30 by 30

I turned thirty in September.  Yes, it's true, even though I still look 21.  (Right?!  Although I have no desire to go back to that age.)  I wanted to do something a little more memorable than usual for my birthday and came across a few blogs where people had done random acts of kindness to celebrate their own birthdays.  You can read a couple of them here and here.  So I put together a list of acts of kindness I could do and decided to do one each day for the month leading up to my birthday.  (30 acts by the time I turned 30.)  Most of them were very simple things that didn't take much time or money.  After a few days, I started to really look forward to what I was going to do that day, even with the effort and planning that went into them.  I found myself smiling more and feeling happier and sincerely trying to be kinder to others.  I started looking for even more ways to help and serve.  It really does feel good to be kind!  I'm not sharing this to toot my own horn, but just to show that it is easy to spread love and happiness and anyone can do it!

 

Here's my list:

1.  Made dinner for our friends

 

2.  Accompanied someone on the piano for church with last minute notice

 

3.  Brought in our neighbor's garbage can

 

4.  Left a note and treat for our mail carrier 

(sorry it's blurry)

5. Left diapers and wipes in a changing table

6.  Taped coins to a vending machine

 

7. Babysat for a friend

 

8.  Left positive comments on friends' blogs (I usually don't comment very often!)

 

9.  Gave an extra-large tip to the carhop at Sonic

(my first job in high school, so I know how much those tips mean!)

 

10.  Wrote letters (snail mail) to friends

11.  Donated items to Goodwill

 

12.  Left a couple dollars at the dollar store (would've loved to have seen the reactions of the kids who found them)

13.  Called a couple friends I hadn't talked to in a really long time

 

14.  Donated to a charity (Covenant House- a local shelter which helps homeless children)

 

15.  Gave a friend a ride to the store

 

16.  Visited a neighbor

 

17.  Donated dog and cat food to our local animal shelter.

Katie loved seeing the dogs and cats. 

18.  Returned stray carts from parking lot to cart corral or store

 

19.  Returned misplaced items to their proper place at a store (not hard to find at Wal-mart) :)

 

20.  Took treats over to some neighbors we hadn't met yet.  Actually, they weren't home, but their mom was visiting and we talked to her.  Our neighbors came by a few days later to meet us and thank us for the cookies, and they are super nice and friendly.  So glad we stopped by!

21.  Took Jacob out for lunch 

(Jacob also took a little time to read to Katie at his office.)

22.  Tipped the worker at an ice cream shop (something I never do, but she seemed so lonely and her tip jar was empty).

 

23.  Left bookmarks in books at the library

24.  Picked up trash in our neighborhood (it's really not very dirty- I had to hunt for things!)

 

25.  Left notes throughout the house for Jacob to find.  He loved it!

 

26.  Donated food to a local food bank

 

27.  Had a friend over for lunch

 

28.  Made blessing bags to hand out to homeless people we see while driving.  It has food and hygiene items in it (granola bars, beef jerky, toothbrush, deodorant, comb, etc.).  I had it in the car for a while before I got to give it to someone.  I need to make several more now!

 

29.  Fed parking meters

 

30.  Wrote a letter to my parents and sent them a hug from Katie. :)  (It was a little bit tricky to trace her arms and head by myself, so that's why it looks funny.)  But my parents LOVED it and hung it up on the wall right away.

 

And that's it!!  There were a few of the things I did multiple times throughout the month like babysitting,  having people over for dinner, and calling friends, but I just counted them once for this.  Overall, I loved this experiment and want to do it again!  Most of these took no more than a few minutes and made me so happy!  Has anyone else done something like this?