Good deed #1

Sometimes I feel quite spoiled. I, along with my husband, grew up with parents who will still sometimes send us money to enjoy a nice dinner (which we are too frugal to go out for on our own) or they graciously help us furnish our new kitchen with some sparkly new items, because they know we will thrift hunt to save some money. We are very grateful to have fantastic sets of parents. I am also very lucky to have a great job that pays me pretty well. Because of our frugalness and amazing ability to bargain hunt, we've managed to furnish our apartment for the same amount we made selling our stuff before we moved. Wedding presents have filled in the gaps. Sometimes I'm brought to my knees when I realize how lucky we are to not worry about pennies anymore.

On Tuesday, a coworker mentioned in passing that she had accidentally gone WAY over in her cell phone minutes (totally unlike her, she's a straight-laced woman in her late 30's). She was feeling really stressed out about paying for it, because she struggles with money as a single woman. I've known her for about 3 years now, and she is a wonderfully kind woman that I just adore. It helps that she's really good at her job too :)

Unfortunately, she didn't know that she could beg them and they would probably reduce the bill, so she had already paid for it with her credit card. She said that she laid awake at night trying to figure out how she was going to be able to pay these new credit card charges because the interest would eat her alive. She formerly had a zero balance, so she usually lives within her modest means.

We aren't talking about a huge sum of money here, but it was fairly significant to her. I had a couple of checks lying around from my birthday, so I decided (with the okay of husband) to cash them and loan her the money so she could pay off her credit card and stop worrying about it. We feel extraordinarily lucky to not worry about money, and the loan to her wasn't enough money to make much difference to us.

I handed her the cash when no one else was around, and her jaw hit the ground. As she refused the money (which I knew she would), her eyes began to fill with tears. I insisted she take it as an interest free loan that she could pay back as she was able. $10 a month is fine with me if that is what she can afford. As her tears threatened to spill over, she reluctantly took the money and said she didn't know how to say thank you because this would make a HUGE difference in her life. She said she would pay it back with some interest, which I of course told her was silly.

She headed off on a planned vacation to see her parents the next day, and I felt really happy that I knew she could enjoy her trip and not worry about the stupid cell phone bill. She said it was one of the nicest things anyone had ever done for her. I felt good about it, she felt relieved, and we were all happy. It was a nice win/win.

What good deeds have you done lately? Brag away!