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Kind things that cost nothing

No money at all. Attention, a few minutes, and occasionally the willingness to say one slightly awkward sentence. Most of the best things on this site are in here, which is not an accident — money is rarely the scarce ingredient.

Showing 31–60 of 251 ideas

• Ignore the assistance dog

  A working dog that gets distracted can miss a seizure warning or walk its handler into traffic.

  5 minutesFreeA stranger

• Offer to put it in writing

  Spoken instructions vanish. For anyone with hearing loss, dyslexia or brain fog they may not have landed at all.

  5 minutesFreeA stranger

• Warn someone what the phrase actually means

  'We should do this again sometime' means different things in different places, and getting it wrong is painful.

  5 minutesFreeA stranger

• Answer a child as if they could understand

  Children ask real questions and get deflections. A serious answer is memorable precisely because it is so unusual.

  5 minutesFreeA friend

• Let a child help badly

  Doing it yourself is faster every single time, and the accumulated effect of that is a teenager who cannot cook.

  Half an hourFreeA friend

• Learn to say their name properly

  People with unfamiliar names spend their lives being mispronounced and told it does not matter.

  5 minutesFreeA stranger

• Be a reliable adult for a child who is not yours

  Every resilient childhood account includes at least one adult outside the family who was consistently there.

  OngoingFreeA neighbor

• Say what you are pointing at

  'It's over there' is useless to someone who cannot see you gesturing. Words cost nothing extra.

  5 minutesFreeA stranger

• Be in the same room doing nothing

  Children disclose things sideways, during dull shared time, not when asked directly how they are.

  Half an hourFreeA friend

• Put the real details in the invitation

  How long, how far to walk, whether there is seating. Missing details mean somebody has to ring and ask.

  5 minutesFreeA friend

• Check the venue before you invite someone

  Asking a disabled friend to check whether somewhere works puts the whole job on the person it affects.

  Half an hourFreeA friend

• Ask before you help, then do what they say

  Grabbing a wheelchair or an arm without asking is both dangerous and startlingly common.

  5 minutesFreeA stranger

• Move your bin off the pavement

  Bins, bikes and parked cars narrow pavements to the point where a wheelchair has to go into the road.

  5 minutesFreeA neighbor

• Learn five signs and use them

  Hello, thank you, sorry, please, your name. Five signs is enough to change an encounter completely.

  Half an hourFreeA stranger

• Tell a young person about your own failure

  Young people assume competent adults were always competent, which makes their own struggle feel disqualifying.

  5 minutesFreeA friend

• Move your trolley out of the aisle

  A blocked aisle is an inconvenience to most people and an impassable wall to a wheelchair or a scooter.

  5 minutesFreeA stranger

• Write down the thing a child said

  Every parent believes they will remember. Almost none do, and the exact words are what disappear first.

  5 minutesFreeA friend

• Tell someone about money they are entitled to

  Billions in benefits, reliefs and refunds go unclaimed every year, mostly by people who do not know they qualify.

  Half an hourFreeA friend

• Tell a teacher what they did for your child

  Teachers hear from parents almost exclusively about problems. Specific praise is rare enough to be kept for years.

  5 minutesFreeA stranger

• Find a chair before anyone asks

  Standing is the hidden barrier at parties, queues and exhibitions, and asking for a seat means explaining why.

  5 minutesFreeA friend

• Praise the effort where the result was bad

  A young person who worked hard and failed will be told the result was disappointing by everyone else.

  5 minutesFreeA friend1 person did this

• Hand over your good tradesperson

  The reliable plumber, the honest garage, the dentist taking patients. Newcomers pay a premium for not knowing.

  5 minutesFreeA neighbor

• Leave credit on the machine behind you

  A parking meter, a laundry card, a photo booth. The next person gets a small unearned piece of luck.

  5 minutesFreeA stranger

• Talk to the child who is not performing

  At any family gathering one child holds the room and another is under the table with a book.

  5 minutesFreeA friend

• Put it back exactly where it was

  In the home of a blind or partially sighted person, a tidied object is a lost object.

  5 minutesFreeA friend

• Be the reference someone has no way of getting

  Renting, banking and jobs all require a history that anyone newly arrived by definition does not have.

  Half an hourFreeA stranger

• Give one instruction at a time

  Stacked instructions fail for anyone tired, anxious, learning the language or processing differently.

  5 minutesFreeA stranger

• Believe someone about their own symptoms

  People with invisible illness spend years being doubted, most often by people who mean well.

  5 minutesFreeA friend

• Be the second person to volunteer

  The first person to speak up takes all the risk. The second one makes it safe for everyone after.

  5 minutesFreeA stranger

• Tell someone how you got in

  Careers look like merit from outside and like luck and contacts from inside. Saying so out loud helps someone enormously.

  Half an hourFreeA stranger