Show Your Helping Hand

Hamburger Helper has teamed up with Beyonce and Feeding America to deliver more than 3.5 million meals to local feed banks. Here's how you can help:

Enter codes from inside specially marked boxes of Hamburger Helper, which will donate 18 cents to Feeding America - enough to deliver one meal to a local food bank. Deadline: Dec. 31, 2010.

Text "show" to 90999 to donate $5. You may receive one future text message from Feeding America, which will be sent no later than Dec. 31, 2010.

Bring non-perishable food items to Beyoncé's concerts.

Use your Coke rewards program

1. Sign up at www.mycokerewards.com
2. Enter your bottle codes from any participating Coca-Cola product
3. Use your points for one of the following:
a. Enter a sweepstakes (3 points) to donate $1,000 to the organization of your choice.
b. Donate points (15, 70 or 140) to Best Buy's at15, in which teens get to decide where the donated money goes. Interesting.

Blog changes

Beginning June 1, the format of this blog will change. Mostly because I'm fresh out of ideas, and secondly, because I know my 12 readers will understand. I won't be posting daily, but I will be doing more research in order to produce better content that both expounds on ideas we've already covered and ones that offer new ways to give without spending.

Day 150: Learn what NOT to give

Broken appliances or electronics.
Stained or torn clothing.
Broken furniture.
Old computers.

Rule of thumb: Call and ask your charity what is unacceptable. A few of the items listed above can be recycled, which is great. But don't burden the organization you're trying to help with things that can be recycled or should just be thrown away.

Day 149: Educate yourself

Find a topic close to your heart and learn as much as you can about it and then educate others. Become a local expert, one journalists turn to for information on the topic. Get as involved as you can and inform as many others as you can.

Day 148: One click at a time

One click at a time is a Web site devoted to organizing all the click-to-give sites out there in the webosphere and putting them in one place for your convenience. All funds are sponsor driven.

Day 147: Hurricane preparedness

Make sure your elderly neighbors and relatives are prepared for hurricane season.

Coordinate an evacuation plan.
Check for supplies: batteries in flashlights, bottled water and canned foods are necessities.
Help them secure their homes.