5 Things to Give Instead of Money

 5 Things to Give Instead of Money

For many of us, money is tight at the moment. Perhaps you’ve got a friend in need of support, or you want to contribute to charity … but you just don’t have any cash to spare.

Thankfully, money isn’t the only thing that you can give. In fact, it may not even be the most useful. Just think about these seven possibilities instead:

#1: Time

However rich or poor you are, you’ve got 24 hours in every day and seven days in every week.

Can you give an hour or two of time to someone who really needs it? That might mean:

Taking care of a friend’s kids so she can have a breather

Volunteering for a local charity

Helping¹ out at a community event

Visiting a friend or neighbor in hospital

Listening to a relative who needs to talk

#2: Skills

You’ve got a set of useful skills, whether or not you realize it. Instead of giving money, look for ways to give practical help. In some cases, your skills could save someone spending a lot of money on making mistakes or hiring someone to do things for them.

Perhaps you could help with:

Teaching² a young relative how to cook simple meals

Editing³ a friend’s résumé

Designing a logo for a friend’s new business

Driving an elderly neighbor to the store

#3: Encouragement

Think of a time in your life when someone’s encouragement made all the difference. Perhaps you weren’t sure whether or not to apply for college, but a teacher or relative supported you. Maybe you were feeling frazzled as a new parent, but friends rallied⁴ round.

You don’t need any special skills to encourage someone, or even much time. A few kind words, or a simple note, could make a huge difference.

#4: Physical Items

Do you own any tools or equipment that you could give or lend to someone who needs them? For instance⁵, instead of keeping old computers or monitors cluttering⁷ up your home, try looking for a local charity or a neighbor who’d be glad of them.

Most areas have a local Freecycle group where you can list any unwanted possessions. When you do that, you not only get to clear some clutter⁶, you also get to do someone a good turn.

#5: Information

Perhaps you know a lot about a particular topic. You might have shelves full of books to lend out, or a bunch of great blog posts bookmarked on your computer. Friends and relatives may be pursuing⁸ big goals – but they might not know where to turn for advice and information.

Look out for opportunities to share useful information: that might be in your community, in your workplace, or even within your family.

1 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

2 teaching   

n.教学，执教，任教，讲授；(复数)教诲

参考例句：

• We all agree in adopting the new teaching method. 我们一致同意采取新的教学方法。
• He created a new system of teaching foreign languages.他创造了一种新的外语教学体系。

3 editing   

adj.编辑的

参考例句：

• The processing of data in random order,not subject to preliminary editing or sorting.未经预先编辑或分类，以任意次序对数据进行的处理的做法。

4 rallied   

恢复( rally的过去式和过去分词 )； 价格回升； 集合起来； 嘲笑

参考例句：

• Has the child rallied from her high fever yet? 这个女孩的高烧退了吗？
• The enemy's forces rallied, and made a fresh attack on the town. 敌军重新调集兵力，对该城发动了又一次进攻。

5 instance   

n.例，例证，实例

参考例句：

• Can you quote me a recent instance?你能给我举一个最近的例子吗？
• He's a greedy boy,yesterday,for instance,he ate all our biscuits!他是个贪吃的孩子――比如，他昨天把我们的饼干都吃了！

6 clutter   

n.零乱，杂乱；vt.弄乱，把…弄得杂乱

参考例句：

• The garage is in such a clutter that we can't find anything.车库如此凌乱，我们什么也找不到。
• We'll have to clear up all this clutter.我们得把这一切凌乱的东西整理清楚。

7 cluttering   

v.杂物，零乱的东西零乱vt.( clutter的现在分词 )；乱糟糟地堆满，把…弄得很乱；（以…） 塞满…

参考例句：

• I'm sick of all these books cluttering up my office. 我讨厌办公室里乱糟糟地堆放着这些书。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Some goals will need to be daily-say, drinking water, or exercise, or perhaps de cluttering. 对这些目标，需要把他们变成我们日常事务的一部分。 来自互联网

8 pursuing   

v.继续( pursue的现在分词 )；追求；进行；追捕

参考例句：

• He has accused the media of pursuing a vendetta against him. 他指责媒体长期跟他过不去。
• He was still doggedly pursuing his studies. 他仍然顽强地进行着自己的研究。 来自《简明英汉词典》