As the postal appeals and phone calls roll in at an ever-increasing rate, I find I have to take a more resistant line with them. The spirit is willing, but the bank balance is becoming noticeably weaker, with the current price increases.
It’s easy to think, “Oh well, another pound or two a month won’t make much difference”, but then another, and another……..
So you get into a situation where you are giving small sums to too many different charities. As they exchange supporters’ names with one another, a sort of geometrical progression of appeals gets under way. Can’t blame them of course, but you have to watch it. I assume those I don’t support are being supported by someone else, so it averages out.
Freebies don’t bother me; some of them – the shopping bags, gardening gloves – are useful, and the rest get passed on. Far too many greetings cards, but then I haven’t had to buy any envelopes for ages. Also there’s been an improvement in the quality of some of the ball-point pens recently. The only freebies that annoy me are the sheets of dozens of address labels no bigger than postage stamps, with tiny print that you can hardly read without a magnifying glass. Much better to have fewer but larger ones; so other things being equal, any charity that does that might well get my support.

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