upworthy

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.

black fridaycyber mondayshop for goodsustainability
Business

'Boomer panic' is a real phenomenon, and the reason for it is heartbreaking

This isn't just young generations bashing the old.

Photo credit: Canva

Boomer panic is real.

If you have Boomers in your life, you may have noticed a tendency that seems a bit baffling. Despite being older and theoretically wiser, our elders can sometimes become anxious over seemingly small things.

In a video posted in September 2023, TikToker @myexistentialdread used the phrase “Boomer panic” to explain how Baby Boomers (1946 to 1964) can quickly become unhinged when faced with the most minor problems. It all started when she visited a Lowe’s hardware store and encountered a Boomer-aged woman working at the check-out stand.

“I had a dowel that didn’t have a price tag on it, whatever, so I ran back and took a photo of the price tag. And as I was walking back towards her, I was holding up my phone… because I had multiple dowels and that was the one that didn’t have the price tag on it,” she said in the video. “And she looks at me and she goes, ‘I don’t know which one that is,’ and she starts like, panicking.” The TikToker said that the woman was “screechy, panicking for no reason.”

boomers, baby boomers, aging, getting older, emotional regulation Older people can become frustrated over seemingly small things.Photo credit: Canva

Many people raised by Boomers understood what she meant by "Boomer panic." "Boomer panic is such a good phrase for this! Minor inconvenience straight to panic," the most popular commenter wrote. And while there was some unfortunate boomer-bashing in the comments, some younger people tried to explain why the older folks have such a hard time regulating their emotions: “From conversations with my mother, they weren’t allowed to make mistakes and were harshly punished if they did.” The TikToker responded, “A lot of people mentioned this, and it breaks my heart. I think you’re right,” Myexistentialdread responded.

A follow-up video by YourTango Editor Brian Sundholm tried to explain Boomer panic in an empathetic way.

“Well, it's likely that there actually was a reason the woman started panicking about a seemingly meaningless problem,” Sundholm said. “Most of us nowadays know the importance of recognizing and feeling our emotions.” Sundholm then quoted therapist Mitzi Bachman, who says that when people bottle up their emotions and refuse to express them, it can result in an "unhinged" reaction.

TikToker Gabi Day shared a similar phenomenon she noticed with her Boomer mom; she called the behavior “anxiety-at-you.”

Day’s Boomer mother was “reactive,” “nervous,” and “anxious” throughout her childhood. Now, she is still on edge with Day’s children. “She's immediately like gasping and just really like exaggerated physical reactions, and then, of course, that kind of startles my kid,” Day said. “Again, I know that this comes from a place of care. It's just a lot,” she continued.

@itsgabiday It comes from a place of love but it is exhausting 🫠😬 #millennialmomsoftiktok #boomergrandma #reparenting #gentleparenting ♬ original sound - Bright Body

There is a significant difference in emotional intelligence and regulation between how Boomers were raised and how younger generations, such as Gen X, millennials, and Gen Z, were brought up. Boomers grew up when they had to bottle up their feelings to show their resilience. This can lead to growing anger, frustration with situations and people, chronic stress, and anxiety—all conditions that can lead to panicky, unhinged behavior.

Ultimately, Sundholm says that we should sympathize with Boomers who have difficulty regulating their emotions and see it as an example of the great strides subsequent generations have made in managing their mental health. “It may seem a little harsh to call something 'Boomer panic,' but in the context of how many of them were raised, it makes a lot of sense,” Sundholm says. “It also underlines the importance of emotional regulation skills and teaching them to future generations. And maybe most important, having compassion for those who never had a chance to learn them.”

boomers, baby boomer, genreations, compassion, emotional regulation Having compassion for older generations can go a long way. Photo credit: Canva

Psychotherapist Jennifer Gerlach LCSW writes about the emotional reality of how Boomers were brought up and why they deserve our compassion:

"The progeny of the Greatest Generation. Their youth was a time of prosperity where appearances, 'keeping up with the Joneses,' was quite important. Although many of the years following are graced by stereotypes of openness and expression, parenting practices reflected more of a 'toughness' than most used today. Phrases like 'quit crying or I’ll give you something to cry about' reflected negative reactions to emotional expression. The concept of trauma only reached some 'capital T' traumas—sexual assault and war. Many things that we know can be traumatic today were not treated as such. Psychotherapy was stigmatized and kept secret."

When we know more about where people from other generations came from, it's easier to understand and find compassion for them.

This article originally appeared in March.


baby boomersboomerboomer panicemotional regulationgenerational differencesgenerations
Golden Years

30 things frugal people have completely stopped buying to save tons of money

You'd never miss most of these.

Photo credit: Canva
Getting rid of some unnecessary purchases can pay off big time.

Saving money is never a bad thing, but now seems a particularly good time to get better at it with the cost of living having increased by over 25% in the last five years. For those looking for economical solutions for how to cut back on spending, a smart place to start is taking an inventory of your spending habits and what you buy. And, more importantly, what you don't.

In an online forum of frugal people, member TS1664 posed the question to fellow savvy financial members: "What’s something you stopped buying completely and don’t miss at all?"

They continued, "For me it’s paper towels. Switched to rags and microfiber cloths a year ago and haven’t looked back. I used to go through a roll a week without thinking, now I just toss the cloths in with regular laundry. Saves money and space."

And they ended the post with some more insight. "It made me realize how many things I was buying out of habit, not need. What things others have cut out completely that turned out to be no big deal or even better without. Could use some inspiration!"

frugal living, frugal reddit, reddit, ask reddit, money, saving money, frugal tips, money saving tips One Redditor saved big by switching from paper towels to cloths. Photo by Brian Patrick Tagalog on Unsplash

The callout garnered some excellent real-life advice from frugal people. These are 30 things that thrifty people shared they stopped buying completely that helped save them money.

"Dryer sheets." Super-Examination594

"Starbucks - bought an espresso machine, took some time to learn how to dial it in and pull a proper shot. It’s been 4+ Years and don’t miss it one bit." Fox_137

(Making coffee at home is a great tip. You can even copycat many of Starbucks' recipes at home, if you have an espresso maker. If you don't, it'll pay for itself quickly.)

- YouTube www.youtube.com

"Makeup! Used to wear it every day and buy tons of it to try new products and such. Now I only wear it for special occasions. It works great — even just a little bit of makeup really pops when you hardly ever wear any." VerschwendeMeineZeit

"Soda. Too expensive now. Pre-pandemic, sometimes Kroger would have a sale (4) 12-packs for $10." NotJimIrsay

"Cigarettes 😊." rickety_picket

"Bottled water." WorriedPermission872

Good news for anyone struggling to give up bottled water: Tap water is often just as good for you.

- YouTube www.youtube.com

"Most fast food but especially McDonald's and bk. When I paid $20 for two adults' meals, it stopped making sense, and I'll cook better burgers and better sides fries at home for less." diegothengineer

"Cable tv subscription." nombreusuario

"Pizza delivery service. Frozen meals are just as unhealthy, but much cheaper." The_Keri2

"We started our pizza making journey by buying dough (under $2) at trader joe's. it really lowered the barrier to entry. once we kind of perfected the bake etc, we started playing with dough recipes until we found one we loved. it sounds painful but it was a good learning experience and fun to do together." suddenlymary

"I stopped buying scented candles. I used to grab them all the time on impulse, but they’re expensive, don’t last that long, and honestly gave me headaches half the time. Now I just open a window or boil some citrus peels with cloves if I want the place to smell nice." HollisWhitten

frugal living, frugal reddit, reddit, ask reddit, money, saving money, frugal tips, money saving tips Candles smell great, but are a totally unnecessary purchase for most people. Photo by No Revisions on Unsplash

"Cigarettes and nicotine pouches! Been smoke free since august 2021 and pouch free since July 2024 :)." HueLord3000

"Amazon Prime. We stopped paying for the privilege of shopping and making money for Bozo. Now, we just put stuff in the cart until there is enough for free shipping. I don’t miss Prime, I never found anything on Prime video I wanted to watch once that wasn’t a rental. We live in a rural village, so online is cheaper than driving 25 to 50 miles to a store." cwsjr2323

"Lottery tickets." evissamnoisis

"Hair color. I’ve embraced the gray!" phishinfordory

"I’ll add sandwich bread. I started making my own. It costs just over $1 for me to make a small loaf that’s just enough for the 2 of us for a week. Plus no additives or preservatives." BeerWench13TheOrig

"Books. I go to the library." Significant-Emu1855

"Broth. Have an ongoing 'broth bag' going in the freezer. Once I run out of frozen broth cubes, I make another round." Colorfulplaid123

"New clothes from shops! I'm now a charity shop and Vinted gal, my clothes are so much better quality and I spend less." CorinaPhoto

"Bidet toilet seat is cheap, easy to install, much easier and faster to use, and most importantly will keep you far cleaner while not wasting any toilet paper." hopopo

frugal living, frugal reddit, reddit, ask reddit, money, saving money, frugal tips, money saving tips A bidet toilet seat might be an investment, but it'll save you tons on toilet paper. Photo by Giorgio Trovato on Unsplash

"Menstrual products. Bought a menstrual cup back in 2016 and have not looked back." simply-misc

"Chip clips. I buy cheap old wooden clothespins! Works great and if they break, no biggie. It’s $2 for 24. I also use clear shower caps for dishes I have no lids for or it’s something that can’t have a lid, like deviled eggs. I use the shower caps. Much cheaper than those bowl covers they sell 8-12 in a pack for $1.25. Those bowl covers are kind of pricey and you get 1 large and 2 mediums and a bunch of tiny ones!!" Florida1974

"Alcohol." Fit_Artichoke_523

"Baked beans in the can, I literally keep everything on hand to make it so it was an excess purchase. Instant rice packs, I make regular rice, 20 minutes is not that long 😆 We keep getting gifted napkins but we don’t purchase them." Miss_Pouncealot

"Soap in a pump bottle. Switched to bars (Costco). So much value, less trash and plastic, and a better experience. Why did we invent pump bottle soap??" thebiglebowskiisfine

This article originally appeared two months ago. It has been updated.

frugalfrugal livingfrugal redditfrugal tipsmoneymoney saving hackssaving moneynew economyaskreddit
Internet
Community

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Television

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Teacher jokingly challenged a 10-year-old to 'find Duran Duran' while in the U.K. She did.

She walked right up to his front door.

Wikicommons, lakehighlandsadvocate IG

A teacher challenged her student to find Duran Duran. She never expected the student to actually pull it off.

Imagine this: you're a fourth-grade language arts teacher in Dallas, and like many Gen X-ers, your obsession with Duran Duran never waned. So much so that you still have dolls of each band member in the classroom, and, according to Austin Wood's article for the Lake Highlands Advocate, even an old telephone in case (lead singer) Simon LeBon calls. This describes Miriam Osborne, a fourth-grade teacher in the Dallas area at White Rock Elementary.

One of Osborne's students, 10-year-old Ava Meyers, was getting picked up early for Christmas break because her family was heading to the U.K. for a holiday wedding. As they were saying their goodbyes in the hallway, Osborne jokingly told Meyers, "Find Duran Duran."

The search for Simon LeBon

Cut to: Ava and her family, including her mom Zahara, fly across the pond to find themselves in the Putney neighborhood of London. After a day of sightseeing, Zahara shares, "I was just Googling things to do in Putney, and the first thing that popped up was 'Simon Le Bon lives in Putney from Duran Duran.'”

duran duran, duran duran live, Simon LeBon, John Taylor, lollapoalooza chile, the reflex Duran Duran at Lollapalooza Chile in 2017.Archive Team/Wikimedia Commons


Zahara did a little sleuthing and found Simon's house, thinking a Christmas stroll past the home might be exciting. But, according to the article, Ava felt they could do better. She and "an 83-year-old relative named Nick, who apparently has courage in droves, went to the door and tried a knock. Zahara was initially hesitant but assumed Le Bon would be away on vacation, so she figured it was harmless. Le Bon’s son-in-law answered, his wife came to the door next, and following a few moments of getting pitched the idea by Nick, agreed to get her husband 'because it was Christmas.'"

LeBon was a great sport

And just like that, LeBon appeared in the doorway. He warmly greeted Ava and her family and even took pictures. "It was just crazy," Ava exclaimed.

But possibly more excited was Miriam Osborne, back in the States. She proudly shared the photo (which had been texted to her) with many of her friends and even encouraged Ava to recount the story to her classmates when they returned from the break. Wood shares, "Osborne’s connection to the band goes back to her childhood in El Paso in the ’80s. As the daughter of a Syrian immigrant, she says she had trouble fitting in and finding an identity. Some days, she and her brothers would travel across town to get records from a British record store."

Miriam explains she used her babysitting money to buy her first Duran Duran record. "And so I had been a fan, literally, for 43 years—my entire lifetime."

Osborne's love of Duran Duran and many '80s bands nostalgically connects her to a throughline for her life that she tries to impart onto the students as well. "Music is a connector, and it connected me to a world that I didn’t always fit in as a child. It helped me find people who I still love to this day, and it’s a big part of this classroom with me and the students I teach, because everybody has a story, and there’s something really incredible about hearing something and it taking you to a happy moment."

duran duran, duran duran live, Simon LeBon, John Taylor, lollapoalooza chile, the reflex Duran Duran at Egzit festival in 2012.via Jelena Ivanović/Wikimedia Commons

Even though Duran Duran got together in 1978, nearly 50 years ago, the core group of LeBon, bassist John Taylor, keyboardist Nick Rhodes, and drummer Roger Taylor is still going strong. The "Hungry Like the Wolf" band recently completed a West Coast tour of the United States and is looking forward to headlining the Beach Life festival in Redondo Beach, California, in May.

As for Ava? She's now taking guitar lessons. And perhaps one day, she can become so famous and inspirational that a teacher sends a student out to find her during Christmas vacation.

This article originally appeared last year.

Pop Culture

Gen Xers and Boomers share things they were taught in school that are now totally incorrect

This is why lifelong learning matters.

Photo credit: Canva

Facts change as our collective knowledge expands.

If you were born in the 20th century, you were undoubtedly taught that our solar system consisted of the Sun orbited by nine planets. The planet farthest from the Sun was also the smallest: Pluto. In 2006, that fact changed. Pluto was demoted from full planet to dwarf planet, and the solar system now consists of the Sun and eight planets. What we were taught was correct based on the knowledge at the time, but it's now incorrect to say there are nine planets in our solar system.

There's nothing wrong with this, of course. As study and research advance our understanding of the world, facts sometimes change. There was a time when doctors recommended smoking, and now we know differently. Maps of the world have changed throughout history as our knowledge of geography has expanded. So people who went to school decades ago naturally learned some things that we now know to be incorrect.

What is something you were taught at school that is now known to be incorrect?
byu/Xeqqy inAskOldPeople

According to Redditors, here are some of the common "facts" that Gen Xers and Boomers learned in school that are no longer considered true today:

You won't always have a calculator with you (Ha!)

"In the future you won't be carrying around a calculator."

"I still think about those teachers. It wasn't just math teachers either. I had an eighth grade English teacher who went on a long rant about how the whole class was terrible at spelling and we'd all be judged as stupid because we can't spell. Someone said spell check and the teacher said we wouldn't always have spell check with us..... hey ms Edwards 👋"

"While my high school Algebra 2 teacher has long since died (cancer related at a relatively young age in 1999), knowing her personality and sense of humor, I think she'd have appreciated the irony of that statement had she lived a few more years."

The U.S. will soon switch to the metric system

"The US will be switching over to the metric system 'very very soon' to align with the rest of the world. THAT teaching occurred in my 1973 math class. Hmm"

"This happened to me one week circa 1984. We were gonna learn about base 10 and how it was so much easier and how the USA was going metric. I was like yeah okay 10s are easier to remember than 12's bring it on. Then it was just never mentioned again."



"OMG I think my second grade teacher told us that. That was around 1980. Still waiting! 😄"

"I was hearing it mid to late 70s some freeway signs started including Km for distance."

"Fourth grade in 1975, we had just learned US Standard, then they told us nevermind we're switching to metric. Metric was easier to compute, but it was hard to visualize the measurements in everyday life. A few highway signs had both MPH and KPH on them. Then nothing."

- YouTube www.youtube.com

Lemmings will follow one another off a cliff

"When I was in elementary school in the early 80's we watched a Disney film that showed Lemmings running off of a cliff in mass suicide. The narrator led us to believe that this was a completely natural behavior that Lemmings were genetically pre-disposed. This information was SO PREVALENT TO AN ENTIRE GENERATION that it became a cultural metaphor for someone following blindly. I believed it for nearly 25 years. A few years ago I discovered that the suicide was for some reason staged by the people at Disney. For reasons still unknown to me these morons at Disney chose to not only traumatize us by herding Lemmings off of a cliff, but to perpetuate a myth making (at least my 2nd grade class) us dumber in the process."

"People of my generation even played a video game called lemmings that was based on this myth."

"They didn't just herd them, they were throwing some of them."

It may sound unbelievable, but according to the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, it's true. Not only did the filmmakers herd the lemmings off the cliff, they threw some of them into the water.

Oil is made from dead dinosaurs

"That oil in the ground comes from degraded dinosaurs."

"I was today years old when I learned that oil does NOT come from degraded dinosaurs."

"I went back to college at age 40 and when my geology teacher jokingly said people used to think that I was like wait what is truth then? Lol"

"I legit used to think about how oil reserves would mean that a bunch of dinosaurs died at the exact same, specific place, over and over again, and I was like naw, someone ly'n to us…."

dinosaurs, fossil fuels, oil, dinosaur extinction, paleontology We've learned a lot about dinosaurs in the past 40 years. Photo credit: Canva

Dinosaurs, in general, were much more of a mystery

"No one knew why the dinosaurs went extinct, in elementary school, in the early 60's."

"I remember being taught it was up for debate."

"Me too. Graduated high school in 1997 so whatever year it was that I was in elementary school learning about Earth science, that's what we were taught. Maybe it was a meteor maybe it was climate change basically we have no idea. They just disappeared one day."

"Yes, that's accurate. The 'dinosaur extinction by asteroid' theory was first openly suggested, with evidence, in 1980. For a while it was one of the big 'science controversies,' but is now very generally accepted."

"We know so much more about dinos now, I would have never thought birds were related to them."

"Birds ARE dinosaurs. It's crazy. I missed this sometime between my childhood and now but the science between them and now has decided birds are, in fact, dinosaurs."

- YouTube www.youtube.com

Different parts of the tongue are responsible for different tastes

"We did this 'experiment' in class to see how the flavors were more intense on certain regions of the tongue and I could. not. tell. the difference. I was SO vindicated when this came out, because 8-year old me (new kid at tiny school) thought I was doing something wrong or I was defective in some way."

"I remember being taught that and immediately thinking 'That can't be true, things taste the same in every part of my tongue' AND I WAS RIGHT.'"

"I learned this in neurobiology class at UC Berkeley, and taught it at HSU. Sorry."

"Yeah! I tried testing it for bitter stuff I was forced to eat, like aspirin or liver and onions, and it didn't work to limit the taste to certain parts of my mouth. It never worked."

- YouTube www.youtube.com

The Civil War wasn't about slavery, just states' rights

"I had a 7th grade history teacher that tried to spin the civil war as just a states right issue that had nothing to do with slavery. Most of us knew that was BS and would argue against him. No, he was not playing the part to get us to engage…"

"My 9th grade teacher IN CALIFORNIA tried to do the same, saying 'Slavery was already on its way out in the South anyway, the war was about economics and states rights.'"

"Yep, but my teacher was for 5th grade and had us repeat several times the civil war was was not about slavery. Fortunately, I came to understand in a quick few years she was wrong. I still shudder to think she was teaching at all, much less in a religious school."

"I taught Texas History for a number of years in a large suburb north of Houston. The concept of 'states rights' is the official concept taught in 7th gr social studies. And, yes, I taught the party line - states rights. And every time I used the phrase 'states rights' I then used the words 'immoral and evil.' The students got the message. I always thought it was 'funny' that all the Southern states Articles of Seccession used 'slavery' as the reason for secession, not states rights."

"I went to small town public school in Louisiana in the 80s and 90s and that's always how the Civil War was taught to us. Every single year. No matter what teacher or what school. That slavery was just a sidenote. It was the states who were angry that they didn't have the rights to make their own decisions. Needless to say my education growing up was absolute crap and I had no idea until I went to college and realized how stupid I was."

Here's to lifelong learning!

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