What could a charity do with your mani-pedi?

W(x6) A mani-pedi at a nail salon, $50 Household emergency kits for six families containing pots, pans, cups, plates, soap, toothbrushes, toilet paper and clothing from Oxfam Canada %3D =CCCCCCCCCCCCO Enough food to feed a family of four for a week through the Calgary Food Bank The Tudors: Royal Collection box set on DVD, $120 GIVING UP TO GIVE Before you leave work, you delete those guilt-inducing e-mail pleas for donations. As you head home, you're accosted by a fleece-vest-dlad canvasser for an environmental NGO and rebuff his pitch. When you pick up a bottle of wine for dinner, you decline the cashier's suggestion that you donate $2 to the local hospital. Hey, you're on a budget. How much can you really afford to give? Canadi- %3D Citizens of Humanity men's jeans, $250 A care package for families moving out of shelter into a new home from ans' annual donations to charity Red Door Family Shelter, Toronto An afternoon snowboarding lesson, $100 A sheep from CARE Canada, which can produce offspring that can be sold for income O = /} climbed steadily for years, but in 2007, they settled in at $250 and haven't budged since. The bulk of your income may go to mortgage, car and food-related expenses but there's probably plenty of discretionary spending happening too. If you want to donate more, doing so is as simple as swapping out a "want" purchase for a "need" for someone else. If you gave up a personal indulgence, what charitable gift could you give?* A crib mattress at Toronto's Hospital for Sick Children for newborns under observation An Apple iPhone 4, $500 A local water pump from Unicef A woman's leather coat, $400 * some of the amounts have been rounded. BY DAKSHANA BASCARAMURTY, GRAPHIC BY TRISH MCALASTER/ THE GLOBE AND MAIL A bed for a homeless teen to sleep on for one night in Toronto through Youth Without Shelter A week's worth of grande lattes from Starbucks, $25 A mango tree from Plan Canada for income Admission to a film, $12 IT T TT T T A Barbie Jam Rock Star Guitar, $40 A vaccine pack from Unicef containing 73 polio vaccines, 73 tetanus vaccines and 83 measles vaccines