Rachel Cruze: How To Practice Self-Care Without Hurting Your Finances

The National Institute of Mental Health recognizes the benefits of regular self-care, and you can easily find self-care tips from health experts on sites such as WebMD and Psychology Today. With so many experts touting its benefits, you can’t dispute the importance of practicing self-care .

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However, according to financial expert Rachel Cruze, self-care culture can harm your budget if you aren’t careful. Here’s Cruze’s advice in a recent video on how to practice self-care without hurting your finances.

What Is Self-Care?

The National Institute of Mental Health describes self-care as practices that can improve your physical and mental health and help you live well. Some of the goals of performing self-care include reducing your risk of illness, increasing your energy and managing your stress.

Experts have differing opinions on how many areas of self-care there are, but many agree that most people should practice physical, emotional and mental self-care. Many of the self-care tips from the NIMH focus on these areas, such as prioritizing sleep, staying hydrated, eating healthy meals, setting goals and practicing gratitude.

However, these small everyday acts differ considerably from what Cruze describes as the “self-care culture” you may see online and on social media, which often includes expensive getaways and self-care shopping days. Some of these social media ideas might provide short-term benefits leading to long-term money problems, but Cruze has a solution for practicing self-care without harming your budget.

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Cruze’s Recommends To Practice Self-Care Without Hurting Your Budget

Cruze fully supports self-care, however you define it and whatever role it plays in “creating a life you love ” — a phrase she often touts on “ The Rachel Cruze Show .” However, she says you should do one important thing before indulging in self-care: Take control of your money.

Cruze recommends Dave Ramsey’s seven-step solution for gaining control of your finances, which walks you through getting out of debt to build wealth. But the exact steps you take are less important than simply gaining control.

“Money is a pain point for a lot of people,” Cruze said. In fact, according to Ramsey Solutions’ “ The State of Personal Finance” report for 2023 , “49% of Americans said their finances have had a negative impact on their mental health.”

Similarly, the TIAA Institute revealed a link between financial stress and mental health, with 42% of U.S. adults reporting that financial struggles — from debt worries to financial instability — have negatively impacted their mental health. If financial stress can negatively impact your mental health, splurging on pricey self-care could do more harm than good.

Cruze’s Financial Self-Care Routine

Here’s an overview of the five-step financial self-care routine Cruze follows.

1. Track Your Spending

Cruze stresses the importance of having a budget, being intentional about your spending and honestly assessing where budgetary adjustments are needed. Most financial experts recognize a budget’s role in financial wellness, so it stands to reason that a budget should be part of your financial self-care routine.

2. Open a High-Yield Savings Account

You may have a savings account, but if it doesn’t have a high annual percentage yield, consider shopping for a new one. Many high-yield savings accounts work like traditional ones and may have minimum balance requirements and monthly maintenance fees. However, you’ll earn much more with a high APY. Some high-yield accounts have APYs above 5.00%, whereas traditional savings accounts have an average return of only 0.45%.

3. Don’t Check Your Investments Too Often

Cruze recommends checking your investments only once a year to minimize your financial stress. A one-year period for a portfolio performance review might seem like a long time. However, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority also recommends yearly performance evaluations rather than frequent portfolio monitoring.

Cruze says frequent monitoring can cause undue stress because it makes you more aware of the many small, day-to-day fluctuations that don’t matter when you’re investing for the long term.

4. Stay Prepared for Tax Season

According to Intuit TurboTax, some tax filers who choose the standard deduction over itemizing their deductions may be short-changing themselves. Per the IRS, you need documentation for any itemized deductions, so you must stay on top of your tax records throughout the year to ensure you get all the deductions for which you may be eligible. For that reason, Cruze recommends saving your receipts and keeping good tax records as part of your financial self-care routine, adding that your efforts can also make filing much easier come tax time.

5. Prioritize Financial Literacy

Cruze suggests one splurge for your financial self-care: Ramsey’s Financial Peace University. However, whether you choose to further your financial education with the experts at Ramsey Solutions or choose other resources doesn’t matter as long as you prioritize financial literacy.

According to a survey by the Financial Educators Council, the cost of financial illiteracy was $1,506 for the average American in 2023. So continuing to learn more about personal finance as a part of your financial self-care can pay off.

Practicing Self-Care on a Budget

Even though Cruze advises against taking on debt for pricey self-care practices, this doesn’t mean self-care is financially out of reach. The internet is filled with free and affordable self-care tips that can provide as many benefits as the expensive options.

As you search for ideas that can help you meet your self-care needs, watch for the fine line between self-care and self-indulgence. A local getaway can provide the same relaxation as a destination on the other side of the world. A higher price tag doesn’t necessarily make one skincare routine better than another, and a cheap gym membership, or even exercising at home for free, can provide the same health benefits as a pricey gym.

It’s the expensive self-care options that can harm your finances, which is why Cruze advises gaining control of your finances before spending too much in the quest for self-care solutions. However, once you’ve gained that control, Cruze says it’s OK to go for it if you want to splurge on pricier self-care options every once in a while.

This article originally appeared on GOBankingRates.com : Rachel Cruze: How To Practice Self-Care Without Hurting Your Finances