15 Frugal Ways to Pamper yourself this summer

1. Read a good book. There's nothing good on TV anyway, so curl up in the evening with a good junk-food type novel that is purely for enjoyment. Or sit on your porch or by the pool in the middle of the afternoon and soak up some vitamin D while you read.

2. Pull out all the bottles of various bath and body stuff that gets buried in your closets and use it.

3. Take a nap. In the middle of the day. You know you want to.

4. Find a local winery and see if they have free tastings. Grab your honey or your friends and go spend a frugal and extravagant afternoon.

5. Go to the pool/lake/beach/park, or whatever you can visit inexpensively in your area, and pretend you're on vacation.

6. Serve sandwiches for dinner. Or a cheese plate and fruit. Anything that saves you time, keeps your house cool, and is fun to eat.

7. Go to the bookstore and browse the books or magazines. Spend an hour in a comfortable chair reading a book, while your children and honey (if you have them) do their own browsing. Watch for free coffee coupons to make this even better.

8. Three words: Starbucks ice cream

9. Put on some music and dance. Research shows that dancing is one of the top two things that really make people happy.

10. Have a cup of tea in your nicest tea cup or a glass of lemonade in your prettiest stem glass.

11. Find some free yoga videos online and get your ohmmmm on.

12. Don't forget to play. Whether or not you have kids, schedule in some time to play a board game or throw a ball or frisbee around.

13. Take a walk. It's 104 degrees out here, so I tend to skip this one, but once it cools down, a walk really calms my mind.

13. Find your favorite "guilty pleasure" TV shows on hulu and watch them while dinner cooks or you fold the laundry (Gilmore girls is on abcfamily.com if anyone shares my preferences ;) )

14. Pull out some stationery you like and write a nice letter.

15. Put cucumber slices or mint leaves in your water, soak your feet in any old basin, and rub some kind of a mask (storebought or homemade with wacky grocery ingredients) into your face, and pretend you are at a spa.


For more great ideas, check out Frugal Friday at Life as Mom