Browse
Kind things to do online
From a phone, in a few minutes. Mostly writing something true where somebody will see it — a review, a message, a word to someone's manager.
Showing 1–30 of 100 ideas
Ask whether it can be repaired, before you buy it
One question at the point of purchase decides the next ten years of that object.
5 minutesFreeThe planet
Rated higher · 1 person rated this
Answer the message you have been avoiding
The longer a reply is owed the harder it gets, and the person waiting has usually assumed something worse than the truth.
5 minutesFreeA friend1 person did this
Rated higher · 1 person rated this
Find out what your council actually recycles
Ten minutes on their website. Most people are wrong about at least three things, in both directions.
5 minutesFreeThe planet
Not rated yet
Give money without making it a loan
A loan between friends creates a debt that outlasts the need. A gift, clearly stated, does not.
5 minutesMore than $10A friend
Not rated yet
Find the subscriptions someone forgot about
Most households pay for several things nobody uses. Finding them is an hour's work and a permanent saving.
An afternoonFreeA friend
Not rated yet
Buy the thing they would never buy themselves
People under financial pressure cut the small pleasures first, and those are the ones that hold a life together.
5 minutesMore than $10A friend
Not rated yet
Tell a freelancer what the going rate is
People new to freelancing price from fear. One honest number from someone established resets it permanently.
5 minutesFreeA friend
Not rated yet
Caption the video you posted
Captions serve deaf viewers, people in loud places, and anyone watching with the sound off — which is most people.
Half an hourFreeA stranger
Not rated yet
Pay the small invoice the day it arrives
Late payment is the main reason small suppliers fail. Paying on receipt costs you nothing and can matter enormously.
5 minutesFreeA stranger
Not rated yet
Stay in touch with the person who left
People who leave a workplace, a church or a town are dropped quickly, and it is rarely a decision anyone made.
OngoingFreeA friend
Not rated yet
Check whether someone is on a social tariff
Discounted broadband, water and energy tariffs exist for low-income households and take-up is tiny.
Half an hourFreeA neighbor
Not rated yet
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
Not rated yet
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
Not rated yet
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
Not rated yet
Buy the work rather than praising it
Artists, writers and makers get a great deal of encouragement and very little income. One is a great deal more useful.
5 minutesMore than $10A friend
Not rated yet
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
Not rated yet
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
Not rated yet
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
Not rated yet
Help with the deposit, not the rent
A one-off lump unlocks a situation. Ongoing help postpones one, and is far harder to stop.
5 minutesMore than $10A friend
Not rated yet
Turn the one-off donation into a standing order
Charities can plan against regular income and cannot plan against appeals. Five pounds monthly beats sixty at Christmas.
5 minutesMore than $10An organization
Not rated yet
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
Not rated yet
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
Not rated yet
Believe someone about their own symptoms
People with invisible illness spend years being doubted, most often by people who mean well.
5 minutesFreeA friend
Not rated yet
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
Not rated yet
Ask what the hardest part actually is
We assume we know which part of someone's situation is worst, and we are usually wrong.
5 minutesFreeA friend
Not rated yet
Tell a carer what you noticed
Carers watch someone decline daily and lose sight of who they were. An outsider's observation gives that back.
5 minutesFreeA caregiver
Not rated yet
Add alt text to your images
An image without a description is a blank space to anyone using a screen reader. Writing one takes twenty seconds.
5 minutesFreeA stranger
Not rated yet
Say the spare room is available before they need it
People leaving bad situations often have nowhere to go for two nights, and cannot bring themselves to ask.
5 minutesFreeA friend1 person did this
Not rated yet
Correct your own mistake where you made it
Misinformation spreads further than corrections. Correcting yourself in the original place is the only version that works.
5 minutesFreeA stranger
Not rated yet
Find out who quietly fixed the thing
Something broke, then it didn't. Somebody did that, usually out of hours, and nobody has said anything to them.
5 minutesFreeA stranger
Not rated yet