The amount breaks down to roughly 20-25 toilet papers per publisher, given that some can give very little. As there are children and very elderly who can give much less, others will have to pay more.
Instead of giving to the washtowel, one could easily invest this. One battery charger at Target that includes 4 AA NiMH batteries would be roughly the same cost (the ones at Battery Junction are even better but may cost you more). You could get two strings of 60 count LED Christmas lights at Target, or roughly 10 LED light bulbs for those areas where those squiggly things simply are not working well. One Australia silver Kookaburra coin costs about what they are charging for one day's damnation. You can simply watch the program on YouTube if you feel like wasting the time--so long as they don't destroy the Internet, that is.
Or, you can simply enjoy the money. Dinner out costs about what your donations would be, so long as no one drinks and drives. Buying 20 legal song downloads from Amazon or iTunes is about the same. You could watch a movie at the theater or rent several movies for this cost. For the cost of two big boasting sessions, you can save up and get a copy of Pokemon Sun or Moon when they are released. There are plenty of day trips that cost about the same as a big boasting session, or less.
Simply, they do not want you enjoying your money. Rather, they want to program your soul to accept poverty and hardship as a virtue. As I see it, such is a punishment, not a virtue. If you want a taste of poverty, just go and buy a nice tent and the bare necessities, and spend a few days camping in a campground with few or no amenities. That, to me, is plenty--and no permanent loss of your things.