My 29-Days of Giving Challenge ended a week ago, and I've come to a clear, firm conclusion:

A decision to give is very freeing.

View my page on 29-Day Giving Challenge

This was surprising to me because, like anyone who's ever donated to a charity, I get a lot of mail and email asking me for money -- and I usually resent getting them. What I realized that what I actually dislike is feeling I CAN'T give -- that I have to say no again, whether because I get too many requests, I don't know enough about the org asking for money, I hate getting paper junk mail, etc.

Joining a challenge that committed me to giving gave me the simple freedom to say yes to these. Hillary Clinton wanted some more money from me and she got some (before she came out in support of that gas tax break idiocy). Micki Krimmel wanted to be an L.A. Derby Doll and I pitched in. When you know you MUST give something away that day, you start seeing requests for money as a welcome opportunity. I found that freeing --

Somewhat relatedly, I came to a second conclusion: I'm getting way too much stuff to review, which creates stress because I then have to worry about getting rid of it. I gave away stuff to readers, but that made me somewhat uncreative and lazy. Of the 29 gifts, 19 were freebies to readers!

So now, I'm going to "reject" more samples and review less stuff. This means more vetting on the front end -- I'll only ask to review things that I really, really think may be a worthwhile eco-product, and I'll only review books that I really, really want to read. The plan is to go from what's now something like a 40% admission rate to a 25% admission rate.

In any case, I'm psyched to say I've gotten a couple bloggers to take the 29-Day Giving Challenge! Best of LA kicked her challenge off by handing out bananas and nuts, water and other snacks to her students. Cathy of Chief Family Officer started hers by giving away children's books and ended by giving away children's clothes.

For my part, I'm ready to say yes to more requests for things -- especially from friends. Sign up to run, walk, or bike for a good cause, and I'll be your first sponsor!

Thanks again to Britt Bravo of Have Fun Do Good for encouraging me to join the challenge.
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BlogHer Contributing Editor Siel also blogs for the Los Angeles Times at Emerald City, and at greenLAgirl.com.