Did you know that you can donate Swag Bucks to help Japan, too?

Now through 4/8, Swagbucks is collecting Swag Buck donations to help Japan.  To date, they have raised enough Swag Bucks to donate over $14,000, and there’s still time to make your donation too, with as little as 5 Swagbucks.

If you’ve never joined Swagbucks, you can use promo code HelpJapan to get an additional 50 Swag Bucks (in addition to the normal 30) when you join so you can get started with 80 Swag Bucks in your account to either donate or save towards a reward.

Here’s how it works:

• Register for a Swagbucks account and use promo code HelpJapan to get started with 80 Swagbucks (or login to your account)
• Make a Swag Bucks donation for any amount between 5 and 5,000 Swag Bucks

Also, don’t forget to leave a comment on my Japan Relief post.  I will be making a personal donation of $1 per comment, up to $250 to Samaritan’s Purse.  I will be closing comments on 3/31 and make the donation on 4/1.

Update: I will be closing comments at the end of the day on 3/31 and making my donation on 4/1/11.  I will now make a donation of $1 per comment, up to $250.

As I saw video and images and read stories of the deadly earthquake and tsunami in Japan, my heart went out to the people across the globe who were affected by this tragedy. Although it feels like there is little that I can do as just one person, I can actually do a lot:

Pray:

• Those immediately affected by the tragedy – who are injured, their homes/possessions are damaged, those who are displaced from their homes
• Family members of those affected by the tragedy – peace as they suffer from their loss or they wait to hear from loved ones
• Rescue workers – strength as they have a long and hard job ahead of them

Give:

• The American Red Cross:  Online donations available, or you can simply text REDCROSS to 90999 and instantly donate $10 to the Japanese relief efforts.

• The Salvation Army:  Online donations available, or you can also text JAPAN or QUAKE to 80888 and make an $10 instant donation.

• World Vision: They plan to distribute relief supplies to meet the daily needs of quake and tsunami survivors and will also focus efforts on responding to the emotional needs of children, who are the most impacted after such a traumatic event.

• Samaritan’s Purse:   They will be working with Japanese Christians to distribute food, water, blankets, hygiene supplies, and other aid to people who have lost virtually everything.

I am so thrilled that as a community of bloggers, we have joined together in the relief effort.  We have all agreed to give something to the relief effort.   All you need to do is comment on each post to increase our donations! You can visit their sites by clicking each link below:

• A Thrifty Mom

• “Cents”able Momma

• Frugal Coupon Living

• Groupon Girl

• IgoBOGO

• MoJo Savings

• Moms Need to Know

• Nicole’s Nickels

• Passion for Savings

• Saving with Shellie

• She Saved

• Surviving the Stores

Even if you aren’t able to give monetarily yourself…here’s an easy way to help the relief effort.

For each link/comment left below, I will contribute $0.50 $1 to Samaritan’s Purse — up to $250.  There’s no donation necessary on your part .

If you have a blog and are doing the same thing – please leave a link to your POST below so that others can join in the efforts to help.  If you don’t have a blog, just leave your name in the comments and share your thoughts for the people affected by this tragedy.

(Note – any links that are NOT directly related to your post on Japan relief efforts will be immediately deleted.)

Now through 12/31, you can give up to 40 FREE $10 Restaurant.com gift certificates per day, until Restaurant.com has given out $40 million in combined gift certificate value.

All you need to do is provide a valid name and e-mail address to “Feed It Forward” to a friend.

Restaurant.com has been participating in this program since 2008.  Has anyone given the free gift cards in the past?  What did you think?

Several companies are helping you donate money to those in need for FREE…it just takes a few minutes and the click of your mouse.

Swagbucks - they have a new $5 gift card that you can purchase for only 45 Swagbucks where you can choose which charity to donate the $5 to.  There are over 100 charities to choose from ranging from the American Cancer Society, Toys for Tots, the Girl Scouts, to the Red Cross.

Purina ONE Tour For Heroes – From February 3 – 26, 2010, Purina ONE® brand Pet Food is traveling across the country, stopping at local animal shelters to help pets in need with temporary food banks and adoption events.  Check out the tour route to see if there is a stop near you.

Even if you don’t live near one of the stops, you can still help donate $1.00 worth of pet food to food banks across the country.  Here’s how:

• Visit MarthaStewart.com/pet-adoption between 1/15 and 3/31/10 to find an adoptable pet using the search tool
• Click to share that pet’s profile with your Facebook friends. Each time you do, Purina ONE will donate $1 worth of pet food to food banks across the country to help feed pets in need (up to $50,000 worth of pet food).

Don’t forget…you can also enter to win 1 of 2 pet packs ($40 value) full of pet items featured in Every Day with Rachel Ray through 2/9.

Campbell’s AdDRESS Your Heart - with each click, Campbell’s will donate $1 (up to $625,000) to the American Heart Association’s Go Red For Women movement

Normally, a charitable contribution must be made during the tax year (1/1 – 12/31) in order to claim it on your taxes.  However, on January 22, President Obama signed HR 4462 into law.

Basically, taxpayers  can choose to deduct any charitable contributions made to help the earthquake victims in Haiti on their 2009 tax return rather than waiting until their 2010 return (thus getting the tax benefit of their contribution sooner).

Qualifications for 2009 Return Deduction:

• Contributions must be made between January 11, 2010 and March 1, 2010.
• Cash contributions only (other contributions can still be claimed on the 2010 return).
• Only contributions for the relief of victims in areas affected by the earthquake in Haiti on 1/12/10.
• The contribution must meet all other requirements for deducting cash contributions.

Records Required for the IRS:

• For those that made a $10 contribution via text message, a telephone bill showing the name of the donee organization, the date of the contribution, and the amount of the contribution is sufficient
• Contributions less than $250: You need a bank record such as canceled check, bank statement or credit card statement, a receipt from the organization, or a payroll deduction record
• Contributions greater than $250: You need written acknowledgement from the charitable organization or payroll deduction record

I know that most of us don’t make charitable contributions solely for the tax write off, but do you plan on deducting them in 2009 or would you rather wait until 2010?  For more frugal ideas, please visit Life as Mom.

Of course, please consult your personal tax adviser to determine when it would be most beneficial for you to take the deduction.

I received this e-mail on Thanksgiving, and I think it’s a great idea.  Here’s an opportunity to Feed It Forward to others this Christmas season:

The gift of giving lifts spirits, spreads joy, and strengthens communities. Feed It Forward™ provides you the opportunity to help give away up to $30 million in free restaurant gift certificates—over 30 days—and allows you to treat friends, family, and colleagues—anyone deserving—to savings on a great meal out. Best of all, it’s FREE to Give and FREE to Receive.

Through Feed It Forward™, you have the opportunity to give from the heart and enrich the lives of people around you through the gift of meals and memories. Give a free $10 Restaurant.com Gift Certificate to 30 different people, everyday until Christmas. Simply choose whom to give to and we take care of the rest.

Give to family. Give to friends. Give to neighbors. Give to anyone who has touched your life, but most of all, give! Thank you for helping to Feed It Forward™.

Click here for more information and to give a free gift certificate to someone.

Have you ever seen the movie The Christmas Card?  It’s a great movie (my in-laws probably watch it about 15 times around Christmas), and in the movie a soldier receives a Christmas card from a woman that touches him so much that he visits the town she’s from when he’s on leave.

While it’s fiction that a soldier would visit you after receiving a holiday card, there are many soldiers stationed abroad who are lonely during the holiday season (as well as family members and veterans).  They are away from their family and friends at home, or they may not even have family.

While we celebrate Veterans Day today to honor the men and women that have served our country, let’s also do what we can to give back.  Pitney Bowes and the American Red Cross have teamed up again this year for the Holiday Mail for Heroes program.

Basically, all you need to do is write a note in a holiday card and send it to unique PO box. Pitney Bowes will collect the cards, make sure they contain no hazardous materials and forward your card to a service member, their families, and veterans. The cards will be collected now through 12/7.  Click here to see all the details.

Even if you don’t have much money, you can still give to others in need in others ways.  You could contribute your “free” or “almost free” items that you’ve purchased from the drugstores or you can give your time.

• Faithful Provisions compiles a list of Food Donation Deals each week on her blog from a list of grocery stores.  You can either use the list to purchase for others in need or build your own stockpile (if needed).

• Dominos Pizza is sponsoring GamesThatGive.  Basically, you can play computer games on their site for free (like Solitaire, Soduku, Memory, Word Search) and 70% of the ad revenue on the site goes to your favorite charity (such as Feeding America, jumpstart, Ronald McDonald House Charities, or The American Heart Association)

• Save Lids to Save Lives – For every Yoplait yogurt lid you send in, Yoplait will donate $0.10 to the Susan G. Komen for the Cure foundation.

• Redeem Proctor & Gamble coupons – for every coupon that you redeem from the 9/27 PG insert, P&G will donate $0.02 to the National Breast Cancer Foundation.

Do you know of any other sites that take very little effort, but reaps great rewards for charity?  I know there’s more out there…some that I’ve visited lately, and I can’t think of them.  Please leave a comment, if you know of some and I’ll add them to the list (with credit for you).

Do you make charitable contributions each year? In addition to our church tithes, my husband and I like to make small contributions to our alumni universities and a few other small charities. Although, we are unable to give too much money, we can double our contribution just by doing a little bit of legwork.

How is that possible? Well, my husband’s company matches our contributions dollar for dollar (up to $1,000 per year). So, when I made my contribution to my school, I made sure that the donor was both my husband and I, so we could submit a match request to his company. Now, our small contribution is still small…but it’s not as tiny as before.

How do you know if your company matches contributions? Contact your HR person in your company to see if there’s a program available and what the restrictions are. Do they accept all charitable organizations or just universities? What’s the minimum amount necessary to contribute before it’s matched? How do I submit my match? If you need to fill out a paper form, it’s probably best to have a few of the forms handy so it’s easy to fill out and to remind you of the match.

How do you increase your charitable giving? If you’re not giving cash, your drugstore deals are a great way to give goods. For more frugal ideas, visit Tightwad Tuesday at BeingFrugal.net.

This time of year, with the holidays coming, we usually take time to remember those who are less fortunate. There are food drives for Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners, toy drives for Christmas, etc. I fully support participating in those drives to help others enjoy Thanksgiving and Christmas.

• Purchase toys on clearance and save them for the Toys for Tots collection in Nov/Dec
• Purchase food and toiletries at the grocery stores and CVS/Walgreens/Rite Aid when they are free or almost free and donate them to food pantries/etc.

Often times, people who are going through a rough economic situation can qualify for food stamps. But, food stamps don’t cover the basic toiletries that people need to live like toilet paper, shampoo, toothpaste. So, I purchase those items when I can get them for great prices and donate them. I, personally, am currently donating my items to a family member and neighbor who are going through rough times. But, I have also given items to my church’s food pantry.

How are you helping others in need? Where do you donate your items? For more ideas that have worked for others, visit Rocks in my Dryer.

A box of items ready to go…