Online spending
I promised myself that this year I wouldn't do all of my annual donations to various groups and causes on 12/31. I always put it off until the end of the year, then realize that if I want the donations to count for tax deductions that year, I really have to do it before the end of the year, and I have a panicked check-writing rush on the 30th or 31st.
This year I didn't manage to do it much earlier, but I did discover that it's possible to donate to at least two-thirds of the groups I want to donate to online. Woo-hoo! Through the magic of Web browsers and credit cards, I just spent a lot more money than I'd expected; it's so much more convenient than writing checks and putting stamps on envelopes and getting them in the mailbox and all that. Email receipts: the wave of the future. Various groups that I wholeheartedly support have been pestering me for months now to send them donations; if they'd just sent me email saying "click here to donate" I'd have done it months ago.
But on a more serious note, I gather that an awful lot of nonprofits are hurting for funds this year (did I say this already? Probably bears repeating anyway); the downturn in the economy was already hurting nonprofits, and in the wake of Sept. 11 I gather that a lot of people gave money to the Red Cross and to the help-the-victims'-families fund. Both of which got a lot of money, which is great, but it means that a lot of smaller organizations aren't getting the donations they need. So if you can afford it, find a nonprofit you like and give them some money.
I'll list who I'm donating to (and how to get to their sites) soon, if I remember. But don't wait for that. Give For Change is a good place to start.