apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

The milk of human kindness seems to be in short supply sometimes. This is a good reminder that the more we share, the more we have.

Thats awesome. Makes me always feel good to pay it forward. Some of us are so blessed to be able to buy a bunch of ordaments that we dont even need to decorate with, while other people struggle to get things at the 99 cents store that they cant live without. With this crap economy people - good people - are loosing jobs, homes, forced to give their dogs to shelters, help someone out, especially when you are so blessed, its all about giving and still - there are so many selfish people who do not give at all.

OH not to mention, sometimes other people see the act of kindness and it makes them think and want to help as well. Last weekend I was at the gas station, there was a man on the corner with a dog, I asked if the dog needed rescue, he said no, so I gave him a $20, next thing I know, people started stopping to give him money as well, before that no one was even looking at him.

"Put some change in the other parking meters"

This is illegal so I wouldnt really start doing that one too much.

I love this idea, but it means more at somewhere that the clientele might be in need. I have a hard time buying the person behind me coffee. If they are in line for $4 coffee, I feel they can afford that luxury. This is a good reminder to be aware of those in need around you.

One morning I was up very early and we had had a huge snowfall during the night. In Chicago most of us park on the street so I cleaned off my neighbor's car (she leaves every morning with a baby and toddler). Then I figured what the heck - if I recognized the car as a neighbors' I cleaned it. The confused/happy reactions were great!

Im a big fan of going crazy with the shoveling in winter. I love the excercise and it helps with a chore most people despise.

I'm pretty well known for leaving baked goods on my coworkers desks. If I have leftovers from an event (which happens fairly regularly since I'm the go-to person to get rid of smallish quantities of leftover food at my church) or do some baking, I often package up a few cookies or whatever in a baggies and leave it on the desk of a coworker who's having a rough week. Works especially well since I'm the first one in in the morning.

I also regularly hold the door for someone if they're close behind me or if they're struggling with packages or kids or stuff. When I see a person struggling to reach something on a high shelf or deep in a freezer at the grocery store (especially if they're in one of those scooters) I ask if I can help. And, if there's a little kid in front of me in a shopping cart that has an untied shoe, I ask Mom (or Dad) if I can retie it for them (and then ask the kid if I can help them retie their shoe. After getting permission from the parent, always ask the kid. They'll almost always at least nod their head and then NOT scream when you take care of the shoe.). It's little things but it seems to make a difference in brightening someone else's day.

After somebody paid for my coffee while I was waiting in the vehicle line at Starbucks, I did the same the next day for this woman. I was looking at her in the rearview mirror, and she was really starting to get ticked off because they were taking so long to get to her. I was scared she would take off before she could get the drink. She didn't leave, and I hope her day was made a little better.

I have also been trying to give money to the people on the corners by stoplights asking for money. Everybody says to me that, oh, they are scammers. Well, if they are willing to brave 20 degree weather, they deserve a few bucks. Times are tough.

I don't estimate a persons financial solvency before I pay it forward.
Rich or poor, young or old, capable or handicapable, EVERYONE benefits from paying it forward.

I was short about $1 on my meal card in the cafe at work. The person behind me covered it and when I asked where his office was so I could repay him he said, "don't worry, just cover someone when they are short." Sure enough a couple of months later I was able to do the same for someone else. Even though it was only $1, I felt great both days.

a few weeks ago gave someone some doll patterns to make her Grand kids doll clothes and she surprised me with a new coat for our little dog. An unexpected but nice surprise.

When I buy snacks or soda from a vending machine, I leave some change in the little change return cup in the machne because I know what a kick I get out of found money. It makes me happy to know somebody else will get this little thrill. Not as nice as paying for the man behind you, and it's always been my own little secret till now.

Once recently my husband and I were on a special date to the Houston Symphony and in our hectic dash to get there on time, we left without cash to pay the parking attendant. We didn't realize until we were in line and dug for change everywhere we could think of. We only had 4 of the 6$ to park but the attendant said to enjoy our night and took 2 $ from her own pocket to pay for the rest of our fee. Amazing!

one winter I (a petite female) went out to shovel out my car from a big snow. a bunch of guys from a restaurant on the main floor of my building saw me starting in and came out to do it for me. in no time it was done, and i was very thankful. until i realized someone had scraped the shovel all the way across the the top of my fairly new car and left a scratch all the way. :(

while vacationing in san francisco, 10 years ago, i was spending day trolling the museums while my host worked. i stopped in a bodega on the walk home to get a drink. the lovely woman in front of me (who, she later told me, was a housekeeper in the neighborhood) was short on her grocery tab. i gladly covered her tab and she reciprocated by driving me home. we had a nice chat, and i still recall her fondly. i hope she thinks of me kindly too.

Whenever I am at my Alma Mater's campus, I make sure to stop by my old dorm and drop a $10 bill outside the door.

It'll either buy somebody lunch or a 12-pack of Natty, but either way I'm happy to help :)

What a great post! I love doing stuff like this.

BTW, where is this 99 cent store w/ the Libbey glasses! ;)

I like postcards, alot. I mean I like to send postcards of my drawings. A few times a year I go through Postcard Mania (nows one of those times) where I'll send a postcard to anyone who asks, no obligation. In fact, I don't want a postcard in return. I'd rather they send one to someone else unasked. And once on my list, never off unless of course they asked to be taken off and no one has, yet. I just like the thought of my drawings going all over the world (sadly, I've had to limit the postcards to the USA this year). I like sending them, people like getting them and maybe I start a small chain reaction of postcards circling the world. It's a smilely kind of thing to do.

I live in Bushwick in Brooklyn, which is a very poor neighborhood. Once I was at C-Town and the lady in front of me in the queue had to put back almost all her groceries because she didn't have enough credit on her benefit card, and her daughter, who until then had been singing and dancing with happiness at all of the food they were buying, looked like she was about to cry, and was longingly stroking all of the food as it got put aside. I really wanted to offer to pay for it, but I was unemployed at the time, and though I probably had more money than them, I still didn't have that much. But I really regret not doing it, because I have thought about that little girl a lot since then and always feel really guilty.

I'll never forget an especially warm day in high school a woman walking through the park where we ate lunch stopped the ice cream truck to buy 5 of us girls whatever we wanted. She had a daughter the same age at another school, and while thinking of her daughter decided to treat us. It was so sweet (the gesture and the fudgesicle!).

I'm always happy to share my bus tickets to anyone short on change... When thanked I've always suggested paying it forward.

Since when is it against the law to feed someone else's parking meter? What's the charge? That's just mad crazy.

Apparently it is illegal to feed someone else's parking meter in New York...
http://www.myfoxny.com/myfox/pages/Home/Detail;jsessionid=B9D7990AF85AEFD26F1ECB4982CAB708?contentId=4459897&version=2&locale=EN-US&layoutCode=TSTY&pageId=1.1.1&sflg=1

Oh, so sweet... my story is that once in college I was just a dollar short on my pre-loaded BART (train) card to get out of the station and I had NO CHANGE. You can buy passes with a credit card, but not reload them with one... and I had no cell phone reception in the station and couldn't even call anyone... and there was no ticket person on duty to talk to...and it was late at night and the station was deserted. In retrospect I could probably have just jumped the gate, but it is a huge fine and I'm pretty law-abiding! A young man saw me frantically searching through my purse and gave me a dollar. He was so sweet about it (and so cute!) that I really wanted to ask him to have coffee with me (but, the whole reason I was there was to meet my boyfriend). Sigh. Anyway I give change to people for the bus all the time and always think of him when I do. And when I have a transfer I can't use sometimes I will give it to someone waiting to get on the bus. It isn't about money, it's about doing something nice.