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I wrote about this a little bit recently in my post about a perfect Self-Care Sunday Routine, but I want to talk a little bit about how to design your own perfect self-care day. Self-care days are having ~a moment~ but I think one of the drawbacks of watching a thousand self-care day TikToks is that we get really caught up in what other people are doing and not thinking about what would really improve our lives and set ourselves up for a great week. So whether you’re setting up your perfect self-care Sunday routine or just treating yourself on a day off from work or school, here’s a framework for how to design your perfect self-care day.

At the bottom of this post, you’ll find a free printable to help you create a self-care routine, your way! This is my first free printable and I’m really excited about it.

Create a Self-Care Day Routine Using Blocks

Let’s start with the big picture stuff. However much time you have for your self-care day, you’re going to divide into three blocks: quiet, messy, and clean. They don’t all need to take up the same amount of time! For me, my messy block is always the longest block. Right now, don’t worry about the time, just focus on the tasks you want to include.

Your Quiet Block

Quiet block tasks are things that help put you in a peaceful and calm mindset. This might be meditating, reading, drawing, sewing, taking a nature walk, watching a favorite (non-stressful) show, or spending time with someone you love. If you are studying and you like to study, that could fit into your quiet block too. The job of your quiet block is to improve your mindset and refresh you emotionally.

For me, my quiet block is usually meditating and reading. If I’m very lucky and my kids sleep in, I might also get to have a no-distractions cup of coffee with my husband.

Your Messy Block

Your messy block is also known as your get-sh*t-done block!

The messy block is where you are physically active and getting things accomplished. That might mean a workout, cleaning your house, meal prepping, doing laundry, or organizing yourself for the next day or the rest of the week. The idea here is that you get done anything that might make you sweaty or anything that you might dread having to do after you have pampered yourself. If you can get the messy block tasks done early in the day (whatever early means to you), you don’t have to sweat them later. This is your “Sunday reset” portion of the day where you are most productive.

(Some people always say that having cleaning in the messy block is confusing! I totally get that. The idea is that you get your house clean but you might get sweaty, get dust on yourself, etc. So your body gets messy while you clean the house, then you clean your body!)

Your Clean Block

This is your personalized shower and body care block! Whatever pampering you can do for yourself in your self-care day happens here.

I would highly recommend looking at your products and supplies before you decide what you’re going to put in this block! We all have a few forgotten products that are sitting in the back of a cabinet or drawer. (Or, if you’re like me, you have the nicer stuff that you don’t use daily so you forget about it.) While you’re planning your clean block, pulling these products out can help you plan a day that includes everything. I sometimes even line them up on my counter in order so I don’t forget any steps.

What Order to Use For Your Self-Care Day

This is super personal! I prefer to do my quiet block first thing in the day. This is mostly because I have kids and that’s the only time of the day my house is quiet! If you don’t have to worry about that, you might prefer to do your quiet block last. That way, you are clean and gorgeous and settling in for a peaceful afternoon. You can order these blocks any way you want to create a self-care day routine that is personalized to you. If one order sounds way better than the other, you can start there. If you’re not sure, pick one way to try and see how it feels.

The only order that doesn’t really work (in my opinion) is doing the messy block after the clean block!

So you might do:

• Quiet, Messy, Clean
• Messy, Clean, Quiet
• Messy, Quiet, Clean

and they’ll all work pretty well. Which one you choose is up to you.

Sample Self-Care Routines

Sample Morning-Only Routine, Messy-Clean-Quiet

Messy Block:

• put deep conditioner in hair
• strip bed and start laundry
• 10 minutes: walk through the apartment putting away things that are out of place
• 10 minutes: decluttering closet
• prep breakfast, then make work lunches for Monday and Tuesday
• pick outfits for the week
• pack work bag except for lunch
• run vacuum
• wipe down countertops

(take a break to eat breakfast, then turn over the laundry)

Clean Block:

• in the shower, shampoo hair twice
• put conditioner in
• body scrub and shave legs
• rinse conditioner out and wash body
• out of the shower, do body skincare routine
• apply sheet mask
• comb out hair and put it up in a hair towel
• do skincare routine, plus any skincare extras

Quiet Block:

• Curl up on the couch, light a candle, and read until it’s time to get ready for lunch plans

Sample Full-Day Routine, Quiet-Messy-Clean

Quiet Block:

• Wake up, stay in bed for a couple hours with a book and a cup of coffee
• Eat breakfast

Messy Block:

• Oil scalp
• Take the dog for a walk
• Turn over the dishwasher
• Do a workout video
• Make the bed
• Chop veggies for dinner and put them back in the fridge
• Clean the counters and stove
• Clean bathrooms
• Start laundry
• Put away toys and clean kids’ rooms
• Run the vacuum
• Empty dishwasher
• Apply clay face mask
• Plan meals for the week and place grocery order
• Put dinner ingredients in the slow cooker

Clean block:

• in the shower, shampoo hair twice
• put conditioner in
• body scrub and salicylic acid body wash
• rinse conditioner out and wash body again
• out of the shower, do body skincare routine
• comb out hair, add mousse and gel
• do skincare routine, plus any skincare extras
• Blow dry hair with a diffuser

Printable Self-Care Day Planner to Help You Create Your Self-Care Day Routine

I love a printable! I can be a little lost in my own world sometimes, so having everything written down in order is so helpful for keeping me focused and on top of what I’m supposed to be doing.

In the past, I used to just keep my blocks on separate post-it notes, but honestly, I lost them a lot. And, anyway, this is our self-care day! It should all be beautiful!

So, I made this printable, and I thought you could use it too! There are three pages with the three different possible schedules. Print whichever one makes sense for you and design your most perfect self-care day routine ever!

Click here to download your self-care day planner, and save this post to Pinterest so you can find it again!

If you liked this post, you might also like:

• 10 Best Tips for Self-Care When You’re Struggling
• Best Body Skincare Routine for Dry Skin and Keratosis Pilaris