the gift of time

Unclutterer, a blog that helps people like me (the chronically cluttered) get organized has a great post on one of the most environmentally responsible gifts you could ever give: your time. Oh, and it doesn't cost you any money.

Here's a taste:

The gift of your time can be to spend an hour, a day, or an evening with the friend or loved one of your choice. You can set up the time for doing activities they enjoy, such as playing video games or taking a walk. Lock away your Blackberry so that you have quality time together without distractions.

Giving time is a good holiday stress reducer, too, because you’ll spend less money. The American Psychological Association names money as the #1 cause of stress over the holidays. With today’s economy, the pressure may be especially apparent this year. You can take yourself off the gift-buying hook by coming up with creative ways to give of your time (which is really giving of yourself).

One great time give-away is to offer a needed service to your gift recipient. Sometimes the things that are second-nature to you are downright hard or impossible for others to do. If it weren’t for my husband, I know that the gas fireplace would still be unusable, but for him it took all of 15 minutes to fix.

You can use your gift of time to help someone address something that would otherwise not get done unless they hired a professional.

What are your skills? Think about what you can do to assist people with time gift packages.

Here's the rest.