Proud to be a consumer

I don't know when it started but for years I have been telling anyone who will listen (usually my mother, sorry mom) that I am a GROWN-UP with my own CHECKBOOK & everything.  This is of course a big fat lie; I haven't had my own checkbook since I got married 18 years ago, but the gist is still there:  my own money is my own business...& my own problem.  As a married person it became our own business/problem, as the case may be.

If you got this far & are now worried I am going to start talking about fiscal responsibility, fear not.  I am thinking more about holiday (or non-holiday) on-line shopping.  Even more specifically about iGive.  The short version is iGive is a free-to-you service that collects a percentage of your purchase from the on-line seller & gives it to the charity of your choice (provided they are registered with iGive, which I am told is not all that hard if you are indeed a charity & not some backyard faux-non-profit cash cow). 

What that percentage is depends on the vendor. Amazon for example gives only  part of one percent, but because of the volume of orders that go through them (it's not just books anymore, baby), it can add up fast.  UnderArmour, who I started loving because they are not Nike (in fairness Nike is also an iGive company), then I loved more when I learned they will do embroidery for say, horse crazy middle aged women's specialty catalogs & now of course gets my love all over again for their 3.2% (same as Nike, but they are in a hole so deep I doubt I can ever love them).

So...I would encourage anyone reading this to double check if their favorite charity (alas you can only specify one....at a time) is listed.  Several of mine were but I quickly chose one that does valuable work & to whom my $8 (so far) does make a difference.  After I made my choice (& did a little shopping), I could see how much my cause has received so far - check by check, what their next check amount will be & how much of that is attributable to me.  I have never been a huge on-line shopper having preferred to spend my money locally, even if it is at a chain store, at least those are local people employed there, but ever since the kid at S***** A******** told me I "need to get over that" re: Michael Vick, Nike et al, I am just as happy to bypass some people all together.  Seriously, I may never leave the house again.