Thank you for posting this to the Forum. I strongly endorse the suggestion to make a charity budget. Like you, I found not having one and treating each purchase as a huge moral decision was unsustainable.
I’d also suggest reevaluating every year or so whether you can slowly up your budget, or whether you’ve pushed yourself too far. I think that approach will actually up the amount that a significant number of EAs give by stopping them resting too easily at 10%, while making their giving more sustainable by guarding against burnout.
I see deciding wisely about the unavoidable trade-offs between self-care and altruism as a skill that a person could build over the course of years. It is okay to feel a bit of stress or tension sometimes. It is okay to make a mistake sometimes too. (I made mistakes in both directions.)
Keeping a separate donation budget, and keeping track of my spendings, helped me a lot. I should maybe start something similar for volunteering time and mental energy. Any ideas?
Thank you for posting this to the Forum. I strongly endorse the suggestion to make a charity budget. Like you, I found not having one and treating each purchase as a huge moral decision was unsustainable.
I’d also suggest reevaluating every year or so whether you can slowly up your budget, or whether you’ve pushed yourself too far. I think that approach will actually up the amount that a significant number of EAs give by stopping them resting too easily at 10%, while making their giving more sustainable by guarding against burnout.
I see deciding wisely about the unavoidable trade-offs between self-care and altruism as a skill that a person could build over the course of years. It is okay to feel a bit of stress or tension sometimes. It is okay to make a mistake sometimes too. (I made mistakes in both directions.)
Keeping a separate donation budget, and keeping track of my spendings, helped me a lot. I should maybe start something similar for volunteering time and mental energy. Any ideas?
The main step I took was using my vacation days for actual rest (even if not travel) instead of cashing them in for money to donate.