With all due respect, Andy Rooney, it’s awfully hard for me to feel badly for you because you’re uncomfortable having “quite a bit” of money right now. 

It’s not because I’m feeling cash-strapped and stressed. It’s because the Christmas tree at my youngest kids’ preschool is decorated with tiny colored lights and pairs of red and green paper mittens, and on the mittens are scrawled Christmas wishes from local children.

The wishes aren’t extravagant. A 5-year-old asked for “any toy.” A 14-year-old wanted a set of extra-large fleecy pajama bottoms. A tween asked for a scarf, gloves, and a hat. Several teens each requested a gift certificate to a fast food place; one child asked for a gift card to a local grocery store.

This is the new, heartbreaking norm. According to the Wall Street Journal, kids are asking Santa to bring the essentials this year — shoes and socks, eyeglasses, and even jobs for their parents. A recent survey by the American Psychological Association says that children are more stressed out than ever before, and about 30 percent of kids surveyed said their top worry was about their family’s financial situation.

It was a stark reminder that, in spite of pay cuts and belt tightening, I’m among the very lucky ones. And there are several ways to help others this holiday season without burning up my budget.

Here are five options:

1.) Donate money to your local food pantry instead of (or as well as) non-perishable products. Yes, you can buy a lot of pasta for a few dollars, but food banks can distribute as much as $12 worth of food for every $1 you donate, turning your creased $5 bill into a $60 meal.

2.) Buy your holiday cards from local and national charities that are struggling to provide more services with less money. Yes, there’s still time — half of my Christmas cards usually end up being New Year’s cards anyway. I live in the Boston area; my top choices are The Pine Street Inn (emergency shelter, supportive housing, street outreach, and job training to homeless men and women in New England), Project Bread (provides meals to families in need), The Home for Little Wanderers (services for children and adolescents), and Rosie’s Place (one of the country’s first shelters for women).

3.) Get gifts from places that are giving back. Give Wink is giving away free eye exams and glasses to underprivileged children in South America every time someone spends $100 at their store. You can send a gift to a child in foster care thanks to the folks at Amazon.com.

4.) Share what you already have. There are many ways you can use what you already have to help someone else. (For example: here are five ways to help a friend who has been laid off.)

5.) Give a gift in honor of (or in memory of) someone you love. Through Heifer International, you can fund a project to help end world hunger or give a gift of sheep, llamas, chickens, or other animals that will allow a struggling family earn an income. Safe Motherhood Kits from IMA WorldHealth help women in developing countries give birth safely by providing them with clean and sterile supplies, training on how to prevent infection, and warm clothes to protect their newborns. Charity gift cards, which allow you to let someone else give money to the charity of their choice, are increasingly popular, but Consumer Reports warns that they’re not always a good idea. “With a charity gift card, you’re not giving directly to a specific group,” the magazine points out. Some of the gift cards charge high fees, and you may be better off dealing directly with the charities themselves.