Maybe you can’t justify spending loads of money on yourself, but there are a myriad of other methods to prioritize personal wellness that can be even more rewarding. Here are some ways to access practical self-care that require little to no spending. Looking back, I don’t know if I enjoyed the actual coffee as much as I enjoyed the ritual of doing something for myself. So I switched this routine for an at-home coffee ritual instead. I now have a gorgeous, hand-thrown pottery mug I use every morning to drink my perfect, dark-roast coffee. Bring awareness into your habits. Make sure your self-care rituals aren’t stale—because you may be paying for something you don’t even love anymore. Sure, it might take more self-discipline being my own motivator, but I like the flexibility of working out whenever I want (especially with a 9-month-old). Right now, I pay $99 per year for an online workout program that I can do in my living room. If that doesn’t fit in your budget, YouTube and Instagram have tons of quality workouts for free. Try following your breath for a few minutes while sitting on a chair or meditation pillow. If you’d like to go deeper, a free meditation app like MyLife Meditation, Calm, or Headspace can be a wonderful option to help get you started. Try a few until you find one you love. She also swears by monthly makeup subscriptions as another example of this “more for less” attitude towards self-care. Rather than paying for full-sized makeup—because she doesn’t wear makeup every day—Thomas says having a monthly subscription of trial-size brand names is totally fulfilling to her. She looks forward to it every month, and in her words, “It’s much cheaper than buying full-sized products that I may or may not finish using. Plus, $12 a month fits in my budget.” In the three years it took mom and entrepreneur Kayla Hart to pay off $75,000 worth of debt with three kids, her idea of self-care transformed completely. She no longer looks to shopping sprees, drinks, and dinners out to soothe herself on a regular basis. These days, she keeps her wants and needs in check by remembering what she calls “the four walls: food, shelter, clothing, transportation.” Everything else is extra. That said, Hart says she knows she “could easily drop money on good cheesecake,” and it would 100 percent fit in her budget. Because sometimes, aligning our needs and wants is self-care. We deserve to treat ourselves every now and then. Just make sure to use caution with language like “treat yourself” and “you deserve it,” lest you go overboard budget-wise. A great way to manage how many times you go beyond “the four walls” is by using a budget-tracking app like You Need a Budget. This way, you can indulge responsibly while still putting your financial goals in the forefront of your mind. Try meeting up with a friend for a power walk. Maybe bring iced tea and a picnic blanket for a long-overdue catch-up in the park. Or if your schedules are jam-packed, try bringing your laptops to a picnic table and working together in silence. Sometimes just knowing another person is around is enough. Self-care doesn’t mean being totally self-sufficient. Stay connected. In a recently resurfaced Instagram post from 2017, Rachel Cargle, public educator and philanthropist, addresses activism as a necessary part of self-care: “I don’t want your love and light if you’re not also doing the work to make the world we live in more survivable.” If your self-care doesn’t include caring for your community, is it truly self-care, or just selfish? “Goddess groups” and wellness circles that cost a ton of money and often aren’t accessible to most people who could really benefit from them—those are helping the few, not the community as a whole. Contributing to your community is rewarding in itself. “Meditate AND call your senator. Go to yoga AND go vote. Breathe deeply AND donate to causes that matter. Go on a retreat AND go support small businesses. Enjoy your essential oils AND check people on their bullshit in the community,” Cargle says. The nature of giving is rewarding in itself. Standing up for a cause and contributing to your community will benefit the lives of those around you as well as your own. When you act like a tourist in your own area, whether that’s a quick jaunt out of town or simply wandering a city park, it fulfills the need to get out of town without actually paying for a vacation. When we stay grounded in what we actually want, it keeps us from impulse buying, so when we do spend money on ourselves as a form of self-care, we’ll know it’s laser-focused—and actually worth it. Besides, checking in with mental and physical health always feels better than blowing money on things we can’t really can’t afford. You can have both: personal wellness and a reasonable budget. It’s easy to think self-care means giving ourselves expensive things, but self-care can be free and more intentional when we just get creative and tap into what it is we are truly craving.
