This feels like a spending trap.

With Valentine’s Day this month, it’s been easy to focus on pleasing a significant other and forget about the person who should be number one in your life—YOU!

We rarely treat ourselves for our hard work because of many reasons, like putting others before us, worrying about spending, or just lacking the time. However, when you work hard, you deserve a reward. So here are four ways you can TREAT YO SELF (according to Parks and Recreation’s Tom Haverford) and still be guilt-free.

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1. Everything Is Good in Moderation

Yeah, yeah, yeah, we hear this advice everywhere, but it is extremely helpful when determining what is appropriate when treating ourselves. You may be the type of person who needs something to look forward to every week. If this is the case, then make sure it is something small, like a dinner at your favorite restaurant, just once a week to keep your spirits high and your costs low.

If you’re the type of person who likes to go big, then it might be more beneficial to limit the number of times you treat yourself to only once a month, depending on how costly it will be. The lower the cost, the more frequent you can do it!

2. Work It In

Budgeting is an extremely useful tool to help gauge what we can and can’t afford. When you decide to treat yourself, make sure to include it in your budget.

You can do this in a number of ways. The approach that I like is allocating a certain percentage of each paycheck toward a “reward fund.” This will act as your play money, and you can use it for whatever you’d like. This approach is good if you like to treat yourself to small things on a more frequent basis.

For bigger, less frequent opportunities, set a goal for yourself. You may want to save for a trip, a cool jacket, a nice pair of boots, etc. Have that goal in mind when you contribute to your “Reward Fund.” Once you reach your goal’s amount, you can splurge guilt-free (and look extra fancy in that new jacket)!

3. The More the Merrier

What’s better than treating you and you alone? Including your friends! It could be more fun and more cost beneficial.

Going on road trips or cooking a nice meal, among other things, will allow you to not only split the bill and pay less, but also share the enjoyment with those who mean the most to you. What could be better!?

4. Never Pay Full Price

Have you ever seen something in a store that you just HAD to have, right at that moment? If you succumbed to your inner urge, you may have suffered some buyer’s remorse a week later when you saw it discounted. Had you waited, you could have saved that extra $10 and put it toward your next treat or your next round of monthly loan payments.

Timing your rewards around sales and promotions is a great way to treat yourself without paying full price. Going out to eat on specialty nights, going to the movies during the afternoon or discount nights, and just taking advantage of sales at your favorite stores are some ways you can achieve this.

Go For It!

“Producers” like me definitely know how to work hard, but that does not mean that we cannot play equally as hard. What’s all the hard work for if you don’t get to enjoy it?

As a girl who spends all week in the office and the classroom, I always need something to look forward to. That’s why I follow these simple rules and reward myself on a weekly basis. I give myself a set amount based on my paycheck, and that is my spending money for the weekend.

Once I go over that amount, it is time to check back into reality and wait for the next weekend to roll around. Using these guidelines, you too can easily enjoy and reward yourself without having to break the bank!

Have a cost-effective way to reward yourself? Share it in the comments.

About Susie Boretti

Susie Boretti is contributing writer to the SALT Blog and a graduate student at Bentley University studying to get her masters in financial planning.

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