Are you spending too much on self-care items?
According to one study, the average American spends around $200 on self-care treats per month.
Does that sound shocking or just right to you? Let’s take a closer look at how much you should spend on treating yourself, plus advice on how to scale back if you’re spoiling yourself too much.
Self-Care or Splurging?
Self-care is important. You need it to reinforce your self-worth and for a healthy work-life balance.
Also, without carving some time for yourself, you might not notice how stress is creeping up on you. This will take a toll on your physical and mental health. That’s why self-care isn’t optional, it’s a must.
Of course, there is taking care of yourself and there’s going overboard with it. If your self-care spending has you dipping into your savings, it’s a problem.
The good news is, there’s an easy way to calculate how much you should be spending on taking care of yourself.
Your Self-Care Budget
The 50/20/30 rule is one of the easiest formulas to follow when you’re working out a self-care budget. The highest percentage of your income (50%) should be for fixed expenses. These include rent, utilities, etc.
Now, the 20% is for your savings and retirement, while the remaining 30% is for miscellaneous items. This is where you get your “treat yourself” budget. It’s important you pay the essentials first before blowing the 30% on let’s say beauty products or a luxury item like a designer bag.
You should also remember how to calculate your income properly. Don’t look at what salary is in your contract.
Check your pay stub and see what you have left after taxes. A pay stub creator can help you with that.
Self-Care Items vs. Experiences
Self-care isn’t just beauty products and treatments. There are other ways to treat yourself such as going to a movie, seeing a band you like, traveling to a new place, and so on.
There are also self-care practices that don’t involve spending. For example, sleeping in on a weekend or taking 10 minutes to meditate or writing in a journal don’t cost a thing. But they’re all good for you. But as you know sleep is a most important thing to being healthy and fit. So you must need to know the best sleeping position to get a perfect rest for your body.
What’s important is you find a balance between a self-care plan that fits your needs and personality and your current financial state. So if self-care to you means products that help you look and feel good, you don’t need to buy top of the line makeup and skin care items if you can’t afford it.
Affordable skin care products exist. And for that matter, there are also cheap ways to entertain yourself at home. Remember, you can treat yourself and be practical at the same time.
Are You Treating Yourself Right?
Knowing the importance of self-care should motivate you to think about treating yourself more. But that doesn’t mean you should spend everything you have on self-care items.
Be financially smart about treating yourself. So you don’t only take care of yourself for today, but for tomorrow as well.
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