Need to take care of yourself? Free and cheap self-care ideas so that you can take time for yourself without spending much.
I don't know about you, but I've been leaning into self-care more than my norm.
Could be from:
- My husband traveling a bunch for work
- Running an online business in a rapidly changing environment
- Feeling like I need to keep one eye on the news every other hour
Or, you know…just life.
Are you with me? Need a pick-me-up?
Then keep reading for some seriously cheap self-care ideas I want you to start using today.
Free Self-Care Ideas
Ready for a mental reset (without spending your whole grocery budget)?
Build a couple of these self-care ideas into your daily routine, or use them for a special day, like a Self-Care Sunday.
1. Take a weekend sabbatical. Like, the whole weekend. No emails, no devices, no catching up on work or “I need to write just 1,000 more words.” Just spend time covering the basics of living and doing whatever you would like.
Psst: It could also be a great time to do a Pamper Yourself Day.
2. Sit down in a quiet room to read a book stuck on your TBR (To Be Read) list.
Hint: While you’re at it, why not take five minutes to fill in a TBR list with this free printable.
3. Do a 20-minute round of Sound Bathing by listening to this guided Sound Bathing video or this unguided one.
4. Become aware of where you’re “at”. Check out these free self-care worksheets and get a grip on what you need, what’s going well, and what needs to change.
5. Listen to a TED Talk and get inspired about something again.
6. Sign up for free sample boxes (no credit card required, and no shipping costs!).
7. Answer these “How Would I Treat a Friend” questions to shed some light on the negative self-talk and thought patterns taking up space in your brain.
8. Create an “I'm Awesome” list to add some pep to your step (thanks to Courtney Chaal for this idea!). Literally write out 100 reasons, in increments of 10, for why you are totally awesome.
9. Take 10-minute silent retreats – seriously, set your timer for 10 minutes, and sit in silence. Complete silence. Bathe in it. I’ve been doing this in the last few months, and it does so much for my mental capacity and overall well-being.
10. Find a local Labyrinth Walk and undergo the ancient walking meditation practice to ease stress and anxiety.
11. Ever heard of a Dopamine Menu? It’s a written menu of options of things to do specific to you that stimulates dopamine. Build yourself a Dopamine Menu to come back to time and time again. Here’s a great video on Dopamine Menus.
12. Give yourself the gift of completion – it will be SO rewarding to finish something on your to-do list. Seriously! Even more fun is getting to cross it off.
13. Turn off all notifications on your smartphone (we're talking email AND social media)…for the day, for the weekend, heck, forever!
14. Eat your next meal using your finest silverware and pottery that you only bring out on “special” occasions. Light candles. This will completely change your experience.
15. Find a dock or pier, take your shoes/socks off, and dangle your toes in the water.
16. Do a sunrise or sunset journaling session, whether that’s junk journaling or just writing out (even mind mapping) your thoughts for the day. Time it for whenever the sun is going up or down – your choice – and sit somewhere you can see the beautiful colors in the sky.
17. Create a responsibility-free zone for yourself for a set period of time. Some place where you don't feel like you have to do anything, your children don't need you, and you can just be. (Psst: here’s mine, in a little corner of our kitchen).
18. Give yourself star stickers on your to-do list. Seriously – this is the silliest thing, but I started doing it last year in a slump where it was hard for me to get through any of my tasks, let alone all of them. I decided I would start rewarding myself with cute stickers for the really important ones or the ones I was really proud of. It’s made such a difference – not just in getting more done but in feeling GOOD about my work.
19. Download a free meditation app for your phone, like Smiling Mind. Set an alarm on your phone to remind you to use one of the meditations.
20. Create a burn list of the thoughts that are stuck in your head and you want to try and root out. Be seriously, brutally honest in your writing – no one’s going to see it anyway. Then, safely burn it when you’re finished. Focus on clearing the mental space.
21. Dive into a juicy, all-engulfing true crime podcast (I’ll never forget how much I looked forward to this while cooking dinner with my infant).
Two I’ve enjoyed are:
22. Wear that outfit you only wear on special occasions, and strut around like a peacock! Look in the mirror at yourself and admire the spots you enjoy the most. Bask in confidence and self-love all day long.
23. Take an extra-long, hot shower. Not an “Everything Shower” or one where you’re trying to squeeze in a scrubbing session to get the tub clean (is that just me?). A shower where you’re delighting in the hot water. Sometimes, I plug my ears and hear the water hit my head in a different way – I recommend it!
24. Actually sit down and color in that adult coloring book you’ve been meaning to use for years (OR, print out these free printable adult coloring pages).
25. Soak in a bathtub. But try to make it special: like add a different kind of lighting, or your child’s planetarium lamp, or a bunch of candles.
26. Witness a sunset from a local natural point (beach, place in the city, up on a hill…).
27. Give yourself the gift of time: several hours of just whatever you want to do, or nothingness, quietness, etc.
28. Give yourself permission to spend an hour on Pinterest creating vision boards, perusing, or just daydreaming.
29. Date yourself or take an Artist Date to your local art museum’s free day.
30. Arrange for someone else to pick your child up and bring them home (return the favor in the future).
31. Set your eyes on something much larger than yourself by stargazing (on Android smartphones, download the free Google Skymap App…it's addictive, and for iPhones, get Stellarium for free).
32. Get lost in a new fiction book. Download a free eBook on Amazon's Kindle (I’ve done the searching for you – this page is updated with free eBooks each day).
33. Let someone else do a task for you when they ask, such as the dishes or laundry. Sit, instead.
34. Go to YouTube.com and plug in “Stand Up Comedy” into the search bar. Take your pick and enjoy the belly-laugh-inducing show!
35. Create an online class reunion of high school or college friends by creating a Google Hangout and inviting them on a certain date/time. Have a really good time catching up with childhood friends.
36. Skip your next cleaning day. Just because! You can do it the next day or several days later.
37. Sometimes the best self-care is just getting together with your besties and having a blast. Invite your core group of friends over for a poker night. No poker chips? Use something else like pennies from your penny jar or coupons (a la the movie scene in Mr. Mom).
38. Carve out some extra time and drive down a road you've never been.
39. Spend an interrupted 20 minutes playing with your cat or dog (bonus: use one of those little laser toys for endless fun).
40. There are tons of videos now about acupressure points. Choose one, like this with three points for stress and anxiety, and hit a few of your acupressure points.
41. Turn your office, library, or living room into a belly dancing studio by taking a free lesson on YouTube. Bonus: Invite friends over.
42. Indulge in what the Japanese call shinrin-yoku (translation: Forest Bathing).
43. Stream your favorite childhood movie for lighthearted, carefree time (mine is The Little Mermaid).
44. Light up a roomful of all those candles you never seem to burn, and just drape yourself in soothing light and silence.
45. Monkey around for an hour. Draw, dance, do headstands (or at least try), etc.
46. Play a solo game of Jenga or Solitaire.
47. Set an artificial deadline for something that’s been weighing heavily on you. Here’s the secret: make the deadline a day, a week, or even a month ahead of time. Revel in the gift of completion and mental space once the task/project is completed.
48. Some cosmetic counters give free makeup sessions (I’ve had a free facial before, too). Take advantage of this! You may learn a thing or two and will leave feeling great about your looks.
49. Close the curtains, find an hour by yourself, and walk around your home completely naked. Liberating!
50. The next time someone pays you a compliment, accept it wholeheartedly. Don’t think that you don’t deserve it, and don’t discount it. Just take it in.
51. Change your screensaver and/or desktop background to something wonderful. For me, this was switching to a moon – completely changed the feel and my experience of my phone.
52. Take a carefree joyride in your car. Crank up tunes that make you feel great, roll the windows down, and let your hair play in the wind. Take it in.
53. Clean your home during a weeknight instead of on the weekend so that your weekend feels really rewarding.
54. Give yourself permission to stop watching the news for a while. The reward is taking a lot of negativity out of your day – you’d be amazed how good it feels to go on non-news binges.
55. Stop off at your local playground and swing. Like you were a little kid, again! I did this the other day with my husband, and it was SO freeing.
56. Open a free trial on a streaming service to specifically watch one show/series/movie you’ve really been wanting to (then set a phone alert for when the free trial ends).
57. Browse a free digital magazine about a topic you’re seriously interested in – they’ve got really niche magazines there.
58. Pick a free at-home Yoga Session to do for your appointed self-care time (trust me – choosing it ahead of time cuts down on decision fatigue and gives you something to look forward to).
I like how Adriene has hers in playlists by time:
59. Create a slideshow screensaver of your favorite photos or inspirational photos to reward you over and over again throughout the workweek.
For example, on an iPhone, you would:
- Go to Settings
- Click Wallpaper
- Add New Wallpaper
- Photo Shuffle
- Choose your photos
60. Bust out that dusty CD that you used to listen to, and that will take you back to a fun or memorable time in your life (for me? That’s Norah Jones. I haven’t listened to her CD in like a decade, and it takes me straight back to my study abroad in Japan – an exciting time in its own right, and where I met my husband!).
61. *Actually* set an alarm or stay up to witness the next great astronomical phenomenon take over our skies: moon eclipse, solar eclipse, meteor showers, shooting stars, etc.
62. Change your ringtone to something that makes you joyous each time it beckons!
63. Gift yourself a slow morning. Got kids and a partner? Ask them to trade off a morning with you so that you each get the self-care of sleeping in some, getting out of bed without the beckoning of an alarm, and starting the day off in a slow way. Drink a drink you need to savor, like hot tea or coffee, and journal or read instead of opening up your phone or laptop at all.
64. Carve out time to do something YOU want to do but haven’t. I realized several years ago that I was hardly ever doing anything that I personally wanted to do – I was absorbing everyone else’s wants and choosing those for what we did as a family. When I started giving myself an hour here, 30 minutes there, or even a half day to do what I wanted, it really changed things for me.
Some examples from my own life:
- When I had an infant, I fit in watching the news (which I don’t normally do) to keep in touch with the outside world. I also got sucked into a show on HBO that was so, so good. It was just for me, and it felt delicious.
- When I had a toddler, I spoke to my husband about keeping him at home while I did the grocery shopping once a week. This turned into a normal routine, and it was such a breath of fresh air to be able to freely go into and around the stores of my choice each week for a few hours.
- When we moved cross-country and everything was overwhelming, I took the dried sourdough starter my sister had gifted me and brought it back to life. I carved out time to learn the art of sourdough, to maintain a starter, to bake the bread – it was something I had been interested in but thought I wouldn’t ever have the time to do. What a great reprieve for my busy mind!
Do this once a month, once a week, or once a day – whatever you can spare in this season of your life.
65. There’s a trend out there to romanticize your everyday life, and I absolutely love the idea. For me, this has been doing things like drinking a glass of wine while cooking dinner once a week, wearing a necklace even when I’m working at home all day and no one might see me, and lighting a fire in our fireplace on a random Wednesday in winter…just because. It could also be making your bed every day and spraying lavender on the pillows. Or even just wearing matching workout clothes (hey, a girl can dream!).
66. Curate the perfect pick-me-up music playlist on YouTube or Spotify, or wherever is easiest for you.
67. Borrow an audiobook from the library and stimulate your brain on your commute. Here's where else you can score free full-length audiobooks.
68. Do a voice journaling session – open your iPhone’s Journal App and use your phone’s speakerphone to just talk out whatever it is that you want to or need to. You can do this to a document or just save it as a voice memo.
69. Do a Bad Art Session – I think many of us need to work with our hands more. But there’s always so much pressure to create things well. Take the pressure off and use a notebook that’s just for Bad Art. Create whatever the heck you want in it! Draw random lines, cut things up, etc.
70. Create a pantry face mask and use it.
71. Locate a Little Free Library in your area and bring a few books to donate. While there, pick up the same number of new-to-you books as you give.
Hint: I do this while traveling, too – I bring an extra book to shuffle in someone’s Little Free Library.
Cheap Self-Care Ideas
1. Sit on your porch or patio with an ice cream and slowly eat it while listening and watching neighborhood kids play.
2. Play with a container of kinetic sand. I seriously do this every so often – I keep a container of kinetic sand NOT for my 9-year-old son…for myself. Sometimes, when we’re just watching TV in the evening, I’ll get some good tactile therapy in by just moving it through my fingers over and over and over again.
3. Make raw chocolate chip cookie dough (eggless – here's the recipe I use) and eat several spoonfuls.
4. Start a nightly herbal tea routine – choose a night tea or a set of herbal teas you like (here’s the one I’m currently using), and make yourself a hot cup of tea each evening. It’s such a simple way to feel like you’re taking care of yourself.
Psst: an electric tea kettle will make this soooooo simple to do – we keep ours out on the counter.
5. Enjoy a 5-minute back-gasm by making this back massager I learned about at an expensive yoga retreat. Take a foam pool noodle from the dollar store and squish a dowel rod into it. Place the noodle on the floor, lie your back on it, and roll yourself slowly up and down (stopping when you'd like to melt into certain areas of your back).
6. Go to the artisan soap area of your local department store and pick out something for under $5. Bonus: actually use it by taking a bath tonight!
7. Attend a community or donation-only yoga class (typically much cheaper – I had one in Houston that was $5 on Saturday mornings).
8. Take $7 to your local nursery and pick out a new plant to freshen up your outdoor or indoor space.
Bonus: getting to walk around in the oxygen-rich air and learn about plants.
9. Buy a more expensive cooking ingredient with lots of nutrients that you don’t normally splurge on in your normal grocery budget (like almond butter or this ashwagandha powder I found in Marshall’s food section – I put it in my iced coffee now).
10. There’s just something about McDonald’s fries – go through your local McDonald’s drive-thru and snack out to your inner 7-year-old’s delight.
11. Go to a real bakery (bonus points if you find a Parisian one) and buy something out of the case.
12. Purchase a single facial mask from the store (Target has a large section of them) and use it while watching your favorite show.
13. Buy one cupcake at a cupcake boutique.
14. Find a local Asian food store and pick out an interesting snack you want to try.
15. Go to your local Menchie's or froyo (frozen yogurt) place and make your own yogurt or sorbet sundae (they sell them by weight).
16. Buy a container of your favorite, extra decadent, single-serve yogurt. For me? It's Brown Cow Greek Salted Caramel. Yum! Bonus: Shake it up and pop it in the freezer for a frozen yogurt treat.
17. Pick out three almost-too-elegant-to-eat macaroons at your local bakery.
18. The next time you hear that familiar jingle, stand in line and order something from the ice cream truck guy. Bonus: Order what you used to when you were a kid.
19. Head to your nearest 50s-looking diner, sit at the bar, and order a slice of any pie you’d like. Do you want milk with that? Go for it!
20. Find a fun new mocktail to make, get all the ingredients, and declare it your new drink.
21. Use one of these cheap ways to decorate your office at work to buy yourself a new office supply or decoration for $5 or less.
22. Pick a body part to nourish overnight – for me, this was my lips. My lips feel like they’re always chapped, and I get embarrassed by it. One of the best self-care routines I’ve introduced in the last year is to use this Burt’s Bees Overnight Lip Treatment once or twice a week (I keep it right by my bed).
23. I’ve never been good at dressing myself or making outfits, but I got a significant boost in self-esteem (and had a lot of fun) doing that when I got my hands on this free outfit guide. It’s amazing what I had lurking in my closet that I could put together with other pieces to make into outfits I was suddenly proud of! Really great self-care routine I started about four years ago.
24. Get your home café fix down so that you feel cared for each morning. My personal one is this:
- ¾ cup milk (I use unsweetened, vanilla almond milk)
- 1.5 tbsps. Sugar
- ½ tsp. vanilla extract
- ½ tbsp. instant coffee from Whole Foods
- ¼ tsp. Ashwagandha powder (optional)
- 2 tbsps. hot water
- Dash of cinnamon (optional)
Instructions:
- Get a small bowl and put the sugar, vanilla extract, cinnamon, and ashwagandha powder (optional) into it.
- Fill a coffee mug with water and heat in the microwave for 1 minute. Add 2 tbsps. to the bowl (keep the other hot water in there – see why in a minute).
- Take a mason jar or other cup you get excited by and fill it with ¾ cup milk of choice (I used unsweetened vanilla almond milk).
- Use a frother to froth what’s in the bowl. Takes about 45 seconds to a minute (then I just dip the frother into the leftover hot water, and it’s cleaned!).
- Use a spatula and scrape all that goodness into your cup. Stir together and fill with ice (I always use 4 ice cubes).
25. Buy yourself 10 minutes in a massage chair at the mall.
26. Go grocery shopping with no time limit – hear me out on this one. Grocery shopping can actually be a very enjoyable experience when you give yourself time to go off the beaten path. To leisurely walk the aisles, looking at new things, trying out a few samples, perhaps going to a store you don’t normally go to. So give yourself the gift of no time limits (this is also a great way to build in self-care to your normal weekly routine).
27. Throw in shower steamers with mood-enhancing essential oils in your next shower for an uplifting experience.
28. Take care of yourself by creating a snuggle corner in your home – ours is below. It’s a giant family bean bag chair, plus the softest, comfortable blanket ever (from our 20s), and also a weighted blanket. There’s a basket of magazines beside it and a lamp, too. I just love how it’s tucked into a really small corner that’s completely out of view of everyone.
Nope – I’m not too old to be snuggling in a bean bag chair!
29. Here’s an excellent invitation to try a café in a neighborhood you’ve never been to before and indulge in some people-watching.
Use the self-care ideas that speak to YOU and make YOU feel nurtured to build your self-care routine or even for a whole special day, like a Self-Care Sunday.
Amanda L Grossman
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