Time Well Spent

One of the things I didn't like about my first job out of university was that I didn't have a consistent enough schedule to allow me to spend any consistent amount of time volunteering.

Habitat for Humanity

Now I have tonnes of it.

There are numerous reasons to volunteer your time when you're employed, but during unemployment volunteering is absolutely invaluable. Not only are you helping others in need, you're also helping yourself. Some of the benefits of volunteering during unemployment include:

• Social contact, which can help prevent depression after having been let go,
• Networking with others who may potentially know about job openings,
• Increasing and learning new skill sets which could be used to find new employment,
• Maintaining good work habits (if you treat it like a job and show up regularly),
• Getting rid of that gap in your resume between employers,
• Your initiative will make you stand out from the crowd during interviews,
• Removing the feeling of helplessness as you help others,
• Giving you a feeling of purpose

It also allows you to get your tithing in if you can't afford monetary contributions. Time is money.

I had mentioned to a concerned friend on Wednesday that I was planning on doing more volunteer work while I looked for a new job. Thursday morning she saw a link in her RSS feed about the 1st Annual Edmonton Volunteer Fair.

How well timed was that?

So, today I'll be making my way down there and checking out the smorgasbord of volunteer opportunities in town. I'm also going to be going down to my local professional association's office to see about volunteer opportunities there. May as well be visible while I'm on the hunt.

What do you volunteer for?

Epic Impact Day

For those of you who don't know (I know some of you already do), I've signed up for the Enbridge Ride to Conquer Cancer. It's a 200km bike ride with the goal of raising money for cancer research. This ride takes place in 4 Canadian provinces: British Columbia, Alberta, Ontario and Quebec. I will be participating in the Alberta ride, travelling through the rocky mountain foothills.

The money I raise goes directly to the Alberta Cancer Foundation. That's not to say that the money only benefits those of us living in Alberta. The money goes towards cancer research and education, which benefits everyone worldwide. A lot of research goes on in Alberta, and I'd like to see us move forward with more break throughs.

In order to even participate in the ride, each rider must raise a minimum of $2,500. I've set myself a lofty goal of raising $10,000. Will it be difficult? Well, yeah. Haha. However raising the money will be easier than the bike ride, and the bike ride is hands down easier than what people have to go through when battling cancer. I just hope that my little drop in the bucket will help someone out there who needs it.

If you couldn't tell from my post title and the picture at the top of the page, today is Epic Impact Day. The goal of today is to have every rider get at least one donation. This is to prove that small contributions, when done on a large scale, can add up to make a huge difference. There is somewhere around 2000 riders in Alberta alone. If there are similar numbers in the other provinces, and everyone manages to raise $25-$50, that's $200,000-$400,000 raised in one day alone. That's huge!

I know a lot of people who read this blog are concerned about their personal finances. I completely understand that. However, I'm asking that if you personally know anyone who is riding to please donate to them. If you don't know anyone who is riding, please donate to me ;) When you donate online, they will e-mail you a tax reciept for any donations over $10. If you want to donate, but funds are tight, you have the option of spreading smaller amounts over several months. Every little bit helps.

I'm not a huge fan of shameless self promotion, but there are some causes that are worth it. In my opinion, this is one of them. I hope you guys don't mind. Have an epic day :)

The Backtrack

So, while I was looking at the balance on my credit card earlier, I realized I didn't know what I was actually paying for anymore. Was I still paying for my laptop? My car maintenance? Last Christmas? I really didn't know. So I looked it up. Or rather, I tried. Apparently my credit card only allows you to look back at the last 3 months worth of statements. As I switched to e-bills a while back, I don't know if I'll be able to actually look up the specifics... Based on my estimate I'm in the middle of paying off the iPhone I bought in February while I was volunteering at the Olympics in Whistler. Yeah... buying an $800 phone to replace my beer soaked Blackberry while I wasn't receiving an actual pay check was perhaps not my best step financially, but here we are. Either way, when I was forking over the plastic at the counter I didn't expect that 8 months later I'd still be paying the damn thing off. It's definitely making me think twice about buying anything now.

The belt I was going to get this weekend... sold out. Gone off the website. And the sweater alternate is out of my budget. *Sigh* No treat this go around.