Only have 5 minutes or no money to spend?

• Compliment the first three people you talk to today
• Smile at five strangers
• Leave letters of encouragement on people’s cars
• Leave a note on someone’s car telling them how awesome they parked
• Hold the doors open for people
• Let someone go in front of you in line
• Help a senior with their groceries
• Hold the elevator for someone
• Write a kind or encouraging message on a napkin
• Offer to take a photo of a couple
• Give someone a gift card that you don’t intend to use
• Give up your seat on the bus/subway/train to another person
• Instead of posting negativity online start a “Positive Gossip” thread.
• While you’re out, compliment a parent on how well-behaved their child is
• Tweet or Facebook message a genuine compliment to three people right now
• Email or write an old teacher who made a difference in your life
• Compliment someone to their boss
• Let them have the parking space
• Take out your neighbor’s trash/recycle bins for them
• Give away items for free on Craigslist.
• Give someone a hug.  Ask first!
• Check in daily by text with somebody currently going through a hard time
• When you’re throwing something away on the street, pick up any litter around you and put that in the trash too.
• Relay an overheard compliment
• Offer to return a shopping cart to the store for someone loading groceries in their car.
• Say thank you to a janitor
• Put your phone away while in the company of others
• Have a LinkedIn account? Write a recommendation for coworker or connection.
• Keep an extra umbrella at work, so you can lend it out when it rains
• Send a ‘Thank you’ card or note to the officers at your local fire station.
• Try to make sure every person in a group conversation feels included
• Make plans with that person you’ve been putting off seeing
• Leave a note of appreciation on a local business’ front door
• Stop to talk to a homeless person
• Answer that email you’ve been avoiding
• Talk to someone at work whom you haven’t talked to before
• Help someone struggling with heavy bags
• Donate your old eyeglasses so someone else can use them.
• Learn the names of your office security guard, the person at the front desk and other people you see every day. Greet them by name.
• Send a gratitude email to a coworker who deserves more recognition.
• Say hi to the person next to you on the elevator
• Write a kind message on your mirror with a dry erase marker for yourself, your significant other or a family member
• Text someone just to say good morning or good night.
• Send a friend a funny video from YouTube
• Help someone load their luggage into the overhead bin
• Give someone else the cab that you hailed
• Stop to assist someone who looks lost
• Say something encouraging to a parent who’s struggling with rambunctious kids in a restaurant or grocery store.
• Call a family member just to catch up
• Tag a kindness hero of yours on social media and tell them why you admire them

Have $5 or less to spend?

• Leave money in/on a vending machine for someone
• Insert coins into someone’s parking meter
• Bake cookies for your neighbors, a local charity, a nursing home, etc.
• Pay for someone’s morning coffee
• Pay for someone’s bus/cab fare
• Leave some money in a Redbox movie when you return it for snacks for the next people to watch the movie
• Pay the toll for the person behind you
• Make two lunches and give one away
• Send dessert to another table
• Tape coins around a playground for kids to find.
• Leave a box of goodies in your mailbox for your mail carrier.
• Leave quarters at the laundromat
• Say yes at the store when the cashier asks if you want to donate $1 to whichever cause
• Bring a security guard a hot cup of coffee
• Buy lemonade from a kid’s lemonade stand.
• Be the person who puts a tip in the tip jar at the coffee shop
• Carry a $5 gift card with you and give it someone random
• Buy a lottery ticket for a stranger

More Time?

• Shovel a neighbor’s driveway when it snows, rake their leaves, mow their grass
• Host a Happiness/Appreciation dinner
• Walk a neighbor’s dog
• Babysit for free for anyone who could use the time out alone
• Send a letter to a good friend instead of a text
• Wash someone’s car
• Make a family member breakfast in bed, or bring them coffee
• Collect all the shopping carts in a parking lot
• Write a list of things that you adore about a friend.  Send it to them.
• Run errands for a sick friend
• Donate your hair after a haircut
• Leave unused coupons next to corresponding products in the grocery store
• Practice self-kindness and spend 30 minutes doing something you love today.
• Offer help to any parent on an airplane who is travelling alone or who is obviously struggling with their child(ren)
• Post inspirational sticky notes around your neighborhood, office, school, etc.
• Help tutor a struggling student
• Play board games with senior citizens at a nursing home
• Cook a meal or do a load of laundry for a friend who just had a baby or is going through a difficult time
• Make someone a homemade blanket or scarf – give to somebody you know or donate to a local cancer support organization
• Donate or recycle your old laptop and electronics
• Have a clean up party at a beach or park.
• Encounter someone in customer service who is especially kind? Take an extra five minutes to tell their manager.
• Place positive body image notes in jean pockets at a department store
• When you go somewhere to get or do something, ask the people around you if you can pick up anything they need
• Make a handmade greeting card for obscure holidays
• Write kind messages on the sidewalk in chalk
• Invite someone who may be alone over for dinner
• Volunteer at a local charity.
• Write letters to strangers who need them. More Love Letters has a list of people who could benefit from letters of encouragement. Each person has been added to the web site by a friend or family member.
• Collect soda can tabs to donate to Ronald McDonald House for sick children and their families.

More Money?

• Make dinner for a family in need
• Buy flowers to hand out on the street
• Buy a movie ticket for the person behind you
• Pay for someone’s meal at a restaurant
• Bring in donuts or healthy treat for your co-workers
• Leave your waiter a generous tip
• Buy groceries for the person behind you
• Donate items to local homeless shelter
• Invest in your community – shop locally
• Donate items to after school programs/any programs supporting children in need
• Give someone a book you think they’d like.
• Purchase some extra dog or cat food and drop it off at an animal shelter, bring them old blankets
• Take flowers or treats to the nurses’ station at your nearest hospital
• Leave a gas gift card at a gas pump.
• Take all your change to Coinstar and donate your collection to charity
• Contact local children’s hospital and ask what they need
• Send flowers anonymously to somebody who would never suspect it was you
• If you’re an Amazon.com customer you can donate Amazon.com’s money to your favorite U.S. nonprofit through Amazon Smile