Maaser-how | Imamother

amother

OP ↓

Fri, Aug 23 2024, 1:02 pm

In my tefillot yesterday for this little boy to be found, I made a commitment that we are going to make a solid effort in giving maaser properly.
We give tzedakah but its haphazard-not organized and scramble to figure out how much it was etc. end of year.
I am looking for tips on how to stay on top of this and organized. Is there a direct deposit you make? an app (this would be awesome) that calculates and tells you how much u spent/have left?
Do you do this monthly?
We are salaried with very little variation month to month. So this should be pretty seamless.
Would love to hear your ideas (oh also, inspiring stories about maaser would be great too:)).

ganmama

Fri, Aug 23 2024, 1:05 pm

I have a spreadsheet- we track our monthly income (base, plus any extra hours I work). Once you know what came in, you know how much you owe. We have a recurring donation that is about half of our monthly obligation and we give to other charities as we see fit. The spreadsheet allows me to keep track of what donations we’ve made versus how much we owe (and allows me to give more one month to carry over to the next, or vice versa).

Any cash that comes into my hand (ex. sheitls, cleaning jobs) we take masses right away and put into the Pushka.

amother

Cappuccino

Fri, Aug 23 2024, 1:17 pm

Very impressive

Also spreadsheet. I found the basis for it online.

I have one section for income.
One section for deductibles
And then one section I tract my tzedakah payments.

(My net pay isn’t full maaser bec I don’t pay maaser on money that goes to taxes but I do pay on money that goes for 401k and health benefits that is why I track my income and deduct non maaser earnings)

At the top of spreadsheet it shows the maaser left to give.

Also good for tax deductions

This is the basis of what I used. I modified it for our use.
https://www.ysccla.com/maaser-template/

justforfun87

Fri, Aug 23 2024, 1:42 pm

I am not a very organized person but I committed to this in the last year and have seen brachos from it. Sounds tacky but really true. I opened an excel spreadsheet and every week or two I go through our accounts and write in the paycheck, the amount, how much maaser is owed, and where we gave. I try not to get too behind because it is very hard to catch up as bills keep coming. Once I pay, I highlight in red " 08/23/24 Maaser paid... then the new list starts.

lollypop2

Fri, Aug 23 2024, 3:06 pm

There’s a new free app called the Maaser app. It was made by a frum yid in Lakewood and we have been loving it since it launched. Basically we set up an account and imput income and donations and we can choose how much maaser we want to give (10%+) and it automatically tells me what my total maaser balance is. I’ve tried spreadsheets and this was the best thing ever and it’s free!!
It just takes the guessing out of Maaser and can even print up monthly reports.

amother

Honeydew

Fri, Aug 23 2024, 4:27 pm

We opened a second bank account specifically for maaser and with every paycheck we transfer 10%. If the paychecks are salaried, we set up a automatic transfer.
We then have one designated credit card that we use for tzedkaa, which gets paid only from the maaser bank account.
Maaser is actually the act of separating the 10%, not just giving the tzedaka, so by having a second account t we easily accomplish that.
And to add on to the poster who posted above, we have seen tremendous bracha when we started separating maaser, like unexpected raises, bonuses, and somehow staying over with more money at the end of the month. Also, it is so much easier to give tzedaka when the money doesn't belong to me.

amother

Dimgray

Fri, Aug 23 2024, 4:30 pm

I use a spreadsheet to keep track

DH set up with the payroll department that 10% goes to a different account. That account is for maaser only

calvinhobbs

Fri, Aug 23 2024, 5:55 pm

I keep a simple notepad and write the date, the amount, and how we made the money, like so
12/12/24 750 Wages

And then after a certain batch, I calculate maser and deduct, and write where I paid it toward.

I feel it’s clear and I have a record of where I gave what

amother

Canary

Fri, Aug 23 2024, 7:00 pm

My husband keeps track in a spreadsheet.

My working dd and my parents divert a set % of their paycheck to a separate tzedakah account. My dd uses a debit card or cc linked to that account to pay out tzedakah.

My dd used one of those open an account and get $600 so she gkt a bit out of it too!

My parents mighy have one of those special tzedakah accounts. Its not entirely clear to me.

gibberish

Fri, Aug 23 2024, 7:06 pm

Separate bank account. My husband and I both have our paychecks set up that 10% is direct deposited into maaser account. Every few weeks I will transfer for money withdrawn from HSA, FSA, or other adjustments. Anytime we get any other money we immediately transfer 10%.

amother

Raspberry

Sat, Aug 24 2024, 3:01 pm

I highly recommend the EZ Maaser app!

Created by a religious guy we know in Ramat Beit Shemesh, it helps support his family too. But we also have downloaded the app, it is really easy to use.

Android: https://play.google.com/store/.....aaser

Apple: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/.....01218

amother

DarkViolet

Sat, Aug 24 2024, 3:05 pm

I listen to a podcast and on it he talked about opening a separate bank for tzedekah. My husband was totally on board and within that week we opened up a separate bank account. My husband is Self-employed so it varies lots of dollars for month-to-month so as soon as we get paid after we takeoff taxes, we put it straight into the separate bank account. It’s the best thing ever because Even has a separate debit card so when I see things online, I use it right away. It’s so easy to keep track and yes, we have seen her income go up and up since we’ve done it. We did ask if we have to use all of it every month and we were told it’s OK to have some money sitting in the account but we really try to Significantly, no matter when we give it out that is not ours.

amother

Bisque

Sat, Aug 24 2024, 9:08 pm

My father taught me to give maaser (and more) since I made my first dollar.
Some advice-give maaser before you pay anything else, do it as soon as you get paid (or even seperate first) cuz otherwise you may have a hard time "catching up" Hatzlacha!!

amother

Strawberry

Sat, Aug 24 2024, 10:18 pm

amother OP wrote:

As soon as you get paid transfer the maaser into a separate account. Keep it in there until you want to make a donation somewhere. Also when you do the transfer you can usually write a memo, so write ‘maaser August 15th check’ etc

amother

Caramel

Sat, Aug 24 2024, 10:50 pm

I would love to open a sep maaser account. But my bank charges monthly fees on each account -including savings accounts. That mean I'd need to pay an extra small monthly fee, and makesure I'm depositing that on top of maaser each month. What do u all do? Any way around this?

amother

Pink ↓

Sat, Aug 24 2024, 11:25 pm

We also keep a spreadsheet of expenses . We write what our income was that month
Make a separate masseur account and transfer into there so u don’t forget. After u can decide where to donate too

amother

↑ OP ↓

Sat, Aug 24 2024, 11:25 pm

amother Bisque wrote:

Same actually..it’s so ingrained. DH wasn’t raised like this. He’s def open and likes to give tzedakah but it was less drilled in so working on getting on the same page.

amother

↑ Pink

Sat, Aug 24 2024, 11:26 pm

amother Caramel wrote:

Our bank doesn’t charge… that’s annoying