Counting our blessings

As well as giving up chocolate (Tim) and snacks after work (Elspeth), we also spent this Lent following Christian Aid's count your blessings - every day we were encouraged to think about those around us less fortunate than ourselves, and donate a small amount of money based on our own lifestyle. It's been a really good exercise for us, making us think about how we live our life, and how a small amount of money to us can seem like a fortune to others.

Some statistics for you: the total amount we ended up donating was £38.66, or just less than a pound a day. Our most expensive day was when we donated 5p for every year before we started work - it came to £2.45 which brought home to us how long we'd spent in full time education, but also how lucky we'd been to have that opportunity: in India 60 million children are forced into work.

We didn't have a 'free' day, but on three days our donation was only 20p - when we

• gave 5p for every fairtrade and 10p for every non-fairtrade cup of tea/coffee we drank that day (while we thought of the fairtrade coffee schemes)
• gave 10p for every bed in our house (while we remembered the homeless who would sleep outside that day)
• gave 10p for every under-five we knew (4.5 million under-fives will die in sub-saharan Africa this year)

I think it shows how a small donation every day can really mount up - without us noticing a difference in our wallets. Rather than exchanging easter eggs this year, my sister and I agreed to donate the money to charity instead: she sent me a cheque so we'll be adding that plus a matching donation of our own.

Christian Aid week this year is 14-20 May and I'd encourage anyone who reads this to put even a small amount of money in the envelope when it comes through your door. based on our experience, you won't even notice it, but it could make a huge difference to others.