Feel Good Friday: AmazonSmile

Hello everyone, and Happy Friday! I know I usually talk about health and beauty things you can do for yourself that make you feel good, but today I want to share with you something you can do for others that can make a huge difference. The bonus? You’ll still feel extra good about doing it! Today’s Feel Good Friday features AmazonSmile, an awesome program that lets you give back to a charity of your choosing virtually every time you make a purchase on Amazon.

About AmazonSmile

The good people at Amazon sum up the program pretty nicely on their site: 

AmazonSmile is a simple and automatic way for you to support your favorite charitable organization every time you shop, at no cost to you. When you shop at smile.amazon.com, you’ll find the exact same low prices, vast selection and convenient shopping experience as Amazon.com, with the added bonus that Amazon will donate a portion of the purchase price to your favorite charitable organization. You can choose from nearly one million organizations to support.

If you’re anything like me, you do a lot of your shopping on Amazon (too much, really), so this is a chance for you to help make a difference while buying the things you need (or, let’s be honest, “want”) at no additional cost to you. There’s really no argument not to use AmazonSmile.

How to Use AmazonSmile

Simply go to smile.amazon.com and start shopping. On your first visit, Amazon will prompt you to select a charity. Amazon will remember this charity for subsequent visits (although you can change it at any time), and from here on out, 0.5% of your purchases will go to your charity of choice.

Why Should I Do This?

I trust that you are all decent human beings and don’t need me to tell you why donating to charity is a good thing, especially if you have a cause you’re passionate about, or if you’ve ever been on the receiving end of a much welcome helping hand. So, we’ll skip all that and get to the hidden benefits of being charitable — aka, why it’s particularly good for you. Try these feel good benefits on for size:

• Giving to others makes you happy: According to livescience.com, “when individuals dole out money for gifts for friends or charitable donations, they get a boost in happiness.” How’s that for a win?
• Giving to someone you know makes you even happier: The Huffington Post uses research from the Journal of Happiness and Development that asserts that a personal connection to charitable donations really ups the happy factor of giving. By choosing your charity with AmazonSmile, you’re able to make a donation to a cause that really fits your passion.
• Charity can help you find your inner peace: According to the Dalai Lama, the unofficial spokesperson for inner peace, acting out of compassion replaces negative feelings with positive ones. “By erasing negative feelings, you can embrace yourself and be at peace with who you are.”

So you see, using AmazonSmile for your purchases is pretty much a win-win for all involved. Sign up today to start making a difference! For more information, visit smile.amazon.com/about.

Who do you plan to support with your Amazon purchases? We want to know what causes you’re passionate about!

(In case you were wondering, I donate my 0.5% to Share Our Strength, an organization that’s helping to ending childhood hunger in America by ensuring all children get the healthy food they need, every day. If you don’t have a charity in mind, I highly encourage you to check them out! You can find more info at www.nokidhungry.com.)