Life, Thoughts

10 Ways to Make Life Easier for Others

10 Comments

10 Ways to Make Life Easier for Others

This originally appeared as a guest post on Lena B. Actually.

Life can be stressful, am I right? Aside from the normal work and money and relationship stress, there are a lot of things in the everyday rush outside of your control and likely to go wrong. But doesn’t it make your day when all of the little things go right? Or when someone does something nice that lessens your stress just that smallest bit? Well, we’re all in that boat– and we could all be that nice person for someone else, too. Here are ten simple but easy ways to make life easier for others and put some good karma out there:

  1. Use your turn signal.
  2. When paying with cash, face all the bills the same way.
  3. If there is no bagger in your lane, bag your own groceries instead of waiting for the cashier to do it.
  4. Hold the door for the person behind you.
  5. Be aware of how much space you or your vehicle take up when walking, navigating store aisles or parking.
  6. If you’re organizing a group outing somewhere, let people know what the parking situation is at that location.
  7. If you’re invited to an event that requires the organizer to make a reservation, RSVP a solid yes or no, not a maybe.
  8. Put things you’re not going to buy back on their hangars properly after trying them on in the dressing room.
  9. If possible, don’t take the seat near the electrical outlet at a coffee shop if you won’t be using your computer.
  10. Be on time.

Do you have any you’d add to the list?

10 comments

  1. This is an ace list. And as someone who was a cashier, I cannot even begin to express how grateful we are when people hand us bills facing the same way.

    1. Thanks! And yeah, that’s why the cash tip is on the list – I was a cashier back in the day and remember well time spent having to organize the bills.

  2. Let people get off the train before you get on! (Okay, that might be a little specific to cities with subways.. but considering how many tourists I trip over in Times Square every morning for not obeying this rule of courtesy, I humbly submit it here.)

    1. Oh, yeah, that is a good one! Austin is sadly lacking in a good mass transit system, so I didn’t even think of this one.

  3. Using the turn signal, absolutely. Yes! And the bills all facing the same way – so incredibly helpful (I also work retail, and used to work food service).

    Great list! All very true. 🙂

  5. All such little gestures, but all so incredibly appreciated by the recipients. I feel like I’ve been making more of a conscious effort in the past couple of years to be a considerate person to strangers. It’s amazing to me that some people are so thankful when you hold the door open for them. It makes me wonder, “Are most people just huge assholes?!” And then I encounter a handful of assholes in a row and realize, yeah, a lot of them are. 😉 But I feel better for not being one of them.

    1. Agreed! I like not being one of the assholes, too. 🙂 And there are so many simple things that take little to no effort but make a difference to someone else -why not do them?