It’s time to think about helping those less fortunate. Bad economy or good, there are plenty of ways to do so online and offline that are extremely painless. Here are several examples.

THE HUNGER SITE. This is one habit that could become a year-round activity. Go to the Hunger Site at http://www.thehungersite.com click on the “Click Here to Give! It’s Free!” button and you send food to the poor around the world, courtesy of the sponsors. The page it goes to will also offer you some unusual gift items from around the world worth the visit alone. Tabs at the top will also take you to similar sites benefitting breast cancer, child literacy, abandoned pets, and the rainforest. Here’s the neat thing: you can sign up for a daily reminder which contains a link that will open the site in a new window and keep you from forgetting to check in. For the vocabulary-building-gamester, try Free Rice at http://www.freerice.com/. Here you are presented a series of unusual words and a choice of four definitions. For each right answer, the sponsors donate 10 grains of rice. Play daily, rack up a good score, discover words you’ve never heard of before and some, thank goodness, that are a little familiar. Obviously it’s a numbers game…the more who participate and do sooften, the more is raised. Spread the word.

USE FOOD COUPONS TO FEED THE NEEDY. Think of this as a hobby, another one that can be worked at Christmas or year-round. At no cost to yourself except for the time which you would normally expend on any other less rewarding hobby, you can gather coupons for a shopping spree. When you finish shopping you’ll have a large amount of food at a ridiculously low price which can be dropped at the local food pantry. The trick is to remember that coupons are just the first stage in promoting a product. Hold the coupons for about a month then go in and take advantage of the second stage, price reduction at the shelf. Buy then using your coupons for a deep discount. If there’s a double coupon value day available or a senior discount day (take your mom or grandma and let her make the purchase), by all means take advantage of that. For chump change and some time clipping coupons and checking online coupon sites while watching TV, you get to be a hero.

CHRISTMAS CHANGE. If you haven’t started emptying your pockets each day into a change jar, Christmas is a perfect time. Set it aside not for a personal extravagance or to pay bills, but for donations. Either you’re already giving a lot of money by attending chili dinners and buying raffle tickets or making outright cash donations (in which case you can set aside change for such things painlessly in this way) or you are not doing any of that and it’s about time you start Cash in around Christmas, although you can do it at any time during the year if you wish. Make it a game. You can even start several jars. One for something you really need for yourself, one for Christmas giving, and one for everyday giving. Just for kicks, stick a dollar bill in a book on your bookshelf every once in awhile and forget about it until it’s time to make your donations. Good for your karma. Incidentally, don’t overlook the Christmas Club account as a way of getting the cash out of your reach. This is also where you can dump your Chirstmas change jar accumulation every month or so.

FREE MAGAZINE SUBSCRIPTIONS FOR THE LIBRARY. A few magazines disappeared from the Nashville (IL) Public Library because of a tightening budget. I had a few online survey sites which offered items as rewards that didn’t appeal to me, but they did offer magazines. So, I have signed them up for a number of subscriptions. The librarian even has her husband saving Coke Rewards points towards magazine subscriptions. The magazine rack is overflowing and this maneuver has saved the library $200-$300 by estimation. If you have some points you’ve built up with one or two survey sites, go ahead and offer the library a welcome Christmas present…a free magazine subscription. Or two. Or five.