UsedEverywhere.com

My Journey to “Hope House”: A Community Helping Create a Home Away from Home

I’m extremely fortunate to be the Community Angel for UsedVictoria.com because part of my job is being able to help others in our community. Recently I was presented with an opportunity that really proved to me what I always knew to be true:  that people, when given the chance, really just want to help give back to their community and pay it forward.

The Start Line

A few months ago, I was contacted by the Beacon of Hope House Project which was founded through the Salvation Army in Victoria. This organization provides a safe haven for at-risk male youth (ages 13-18) seeking individualized and comprehensive drug and alcohol treatment. They had recently moved into a new house and were wondering if UsedVictoria.com would be able to help with donations from our site.

I immediately jumped on the opportunity to help a project that would be able to benefit so many youth in our community.  I asked the organizer Keltie to put together a wish list of everything they needed. It ended up being a little bit longer than I anticipated and I suddenly became nervous that I wouldn’t be able to fulfill it with my limited budget. But my gut told me that once our community found out about this project and who it was benefiting, that they would help me make this goal attainable. And boy was I right!!

My Journey

I began scouring UsedVictoria.com looking for items on this wish list. Within a couple hours, I managed to find several items either for sale or free and started contacting the sellers. I decided I would mention who I was and where the items were going to and thankfully I did. Almost every person who I contacted responded that they would gladly sell or hold the item for me as they were happy to help out such a great cause. Some people discounted their prices while others actually went above and beyond to make this project a success. Here are a few stand out examples:

• Lori posted some soccer equipment for free on the site and so I arranged to pick this up from her. When I got to her home, she told me she was spring cleaning and had managed to find some brand new beach items she’d be happy to donate as well. She has teenage boys of her own so this project really resonated with her.

• Sara posted a free television and stand on UsedVictoria.com. Not only did her and her boyfriend help me load it into my truck (it weighed a ton!) but they also offered their time if we needed their help for any future community angel projects.

• The Rotary Club advertised they were having a garage sale on our site so I decided to pop down to see what they had on the wish list. I met this wonderful volunteer named Larry and showed him my list explaining what I was involved in. He quickly started running around the gymnasium grabbing items and starting a pile for me. Within minutes, he had found a large portion of my list and even gave me an amazing deal for all of it. I left with a huge smile on my face, not only because I found such amazing items but also because the money I paid for the items would be used towards another great charity. Love it when you can pay it forward twice!

• But my favorite part of the journey was meeting Tyler, a local 14-year-old boy who was selling a skim board on our site. I emailed him some questions about it as I’m a total novice when it comes to this sport and explained who the skim board was going to. Tyler emailed back quickly asking if there were any other sports items we were looking for. I rattled off the different sports items assuming he may have other items for sale. Instead, he replied that he would go through his garage and try to find other items to donate to Hope House. When I arrived at his house, he had a pile of items in the middle of the garage floor including two baseball gloves, three baseballs, one soccer ball, one basketball, a brand new snorkeling kit and, of course, the skim board. It floored me how generous this young man was and that this generosity was helping other kids his age.

The Final Leg

After combing UsedVictoria.com for items and reaching out to the community for two months, I’m happy to report that I managed to find almost every single item on the wish list for Hope House (still looking for a bongo drum and a ukulele so if you happen to have one sitting around in your house, let me know!).

We arranged a moving van and dropped everything off to the Salvation Army downtown, shocking the organizers with the amount of donations we had. They were overwhelmed with what we managed to find for them and before you knew it, we were all shedding tears of joy over how much these things would mean to the boys at Hope House. As Keltie eloquently put it, “these items will help turn a house into a home for the young men living there.”

Finish Line

I’ve been lucky to be able to help many people in our community but this project will always hold a special place in my heart as it affirmed my faith in human kindness and how people will jump at the opportunity to help others when simply given the chance. Thank you to everyone in Victoria who helped make this donation and project a huge success! It was a journey I will never forget.

For more information on the Beacon of Hope House and details about the items UsedVictoria.com donated, please click here.

Bubble and Squeak and Other British Delights

When I saw my fellow blogger Carly’s last post on leftover veg, I was pretty excited. ‘She is going to mention bubble and squeak’ I thought, but of course there was no mention of this British dish! I’m sure most Canadians have never even heard of it!

I call bubble and squeak a delight because I can’t call it a delicacy! Bubble and squeak is a dish made from leftover vegetables, specifically from a traditional English roast dinner. You fry up your veggies with mashed potatoes or crushed roast potatoes and usually serve with breakfast or brunch. The name bubble and squeak comes because the dish does just that as it is fried up.

In the earliest know recipes bubble and squeak was fried up with either leftover meat or whatever meat you were planning on having for breakfast, but nowadays this isn’t the case and your meat is always on the side.

Here is a simple bubble and squeak recipe for you to try, but to be honest, this really is as easy as throwing everything in a pan with some butter:

Ingredients:

• 4 tbsp butter
• Any leftover vegetables, cabbage, swede, carrots, peas, Brussels sprouts, finely chopped
• ½ cup onion, diced
• Leftover mashed potato or roasted potatoes crushed up
• Salt and pepper

Soap Stars: Local Soap – where do you buy yours?

It makes me a little crazy when folks who want to go green with their household cleaners and body care products tell me there is nothing available to them. Here in Victoria, we have many local soap specialists who create safe and effective products that are 100% natural and good for both the body and the earth.

What I do understand though is the notion that the green cleaners in your average shopping aisle might not be all they seem. Green washing was a term that was explained to me by local Victoria cleaners Green Wheel Cleaners (see article here) and is a marketing term given to products that bombard us with all the right words ‘natural’, ‘green’, ‘eco friendly’, whilst really being anything but.

This is where the smaller health focused soap and cleaning product stores step in.

I was recently in a local health food store that was selling Soap Works products. I found about 30 bars of soap each for just over $2. I felt like I’d struck gold – each bar was gluten free (their oatmeal and goat milk soaps are not) and each was aimed at a specific skin type. I wanted to buy a bar for each of my friends I was so thrilled, but that’s like going into the giant dollar store… before you know it you’re spending $50 and waved bye-bye to any hope of thriftiness. I just chose two bars that I thought would work for my family. These were Sea Kelp and Bee Pollen, both all round skincare soaps. It’s true I’m easily excited by new discoveries, but these soaps are by far the best, most effective and gentlest soaps I’ve used. Take a look at their website puresoapworks for a list of all their soaps.

The Soap Works, like many specialist soap stores was created to find a solution to sensitive skin. Based in Toronto, this soap is available all over Canada and also online – their site will give you a list of where to buy near you.

Here in Victoria we also have The Soap Exchange. I reviewed their hair care products for VictoriaMom.ca - click link for article. The Soap Exchange supplies 100% biodegradable products for the body and home. As well as having a store, they also distribute their wares all over B.C. They offer reusable packaging making them even greener. If I could have a dollar for every time a fellow mom recommended a cleaning product from The Soap Exchange, I probably could buy that bar of soap for each of my Facebook friends.

The products I hear about the most are for carpets. That’s because us moms are forever worrying about our dirty carpets and the horrifically toxic products we’re meant to clean them with. Their Carpet Clean is a fantastically tough product whilst still being gentle on the environment and their Enzymes product is one of the best odour eaters on the market, great if you have potty training age kids like I do and/or pets.

For those of you not local to B.C., there is The Rocky Mountain Soap Company, a chain of natural soap selling stores that you can find all across Canada. For a list of their stores, see our link here: The Rocky Mountain Soap Company Stores. This place has everyday-use soaps and body care products as well as beautiful gift ideas.

Similar and currently local to B.C. are Jordan River Soapworks - some of the most eye catching packaging I’ve seen, Nezza Naturals - offering body care and raved about home care products and Saltspring Soapworks - easily the widest and most varied array of natural artisan soap products ever known!

So as you can see, we here in Victoria have a lot of choice when it comes to making safer choices when cleaning our house, home and family.

But what about those farther afield….friends of Used in far off places i.e anywhere over the water! Where do you buy your natural soaps, let us know so that we can share with our readers and take a look ourselves! 

Canadian Voices Rise Up to the Sky

National news can be learned directly from children, which was the case in my household regarding a new song my kids are learning at school. The song I.S.S. Is Somebody Singing was collaborated together by Astronaut Chris Hadfield and Barenaked Ladies frontman Ed Robertson and with how interactive Hadfield has been from space – the kids rate this partnership as something very cool! Officially commissioned by CBC Music, the goal is to bring attention to the importance of music education in Canada. The debut of the song Is Somebody Singing happened in February with the glee choir of Wexford Collegiate School for the Arts and not only is it a great song (and Chris Hadfield can really sing!) but it’s a coalition spreading a great message of unification through music across Canada. Music history was made when the song was recorded both on Earth and Space while Hadfield is in orbit on the International Space Station. Have a listen below!

Astronaut Hadfield helped co-write the song and I love the line “You can’t make out borders from up here.” Ed Robertson from Bare Naked Ladies has a wonderful quote about how we can all feel connected, even the wonder of what Chris Hadfield experiences in Space. Robertson’s quote is here:

“I wanted it to be a celebration not about the remoteness of space, but about the connectedness of a human being on the I.S.S. who looks down and sees the whole planet in a way that, from our perspective, we don’t have the opportunity to.”

I love listening to music that my kids enjoy and the goal for May 6 is to have the entire country united in song across the different time zones and have Hadfield hear the voices while still in space. It is the official song for Music Monday to promote and celebrate music education in schools. Share this message so that children that are home schooled, school music departments, and music makers of all backgrounds learn the song together and lend their voice in May.

Access free downloads and lyrics through the Coalition’s Music Monday website, and join the coalition to fill the skies with music. There are some great Music Monday ideas for getting started:

• Music Monday in a field
• Joint School Event – organized with multiple schools
• Community Wide Event – community partner with a senior music group, local choir, etc.

Play the video, learn the lyrics and help bring awareness for music education in your communities with this special song. Champion children to believe that anything is possible – whether it be travelling to space or hearing a song there.

Soap Stars: Castile.

I’ve had a little theme of late with natural cleaning products. As I’ve mentioned before, there’s a reason my house smells like fish and chips at least once a week and no, it’s not because I’m addicted to succulent pieces of battered cod – though I could be. It’s because I use vinegar and baking soda to clean everything! Here is a link to my natural cleaning product article.

One of the comments on a recent blog of mine was in regard to making a natural dish soap. What a challenge! Yep, there are a lot of recipes on the web – there’s a lot of everything on the web, but do they work?

Last week, my fellow Used blogger Lisa, showed us a mighty fine and mighty thrifty recipe for natural laundry detergent. I’ll be gathering the ingredients for this this week and am very excited to save some money on laundry! But what about dish soap?

When I began looking for natural recipes for dish soap, there was one common denominator and that was castile soap. I’ve used Dr. Bronner’s tea tree castile soap for years. It was recommended for a skin problem I was having which cleared up within a few weeks of using it, but I use it for everything, including dish soap when I’ve run out of store bought.

What is Castile Soap and Why Use it?

Castile soap is made from plant based oils mixed with an alkili. It is gentle on you and the environment because it’s biodegradable and free from harsh cleansers, oleochemicals, artificial foaming agents, petrochemicals and/or chemical anti-bacterial agents.

Why use it? Because it’s gentle enough to use on you and yet effective enough to use on your rugs, kitchen floor, bathroom tiles, etc.

In fact recently I read an article on Dr. Bronner’s castile soap in a celebrity magazine! Even Lady Gaga and Gwynth Paltrow love Dr. Bronner’s so it must at least be effective on putrid meat smells whilst still being a vegan option.

What can it be used for?

What can’t it be used for?

• Shampoo – when mixed with water in a 1:3 part ratio
• Dishwasher detergent – as is
• Body wash – 2:1 castile to water
• Toothpaste – I’m not going to try this but many sources assure me it is far better for your teeth – I’ll have to trust you on that one!
• Veggie wash – just mix 1:2 ratio soap to water, but in a squeezy bottle and squirt your veggies
• Carpet cleaner – 1/4 cup soap with 1 cup water, put in blender and blend until you have a stiff foam – voila!
• Dishsoap – see my recipe below

 Homemade Dish Soap Recipe:

This is the recipe I have seen on a multitude of sites. I don’t usually write about anything I haven’t tried myself, that’s my number one blogging rule… but today I am breaking it and I vow to try this recipe in the next couple of weeks and report back. This is for you Mark Johnston, thanks for reading my blog!

• 1 ¾ cups boiling water
• 1 Tbsp borax
• 1 Tbsp grated bar soap (use castile bar soap, homemade soap, Ivory, or whichever natural bar you prefer)
• 15-20 drops essential oils, optional (find 100% pure essential oils here)

Directions: 

1. Heat water to boiling.
2. Combine borax and grated bar soap in a medium bowl. Pour hot water over the mixture. Whisk until soap is completely melted.
3. Allow mixture to cool on the countertop for 6-8 hours, stirring occasionally. Dish soap will gel upon standing.
4. Transfer to a squirt bottle, and add essential oils (if using). Shake well to combine.

If you try this before I do, please let me know!

Cleaning Essentials: Essential Oils That are Mean on Dirt and Grime

Last week, I offered up some tips for cleaning with natural products you can find in your kitchen cupboards. I listed safe but effective cleaners such as vinegar, baking soda, lemons, salt and if you can believe it cinnamon – yep great for cleaning ovens – all of which are as effective for household spills and messes as anything you will find in the store aisle. This week, I thought I’d continue with a similar theme.

A while back I interviewed Victoria cleaners Green Wheel Cleaning about keeping your cleaning cupboards green. Helen, the owner talked about how effective essential oils can be as cleaners. Not only do they smell terrific, but many of them have anti-fungal, antiseptic and antibiotic capacities. Essential oils are plant based, so are natural, but be careful, they can still be irritants if you don’t dilute and use properly.

Here’s a list of essential oils and what you can use them for!

• Orange Essential Oil – Orange oil smells fantastic and is excellent at lifting tough stains and grime. Add 3 – 4 drops of oil to a spray bottle filled with water and a squirt of dish soap.
• Eucalyptus Essential Oil - Claims to ward off dust mites. Add several drops to your laundry.
• Lemon Essential Oil – Great on fabric stains. Add a couple of drops to the stain, let stand and then rinse or throw in the laundry. Because it is so good on stains, add it to your wash and use it in a big bucket of water to clean floors. For an effective window cleaner, add 10 drops to a spray bottle of one cup white vinegar and half a cup water.
• Peppermint Essential Oil – This oil has antibacterial properties and is a natural pest deterrent, so is a particularly effective household cleaner. Use in a spray bottle mixed with water and vinegar for your kitchen and bathroom.
• Tea Tree Essential Oil – Tea Tree is the king of essentials oils and has anti-fungal, antibacterial and antiseptic properties. Use in a spray bottle of water to attack any mouldy or mildewy areas in your bathroom, just spritz and leave and let it do its good work! This and peppermint oil are good toilet cleaners.
• Lavender Essential Oil - This is my absolute favourite and I like to add a few drops to a water bottle and just spritz it her and there. Very relaxing. For cleaning though, lavender is fantastic. Not only does it smell incredible, it’s also a major pest deterrent and is particularly good at keeping away moths. With its antibacterial properties, lavender is great for cleaning as well as adding to your garbage bags to cut through bad smells.

DIY Cleaning Products

Last year I interviewed Helen, owner of Green Wheel Cleaners, who talked to me about what toxins to avoid in the cleaning aisles of the supermarket. She made mention of the term “greenwashing” which is basically brands throwing the words “all natural” and “green” and “safe” on their products when in fact, the product is anything but.

The best way to avoid toxins in your cleaning products is to quite simply make your own or use what you already have in your cupboards. If that invites eye rolls and thoughts of ‘like I have the time’ my advice is to hit up Google and investigate local soap makers, health focused stores and green cleaners who retail natural, non harmful products.

Check out my top tips for alternative cleaners and cleaning tips:

• Odorous Oven – Often your self cleaning oven leaves a terrible stench. If that’s the case, load a baking tray with orange peel and bake at 350 degrees to clear fumes. Also opt for no self clean and instead use a baking soda vinegar mix.
• Baking Soda & Vinegar – There is a reason my home smells like a fish n chip shop at least once a week and that is because I swear by baking soda and vinegar for lots of kid based mishaps. For pee and vomit, a baking soda and vinegar paste is going to cut through any odour and will also lift stains. This combo makes a great oven and bath cleaner as the baking soda’s gritty texture really gets into the dirt.
• Shower curtains – Rather than having to use a cleaner on mildew build up, prior to hanging your shower curtains, soak them in a salt water solution.
• Green bathtub – Do you have an old bath tub that has a weird green or blue rim? So this might not be green but a turpentine and salt solution is going to lift that colour straight off!
• Lemons – Lemons are all purpose cleaners! Polish brass, clean your bath taps, rub into your cutting boards and let stand overnight for a great way to kill germs and remove stains. Use a lemon and water solution in a spray bottle for your windows and shower doors, it will do wonders on your mineral build up.
• Blocked Drains – Pour baking soda down your drain and follow with lemon juice to get rid of minor blockages.
• More Lemons -What can’t a lemon do?! Leave a quarter lemon on a saucer in your fridge to kill odours, change weekly. Boil lemon slices in your kettle then let sit overnight to help remove mineral build up. Dab lemon juice on clothing stains and let sit for 24 hours before washing your garment, the stain should lift. And heck, once you’ve used your lemons to clean your home, you can use some on your hair and skin too. Lemon juice makes a great hair shine product and when mixed with sugar works as a facial exfoliant (not for sensitive skin).
• Salt – A lot like baking soda, salt can clean up a whole lot. Mix with cinnamon for a brilliant way to clean oven spills, mix with vinegar to remove hard stains and my favourite – mix with olive oil for an excellent scrub to use on cast iron pans and is also a hardworking carpet cleaner.

Keeping It Clean. For The Kids.

I’m sure most of us can smell it in the air. Yes spring is just around the corner and those of us who like a good clean up will be gearing towards that big spring clean and of course using Used to get rid of all the junk that is soon to become another’s treasure. (For tips on using Used, check out the top ten tips from the master, Karen, who saved thousands of dollars on her reno’ by sourcing freebies from UsedVictoria).

For those of us with children, the spring clean is a great opportunity to organize toys and finally get rid of the broken trains, grown out of Buzz Lightyears and half intact puzzles that get shoved in the spare room until there’s more time.

The spring clean is a great way to set an example to your children. It encourages them to recycle, share (by giving to other children), organise and have respect for their belongings.

Here are a few tips to get kids of any age involved in your clean ups.

• Not the first time - Trying to get your kids to join in on a big spring clean when they’ve never lifted a finger any other day of the year is just not going to work! My advice is the seven minute clean up. I do this with my son and on my own. Set a timer for seven minutes and go! You will be so surprised at how much you can clean up in that time. If I’m feeling particularly energetic (or am going to go stir crazy with the mess), I’ll move from room to room giving each the seven minute make over.
• Music - It’s cleaning, but you can try and make it fun. I’m a Songza ADDICT so I use their playlists for most activities including cleaning, but if your kidlets have a favourite artist, stick it on your player and get them moving as they sort and clean. Just don’t blame me if it’s One Direction on repeat!
• All ages – All ages can clean, from your two year old to your twelve year old. With younger family members, lead by example and keep it simple. Wiping windows, putting away toys, using a duster – all things a three year old can do. Team up with younger children, so if you are cleaning the oven, let your kidlet spray so you can wipe – it might take a little more time, but as they get older, they will understand that helping is normal.
• Bigger Kids – Big kids can go it alone, give them their tasks and off they go.
• Heads Up – Give your kids notice of the tasks they will be doing, it will pay to be organised. Either draw up a list or better still do a lucky dip. Put all the kids’ tasks in a bowl and let them choose.
• Rewards – Don’t go overboard, cleaning is just a part of everyday life, but for a big clean that’s going to take most of the day, adding an incentive won’t hurt. Promises of a pizza party, movie night or sleepover should the chores get done well might get things moving faster.
• Goodwill – The spring clean is a great time to teach kids about giving to those less fortunate.
• Making Money – From giving your kids their own garage sale table, to helping them list on the Used sites, not only is making some money an incentive for them to clean up and sort their belongings, it’s also a good lesson in worth.
• Rules – These are my rules for everyday clean ups but the spring clean is the best time to employ these guidelines. The six month rule – if it hasn’t been played with for six months or more, it goes. The three month rule – even if you have the best of intentions, if the toy has been broken and not repaired for three months, it goes.

Beat the Winter Blues: Take a Staycation!

It’s still winter; it’s cold, it’s rainy and it’s grey… and frankly I’m going a bit stir crazy, begging for Spring and Summer to peak their pretty heads out. Not to mention, I’ve been sick for the past two weeks (and very sick of that!) My mind constantly drifts off thinking about how nice it would be to be sitting on a beach, soaking in the sun and sipping on a margarita. Or this could just be the cold medication talking!

We currently don’t have the funds or time to jet off to a tropical paradise for a week to warm up and relax so I started thinking about ways I could bring the fun and sun feelin’ into my home. But first things first, what makes a vacation so great?

Aside from the sunshine and beaches, vacations are also a time to decompress from our hectic daily lives and recharge our energy. Not to mention it’s a time to give yourself a break about eating 100% healthy or watching your beverage consumption.

So in order to start off your vacation at home, or “staycation”, it’s time to unplug!  This means turning the computer off and powering the cell phone down. When you go on vacation, you are leaving the world behind so why not take a weekend at home where you pretend you are on a deserted island with no contact from the outside world?

One of my absolute favorite things about going on vacation is that you get to stop counting calories and throw away that diet plan. It’s okay to splurge every once in a while and so before your staycation begins, make sure to stop by the grocery store and stock up on food items you love to eat…even if they are not good for you. Because when you’re on vacation, those calories don’t count or so I’ve been told (or maybe convinced myself!). Either way, pig out on junk food, healthy food or even eat an entire cake. It doesn’t matter what you eat as long as you are enjoying yourself because that’s what vacations are all about.

And a tropical vacation would not be complete without a fancy fruity alcoholic drink in your hand, right? Personally, I feel that in order to make it feel like a vacation drink, you must invest in those little paper umbrellas!  They make all the difference as to how that drink will taste.  Even if you don’t drink alcohol, pour a pop or juice in a fancy daiquiri cup, drop in an umbrella and sip to your hearts’ content!

Unfortunately the only thing that you can’t guarantee on your staycation is the weather and it’s unlikely summer will start in February this year.  So the only thing that I can think of that is just as wonderful as lounging in the sun is putting on your coziest pajamas or sweats and cuddling under a warm down comforter on a cold and rainy day. As part of staycation law, I order you to stay in those pajamas the entire time.  And if you are lucky enough to have a fire place, light it up for extra coziness.

I’m getting really excited to go on my staycation this weekend and hopefully you are already starting to plan yours. Bon Voyage!

Man-Gifting

Everybody loves to receive gifts, including me. In fact, I think that buried deep down inside, I prefer receiving gifts over giving gifts. But of course, it’s not socially acceptable to admit such a thing.

The thing though, is that the only way to ever receive a gift is to give one in the first place. For every gift-gotten, a ‘giver’ had to have been on the other end. As such, I made the decision that this year would see me start giving a little more, spreading a little extra joy, randomly, thoughout the year. The question I had though, was: Who should I give to, and What, exactly, should I give?

I’ll spare the finer details of the brainstorming and elimination processes and instead just let it be known that I decided to focus giving gifts to the men in my life. Yes, that’s right, I decided to start man-gifting. From fathers and brothers, to friends and co-workers, I chose men because quite frankly, we are the most under-gifted category of humanbeings. Women? Children? Girlfriends? Grandmothers? They’re always receiving gifts – always. Men on the other hand are the forgotten ones. Like wisps of smoke or the last shimmering beam of a setting sun, the gifts we receive are fleeting, precious and rare.

So in consideration of this, I decided to make the men in my life a priority and throughout the year, start surprising them with random gifts. The biggest problem however, is that it’s kind of weird for one man to randomly give another man a gift, unless they’re in a romantic relationship. Traditionally, men are frugal with their emotions and in terms of gift-giving – especially as an act of kindness and friendship – a certain type of awkward masculine intimacy exists. So to avoid this, it’s necessary to get creative.

For my first attempt, I decided to man-gift a friend that lives, coincidentally, in my apartment building. I knew he was a massive hockey fan and that he had been mourning the NHL lockout quite heavily. So after the news broke that the lockout was over, I thought “Bingo!”, this is the perfect opportunity to launch my quest. What better way to man-gift than to unsuspectingly mark the return of his favourite sport with a game-night snack-pack with “Congratulations on your New Arrival: The 2013 NHL Season!!!” written on it. Inside the snack-pack (which by the way, was gifted inside a black box because black is the “manliest” of colours), I included the following:

- six pack of beer
- frozen pizza
- bag of chips
- beef jerky
- pepperoni sticks
- peanuts
- chocolate bar

And how did I deliver this manly man-gift? Not with ribbons and bows or with a grand presentation. Instead it was done with stealth and surprise. I waited until a game-night, crept up to his apartment, placed the box in front of his door, knocked loudly and then sped off down the stairwell. And how did my buddy respond to receiving this unexpected offering? Well, he figured that it must have been me, as we live in the same building and as a such, immediately texted me the following: “Hey, man. Assuming the snacks were from you. Thanks for the gift! Big game tonight. Go Sens!”.

It was, perhaps, a less than fulfilling response but remember, fulfillment isn’t the reason we’re supposed to gift. It’s altruism, right? Besides, if you really think about it, a muted response should probably be the expected outcome of man-gifting, as us men are so rarely the recipients of random acts of kindness that we don’t know how to respond when it occurs. Regardless, for me it felt good; beginning my quest to spread gift-giving to those who need it the most: men.

At present, I’m already planning my next round of man-gifting; in which a muscle car, a bottle of scotch and a shooting range are being considered. Whether to include them all in one gift is the question.