As someone who lives on a tight budget, I know how hard it can be to find extra money each month to donate to those in need. A few months ago, my Southern California church took part in a 6-week bible program with the well-known Saddleback Church. During the program, our group was encouraged to find a missions project to participate in, and we decided to assemble blessing bags for the homeless.
We all came together to purchase toiletries and food items, assemble bags, and hand them out to the homeless people we encounter. We kept the bags in our cars until we came across someone who was asking for help (in Southern California, they aren’t hard to find). It was a blessing each time we handed someone a bag, and we felt better about giving them useable items instead of cash.
Once our service project was over, I decided that I wanted to continue to assemble bags as a family each month. So even on our tight budget, we put $20 a month toward assembling 2 bags to have on hand in our car. It’s not much, but it’s something!
Here are some items that I like to put in the bags:
- Shampoo/conditioner
- Chapstick
- Deodorant
- Toothbrush/toothpaste
- Soap
- Cleansing wipes
- Non-perishable foods like granola bars (no chocolate so we don’t have to worry about it melting), fruit cups, trail mix, peanuts, raisins
- Small water bottle
- Socks
- Nail clippers
- Sun screen
- $5 gift card to a local fast food place so they can have a hot meal (I usually get McDonalds)
Here’s how I keep it to $20:
- I hit the Dollar Store or the travel section at Target and buy all travel-sized toiletries, which are usually $0.99 each.
- I follow blogs like Passion for Savings and Freebies4Mom so I can find out about free samples. Shampoo/conditioner samples are perfect to put in blessing bags.
- I use coupons when I can to get toiletries for free; sometimes name brands like Pantene will have a $1/1 coupon; if you can find travel-sized Pantene products for $0.99, they’re free!
- Buying in bulk and keeping your products on hand will allow you to spread them out over several months (i.e. a box of granola bars or a package of water bottles), keeping the cost down.
I assemble all the items I’ve pulled together for that month (it depends on what I have on hand and usually varies) and put them in a ziploc bags with these notes:
The front side has one of my favorite verses; something that I hope will give them some peace and encouragement. The back side contains information on calling 2-1-1. It’s a free number that will connect them to whatever resources they are in need of in their city (shelter, food banks, etc.). You can download these notes {here} if you would like to use them too.
Living on a budget doesn’t mean you can’t still give to those who have greater needs. Besides, we have more money than majority of the people around the world. A while back, I was reading Crazy Love by Francis Chan and was reminded of just how lucky and blessed my family is:
“Even if we aren’t rich, we are “doing just fine.” If one hundred people represented the world’s population, fifty-three of those would live on less than $2 a day.” (Crazy Love, Francis Chan)
“…on any given day we might flippantly call ourselves “broke” or “poor”…” “We are neither of those things. We are rich. Filthy rich.” (Crazy Love, Francis Chan)
Blessing bags are also a great way to teach your kids about helping those in need, and a way to get a conversation going about the homeless and why they may need help!
Linked to: