Self-Care on a Budget: What's Worth Spending On (and What Isn't)

Self-care marketing wants you to believe everything is essential. It isn't. Where money actually changes the outcome:

Worth it: a daily moisturiser you love enough to use every day (consistency is the whole game), SPF, one good massage tool (lasts years), and decent sleep — the cheapest premium skincare that exists.

Skip it: single-use sheet masks for the body, 10-step routines you'll abandon by March, "detox" anything, and duplicate products in different packaging.

The maths: one £30 body milk used daily beats £150 of products used sporadically. Price per use, not price per bottle.

Case in point: Butta Drop — about 33p per day over three months.