Being a mom is a full-time job with no vacation or sick leaves and any time-off benefits. At least, not until your children can confidently stand on their own two feet. When you have kids that you have to take care of day-in and day-out, it’s like second nature to put their needs before yours.
That’s understandable because those are your children. You nurture and provide them with everything they will need to survive in this world. But that is no excuse to neglect yourself and your needs. After all, you can’t take care of them properly if you’re sick or unable due to circumstances of fate.
You are your own person before you were their mom, and it’s not selfish to care for yourself once in a while. It’s important to treat yourself to simple luxuries every time you can because you’re not getting any younger. Self-care is a crucial part of life, and there are ways you can do it without having to break your bank.
Tip #1 Always Present Yourself Nicely
Just because you’re a mom now, that doesn’t mean that you should take no pleasure in looking good for yourself. Besides, showing your children that you look and feel good in your own skin can work wonders on their confidence as they grow up.
Don’t change the way you dress or carry yourself based on the way society dictates what a mother should look like or because you’re skimping on money for your children. Good fashion taste isn’t determined by the amount on the price tag — it’s in the way the person wearing it carries their selves.
So try to allot some money to treat yourself once in a while. Go the extra mile and buy yourself that LED light mouthpiece you’ve been wanting to for so long. You won’t regret it when you see how bright your smile can be. A good smile is, after all, the best makeup any girl can wear.
Tip #2 Take Care of Your Skin
Skincare is an important aspect of self-care. It’s not just dependent on the products you apply to your skin based on a routine, but it can be beneficial in making your skin look supple and healthy. You shouldn’t be ashamed of having wrinkles, dark spots, or laugh lines because they are natural.
However, having those doesn’t mean that you should just give up on caring for your skin altogether. With a good brand of moisturizer, sunscreen, and scrub, you’ll be good to go. Even drugstore cosmetics can work wonders if you know that brands can work for your skin type.
One skincare hack you can follow is to recycle your used coffee grounds after you brew coffee in the morning. Those coffee grounds can be used to exfoliate your face and body to remove dead skin cells. Coffee scrubs also have anti-aging benefits and can reduce cellulite appearing on your skin; making it smoother in the process.
Tip #3 Occasionally Treat Your Hair
Hair is every woman’s crowning glory, and as such, you should care for it accordingly. If occasional trips to the salon to get treatments are too expensive for your taste, you can turn to home remedies that can offer you the same benefits for a cheaper cost.
You might not know this yet, but coconut oil is an effective moisturizer that you can use before or after you wash your hair. Doing so can lessen the damage your hair experiences during washing, and help you grow your hair longer because it reduces breakage as well as protein loss.
Another way you can protect your hair is by not shampooing it every day. This is because the natural oils in your hair will have no chance to protect it if you keep washing it away with chemicals. Let your hair breathe by only using shampoo every other day or when necessary.
Tip #4 Invest in Your Health
At this age, you should already know that your health is something you can’t neglect. You won’t be able to take care of your children as much as you want to if you’re physically unable to do so. If you’re not yet making changes towards healthier habits for you and your family, then you should start immediately.
This can be in the form of conducting home exercises through online materials or sneaking in a run around the neighborhood while your kids are still asleep. You can stay fit without having to spend money on gym memberships.
You can also invest in appliances that will allow you to cook food without oil, such as an oven or an air fryer. Oil alone is not bad, but consuming it too much and too often can have adverse effects on your family’s health.
There are a lot of ways to care for yourself that aren’t expensive. Especially now that you’re a mom, you should be careful about how you spend your money because you have children to provide for. Still, you take care of yourself and your kids simultaneously, you just have to get creative.