In honour of fantabulous YA author Juno Dawson's #OneNiceThing effort to defeat the bad stuff going around (and Theresa May,) with kindness, by doing at least one nice thing per day, I decided to write a short list of ways you can make the world a better place without spending any money whatsoever!
(Of course, there are also many things you can do by spending minimal amounts, but I wanted to concentrate on a handful of completely free stuff here.)
- Say please and thank you. Say sorry when necessary.
- Use social media for good, not evil - like, RT, share, etc. things which you support: authors, charities, bloggers, or just friends.
- Help people out - offer to carry things, hold doors open, let pedestrians cross the road when you're out driving.
- Hug your family, friends, and pets!
- Play games on FreeRice to earn rice for the World Food Programme via advertiser's fees.
- Say something nice - compliment your friend's clothes, leave a nice online comment, etc.
- Find a petition on Change.org that means something to you, and sign it!
- Support Amnesty International's campaigns by signing petitions and taking action to protect human rights.
- Don't litter - put your rubbish in a bin, & recycle where possible.
- Send your old and broken jewellery to be recycled for charity. Two great UK charities which do this (via FREEPOST addresses) are: The Alzheimer's Society, and Parkinson's UK. A lot of smaller, rather than larger, charities tend to do this, so try Googling to find great causes.
- Send your old Inkjet cartridges to be recycled for charity. Loads of charities do this. And most are more than happy to provide FREEPOST labels or bags.
- Donate things you no longer want to charity shops or fundraising sales - and yes, this includes books you'll never read again ;)
- And, and this one is the Golden Rule - the one which, if you follow it, you can't go far wrong with: DON'T. ACT. LIKE. A. JERK! ;)
So what are you waiting for? Go do #OneNiceThing.
