Maybe I'm too much of a consumer, but I've never liked the idea of giving up something for Lent, and like the idea of taking something up instead. Much more positive.
So perhaps that's why I like Graham Tomlin's piece on Lenten Generosity; it includes:
becoming a generous person requires repeated acts of generosity, so that it becomes a habit. This way it becomes something which is easier to do than not to do. The goal of Christian behaviour is not to perform the occasional heroic generous act, which is difficult and out of the ordinary, but to become the kind of person who naturally, almost without thinking about it, does generous things. This is the impression you get of Jesus. He doesn’t look like he is making some mental calculation all the time to give his time, energy and life for those who need it. These are natural acts that come out the person that he is.
Well said, harder to do. But that's where we welcome the Holy Spirit ...