Do you actually tithe/donate 10%?

[JamieCatheryn]

Who here really gives 10%+ of income to church or charity? How much do you make and what's your household size if you don't mind answering? If you have average or less income how do you manage it? If you're paying down debt? I feel bad that we only give 3% but I don't know how we could do without more than that, we'd never make progress on debt it seems like.

[anj_rn]

We tithe 10%. It was easier when we were a two income family, but it is much harder now that we are only one income due to DD's special needs. For us it is a question of obedience to G-d's will. We are a family of 4 living on DH's income, we stripped down our bills to just the essentials (no cable, no eating out), and we make it.

[woodchick]

We're at about 4-5%. We're working on making it more but this is a stretch as it is. We do give a lot of time/expertise as well, so I'd like to think that that counts a bit!

[alicia622]

No, we don't. Our church is in the stewardship drive for next year and I don't even think they have recommended pledge based on 10%. It's like 3, 5 and 7% based on how you view your role with the church. This is a Unitarian Universalist church.

[dislocator3972]

We do!

Honestly, I don't know how we'd make it financially if we didn't tithe. I know it's crazy, because 4-2 = 2, but when we tithe 10%, we have more money than when we don't tithe. I realize that defies basic mathematical principles, but it's reality for us.

I had a pastor once who said that this was one of the few areas that God allows us to test Him. Actually, my pastor said that God dared us to test him (paraphrase, obviously). It's in Malachi. God is so not kidding around.

We make about 35k per year. At least one of us is in school at any given time and at least one of us is working. There are three of us in our household, and everything just somehow works. DH is currently a TA/tutor as a part of his graduate work and I write part time. We are currently switching to organic/free range/local foods and we are paying off our car. Our 5 year loan will be paid of this year which will be 2.5 years early. We're planning to have the credit card paid off by the end of 2012, and we're hoping to start saving a down payment after that. To keep our relationship functional we need at least 2 dates per week.

How do we do it? We don't buy anything. We buy food, real food, not convenience food. We do not buy clothes unless absolutely necessary, we do not buy diapers for formula (we use cloth and breastfeed), I make our babyfood, we get gas once every other month or so. We only have one car. DH walks to work and class, I work and study from home.

Ask for help. When your kids are getting ready to grow into the next size, ask friends with older kids if they have any clothes to get rid of. I can count on one hand how many clothes I've bought for DD. Carpool with people when you're going to go somewhere, you'll make better friends that way anyway. Don't buy lots of presents. Get one big gift per person, per year. For kids, let them pick one toy per birthday, one per Christmas, make the rest of the holidays '$5 holidays.'

In all honesty, before we started tithing I'd have thought my position now would be crazy. But here I am, paying off debt with almost no money coming in. Because God is faithful. And when He says He'll take care of it, He does.

That's just my opinion though.

[sanguine_speed]

I don't tithe because I'm atheist.

I donate nominally because the way I see it, if I use the money we have now to pay off debt on which we are paying interest, then we'll ultimately have more to give in the end than if we gave more now and paid less interest-bearing debt. We're taking care of our young family and making small donations so that we're in a better position to help in bigger financial ways later on.

[sunnysandiegan]

I don't even know what a "tithe" is, so we obviously don't do that.

We do donate cash to others at a rate of 8% of our total income (gross). Plus, I spend a lot of my time volunteering at my DD's public school and other non-profit organizations. We also donate items to various organizations regularly. If one were to calculate my time and the value of our non-cash donations, our family total would exceed 10%.

We are neither rich nor poor. We are abundant. I really like the principles surrounding "abundance", which have very little to do with money per se. As the abundance ideas have grown, so have our lives and the ability to pay and save and donate, etc. It is about a lifestyle - an attitude - and is hard for me to put into written words.

ETA: I only know the percentage because I created a spreadsheet in Excel to show where every dollar came and went in 2009. I like charts and graphs. My pie chart showed me '8% Charity'.

[goldfinches]

Originally Posted by sunnysandiegan

I don't even know what a "tithe" is, so we obviously don't do that.

Tithe is a biblical old testament term describing the giving of 10% off your income. It's generally used by churches as "tithes and offerings" as a standard to begin giving to a church.

We do give 10% at least. I round, so if our income was $775, I'll round to $80 in giving. We have given this much for years, and never come up short no matter what our income. (It does fluctuate, it used to be nearly $80K, but hasn't been that high in years, nor was it that high for long.) Most years, we're down in the $30's.

We also like to give towards special projects when we get something extra beyond our normal income, ie. tax returns or a bonus.

We have really seen God's care for us and our finances since we decided to put our giving first.

[klg47]

I tithe 10% of my gross earnings. I am a nearly-single mom of 3 kids. I make around $50,000/year. That sounds like a lot, but daycare for the 3 kids is $15,000 per year. I am supposed to get child support/daycare money from my STBXH, but he is making minimum wage and hasn't contributed very much so far.

Before we separated, our debt was $104,000 (not including a house). We were paying over $2,000 per month on minimum debt payments. H was working, so our income was closer to $60,000-$70,000. Up until we separated, we never missed a single payment on anything, never went hungry, etc. Our church has helped us out for a few months with food so that we could make other payments. To be honest, I have never truly gained a spiritual conviction or testimony of tithing. However, looking back at the evidence, I have decided it must be helping and have continued to pay it. I also feel that I get great benefit from my church (one example is the food for those few months), so the tithing ends up 'coming back' to me anyway.

In our divorce decree, H has agreed to take about $80,000 of the debt (this is fair, believe me), and I get about $20,000. So I am still working to pay down debt, but my monthly payments are only $360 per month now.

I live in a small, old apartment (650 square feet). I was driving a 10-year old car, but it died a year ago. Now I drive my grandma's 1986 beater :-D I make most of our food. I do not spend money on haircuts/colorings/nails/etc. I have a relatively cheap cell phone plan and good internet. I don't pay for cable (had no TV until the Olympics, and our apartment provides cable.)

I have been a long-time fan of Dave Ramsey but have been unable to implement many of the ideas due to my H's and my differing spending habits. I am confident that I will be out of debt fairly quickly now.

Even if I was not religious, I would continue to give a percentage of my income to good causes. In that case, I don't know that the number would matter. The 10% is a religious guideline, not necessarily a universal one

[StormySar]

Originally Posted by dislocator3972

We do!

Honestly, I don't know how we'd make it financially if we didn't tithe. I know it's crazy, because 4-2 = 2, but when we tithe 10%, we have more money than when we don't tithe. I realize that defies basic mathematical principles, but it's reality for us.
.

Totally agree. We live much better when we tithe 10%, and struggle much worse when we don't. Although we have struggled when we begrudgingly tithe - if we do it for the right reasons, we're very blessed.

[sunnysandiegan]

Originally Posted by goldfinches

Tithe is a biblical old testament term describing the giving of 10% off your income. It's generally used by churches as "tithes and offerings" as a standard to begin giving to a church.

Thanks!

[BetsyS]

We also give 10%.

We are single income. My dh's income has dropped by 30% over the last 2 years. I don't know how we make it, because on paper we don't. But, somehow, it all works out. So, we keep giving.

[Alisha]

We give 10% of our income. We do struggle to make ends meet but we always pay the Lord first.

[gingerbane]

No, because the tithe is an old testement law and we are new testement believers who are not bound by the law. We do give an offering though.

[wemoon]

Ah. no. I don't go to a church and I chose to give of my time and energy to causes that I believe in rather than my cash. I am currently training and raising money for the Red Ribbon Ride, which raises money for AIDS-serving organizations. I have to raise at least $1500 to participate. I do things similar to this a lot. Like I'll do a walk or run where the money raised goes to charity. I rarely just fork over cash.

[EFmom]

I'm also an atheist. My family belongs to a UU church. We don't tithe. We do support the church in a modest way--it's not my thing, but my husband likes it. We also support various charities. I have no idea what percentage of our income it is because that's hugely irrelevant to me.

[zebra15]

No. Even when I was making "good" money (much higher income) I never liked someone telling me what I susposed to give. If I donated it was because I wanted to. Now that things are much tighter I give in other ways. DS and I pass on outgrown clothes, we declutter, we offer our time, I will donate to the foodbank from out pantry etc.

But the whole idea of donating is giving what you want, not giving because you feel like you have to.

[goldfinches]

Originally Posted by zebra15

But the whole idea of donating is giving what you want, not giving because you feel like you have to.

I just had to comment on this. I believe this is exactly why we should be giving to our churches. Not because the OT says to, but because it's what we want to do. Give back to those who give to us. God, yes, but, (as a pastor's wife, ha ha), also to support the church's paid leaders who give of their lives to you.

[thriftyqueen]

Originally Posted by goldfinches

I just had to comment on this. I believe this is exactly why we should be giving to our churches. Not because the OT says to, but because it's what we want to do. Give back to those who give to us. God, yes, but, (as a pastor's wife, ha ha), also to support the church's paid leaders who give of their lives to you.

I totally agree with this. I am more than happy to tithe my 10% as I know it is going to the church, which in turn uses it to pay the pastor, the building expenses, missions, and other outreach expenses. They do such great work that I am happy to give. I also spend a lot of time volunteering at the church as well. I don't believe in just giving monetarily, but through volunteering as well.

[velochic]

Originally Posted by gingerbane

No, because the tithe is an old testement law and we are new testement believers who are not bound by the law. We do give an offering though.

Yep... and Paul says to give according to your means, not 10%, in the New Testament.

We are not religious at all, but pretty much give according to our means... not to any religious organizations. That includes money as well as time and goods for what we feel we need to be helping with. Sometimes that's more than 10% and sometimes that's less.