I ask because personally, I'm feeling the pinch pretty bad these days-I just paid a heating oil bill that equalled what I used to pay in rent. Unfortunately something always has to give when living expenses go up and income stays the same, and I'm sad that packages are one of the things I'm having to cut back on. I can still send *some* but I have to be much more careful right now, and I have some special soldier projects I'm working on that I know I need to save for. I know I always have the gift of letter-writing, it only costs a stamp! And that's wonderful (I love to write :o) but its still hard to read so many moving posts with great needs and wish I could run out and put a package together, but I can't just now. It's depressing, and I needed to vent... so, thanks! Anyone else feeling the pinch? Want to commiserate?

I hear what you're saying. I think we all feel the same, wishing we could send more, more, more. But just remember how good it feels to get a letter, a note, ANYTHING but junk and bills in your own box. It's a high of its own.

It helps me to stick either a dryer sheet or a little drink mix packet in with the note.  If I write 2 or more a day, I make them all dryer sheets OR drink mixes so the scents don't clash while in my mailbox !   I think of it as a "laniappe" (In Louisiana, "a little something extra"

I'm currently ''between jobs'' so I have to be careful about how much I spend on care packages.  On the other hand I just started sending packages and have lots of time to shop for low-priced goodies/supplies and go to the post office. So for right now I plan to continue sending-out 2 packages/week and just hope I'll find work within the next couple of months.

Yes.

Gas alone is $3.89.

I think pretty much everybody other than the well-to-do are feeling the crunch these days.  Utilities and gas for transportation costs are skyrocketing.  Grocery prices don't go up by pennies per item but in leaps and bounds per item weekly.   We all want to do more, but I think we have to keep it in perspective.  There isn't one warrior who is asking us to put ourselves in the poor house for them.  Keep in mind that in many cases many of the requests are for things that would be nice to have but not a necessity.   Needs differ from FOB to COB and all points in between while some of the fobbits ask for things to help them get by, they are well taken care of and will survive without us.   Their fathers and grandfathers got through wars without IPODs and DVD players, and often times even without letters. 

All we can do is the best we can do, no matter what the cause is we support.  Right now, other than those serving in very austere conditions, the main "need" right now seems to be to know that they are not fogotten, that somebody actually gives a damn.   They are watching their brothers in arms give the ultimate sacrifice and they need to know that it is not in vain.  It does not take a box full of snacks to fulfill this need.  A card, a postcard, a letter serves the purpose.  All else is just icing on the cake.  So, don't beat yourself up if you can't send as much.   Do what you can.   Print out some Any Soldier flyers and post them where people can see them.   Spread the word.  Tell people about Any Soldier.   Take advantage of situations that present themselves.  Never miss an opportunity.  Example:  Free Cycle.  A woman posted some women's magazines.  I don't drive but she was within walking distance so I answered the post and told them I wanted them to send in care packages for soldiers.  She dropped off two dozen very nice magazines and told me she is moving and will have DVDs and paperback books that she will bring over for me before she moves and she is thrilled to death they will be going to the soldiers.  She had never heard of Any Soldier.  Now she knows.   She said she was glad I had mentioned the soldiers when I answered her post.  She had had several responses and she picked me specifically because of what I planned to do with the magazines.

Rember, there is strength in numbers.  No one of us can do it all.  Together, we can move mountains.

Rosemary

 Well said Rosemary -

 I am in total agreement.  Spreading the work and Never miss an opportunity is so very important and it doesn't

cost a penny.  Right now, I am in the process of contacting the directors of local summer camps to see if they

would be interested in doing letters, cards and art work for the soldiers.  So far I have received very positive feedback.

There are all sorts of things we can do that are easier on our pocketbooks.

 

Yes, Krisy, I know what you mean.  With the price of gasoline I can't shop for bargins anymore.  When I go to my favorite Walmart I see that all my favorite items have jumped a dollar more in price.  It saddens me because I know that our soldiers are the ones that will have to suffer the effects.  They have so many needs and we will not be able to meet these needs and new solders with needs are coming in everyday.  I know I can still write my letters of encouragement but I still want to send them something to eat or use in these packages. I hate to nickel and dime it but thats what I find that I am doing now. 

"Thank you all for your posts.  They give me much encouragement when I am down"

 

"OUR SOLDIERS ARE THE BACKBONE OF OUR NATION'

"GOD BLESS OUR SOLDIERS" 

 

Hi Kristen,

This is a great thread you started.  Everyone is feeling the pinch of the economy.  I feel the same way about the letter writing, especially when we were sending packages; but we have to watch out for ourselves first or we won't be able to watch out for the soldiers.

Rosemary and Joy, I think you just answered a lot of our questions--that is okay to just send a letter even though we want to send soo much more.

I have purchased AnySoldier pens and since I work as a cashier at Home Depot, I give them out to the customers and spread the word of AnySoldier.com.  There are so many people who want to help the soldiers but don't know how.  Marty and Sue, thanks to you, we can steer them to a marvelous website.

Thank you.

Hey Kristen,

Yep, I'm feeling the pinch also. So many soldiers needing so many things along with the cards and caring thoughts (forget the electronics, bicycles and boots - I'm talking basics). It all adds up. I'm sending more letters and funny things found online. I'm trying to find time to go to a few free crafting classes to learn to make nice cards on the cheap. The cost of cards alone is a killer when you send a lot. Plus you get tired of the same old cards.

I was horrified to learn the Dollar Store is no longer carrying antifungal foot spray in my area. It was $2 there so I tried to put at least one in every toiletry box. All the little price increases are making a difference in my care packages.
 

Oh yes! These will be my very first time sending out boxes and I never realized how expensive they could be. i wanted at first to be able to get my contacts whole group one of each thing they needed, there was only 8 of them all together but reality set in and after darn near having a heart attack at the checkout for half of what I planned to get I realized my goal was totally unreachable. So basically from here on out my two contacts will shrink to one and I'll just make sure I keep those guys well stocked. My guys are mostly younger guys, dont make a whole lot as far as being the lower totem in the marines and at least the majority of them have families. And I have been blessed to meet them all online so we can get passed "whatever you want to send we are thankful for" and on to "we really need..." which has been a great blessing! Myspace was a HUGE blessing for me. I too was just looking at my heating bill and electric for last month and thought... wow I cant wait to be able to see until 9pm cause its still light out so I dont have to turn on m my electric or heat!  So now I am going to try to do the next best thing. Adopt with my family. I've sent out mass emails to most of them, "begging"  ;)  for help! Asking them if they are out and see toothbrushes for $1 to pick up a pack or two. If they see shampoo on sale for .49 cents like my local store last week spend $4 and pick some up! I just keep thinking if all of us could just do a little bit, the few of us wouldnt have to worry so much! I can just hope it works and I can keep them motivated enough with his emails to keep the $2 or $3 a week coming in from them! That would make everything so much easier.... or in a perfect world I could hit the powerball and we could have a huge AS give a thon! But I dont think that will be happening any time soon!!!!

Great thread, glad to know I'm not alone on this. I work two jobs and things have been tough but now...wow..gas...I'm driving over a 100 miles a day for work, need I say more. It's hard but I am very thankful I'm working and know I am blessed in a lot of ways. I do what I can and send packages with help of friends like my PGR buddies. I send a lot of letters.  I wish I could do more but you do what you can and know that it makes a difference.

Yes.

When I first started doing this, I made a lot of papercuttings as the little extras that I would put in a package and to illustrate what I was saying in my letters. It wasn't about money then, that was just how I used to communicate with my family. That first Christmas, everything that wasn't practical was craftwork I had done myself. But a couple months after I sent out Christmas that year, it occurred to me that maybe it could be construed to be insulting that I was sending *poor folks art.* I pretty much stuck to sending my contacts storeboughten after that.

With prices on everything going up, and the hours I've been working going down, I still try to improve on the quality and appropriateness to task of the things I send, but I'm not sending as much and I've been getting creative with the extras - most recently expanding on trail reviews in magazines with my own pictures and comments when I've been to the same places. While I'm cutting costs, I don't want any of my guys to feel like I'm cutting corners, so more and more of the extras will be handmade. I'll just have to try harder to make them look storeboughten.

Now I find myself collecting nice papers and fabrics, gathering my scissors and knives, fixing my old sewing machine. It seems that I've started working on Christmas again. I just hope my guys will be ok with the real me.

Ladies and Gents,

  First off....Jo...i love the little cutouts you put on everything and i also enjoy the stickers inside the boxtops. I think it is nice. Me and the boys enjoy the pictures you send and the National Geographic with your little "notes" written next to the pictures of places you had been. So Jo....you dont have to make it look storeboughten. The homemade touches are wonderful.

"Poor Folks Art"...Jo...thats ridiculous!

 Its not about how much you send to us soldiers...it isnt. I cannot rightly sit here and speak for all of us, but i am sure i can speak for a vast majority of us when i say...a simple letter is great. Sure... a box of goodies is nice to get from time to time...but dont think that because you are strapped for cash this payday that we are going to suffer slightly for it. We will get by...we will go on...we will be ok. We know the cost of living is on the rise back home. Really.....i am being serious here......sure like i said it is nice to get a box of goodies from time to time...but in all seriousness......speaking from my point of view and my soldiers here. We love getting the letters.......Jo...you send post cards and letters with pictures to us....we really like them. Lori (Mom from SF)......she sends us letters with pictures and like i said in my farewell post last week (we are going home soon)....the letters bring us home...immerse's us into your world and takes us out of ours.. if only for a brief moment....it brings us back home. Thats what is so nice about getting letters or emails from you guys/gals. Thats why letters are requested the most.

Please dont feel like your letting your guys down because you have to cut back sending stuff to them......really..dont get bummed out or depressed over it. If they are on a FOB (Iraq)....they arent going without.

 

Hey JoCee,

I think it's wonderful that you make your own cards and send them to the troops.  This shows that you are really giving them letters from your heart.  I was always brought up to feel that anything hand-made, sewn, knitted, etc. was a wonderful gift as it shows us that you took the actual time out of your day to make something for the recipient.  I mean people on Long Island go to these arts & craft shows to buy craftwork that was made by other people.  I have never heard of this described as "poor folks art".  I think you should put that in the thread to people from Texas and Oklahoma.

I just buy from the stores because I'm not as "creative/gifted" as you are, and I take the lazy way out.

Love, Mimi

We are feeling pinched due to more than the economy.  We really felt the pinch from our electric bill from Jan.-Feb. (we're all-electric).  Mr. Gran has to drive 20 miles round trip to take our grandchildren to school every school day, and then drives from place to place looking for affordable items that I put on his list for our contacts (I am currently homebound).  He had to retire from his part time work due to so many demands on his time now, so we will only be getting one more paycheck besides our social security checks.  Talk about feeling pinched !  With the cost of gas now, he will have to curtail his shopping trips and the items we used to send will be more along the lines of ramen noodles!

Gran