treat yourself without spending money

Did you know you can really treat yourself without spending money?

Saving up money all while trying to treat yourself can be stressful. I was on that same boat around this time last year and the year before that. All I did was spend money I thought and pretended I had all for short pleasantries.

I’ve compiled a list for you all so you never make my mistake. I’m positive you can still have fun even if you can’t splurge!

If you know where the “Treat Yo’self” phrase came from, we should connect more and maybe do a P&R marathon one day lol.

And if you don’t here it is, the birth of Treat Yourself:

TREAT YOURSELF WITHOUT SPENDING MONEY

go to a museum for free

Many museums have a day when entrance is free or pay-what-you-can. For Chicagoans, it’s usually on Mondays.

pamper yourself

Do your eyebrows, take a bubble bath, make yourself breakfast, do all of the above and binge watch movies and shows! The possibilities are endless 🙂
Tip: put candles around your room / house to make you feel more relaxed.

Read: 15+ ways to pamper yourself on a budget

enjoy happy hour and lunch specials

You’re not cheap, you just know how to spend 😉

movie night!!!

Bring in a big tote bag and put pads or tampons at the top so you can hide food under it. I always have a pad in my bag and security stops checking my bag once they see it since they’re usually male (rolls eyes). Call me stingy but theater food is not cheap. Also, just don’t be nervous about bringing food! I actually haven’t had my bag checked in a long time.

Check out an early movie before noon, or go to the matinee, they’re usually cheaper then.

If you don’t even want to spend gas money or bus fare, stay home with bae or your cat and watch tv! Get cozy and, Treat Yourself!

go for a hike, walk, or run!

Head to a nearby trail, or find suggestions online for an urban hike in your city. You can also just walk around with a friend. Don’t forget your headphones!

read a book while taking a long bath

Go to your local park or coffee shop, and enjoy some reading time.

take a free class

Many places have introductory offers for new students. You can go to a yoga class, karate, pottery, or any other class offered in your area. I know there’s a self defense class near me, but I’m not sure if it’s free.

go thrifting

Set yourself a max budget and bring it in cash to prevent impulse purchases. Maybe you can bring in clothes to sell, and what you make from that sale you can use to spend.

Most clothes celebs wear are expensive and not ethically made anyways. Head over to goodwill or any cheap thrift shop and buy fancy looking clothes that NEED a second chance!

watch a free live show

Treat yourself to music, improv, comedy, theater and more arts! These type of local events are usually free. Don’t forget to tip performers, even if you can only manage a small amount!

relax at your local beach or park

If you don’t live by the beach, or if it’s winter, then just hit up a sauna! Saunas are really helpful for you in many ways, but there can be dangers to using one, so do your research!

pickup an old hobby

Maybe you used to play an instrument or paint. If you still have the supplies laying around, rediscover why you loved it so much.

bujo YOU time

Bring out your boring journal and make it cute! write in your gratitude journal, vent, write plans you have for this month and what you want to accomplish, the possibilities are really endless!

bujo resources: Ultimate Bujo Ideas List, new moon bujo affirmations coming true!

have a picnic

Even just packing up a bottle of your fav drink to enjoy somewhere is nice. I would love to have a picnic with friends one day because I just think they’re so cute and fun. You can also go to the park and watch a cute movie on a laptop. That’s what I did with Alexander and it was so much fun and unforgettable!

stargaze

You can have a picnic later in the day and stay until it gets dark. Take some time to appreciate what most people never even think about. You will feel amazing once you do. Make sure to bring two blankets and maybe some bug repellent?

visit free art galleries

want to know how to treat yourself without spending money? go to every place that is free! You’ll usually find a lot of them in your nearest city, and there’s no cost to look around!

go yard sale hunting

People will throw unwanted furniture on the streets, free for the taking, depending on where you live. The garbage is picked up in the front where I live so it makes it look less like dumpster diving. Make sure to sanitize whatever you take, and avoid mattresses and other things that are hard to wash.

I haven’t found anything yet but it’s fun to try if you got nothing else to do lol

go estate sale hunting

You can also look up estate sales in your area. Usually everything is under $100, including furniture. I recently went to one just to look around and I ended up getting a super cute cushion and a fancy lamp plus trinkets all under $12.
We also ran into a man at that estate who owns an antique furniture store. Turns out, we caught him doing his job -he purchases cheap but fancy antique furniture from estate sales (usually at $12) and he resells them at his shop for more than $50. You can find things in his store that costs $700. My mom and I decided not to buy from him since we can just hit up estate sales too lol

The lamp was $5 and the cushion was probably $2. def not worth it to buy something new and pay taxes and an arm and a leg when theres LIKE NEW items in estate sales nearby! One persons trash, is another persons treasure! Seriously guys, let’s stop being wasteful!

watch the sunrise and set

I’ve never done this before, but it’s definitely in my bucket list.

have a photoshoot

Take a bunch of photos of yourself or friends, and have them photograph you. You could always use some fresh new pics to share on the gram.

go to karaoke

If you can get a couple of other broke friends together, you can split a private room. Lots of places will have special discounts during the week too. You can also just do this at home! I’ve done it once at a friends house, it was very fun and great since my friend made brownies lol

ride a bike somewhere

Ride one alone or with friends. I don’t ride bikes alone because I always get anxious riding, I feel so naked compared to when I’m driving a car. Anytime I ride one though, I never wanna get off! seriously, this is a great way to treat yourself without spending money lol

make art!

a great way to treat yourself without spending money is to make something. why not get creative?

Here are some great sites to download software or use straight from your desktop:

*= available for both windows and mac os

• GIMP * – Does a lot of the same stuff as Photoshop
• FireAlpaca * – Similar to Paint Tool Sai, so it’s a good alternative for Mac users.
• Pinta * – Drawing program modeled after paint.NET.
• ArtRage * – Digital painting program
• Sumo Paint * – In-browser drawing app.
• DAZ Studio * – Some sort of 3D model thing.
• SketchUp * – Tool for making 3D models
• Blender * – Popular 3D software.
• escape motions * – browser apps
• Twistedbrush (Pixarra) – For replicating the look of traditional media.
• Pixia/Phierha – A popular program in Japan
• Krita – FREE and open source painting program.
• Artweaver – Another Free thing
• Speedy Painter – Lightweight digital painting program.
• mtPaint – Originally made for pixel art; simple enough to run on older computers.
• more on my tumblr

Thanks for reading ways to treat yourself without spending money

Let me know what else I should add to the list!

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