for you to come and give your gift of time. Continue to follow up until you give your gift of time.

2. BABY SIT/ CHAUFFER A couple of hours of peace and quiet all alone, an afternoon of quality time for a husband and wife, time alone to study. These are precious gifts. You can give this by offering to baby sit the children by taking them out somewhere fun for the day or by just picking them up from school a couple days or driving them to extra curricular activities.

3. COOK Make two or three casseroles and freeze them. Give them to your loved one so that he or she can just heat them up for a healthy, home cooked meal without the time to prepare and clean up.

4. CLEAN Putting up holiday decorations can be a fun family bonding time, but taking them down is usually cold and lonely. Offer to help take down the holiday decorations---either by yourself or as a helper. Offer to help clean the garage or attic or prepare for a yard sale.

5. LAUNDRY Wash and fold services get expensive quickly. You have to do your own laundry anyways. Offer to do your friend’s laundry for a week or even a month.

6. TEACH Perhaps you have a skill that the receiver would like to have. It may be how to make your homemade crust, sew, knit, play an instrument or something that would help their children like tutor chemistry or math. Offer to tutor the child or meet up with the recipient to give a hands on, one-on-one lesson in your skill.

7. GARDEN People love to garden, but weeding gets old quickly. Many hands make light the work. Offer to help in the garden one day. You can do the “dirty” work leaving your friend to do fun things like plant and harvest.

8. VISIT Just the time you spend with someone can be a terrific gift. This is especially so with friends of any age who live alone or suffer from depression. Commit to doing something together for a month: having Sunday dinner, bowling on Wednesdays, walking on Tuesday afternoons, or just tea once a week.

[DUSTYMILLS]

on 12/10/2008 I love articles like this one.....such a simple gift, yet one that is very heartwarming. Thank you for sharing this with all of us.

[PJWilliams]

on 12/10/2008 Taking the family camping was a great idea. Hopefully others can take these suggestions and come up with their own ideas too. Gifts should be from the heart, not just the wallet.