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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 241–251 of 251 ideas

• Check on the friend who is visibly fine

  Support goes to people who are obviously struggling. The competent ones are assumed not to need any.

  5 minutesFreeA friend

• Introduce yourself to the neighbor you only nod at

  You have lived beside each other for years and exchanged nods. Neither of you can start the conversation in an emergency.

  5 minutesFreeA neighbor

• Leave a note for your mail carrier

  The person who walks to your door most days almost never hears from the people who live behind it.

  5 minutesFreeA stranger2 people did this

• Bring the trash cans back up

  Sixty seconds of your afternoon, and someone comes home to one less thing.

  5 minutesFreeA neighbor

• Write the review for the small place

  For a business with forty reviews, one more genuinely moves the number. For a chain, it vanishes.

  5 minutesFreeA stranger

• Ask about the person who died

  Grieving people are usually far more afraid of their person being forgotten than of being reminded.

  5 minutesFreeA friend

• Learn the name of someone you see every week

  There is probably someone you have exchanged a hundred nods with and never once asked.

  5 minutesFreeA stranger

• Send a specific memory, not a check-in

  "Thinking of you" asks for a reply. A memory just hands someone something.

  5 minutesFreeA friend

• Tell someone's manager they were good

  Complaints reach managers constantly. Praise almost never does — which is exactly why it carries weight when it arrives.

  5 minutesFreeA stranger

• Do the thing you keep saying you'll do

  You already promised, and somebody is quietly still waiting. The kindest thing available today is the thing you have already said you would do.

  Half an hourFreeA friend

• Be the one who says the obvious thing

  In most rooms somebody is being talked over and everyone can see it. Saying so out loud costs you one sentence and changes the room.

  5 minutesFreeA friend