OS treats

SailorSam

Go the park and feed the ducks, or down the beach and skim stones in the sea.

ItchyFeet

Give yourself a manicure or treat yourself to a new lipstick.

chika

If there is a college near you that does hairdressing or beauty you can be a guinea pig for the students. Its really relaxing, the students are very professional and they are supervised by well qualified hairdressers/beauticians. You can even have a massage. It costs next to nothing and I always find even a basic treatment is super relaxing.

adelight

Look up your local beauty college and see if there is info on free/discount services. Lots are doing free facials and blow dries right now and they are often really good

Or at home beauty treatmeants? A tsp honey and tbs oats mixed, massaged onto the face and left for 15-20 mins will reduce redness and swelling thanks to anti-bacterial honey. And coat your hair in warmed olive oil, leave as long as possible if not all day then rinse off and it'll be lovely and shiney and soft just be sure to shampoo your roots twice thoroughly to get it all off.
These are things you will most likely have lying around, if you have say £10 get on ebay or amazon and buy yourself a big bottle of almond oil and a bag of french green clay- instant top salon quality hair and body oil and face masks for a year!

edit: WOW just found this college in cornwall with a price list http://www.cornwall.ac.uk/tekhe/index.php?page=_The_Salon&id=1395 £12 dermalogica facial, £6 goddess facial, £4 manicaure and £2.90 blow dry!! I wanna go to cornwall

SailorSam

Knowsley college do things like that with lots of there courses. In fact part of the restaurant is so good you want get in unless you've booked in advance.

Avocado

All the suggestions here are fantastic.

Those prices for Cornwall College are very tempting. It is about an hour away from here, sadly. I will have to see if any more local colleges do hair and beauty. Possibly not but I will check. Magazines, foot soaks and a good rummage in a charity shop are ones I wouldn't have thought of. The beach, oh God yes the beach, I had forgotten it existed. That's what I need- to Go Out. On My Own. (With no baby sling and pushchair combo to manoeuvre and no angsty 12 year old wanting friendship/relationship counselling). OH has a day off on Tuesday and so I'll tell him later not to make any plans, the dog and I shall be rediscovering the scenery- alone. The woods if the beach is too windy. Until Tuesday I have no daylight time for me but I might take myself to the pub later and read a magazine, like a sad old Billy no mates. I think I'll take the babies down town now actually, we can go to the park as well as the newsagent, and perhaps a charity shop if I can find one that's open.

Thank you everyone.

adelight

Avocado wrote: »

All the suggestions here are fantastic.

Those prices for Cornwall College are very tempting. It is about an hour away from here, sadly. I will have to see if any more local colleges do hair and beauty. Possibly not but I will check. Magazines, foot soaks and a good rummage in a charity shop are ones I wouldn't have thought of. The beach, oh God yes the beach, I had forgotten it existed. That's what I need- to Go Out. On My Own. (With no baby sling and pushchair combo to manoeuvre and no angsty 12 year old wanting friendship/relationship counselling). OH has a day off on Tuesday and so I'll tell him later not to make any plans, the dog and I shall be rediscovering the scenery- alone. The woods if the beach is too windy. Until Tuesday I have no daylight time for me but I might take myself to the pub later and read a magazine, like a sad old Billy no mates. I think I'll take the babies down town now actually, we can go to the park as well as the newsagent, and perhaps a charity shop if I can find one that's open.

Thank you everyone.

it's not being billy no mates, it's having a bevvy and relaxing without the need of anyone else's company! i'm sure loads of people would love to do this but don't have the guts, but relaxing in a cafe or pub on your own is so enjoyable

raven83

am loving this thread thanks for starting it, will be checking it regually!

optimistic

Having recently run out of perfume (its on my birthday/Christmas wish list!) I found L'aimant body spray for £1.00 in Morrisons.It's lovely and will tide me over nicely.;)

oldtractor

I think getting out of doors is good. Could you visit some national trust land ? or a walk in a nice park? then come home to a hot chocolate and a hot bath followed by an early night and a book.