12 Cheap and Quick Self-Care Activities

The activities mentioned in this post are either under 30 minutes or under $25.

We are in the middle of the 2019 Selfie Love challenge. I’ve teamed up with Samantha from My Bipolar Mind to bring you a two-week challenge dedicated to all things self-love and self-care. If you haven’t started the challenge, it’s not too late to start! You can read more about the challenge here. Now let’s get into these self-care activities.

There is a big misconception that self-care has to be expensive or time-consuming. This is simply not true. Self-care is what you make of it. If you have the money or time to spend on pampering yourself, and that’s what you want to do, then go for it. There are so many other options when it comes to self-care activities that are both cheap and quick. Today I’m sharing with you some ideas that fit both of those criteria.

Deep Breathing

Guess what? Breathing is free and takes only a few seconds of your time. Those days when you are stressed, don’t know how you are going to get through the day, or need to calm down any anxious thoughts and you are slammed with never ending to-do lists, this is for you. Just take a small pause from your day and take a few deep breaths.

Bubble Bath

This one may take more time if you are wanting to take a long bath, but it is very inexpensive. All you really need is your favorite bubble bath, however if you wanted to add any bath salts, bath bombs, essential oils, etc. that would most likely go over $25. So if you are going for cheap and quick I would just stick with a basic bubble bath.

Reading a book

I love to read. It can be a great way to escape everyday life, if you are reading fiction, or learn something new if you are reading non-fiction. If you have been following my blog, you know I have a goal to read 24 books this year. Books can get expensive if you read a lot so to keep the cost low I’d suggest using Thriftbooks to buy used books for cheap or go to your local library. If you are worried you are going to over 30 minutes while reading set an alarm to go off as a reminder.

Listening to music

Listening to an inspirational song can be a great quick way to practice self-care. It can motivate you, empower you, or simply allow you to feel like you are not alone. If you are looking for a specific song I’d suggest going to YouTube or Spotify. Both are free, but if you want more benefits, like offline listening, you can be a monthly subscriber for a low price.

Spa night

I’ve never been to an actual spa but I imagine that it is very costly. There are so many diy (do-it-yourself) recipes that you can make, or if you are tight on time consider buying a single face mask. Some diy recipes I am hoping to try out soon is this hair mask from Love Sweat Fitness, this hair scrub from Best Of Tips, this peppermint scrub from POPSUGAR, and this face mask from Hot Beauty Health.

Mani/pedi

You don’t have to go to the salon to show your nails some love. Invite your girlfriends over, or spend some relaxing alone time painting your nails. If you do decide to go to a salon, try finding a cosmetology school and make an appointment with someone in training. You’ll get a better price and help someone gain experience.

Exercise

Another great self-care activity is exercise. A simple search for no-equipment workouts give you the option to skip the gym membership because all you need for those workouts is yourself. This is one of my favorite workouts because you don’t even need to leave the couch.

Journal

Journaling is a great way to practice self-care. You can do this at any time of day for any length of time. Whether you just use notebook paper or have a specific notebook for it is up to you. I bought a notebook from a dollar store that I use. The length of the journal entry is up to you as well. Whether it’s one sentence or one page, your journaling time gets to be whatever you want it to be. If you need ideas for what to journal check out this post.

Drink Water

At first glance this may not seem like a self-care activity. I tend to go through the day without drinking enough water. So if you are like me it can be a form of self-care to stop and physically think about drinking water and then acting on that thought.

Meditate/pray

When you are stressed, anxious, or upset about a particular subject, task, event, etc. it can be helpful to take a few minutes to pray about it and/or meditate to release those negative thoughts and refresh your mind.

Take a Nap

Didn’t have a great sleep last night? Taking a quick power nap can be a form of self-care as well. Just be sure to set an alarm so you don’t sleep through other tasks or commitments.

Unplug

Many of us today have a problem stopping the social media scroll. If you find yourself getting more and more distracted by your phone throughout your day, it’s time to unplug. This undistracted time can be a self-care activity because you are not crowding your mind with
distractions which will give you more “me” time in the long run. So what are you waiting for? Once you finish reading this post put on Do Not Disturb and step away from the phone.

I hope you found some new self-care activities you can do when you are busy and/or don’t want to spend tons of money. Taking care of yourself shouldn’t be complicated or hard which is why I choose these activities to share with you. Which one is your favorite?