This post was sponsored by generationOn as part of an Influencer Activation for Influence Central.

“No act of kindness, however small, is ever wasted.” —Aesop

In hopes of talking less and doing more when it comes to helping others, I’ve started a series I’m calling Good Samaritan Saturday. On Saturday mornings, I’ll post a little something you can do to start your weekend out with positive vibes by helping to lift someone else up…

Slowly but surely we’re heading into that super busy time of year. You can tell by the way the holiday decorations are creeping closer and closer to the doors of all the craft stores (#notready).

I always have the best of intentions during the holidays. I want to teach my kids to be giving—not just to friends and family members, but to people who really need a little extra love. Somehow it manages to get lost in the shuffle of activities and to-do lists and the hibernation that comes along with snow and ice. But giving back to your community doesn’t have to be this huge, time-consuming endeavor. With the right resources and a healthy dose of knowledge, your family can spread acts of kindness even while hunkered down during a snowstorm.

Enter generationON, whose mission is “to inspire, equip, and mobilize youth to take action that changes the world and themselves through service.”

Um, yes please! This sounds like exactly the type of organization a well-meaning momma like myself needs to actually take action and get her kids excited to do the same.

By now you’ve probably heard of the book The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up, right? It’s basically a guide to decluttering written by Japanese cleaning consultant Marie Kondo. I was seeing it again and again in my Instagram feed and heard it mentioned in a few of my favorite podcasts. The more I heard, the more it sounded like people loved it and truly found it life-changing or they just didn’t get it and couldn’t get through.

I became obsessed with knowing which camp I fell into.

At first, I had a sort of love-hate relationship with the book. The kind where sometimes you’re all nods and warm fuzzy “hell yeahs!” and the next you’re envisioning yourself throwing your Nook directly at your window because watching the glass shatter would bring you so much more joy than reading one more sentence (Kondo’s whole method of decluttering centers around holding something in your hands and deciding whether or not it brings you joy).

But then it started to sink in a little. To sort of melt into the folds of my brain and really make me think. This book isn’t just about cleaning. It’s about life. It’s about consciously choosing joy every single time you make a decision. That’s where the whole “life-changing magic” comes in.

It feels like it’s been so long since I read this book. It was one of those that grab you tightly and pull you in so that you absolutely need to know what happens. You know, the kind that you stay up way past your bedtime reading.

Needless to say, I finished this one early in the month and have actually gotten through a book and a half since then—which is major for me considering the girls are on summer vacation and I’ve felt like I’m getting nothing done lately.

The overall consensus in our virtual book club is that this is a good one. The girls who weighed in all seemed to be just as sucked into the story as I was. My biggest issue was the ending. With all of the drama and twists and turns, I expected a serious wallop at the end. But I was left feeling a little meh.

I like lists. Like, a lot. In fact, I have way too many of them.

One of my many lists is an Evernote note full of books that I really want to read. I keep it in Evernote so that I can add to it no matter where I am—whether I’m at my computer or out somewhere and using my phone, I can pull it up and add to it. It cuts down on the 47 half lists that are usually floating around my house and purse and pants pockets.

Since my list is getting long, I thought I’d share a few with you guys to see if you’ve read any of them or if you have any that I need to add.

FINALLY!

I’ve been dying to discuss this book in detail with you guys. Do not read through if you haven’t finished the book yet!

There was so much going on in this story, I can’t even begin to cover it all in five questions.

There was so much I liked about it. It dealt with some really heavy themes (a murder, abuse, bullying, family dynamics, body image), yet it managed to be really funny without making the issues at hand seem trivial.

I also really enjoyed that while there was a ton of cattiness and drama between the women in the book, at its core it was a book about female friendship. In the end, even women who didn’t see eye to eye came together and stood up for each other.