<prompt> Human: Part of getting better at personal finance thanks, PF! is that I now feel more comfortable making donations to organizations I want to support because I know how much I have budgeted to play with!As I slowly increase that amount, Im wondering when it becomes a good use of my time to track my donations and keep records because it benefits me during tax season. The way I understand tax laws, the more income you pay taxes on, the more impact the same donation would have. So basically, if Im making 50k and donating 1k yearly, its probably not that worth it to report it. If Im making 150k and donating 1k yearly, theres even more incentive to report my charitable giving. Does this seem like an accurate basic understanding of how this works?  <response>: Charitable donations only benefit you if you itemize your deductions. You should itemize when your deductions exceed the standard deduction the standard deduction is the deduction everyone gets. Common things you itemize deductions for are like property taxes, mortgage interest, etc.If you think you might itemize then you should keep track of your donations and run the numbers come tax time. If you know theres no way you will itemize then I wouldnt worry about it.For 2018 the standard deduction is 12k for an individual, 18k for head of household and 24k for married couple.So... it really depends on how large you are donating and what other itemized deductions you might have to claim. 