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Skip Black Friday and shop discounts at these companies making a positive impact on the world

Michelle Gant
11.27.19
Courtesy of DoneGood

While Thanksgiving is meant to celebrate all we have to be grateful for, it's also the unofficial kick-off to the holiday shopping season. Last year, Americans spent about $1 trillion on gifts. What if we all used that purchasing power to support companies that reduce inequality, alleviate poverty, fight climate change, and help make the world better?

Between Black Friday and Cyber Monday, the coming days will have spending on everyone's brains. But in an effort to promote the companies doing good for the world, DoneGood founder Cullen Schwarz created Shop for Good Sunday (which falls on December 1 this year.)

Dubbed the "Alternate Black Friday," Shop for Good Sunday is dedicated to encouraging people to shop brands that do good for people and the planet. It also serves as a reminder to support local businesses making a positive impact in their communities.

While Shop for Good Sunday technically falls on a single day, this year, participating ethical and sustainable brands are running discounts for the whole week prior.

Where you invest your dollars matters, and there's great potential to put that money to good use if you know how. Check out these six brands that sell amazing products while also making a positive impact on the world. You'll not only be getting your loved ones meaningful gifts, but also making the world a brighter place along the way.

Isn't that what the holidays are really about?

Functional outdoor gear

Parque Rain Shell

Cotopaxi makes unique, sustainable outdoor gear, like this Parque rain shell, while keeping ethics at the core of its business model. The company gives 1% of its annual revenue to organizations that fight poverty and improve the human condition.

Modern furniture

Simbly Coffee Table

Simbly is a direct-to-consumer furniture company that sells modern, sustainable products built in the U.S. made of FSC-certified wood. And for every product sold, the company plants a tree.

Beautiful jewelry

Tho Bar & Geo Buffalo Horn Earrings

Hathorway is a jewelry company that handcrafts its accessories with materials like ethically-sourced up-cycled buffalo horns and handwoven rattan. Each item is designed and assembled in the U.S. with thoughtfully selected materials sourced from Vietnam, Thailand, and South Korea. A portion of the company's profit goes to initiatives that empower young, underprivileged women.

Luxe linens

Bamboo Charcoal Sheet Set

Ettitude crafts its home textiles from CleanBamboo fabric, a unique material made from 100% organic bamboo, the most resource-efficient plant on the planet. It also requires significantly less water to grow and produce than traditional cotton textiles. The products are also ethically made and come in packaging made from extra pieces of fabric.

Unique wood wares

The Charcuterie Board

Would Works creates and sells beautiful household wood products handcrafted by people experiencing homelessness or living in poverty. The company works with its artisans to provide job skills, financial literacy, and an income so they can reach their financial goals.

Empowering candles

She Inspires Candle

Prosperity Candle products are created by women refugees building a brighter future for themselves and their families. Each candle is made of soy-blend wax with essential oils hand poured in a well-designed container that is easily refilled or repurposed.

Find more of these great deals at DoneGood!

*Upworthy may earn a portion of sales revenue from purchases made through affiliate links on our site.

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Business

Boomers say stop wasting money on 'luxuries.' Millennial proves they have it backwards.

Millennials and boomers struggled for different things.

via Canva

Millennial man says "luxuries" aren't the reason young people can't afford to live.

Being a human being has really gotten expensive. Millennials constantly lament the high cost of living and the fact that the so-called "American dream" is out of reach for many of them. Housing prices have skyrocketed, as has the cost of a college education. Eating out has gotten drastically more expensive, and making food at home with fresh groceries is hardly any cheaper. It's just so hard, they say, to get a foothold in the modern economy.

One of the big talking points in the great American Millennials versus baby boomers debate is that, yes, things are more expensive, but has the younger generation knee-capped itself by its lavish spending habits that have prevented them from owning homes? If Millennials stopped buying $14 avocado toast and $1,000 iPhones, would they be able to save enough for a down payment on a modest house?

Why older generations don't understand Millennial finances

Freddie Smith, 36, of Orlando, Florida, recently went viral on TikTok for a video in which he challenged the boomer argument with statistics from the Bureau of Labor, Federal Reserve, and the U.S. Census Bureau.

Smith argues that older generations misunderstand Millennials' finances because their concept of luxury is based on 1980s economic conditions. That's when most boomers were coming of age and buying their own family homes, and their ideas of saving up for a down payment and affording a monthly mortgage are heavily outdated.

Smith says that for baby boomers, essentials such as rent and child care were much more affordable, but items considered luxuries (TVs, CD players, computers) were much more expensive.


How is the economy different for Millennials than it was for baby boomers?

"The main shift is that core essentials—housing, education, healthcare, and even food—have become more expensive," Smith said. "Housing and rent, for instance, now outpace wage growth, making homeownership feel unattainable for many. The cost of childcare has also skyrocketed, and food prices have increased.”

The home price-to-income ratio is currently at an all-time high. The Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University writes, "In 2022, the median sale price for a single-family home in the US was 5.6 times higher than the median household income, higher than at any point on record dating back to the early 1970s." That ratio was closer to 2.5 in 1980.

Even transportation has skyrocketed. Buying a new car now costs about as much as the median yearly salary, with entry-level vehicles disappearing rapidly and being replaced with high-tech, fuel-efficient offerings.

"As a result, I think older generations have a different perspective on luxury versus necessity,” Smith continued. “They grew up in a time when hard work typically led to financial stability, whereas today, even with hard work, many people struggle with the high costs of housing, rent, and medical expenses. Basic survival used to be far more affordable, allowing people more financial room to build a stable life."


Smith’s numbers don’t lie. For a person in the '80s to own three TVs, a CD player, a cellphone, a microwave, and a computer, it would cost them 3.5 years of rent or a 20% downpayment on the average home. So, it was irresponsible for someone in that period to purcahse the luxuries of their day.

However, for Millennials, these "fancy toys" are a lot more affordable compared to the big-ticket items of housing, childcare, and college education. Skimping out on them won't make a meaningful difference in saving the massive amount of cash required for a down payment on a modern home.

"But if you skip that daily $6 Starbucks drink, you’ll have enough for the downpayment in 29.22 years," Yokahana joked in the comments.

"I hate that housing and transportation have become luxuries," Molly added.

"Imagine spending 3x your rent on a microwave," Donutdisaster wrote.

Older people may see Millennials with multiple TVs in their homes, along with iPhones and tablets, and think that money could be better saved toward the "American dream." But the truth is those savings won't really help, and worse, they'll make life pretty unenjoyable in the meantime.

Why are luxury goods more affordable now than they were in the '80s?

The price of manufactured goods has steadily fallen over the last few decades due to technological improvements and trade policies that have enabled the U.S. to import goods from countries with lower labor costs.

"International, global competition lowers prices directly from lower-cost imported goods, and indirectly by forcing U.S. manufacturers to behave more competitively, with lower prices, higher quality, better service, et cetera," Sociologist Joseph Cohen of Queens University said, according to Providence Journal. Although they may begin to creep up again after recent tariff policies have dramatically raised the taxes American companies pay to import foreign-made goods.

Even as recently as the early 2000s, a high-quality TV was likely to cost over $1,000. Nowadays, you can get an equivalent, or better, television set for just a few hundred bucks.

Why are housing prices so high?

Housing prices in the US have soared due to the low inventory caused by the Great Recession, mortgage rates, and zoning laws that make building more challenging. Rents have increased considerably since the pandemic due to low inventory, inflation, barriers to home ownership, and the fact that more people want to live alone than with a roommate or romantic partner.

In recent years, there has been an abundance agenda in America encouraging public policies that make housing more affordable by stripping costly regulations, opening up zoning laws, and making it easier to build taller apartment buildings. Increasing the housing supply would help lower prices.

Smith’s breakdown of economic changes over the past two generations makes a strong case that Millennial financial troubles stem more from systemic problems than from spending habits. The boomers got a bad deal regarding luxury items, and the Millennials with necessities. Wouldn’t it be great to live in an era when both were affordable?

This article originally appeared last year. It has been updated.

american dreamavocado toastbaby boomerscollege educationdown paymentexpensesfresh grocerieshard workhousing priceslabor costslivingluxurymillennialsmodern economyspending habitstiktokmilennials
Family

Man hilariously calls out parents who give their babies 'old people names'

“We aren’t naming babies. We’re naming people."

@mannybuckley/TikTok, Photo credit: Canva

Someone finally said what we're all thinking.

Baby name trends come and go. What was once a hip and cool name will eventually be seen as passé (this coming from someone with a name that is now obsolete, apparently), and names once thought of as old-fashioned will absolutely become cool again. It’s part of the circle of life, like the tides, the seasons, the rising and setting of the sun…accept it.

In fact, this comeback is already happening. According to the Social Security Administration, vintage names like Theodore, Henry, William, Charlotte, Evelyn, and Emma are among the top ten most popular baby names of the moment. Jimmy Fallon’s daughters are named Winnie and Frances, for crying out loud.

However, just because there’s been an uptick in names that harken you back to a time when “Good show, old sport” was a common phrase, not everyone is on board. In early 2025, content creator Manny Buckley hilariously put into words what many of us think of these WWII-era names.

old fashion, old-fashioned, names, world war II, baby names, old Classic Film GIF Giphy

In a clip posted to his TikTok, Buckley first savagely said, “Y’all went from naming all y’all’s kids Jayden, Cayden, and Aiden, Madison, Addison, and Addylyn to giving them all old people names.” He then recounted being on a train and hearing a mother call after her toddler, whose name was George.

“Ma’am. George is a mechanic in his 60s and he can’t work on your car this week because his sugars is running high.” Where’s the lie?

@mannybuckley

What is this cycle of naming kids!? #names #naming #name

He didn’t stop there, going on a lighthearted rant about the types of images certain now-popular names actually evoke, like Agnes (a “Florida retiree in her 70s who cannot leave the retirement home”), Ira (an “80 year old Jewish man”), Belinda (a “registered nurse who has been working in the field for 50 years”), and Clifford (a 85-year-old navy vet who needs “all y'all to be quiet”). Nary a youthful name in sight, if you ask him.

Although the video was clearly just a lighthearted jab, a few adults commented to defend the use of vintage names.

“We aren’t naming babies. We’re naming people,” one top comment wrote, while another seconded, “Exactly! Some people don’t realize this. They are kids for a very short period of time, then they are adults.”

Still, another quipped, “yeah, but they aren’t senior citizens forever either!” Another wrote “I’m Martha…I’ve been 80 since the first grade.”

A few others, particularly teachers, chimed in with their own equally funny experience of kids having old fashioned names:

"I am a kindergarten teacher. I have Marjorie and Brenda. It’s like a 1950’s secretarial pool."

"I have kindergarteners named Edyth, Arthur, and Iris. They’re going to form a knitting club at recess.”

“My nephew is Charles lmao and he may only be 2.5, but he is the school maintenance and everyone call uncle.”

“We have Matilda and Cordelia, 4 and 2, shelling beans on the porch. Their nicknames are just as old as Tilly and Della. I love them, though.”

kids, young people, children, youth, names Oh nothing, just Edyth, Arthur, and Iris hanging out at the park.Canva Photos

Some of the names that Manny called out may sound humorous, but the trend of using old-fashioned names is real. The Social Security Administration recently announced a list of old-fashioned names that have been making a comeback in the last year. Some of the biggest climbers were Rocky, Marjorie, Heath, Abner, Lettie, Benny, Micah, Salome, and Carlo.

And there you have it, folks. We have indeed come full circle. But is it any weirder than the thought of someone calling their Grandma Brittany? I think not.

This article originally appeared last year.

babiesbaby name trendsclassic nameshistorical nameskidsmanny buckley tiktoknamesold fashioned baby namesold fashioned namesocial security administrationtiktokviralbaby names
Kids
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World-famous 'mindreader' reveals 5-second hack for remembering people's names

Hint: Your visual memory is the strongest form of memory you have. Use it.

Photo credit: Canva

A simple trick to memorize names just requires a little imagination.

The longer you live, the more people you meet and the more names you have to learn and try to remember. It's an ironic truth, considering how our capacity to memorize seems to dwindle the older we get, so it's handy to have some tips and tricks for remembering people's names, especially when you're meeting a bunch of new people at once.

Derren Brown is one of the most famous mentalists in the world, so he knows a thing or two about people. Mentalists are a special breed of magician who focus on tricks and illusions of the mind. They do things like hypnosis, mind-reading, and impossible predictions. There's trickery involved, of course, but mentalists are also masters at reading people and have to employ advanced memory techniques to keep track of information they learn during their shows.

- YouTube youtu.be

In an interview with Big Think, Brown revealed some of his favorite memory hacks, including his 'party trick' to never forget a person's name.

The secret is to create a link between the part of your brain that stores information, like names, and the visual part of your brain that is more easily accessed. Visual memory has also been found to be substantially stronger and more detailed than auditory and other kinds of memories, so what you want to do is get the visual part of your brain involved in remembering!

"You find a link between the person's name and something about their appearance, what they're wearing, their face, their hair, something," Brown says. "You find a link with something that they're wearing, so if they're called Mike and they've got big black hair, you think, 'Oh that's like a microphone,' so I can imagine like a big microphone walking around, or if they've got a stripy T-shirt on, you imagine a microphone with those stripes going around it.

name, memory, mentlalist, remembering names, meeting people Who Are You Name GIF by NETFLIX Giphy

"And it's the same process later on in the evening, you see them, you look at the stripes, and you go, 'Oh, that's Mike. Oh yeah, that's Mike. The hair, why am I thinking the hair is like a big microphone? Oh yes, of course, they're called Mike.'"

Microphone Mike! Any sort of alliteration based on a physical characteristic will work. Stripey Steve, Tall Tim, Green Gene. The more interesting and unique, the better you'll remember.

If this sounds a little bit like Michael Scott's mnemonic devices from The Office, well, they're not far off. He applies in a pretty strange and convoluted way: "Baldy. Your head is bald. It is hairless. It is shiny. It is reflective, like a mirror. M. Your name is Mark." But ultimately, he was on to something. If you watched the show, you know that Michael Scott never forgot a name!

michael scott, the office, names, remembering names, learning names Season 5 Nbc GIF by The Office Giphy

There is one catch with the technique: You have to actually listen and pay attention when someone tells you their name!

"So, you do have to listen, that's the first thing when they say the name," Brown says. "Normally, the very moment where someone is giving you their name, you're just caught up in a whole lot of social anxiety anyway, you don't even hear it, so you have to listen."

Using someone's name when you talk to them has tons of benefits. It conveys respect, friendliness, and intimacy. When you're on the receiving end, and someone you've just met uses your name, it just feels good! It feels like it matters to them that they met you. Just don't overdo it. Repeating someone's name every other sentence comes across as disingenuous and salesy. A good rule of thumb is to repeat their name immediately after learning it ("Nice to meet you, Jim") and upon saying goodbye. The rest of the memory work should happen in your head to avoid creeping them out!

"And then at the end [of the party] you get to go around and say goodbye to everybody by name, and everyone thinks you're very charming and clever," Brown quips.

It's definitely worth a try.

Friendship

Adults share their parents' most laugh-out-loud 'gramnesia' moments, and it's so relatable

"Sometimes I wonder if my parents have ever actually met a child."

Photo credit: Canva

If only raising kids was this easy.

"Gramnesia" is a term coined by Gen Xers and Millennials to poke fun at the way their parents seem to suddenly forget how truly difficult it is to raise young children once they've entered their grandparent era.

This leads to some pretty perplexing memories, like zero tantrums and no issues with sugar, all of which the now-adult children don't remember, because it didn't quite happen that way.

Recently, a woman named Ally Glasgow (@allyglasgow) shared a perfect example of this sometimes mind-boggling phenomenon, explaining how she and her mom had entirely different memories of potty training.

"[My mom] said, 'All of you were potty trained by two. All four girls.' And I'm like... I just don't feel like we were... I mean maybe?" Glasgow says in a TikTok video.

An even bigger "gramnesia" moment came while Glasgow was driving her mom to the airport, when she suggested that Glasgow "instill into your kids that when they wake up, they shouldn't talk until a certain time."

Perplexed, Glasgow asked, "Mom, what do you mean they don't talk?" Her mom finally acquiesced, adding, "Maybe they could whisper."

As though any parent in all of history has ever successfully instilled a rule like that. Maybe in Victorian times, but still. Do we really want to go back to that in this instance?

@allyglasgow God bless ya Laura
♬ original sound - allyglasgow

Glasgow's video inspired others to share their own equally funny "gramnesia" moments in an act of lighthearted solidarity:

"My mom has completely made up an entirely different childhood in her head lmao and when I call her out she gets SO MAD."

"Sometimes I wonder if my parents have ever actually met a child."

"My son has eczema and my mom says none of her kids ever had it but I literally have had eczema my entire life 😂"

"My mom says I was speaking sentences by 9 months old. No I was not. There's no way."

Bilizz GIFfrom Bilizz GIFs

"My parents both SWEAR that I was sleeping through the night at 3 weeks old and didn't need to wake up to feed or anything. So like okay you starved me???"

"My mom comments on my kids eating unhealthy as if I didn't grow up eating cereal, ramen, frozen meals, etc every single day because she didn't cook for us, like what?"

"My parents swear I was walking at 6 months old. Once I had kids I was like there is no physical way that is possible. They still swear it happened."

"My MIL had four boys and she tried to convince me that they didn't make much noise. lol okay 👌🏽"

Baby Celebration GIFfrom Baby GIFs

"My mom said 'kids need routine and structure' to me once but we were homeschooled and only did school when she felt like it."

"My mom said my sisters and I never snacked 🙄"

"My mom claims we never threw tantrums. Huh?! I remember throwing tantrums 😂"

Toddler Tantrum GIFfrom Toddler GIFs

"I can't remember details from when my kids were babies…and they are currently 3. You're telling me our parents remember tiny details from 35 years ago?!"

Bottom line: "gramnesia" is very real and, apparently, very universal. But maybe, in this instance, we can give grandparents some slack. Parenting is hard no matter what generation you hail from. Who knows? Many of us might also use rose-colored glasses as a coping mechanism at some point.

Joy
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