Buy loose produce wherever you can

Packaged fruits and vegetables aren't actually convenient, as it's no more difficult to plop some pears into a bag yourself than to buy them already plastic-wrapped. Plus, you can reuse little produce bags. Plus plus, buying loose produce allows you to choose the best-quality items. Plus plus plus, it will save you money in almost every case. There seems to be an impression that pre-packaged produce is cleaner or more reliable, but this isn't actually the case. Adding unnecessary packaging to a product is simply another way to add the appearance of value and thus separate consumers from even more of their money, while contributing to packaging waste.


Effort involved: just bringing small bags along when you buy produce. (Did you see all the +es above?)


Image from: http://deadmonkeycomics.com/blog/2007/03/important-cereals-of-the-80s/

Play online poker for International Medical Corps

Yeah, I don't see the connection either. But if 'play poker to raise funds for an international humanitarian organization's work in Lebanon' is at the top of your list of resolutions for this year, you can visit
http://www.quanto.com/AllinforLebanon.php to cross that one off.


Effort involved: anteing up, choosing cards, etc.


Image from: http://pixelbunny.deviantart.com/art/Cartoon-Dog-Poker-132423839

Click for autism therapy

This is another of those strange Internet-magic sites where simply clicking causes website sponsors to donate money to a certain cause. The cause in question is therapy for autistic children, but this site also engineers donations toward literacy, rainforest conservation, child health, veteran support, animal care, mammograms, and anti-hunger initiatives. And seriously, all you have to do is click. Repetitive strain injury, here you come!


Effort involved: well, you don't even need both hands.

Image from: http://www.fotothing.com/MrSelfDestruct/photo/64b312c085584f3db53cd02d55ee5da6/

Use a charity credit card

Charity credit cards only make sense for you and for the charity if you're a credit card user who might forget or neglect to donate to charity when not using your card. A summary of some of the issues can be found here. But if these cards make financial sense in your case, it's a useful way of supporting a charitable cause without even having to think about it - although not "even having to think about it" might be a slightly dangerous thing when it comes to credit cards...


Effort involved: Step 1) do a search for "charity credit cards" or "affinity cards" in your country. Step 2) sign up. Step 3) spend. Step 4) there is no step 4! You're done!


Image from: http://hellokittycreditcard.net/black-credit-card

Send a care package

Care packages are fun to put together. And apart from the postage, they don't need to involve any expense; you can simply throw things lying around your home into a box, and still be assured of a smile on the receiving end. Care packages tend to be the most effective when they involve items that the recipient loves but can't easily find wherever he/she is, such as, er, tortillas in a small Cambodian town...


Effort involved: honestly, standing in line at the post office might be the most annoying part of this procedure.