100 Small, Nice Things to Do For Your Wife Just Because

It sounds a bit cliché, but it’s the little things that make a marriage. Grand gestures have their time and place, sure, but it’s the small, sweet ones that mean the most: those just-because gestures that you do to show your wife that you don’t take her for granted or simply make the hectic world you both inhabit a little bit more calm. Because those are the ones that add up in the long run. Here, then, are 100 little things you can do for your wife. Some are simple; others take a bit more planning and self-reflection. All will make a big difference.

1. Put her morning coffee in a thermos.

2. Tell her good morning; tell her goodnight.

3. Hold her hand when walking down the street or whatever.

4. Write or draw something stupid on a Post-It note. Stick it to the fridge or the door or the bathroom mirror — wherever she’s likely to see it and laugh.

5. Buy her flowers on literally any day that isn’t Valentine’s Day/your anniversary/her birthday.

6. What was the thing she used to love to do before you had kids? Make plans to do that thing.

7. Don’t bother her when she’s reading.

8. Buy the good soap. You know the one.

9. Clean the windows. All of them.

10. Is it cold out? Warm her car up before work. Is it hot? Get that A/C going. She doesn’t drive to work? Buy her one of those mini fans or, if you think she’d use it, a hand fan.

11. Let her sleep in.

12. Make her lunch for her.

13. Go to the movie she really wants to see. If you don’t enjoy it, and she did, keep it to yourself.

14. Have some favorite dresses or shirts or shoes that she wears and comment on them repeatedly until they’re special.

15. Tell her you love that way she laughs or sings or throws the football or talks shit about people on TV or makes you laugh.

16. Wash the towels and bath mat. Especially the bath mat.

17. Throw her robe in the dryer for a few minutes so it’s warm when she puts it on.

18. Buy some good lotion and rub her back or feet or whatever aches. Make it a whole thing, not a half-assed massage. Don’t be weird about it. And don’t expect a massage in return.

19. Wear an outfit she loves. Even if it’s the one with the collared shirt underneath the sweater that makes you look like the guy who always gets broken up with in movies.

20. Tell her you were thinking about her during the day. You don’t have to actually do it. Just say that you did.

21. Vacuum under the couch cushions. And the couch.

22. When you come home, say “There’s my beautiful bride!”

23. Fix that thing you know needs to be fixed.

24. Make her favorite dinner.

25. Clean the bathroom sink. It’s probably filthy.