In need of a Pamper Yourself Day without spending much money? Here is how to set up your at-home Pampering Day so that you feel refreshed. Self-care for the win!
So, you need a Pamper Yourself Day to unwind, to un-frazzle, to reset…and it’s gotta be on a pretty tight budget.
I hear you.
In fact, I’m documenting my own for this article.
It’s going to be a way to help me unwind from all the decadence of the last few months, plus bake in some fun to the Frugal January I’m doing.
This Pamper Yourself Day is being created in my home, with things I already own (except some grocery items).
Not only am I SO looking forward to this, but I’m really excited to share how to set one up for you, too.
Want to come with me? First up, let me show you how to set up your own day.
Psst: Read to the end, and you’ll see how mine turned out.
Pamper Yourself Day Prep
I can guarantee you a wonderful Pamper Yourself Day or Pamper Yourself Weekend on a teensy budget…but you will need to do some prep to pull it off.
Hint: this prep work is for YOU! So that should make it easier to do. Or if you’re like me…you might be tempted to skip this part. DON’T. Do it for yourself.
1. Set the Mood At Home
I’m not saying you need to pull off a full-house clean the day before your Pamper Yourself Day (you know – the kind that leaves you really tired and depleted of energy to actually enjoy your day).
But I am saying you need to do this one thing: clear a bunch of stuff off of your surface spaces.
And specifically, free your space of any unfinished projects, to-do tasks, or anything that is uncompleted.
Here's my before-and-after of the space where I'll be spending most of my Pamper Day:
Your brain needs a break from the visual cues to do more, more, more.
If you want to experience reduced stress and a different environment while at home, this is my number one tip.
Our kitchen counters, side tables, dresser tops, and anything else with a flat top gets covered with big piles of backlogged to-dos. If you’re staring at these all day or all weekend?
Well, then you’re not going to feel refreshed.
I don’t care if you have to just put things in boxes and shove those in the hallway closet. Just do it.
It’ll be life-changing.
2. Set Up a Hygge Space
Now, I want you to take one space in your home and turn it into a hygge space.
What is that?
It’s a little space that when you’re in it, and when you look at it, makes you feel cozy, content, and well.
Here's mine:
This could be a corner, a bench area in the kitchen (like I did!), a nook, a chaise with a little table next to it, your bathroom/bathtub area, on a porch/patio…anywhere where you can escape to on your Pamper Day and be swept away to.
To make it a hygge space, add a few of the following (from around your home):
- Some place to sit/lay down/lounge around
- An insanely comfy blanket
- Candles with something to light them with
- A delicious book you can’t get enough of (or that you’ve been saving to read for just the right time – I see you)
- Plants
- A few pieces of a treat (like chocolates)
- Something to prop your feet up
- A journal with a pen
- Add a small, cozy lamp
It’s really whatever you want to add to it – the point is, to make it feel a bit magical.
Hint: sit in your Hygge space one time before your Pamper Yourself Day. Check out the sightlines, and see your house from this angle – you’ll likely notice some things that will make this space “less magical” the next day that you can clear up quickly (for me, that was finding a strip of age-old dust under our refrigerator).
3. Prep Your Food
Few people want to spend their Pamper Day cooking and baking (unless that is supremely relaxing to you – then go ahead!), yet we all want to eat scrumptious food as part of us spoiling ourselves.
amiright?
That’s why I want you to prep some food ahead of your Pamper Yourself day. That way, you can just take a container out of the fridge, pop it in the microwave/oven/crockpot/your mouth, and eat something delicious.
You can follow the prep and menu plan I set for my own day if you’d like: I gathered several cute food containers I have in my cupboards already, like a bento box, a couple of small & medium-sized glass containers, and some mason jars.
Then I looked through our fridge, pantry, and freezer.
Here’s how I’m prepping my food for my own Pamper Yourself Day:
- Chunky Monkey Overnight Oats in a Mason jar (breakfast)
- Salmon Poke Bowl (prep the shredded carrots, cooked rice, sliced cucumbers, etc.) + sriracha mayo sauce (lunch – I’ll cook the salmon for it tomorrow)
- Healthy Apple Snickers Salad (snack)
- Crockpot Ginger Beef (dinner – prepped in a bag today, then put into a slow cooker tomorrow for 3-4 hours)
- Large Pitcher (we use this one) in the fridge filled with filtered water, sliced cucumbers, and mint (to drink throughout the day)
- Cottage Cheese & Peanut Butter Snickers Dessert (snack)
- Frozen Cocktail Tumbler (evening drink – I scored these on clearance at a Marshall’s, and I like to make their Strawberry Lemonade Frosé)
Just imagine this time tomorrow: as you need something to munch on or a meal to eat, you’ll simply open your fridge and get out one of your prepped dishes.
#Pampering
One final note: it’s going to be hard to pamper yourself – not impossible, but hard – if the kids are home. I arranged for a 3-hour playdate for my son at his friend’s house for my Pamper Yourself Day. Perhaps you could do the same, or take them to a grandparents’ house, or do it while they’re in school if you work for yourself like I do. Otherwise, still set everything up – you’ll get a break and get some much-needed pampering, even if it’s in between asking them to clean up from their lunch for the third time.
Pamper Yourself Day Themes
Your fourth and final bit of prep work is to choose the theme for your Pamper Yourself Day.
1. The 5 Senses Pamper Yourself Day
Imagine in your Hygge Space, having a basket full of things to do centered around delighting your 5 senses.
That sounds like some good pampering, to me!
You could go lots of different ways with this, but I’ll give you some of my own ideas:
- Touch: a fun fidget toy, velvety-soft blanket, kinetic sand bin to play with (I have one of these!), back/feet massager, wearing a comfy robe, etc.
- Taste: box of various chocolate truffles to sample, a guided food-tasting meditation (I did this once at a yoga retreat – very interesting),
- Sound: a candle that crackles as it burns, a podcast on a subject you’re really interested in,
- Smell: roll-on blend of essential oils, adding lemons or mint to your water, winter simmer pot packet, etc.
- Sight: candlelight surrounding you, green plants, an art book to look through, putting up a string of white lights around your hygge space,
2. The Silent Retreat Pamper Yourself Day
Our days are full of noise pollution.
The television, the car radio, YouTube videos, talking from everyone, talking from ourselves, the dishwasher running, and so much more.
I’m actually taking a Silent Retreat this year for a weekend at a semi-local monastery.
But I got to thinking – I could create my own Silent Day at home.
It’s not going to be exactly the same, but I could get close enough to make it feel special.
And for me? A day without a lot of noise + delicious foods already prepped + a hygge space would really feel like a Pamper Day.
This means:
- No talking for a large portion of the day (after I drop my child off to school, and before he comes home from the bus)
- No YouTube videos
- No podcasts
- No online business courses
- No appliances running in the background
- No television running in the background
- No talking on the phone
What sounds will I add IN? Nature ones. There is a beautiful forest walkway just a short walk from our home with a bunch of tree stumps that I can use to just sit and soak in natural sounds.
In this season of my life, it’s not feasible to block off an entire day of silence at home – but I know I could get 5-6 hours. And that will be a golden reset to my oftentimes overwhelmed brain.
3. Romanticize Your Life Pamper Day
Have you heard about romanticizing your life?
It’s the idea of finding and really living the beautiful moments each of us has the chance to experience daily…but that we often overlook in the rush of our routines.
This is the perfect Pamper Yourself Day for those of us that can’t really get a playdate set up, or school isn’t in, or we need to go through our “normal” routine even though we want to fit in some self-care.
Because you go through your normal day, but you take things more slowly. You stop to appreciate things. You prep the stuff we talked about earlier and enjoy that bit of pampering. And you add in gratitude, mindfulness, and mini-celebrations of everyday stuff.
It can be life-changing.
My Own Pamper Yourself Day Experience
On my Pamper Yourself Day, I did end up prepping all the food the night before.
But I have to admit, I didn’t want to (well, at first)!
After traveling home from a road trip, then meal prepping, and grocery shopping – I didn’t think I’d have the energy to do the meal prep for myself.
I kept going and the coolest thing happened: each prepped meal and snack made me more and more excited about my Pamper Day.
I filled a shelf of healthy and yummy foods in my fridge in just one hour. And it made me feel so cared for, already!
The morning of, I was a bit bummed because I had not had time to prep my space at all.
That’s what you’re seeing here (my hygge area is that bench in the kitchen).
I made my son his breakfast (cereal and 2 over-hard eggs), and then took 25 minutes to clean the kitchen up – including dishes – and to create that hygge space. It made all the difference.
It is perfect? Heck, no! But I’m a firm believer that if you tire yourself out during the preparation to the point where you’re resentful, out of breath, and have even less energy…then you’ve missed the point (if I was still in my 20s, I’d probably still be missing the point; but with a child and a business and life, trust me that I get the point a lot more).
Then I brought back some of that magicalness to my Pamper Day by separating from the chores with a bit of space and time – sort of like a do-over – by going upstairs and getting dressed for the day and THEN coming down to “start” my Pamper Yourself Day.
The second time down the stairs was a dream! Clean kitchen + food prepped in the fridge (including my breakfast) + a hygge space just for me.
I dropped my son off to his 3-hour playdate (thankfully, just 6 minutes away), and came back to a prepped breakfast.
That, in itself, felt just blissful. To sit in the hygge space I had created, and leisurely eat something I didn’t have to make right then and there.
During those three hours, I slowed down. I became much more intentional. I allowed myself to think – for as long as I wanted to (instead of getting pulled in a thousand directions).
I enjoyed delicious and healthy foods anytime I wanted them, and drank yummy cucumber-mint water in one of my favorite cold tumblers that I hardly ever take the time to use.
I read pages from books I felt called to, not because I felt that I needed to finish something.
Even after picking up my son and my husband coming home, there was some magic left. The kitchen felt so much more spacious and inviting, and I only had to put the prepped crockpot meal into the slow cooker and turn it on about 3 hours before dinner.
I’m now 1 week out from doing this, and our kitchen is still so much less cluttered. My hygge space is mostly intact, and I spend a little extra time there each day than I did before. Staring out the window. Petting our cat. Thinking.
It’s been such a wonderful experience – you can bet I’ll be doing this again! Budget self-care, for the win.
Amanda L Grossman
Latest posts by Amanda L Grossman (see all)
- How to Set Up a Pamper Yourself Day (On a Teensy Budget) - January 4, 2025
- 5 Easy Edible Christmas Treats to Gift (You Can Make Ahead!) - December 13, 2024
- How to Make Edible Cookie Dough Cutters to Gift - December 13, 2024
