Comments on: The Simple Dollar Weekly Roundup: Book Editing Edition

By: Ellen

Ellen — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 15:08:16 +0000

Eve – #6 – great insight & distinction! Thank you! Now the unclutterer article makes more sense.

By: Cade

Cade — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 13:54:37 +0000

Good luck on your new book, Trent. You are a gifted writer with solid awareness and exceptional insight. You present information that is important, and you give us the steps to readily apply it in our own lives. I look forward to the publication of this new project. I hope you make a million dollars. Think how much you have helped all of us save these past few years. You deserve much financial success.

By: Eve

Eve — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 16:53:09 +0000

The unclutterer article is *not* advice for gift exchanges where you’re obligated to give a gift to someone you don’t know well. So, it is unclear how it could be perhaps the best set of advice you’ve read for such a situation.

The article is about giving “without knowing who will benefit from your generosity.” The article briefly mentions past advice about giving to charity in someone’s honor, then says that this year’s advice will “focus on giving in a different way” — not donating in someone’s honor, but donating to a person in need, whom you don’t know.

By: thisisbeth

thisisbeth — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 16:41:03 +0000

I think charitable donations done in someone else’s name can be tricky. They’re great if you know the person, and you know they believe in the cause. You might end up giving a gift that goes against that person’s beliefs. If you don’t know the person that well, you really won’t know what particular charity they would wish to support.

By: mo

mo — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 16:21:34 +0000

stop saying deeply

By: Ellen

Ellen — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 15:56:30 +0000

I’m with guinness416 on the gifting/contributing issue. People at gift exchanges expect to actually get a gift, and usually there’s a relatively low limit. I think that telling someone a contribution has been made to someone else detracts from the spirit of making that contribution as well as from the spirit of giving someone a gift.

My solution is to find something from a local crafter or local charity fund-raiser sale (church bazaars, craft centers run by the disabled or local charity, etc.) or make one of my specialty food gifts & package it in a decent container to keep. If I decide to make a generous contribution to a charity by cutting back on gifts to others, that’s personal & not advertised by announcements to everyone on my (former) gift list.

The zenhabits post on how to want very little is a new perspective that I’m going to work on!

By: Jen

Jen — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 14:38:25 +0000

Hee hee…nothing improves one’s writing skills as much as a strict editor! :-)

By: guinness416

guinness416 — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 14:25:39 +0000

That unclutterer post was confusing (or maybe I’m just more easily confused than usual this morning). Is she recommending charitable donations as an appropriate gift for people who you don’t know well, or recommending charitable donations as a gift to someone – the recipient of the charity – that you literally don’t know?

While I’m all for stepping up donations over xmas I personally think giving to charity “in someone’s name” is a bit presumptuous as a holiday present (and can come off as very holier-than-thou if you don’t approach it well). Doubly so if it’s someone you don’t know well enough to know if they support the particular group. Give in your own name and get someone a more thoughtful gift, even if you’re at the begrudging “well they got me one” stage.