Stay in touch, support a cause, and save 💰💵money!
A win-win for everyone!
Hello KIRC family~!
I would like to first extend a warm and heartfelt WELCOME to all of the new subscribers who have joined the Keeping It REAL Caregiving family, as we grow our community here on Substack.
You are invited to spend some time visiting our story archives, which I hope offer nuggets of advice and wisdom as you embark (or navigate) on your caregiving journey.
What and who is Keeping It REAL Caregiving? The following articles outline a portion of what KIRC is all about and my mission/goals.
Related Articles:
Welcome to Keeping It REAL Caregiving
Caregiving 101: Are you a family caregiver?
5 acronyms you should know! Don't let the caregiving world leave you SYH or screaming WTHJH?
Nuggets you should Know
This will be a quick post, but it is something I wanted to share. It is something you may not have thought about.
Stay in touch
My mother, Miss Nellie, was an avid letter writer. Throughout her entire life, she stayed in touch with distant relatives (some of whom I never knew existed or their connection to my mother), and casual friends.
I grew up in a military family, so there were individuals my mother had crossed paths with along her ‘military wife’ path, that quite frankly I had no idea who these folks were. I just knew my mother remained in touch with them for years.
It wasn’t until in her final chapter while my mother was living with me, that I could see first hand how much letter-writing and receiving mail meant to her.
The nuances of that is an entirely different article for a deeper dive into what it means to ‘connect’ with others and why we do so.
Today I wanted to offer up a quick and easy way to stay in touch with family, friends and loved ones, support a cause you believe in - and - save money while doing so.
Return address labels
Whether you send greeting cards, letters or other mail only during the holiday season, or if you are old-school (like myself) and enjoy dropping letters and note cards in the mail year-round, you might want to consider this money-saving approach in three easy steps.
If you have EVER received an invite to make a donation to a charity, I encourage you to do so. Here’s how and why:
Identify three to five national charities you believe in and wish to support. It can be anything from environmental causes, children, military veterans, rescue operations, emergency response or hospitals. Choose anything your heart believes in supporting and decide to make a small donation to the cause.
Review the ‘thank you’ items said charity might offer in exchange for your support. Sometimes it is simply a ‘thank you.’ Other times, it is a small gift that keeps on giving - to you! Often times, it comes in the form of address labels.
Sit back, and let the reality of agencies selling mailing lists to third parties do their work. Before long, you will likely receive return address mailing labels from not only the organization you donated to, but also a handful of others now trying to get you to make a donation!
Win-Win
I used this approach during the years of caring for my mother. She wrote letters all the time (until physical decline prevented her from doing so, and then I transcribed notes for her) but she never liked spending extra dollars to order name labels.
It was then I reminded her, “Mom, lets donate even $10.00 to different agencies and let’s see what happens?”
Sure enough, address labels galore! In fact, I can honestly say my mother received more return address labels than she would ever even come close to using.
I said goodbye to my mother a little over two years ago. As I slowly begin going through personal items, I am finding all kinds of address labels tucked into my mother’s things.
There is a tug at my heart each time I come across another envelope or folder containing a stack of her address labels. There is no longer any use for them, but it is difficult to destroy and toss them out.
There are labels from the American Red Cross, St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital, The American Diabetes Association, Veterans of Foreign Wars, The Nature Conservancy, The African American National Museum, the National Museum of the American Indian and many others I don’t even recognize. All, came free of charge, but for a donation of support.
And that, my friends, is all for now. Just a quick Nugget You Should Know that I hope you find useful as you embark on the yearly tradition of sending out holiday cards - and - any mail which goes out in 2023!
*Have an idea that has helped you in your caregiving journey you believe could be useful for others? KIRC would love to hear from you and we are always thrilled when you consider sharing our content with others!
Until next time~
Julia