They may have mixed up the British commonwealth. Canada has a similar population to California

If they go into influential people’s houses or into important businesses, I can think of a few reasons to bribe them to do things for you.

I just sat down to do my annual donations, so I’ve got the list ready to go:

• local food bank
• local safe injection site
• Signal
• KDE
• OpenMedia (closest thing to EFF in Canada)

A few places I couldn’t afford to donate to this year, in case anyone needs more ideas:

• archive.org
• EFF
• miscellaneous software projects I’m using (mostly Steam Deck plugins because I’m in that community a lot)
• Gnome

I also give a bit to Tor and The Beaverton monthly.

I like to divide my spending into two broad categories: needs and wants. For example, I need food and shelter to survive, but I only want that really cute blahaj (even though it feels like I need it). Things that I want I can skip, things that I need I cannot. You have to be very honest with yourself for that to work well though.

Of course life is not fun if you’re only surviving, so it’s OK to treat yourself occasionally with things you want. Just make sure you’re saving enough before spending on “wants”.

It’s also often possible to break down “needs” further, since you may need some functionality (e.g. something to eat, something to hit nails with, etc.) but the specific item is not a need. I will prefer the cheapest option if I don’t have any other requirements. I tend to like things that’ll last though (they’re usually cheaper in the long run), so I’m willing to not cheap out if that’s a factor.

I am a very pragmatic and minimalist person though, so I don’t think this advice will work for everyone.