30 Cosy Winter Self Care Ideas + FREE Printable!

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Am I the only one who associate winter solely with December? I mean, I know that the coldest months of the year are January and February, obviously. But I can shake off the feeling that it’s spring now, and it’s way too late to even think about winter self care.

But you know what? That’s all just in my mind so let’s forget about that and dive in into best cosy winter self care ideas I’ve found over the last few years. At the end, you’ll find 30 day winter self care challenge printable, so don’t forget to check it out!

30 day winter self care ideas

Watch a show or a movie

My favourite time for spending winter evenings. Watching Netflix. Pick up the series you’ve started months ago but never had time to finish it. Watch a movie you’ve heard a lot of good things about. Don’t worry if it’s silly, nobody has to know!

Read a book

Yay, reading! I love it. It’s a perfect way to unwind after a long, busy day and calm down before going to bed. You don’t need to read an entire book in one go – every 10 minutes count. Don’t stress over how much or little you can read. You can either spend this time scrolling through Instagram or with a book.

Spend time outside

Going for a walk is very important for mental health. It’s the easiest way to get active and become healthier version of yourself. It makes it a perfect winter budget self care idea, doesn’t it?
I know that walking in the cold weather isn’t tempting probably to anyone. As someone who hates cold, I totally get it. Even if you can go out for a 15 minutes, it’s better than nothing!

Take up a new indoor hobby

Like I did with a jigsaw puzzle! Honestly, why haven’t I bought them earlier? It’s such a great way of spending long evenings away from your phone or computer. They’ve been a true godsend every time when I’m anxious, too.

There are a lot of indoor hobbies you might want to think about, for example:

• calligraphy or lettering,
• painting,
• knitting or crocheting,
• reading books,
• phone photography.
  I’m sure you can easily find something for yourself!

Light one of your favourite candle

Life is too short to wait for a perfect moment. You can always buy another candle but you can’t go back in time. Get rid of the mentality of saving better things for a special occasion because every day is special in its own way and you deserve everything the best.

Purge your social media feeds

Sweet and easy. Clean your Instagram following. Go through the list of people you follow and check if anyone’s content stirs negative emotions inside of you. If it does, let them go.

Make sure that you’re happy, motivated, or inspired while watching someone’s posts and that they bring positivity to your life. Life is too short to waste it on content you don’t enjoy.

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Get crafty and let out your inner child

Once we become an adult, we immediately stop any attempts to play. Painting, drawing, playing in a snow, or dancing is usually viewed as a childish activity so why someone like you, an adult, would bother with it. And I totally get it because I denied any kind of play for myself. But you know what?

One day I said “f*ck it”.

I bought a set of watercolour paints and spent one evening painting. It was so nice to do something like that just for the sake of it. Not to earn money or to show off on Instagram.

Let out your inner child. Don’t keep them locked in a cage forever. It’s not worth it.

Start journaling

Journaling is one of those self-care practises that seems silly at first but after a while you can see how many benefits it actually bring to your life. If you don’t know where to start, make sure to check out my other post with 30 Easy Journaling Ideas For Beginners.

Declutter at least one part of your house

This is one my favourite self care ideas. You might ask what decluttering has to do with self care… Here me out.

It’s been proven that clutter can negatively affect your sleep, ability to focus, and raise your level of anxiety. You might’ve even noticed that yourself. And self care is all about taking care of yourself. Decluttering helps you to remove triggers that make you anxious and irritated.

So, choose one area of your house (or room) and spend 15 minutes decluttering it.

Not organising.

Decluttering.

Once you see immediate results, they might inspire you to tackle more than that and that’s awesome! But instead of spending an entire afternoon decluttering, create a habit. 15 minutes every day will be not only easier to sustain but will also give you long-lasting effects in oppose to 2 hours once a week.

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Drink more water

I’m a bit conflicted writing it, to be honest Drinking water is soooo important, but it’s also difficult to remember about it during winter. I’m naturally leaning towards warm tea instead of water but I’ve noticed that it doesn’t make me feel good. I just bought a new filter jug hoping it will make it easier.

Let’s make drinking water a habit for a new year, shall we? Start slowly, from a glass a day and go from there. This way you’ll make a long-lasting change in your life.

Create a solid skincare routine

I think that one of the first things that comes to mind when you think about self-care is a skincare routine. At least it is for me.

Creating a solid skincare routine that’s fairly simple and easy to follow through is a great idea, especially during winter. Your skin will be thankful for extra care during those cold months, when low temperatures and dry air inside your house constantly dry it out.

Do something productive

Quite counter-intuitive, isn’t it? Hear me out before you jump to conclusions, though.

By doing something productive, you minimise your to-do list and feeling overwhelm. Once you close a few open loops that have been sitting on your mind for weeks, you’ll feel immediately lighter and motivated to take even more action.

If you’re in a mood for tackling some of your tasks, do it. Dedicate an hour for life admin tasks and see how it will affect your mental wellbeing.

Meditate

Meditation is often overlooked way of connecting with yourself. It’s an ideal winter self care idea – free, and can be done from the comfort of your own home. I love using Balance app for guided meditation, but there are also lots of videos on YouTube you can check out. Do whatever makes you feel best and don’t be afraid to start. 5 – 10 minutes is all you need.

PIN IT FOR LATER!

Have a home SPA night

Cheap and easy. Another perfect winter self care idea. Create a home SPA night for yourself and try to use all the beauty products you’ve been saving for a special occasion. Make yourself a warm bath with bubbles. Exfoliate and moisturize your skin. Pamper yourself with a facemask.

You can also listen to an audiobook or meditate in the meantime!

Plan out your goals

Because you don’t have to wait until the next year to set new goals! You can change your mind whenever you want and decide to pursue different goals each month or a quarter. Don’t think that everything is lost just because you didn’t set your goals before the new year.

And the other way round, if you set goals at the beginning of the year, don’t force yourself to keep them when you change your mind or your priorities shift.

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Declutter your wardrobe

I like decluttering my wardrobe every couple of months, especially when the season changes. If you’ve never done it, this is your sign.

Take all your clothes out of the chest of drawers or wardrobe and put them on your bed. Go through them one by one. Ask yourself if it make you feel good or the opposite, you can’t stand this piece of clothing. If it fits into the latter category, decide whether you should sell, donate, or just throw it out.

If you decide to sell your clothes, set a deadline by which you need to get rid of everything. If they don’t sell it before then, take off your adverts and donate clothes so they don’t stay in your house for long taking up space.

Learn a new skill

Winter is all about long, cosy evenings. If you don’t know what to do during that time, learn a new skill! There’s so many things you can learn online for free like photography, filming, editing, creative writing, and more so take advantage of it.

Be mindful of your money

And see if it would be better to use cash instead of credit card to help you save money, keep track of your expenses, and support small businesses during these difficult times.

Journal to reflect on your year

New year has just started so there’s still plenty of time to reflect on the past year. Take out your journal and go through your best and worst memories, what you’re proud of, what were your biggest challenges, etc. Go into detail. Learn from your mistakes, be grateful for many new opportunities, and proceed with setting goals and chasing them with this new knowledge.

RELATED:
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Snuggle up with a heating blanket

Heating blanket was probably my best purchase of the year. Truly. I’d froze one day without it. I hate cold but temperature inside the house stays around 17-18 degrees constantly, no matter how often I put my heating on.

Heating blanket can be very cost-effective alternative for a traditional heating because even though it won’t raise the temperature inside your house, it’ll keep you warm for a lower “price”.

Finish laundry

You didn’t expect that, did you? Doing laundry is such a funny thing that nobody like to do but everyone has to. When you don’t do it regularly, it adds up and create one huge open loop that’s difficult to be closed. So today, let’s do one load of laundry. Minimise the amount of things you have on your mind to make you feel lighter and productive.

Go for a social media detox

I can’t stress enough how social media detox made me feel great. It’s been almost a year since I did that and I must admit – I think I’ll go for another one soon*. Social media drains you from your energy and kills creativity. Often you compare yourself to people from perfect Instagram feeds forgetting that it’s not how real life looks like. It makes you feel inadequate and bad about yourself and that’s not the vibe we’re going for.

Unplug from technology. Take an evening off from social media. If you’re brave enough, go for a weekly social media detox. You won’t regret it.

*Since writing this post, I already went for a social media detox and failed immensely. If you’d like to read more about it, click here.

Plan out your day and week

Planning your day and week is often overlooked form of self care. By making you’re to-do list your removing stress and overwhelm from your life. Just think about the last time you planned your day – how did you feel? Were you calmed and more productive than usually?

I like to plan my day the evening before so I know exactly what to do when I wake up. This way I also limit the amount of decisions I need to make in the morning and decrease possibility of getting hit with decision fatigue. I also sleep better every time I write all the tasks down before going to bed!

Put up some fairy lights

Who said that Christmas lights can’t be used all year round? If you love the way they look and enjoy the cosy atmosphere they create in your room, do it. Don’t think twice about it and just put them up.

Spend more time being creative

In today’s age, everyone mostly consumes content on the Internet but rarely creates something on their own. Spend one day being creative, draw, paint, write a story. Sky is the limit!

Light a fireplace

If you’re lucky enough to have a working fireplace, light it up. Create a cosy environment during one of those long evenings and do something fun. If you don’t have a fireplace, there are plenty of videos on YouTube that you can put in the background.

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Sleep in

When was the last time you slept in or had a lazy day? I bet it was ages ago. I said it multiple times before but I feel like I need to say it once again here – you can’t be the best version of yourself when you’re running low on energy. You need to take a break once in a while. No matter how busy you are, you need to do that.

For a very long time, I believed I don’t need any breaks. I don’t do much, after all. Just trying to blog while taking care of my daughter 24/7. So for weeks, I didn’t schedule any time for rest, didn’t go out at all, and spent all the time I had trying to learn and figure out as much stuff as I could. It wasn’t possible to sustain that lifestyle for long and I ended up exhausted and burned out. History had to repeat itself a few times before I realised that no matter what you do, you need breaks and time to recharge.

Listen to an audiobook

I’m not a huge fan of audiobooks but I know some people prefer them over reading books. They’re great especially for those of you who spend long hours commuting to work or those who doesn’t have a lot of time to sit down and read a traditional book during the day. So, today, pick a book that you’ve been wanting to read for ages and check if there’s an audiobook version available. Play it in the background while driving or cleaning house.

Read 5 blog posts from bloggers you love

And don’t forget to comment on them! Blogging often feels lonely and receiving a friendly comment can be very motivational.

If you don’t read any blogs, watch YouToube videos or check Instagram posts from your favourite creators and comment on them!

Buy yourself flowers

Do you like receiving flowers? There’s a huge chance that you do. But have you ever thought about the fact that you don’t have to rely on others in order to have a fresh, beautiful flowers always at home? Just buy them yourself!

They’ll make your home feel more cute and cosy. Don’t be afraid to buy them for yourself. There are lots of people who do that regularly, there’s no shame in it!

How can I take care of myself and lift my mood in winter?

It’s been proven that shorter, colder days can affect your mood negatively. You might’ve experienced it yourself. One of the best ways to lift your mood during winter is taking care of yourself on a daily basis. I’m serious! Minor acts of self care sprinkled throughout your day will make it much better for you. You’ll feel more centered, relaxed, and not as overwhelmed as previously. Take a part in 30 day winter self care challenge, download printable, and see for yourself!

Final words

There are a lot of things you can do to take care of yourself during winter. Small acts of self care done multiple times a day can have more effects than taking a bath once a month, for example. Don’t be afraid to be selfish and spend time on your own – everyone will benefit from it once you become more relaxed and recharged.

Don’t forget to download 30 day winter self care challenge printable! Is there anything else you like to do that I haven’t mentioned in this post? Let me know in the comments down below!