What is Your Most Inexpensive Pick Me Up?

I have a lot of friends that get depressed during the winter time and although the weather on the east coast has been mild this year I still know a few folks who are down in the dumps.

I know some women cheer themselves up with a day at the spa, but when I’m feeling blue I have one tried and true pick me up that always makes me feel better. I paint my toenails. I buy a special brand of polish that’s made without toluene, camphor, formaldehyde and dibutyl phthalate (DBP).

The bottles typically cost about $8, which is nearly twice as much as the brands you can buy at the drugstore, but I wait for good sales and then stock up. I recently bought two bottles for just the price of shipping.

Nail polish became my pick me up when I was sick a few years back and couldn’t do much other than lay around in bed. Now that little bottle of bright pink, purple or red paint can cheer me up on the darkest of days.

I know a lot of women shop when they’re feeling down. Yesterday I took my son to the mall in search of gifts for an upcoming baby shower. As I was checking out the cashier told me that she meets a lot of depressed women who return to her shop multiple times per week.

I can completely understand the desire to shop to block out pain. A few years ago I used shopping as a means to alleviate my stress. For some reason the store was a place that allowed me to escape my worries at a time when nothing else seemed to ease them.

These days I feel much happier than I have in a long time. In fact, despite the sleepless nights, the pregnancy and subsequent birth of my child has done more for me emotionally than I ever thought possible. I like to tell my husband I now have ‘happy’ hormones floating around in my blood.

If I am feeling out of sorts, not myself or just plain down in the dumps I no longer head to the mall. I lace up my sneakers and go for a walk outside or I open my blog or journal and type out my thoughts.

What about you? What is your most inexpensive pick me up? How do you cheer yourself up when you’re feeling gloomy?

8 thoughts on “What is Your Most Inexpensive Pick Me Up?”

  1. It’s been a mild winter so something as simple as opening up the windows to let fresh air in, can do wonders. Not so effective when it’s dark and 40 below out. Candles work for me too. Doesn’t have to a an expensive one. a tealight one will do. just have to watch that the inexpensive ones don’t have that ‘cheap’ smell to them.

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  2. I love going for a run, it really pick me up. But if it is too cold also exercising at the gym or swimming at the pool will help. I find that allowing myself one lazy evening, reading a good book and drinking tea also gives me back lots of energy.

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  3. My wife loves to get a massage when she needs a pick me up. It leads to her being much more relaxed and is insurance for our relationship. I can see when things are getting to a boiling point and I’ll suggest she get a massage and, poof! All is better šŸ™‚

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  4. It always cheers me to go to the public library.. I love the sense of community there and walking through the stacks gives me a wonderful feeling… yoga is my other go-to… doing even five minutes of stretching feels lovely and rejuvenating..
    Thanks for the reminder about life’s simple pleasures šŸ™‚

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  5. My favorite low-cost pick me up is to go shopping for used books. Doesn’t sound all that frugal on the face of it but scouring thrift stores and used book stores for one or two decent books makes me pretty happy. Of course, this is if you can keep your spending under control but a couple of used book (esp paperbacks) shouldn’t set you back more than $5 at most.

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