Are you looking for the perfect self-care checklist to add to your journal?
Perhaps you want to start practicing self-care, but don’t know where to start?
In this article, we share with you 21 beautiful self-care checklists you can use to take care of your daily needs. Some of them are printable, others are just fit for digital planners, and others still are merely images you can take inspiration from.
But before we get to our list, we’d like to share the benefits of having a self-care checklist.
Why Keep a Self-Care Checklist?
A self-care checklist serves as a guide to help you maintain your designated habits. It is meant to help you monitor yourself and see whether or not you are complying. It is also intended to help you track your progress and revise your plan accordingly if needed.
Having this kind of checklist helps you maintain a healthy mind and body. It makes your life less stressful and worrisome, and also aids you in developing more skills and knowledge.
Self-care is sometimes viewed as an indulgence. This is because some people practice self-care by spending money on expensive things like going to the spa, having a grand vacation, or buying a million-dollar collector’s item.
But you have to remember that self-care is personal—yourself, your choice. We all have a different approach when it comes to gratifying ourselves, so there is no need to worry about what other people might think when you indulge yourself.
Self-care is an essential part of practicing self-love, and isn’t always easy. But it can definitely improve your life in many ways you might have never expected.
1. Pink Self-Care Checklist
The people behind the Fabulous Blog believe that self-care is one of the best ways to practice self-love. They advocate the use of meditation, exercise, and decluttering methods. This self-care checklist is one of their products that help individuals monitor their daily self-care needs.
2. Helpful Self-Care Checklist
Some of the self-care to-dos in this checklist are not meant to be done daily, but most of the items are things you can practice and maintain every day. You can download this exact same printable from the website, but you can also download their blank self-care planner if you plan on listing other things.
3. Self-Care Checklist Tracker
This self-care tracker from Marley Mae Designs reminds you to take time to care for yourself every day. It is divided into three sections: basic, physical, and mental/emotional. The designer wanted to help people manage their stress levels and strengthen their resilience.
4. Daily Self-Care Checklist by AUSA
The Aberdeen University Students’ Association originally created this checklist to help people practice self-care even during the coronavirus pandemic. If you take a look at it, however, you will realize that you do not need a pandemic to practice these habits. There seems to be no way to download this checklist, but you can copy (and re-design) it and include it in your journal.
5. Customizable Self-Care Checklist
If you’re looking for a digital checklist that you can customize, then you might find this item helpful. There are a lot of edit options, like adding or changing elements (photos, texts, layout, etc.). You can even add media elements like videos and audio if you will be using it for your digital journal. You can download it for free (but in JPG format, with a watermark), or you can pay $2.99 to get a high-quality copy.
6. 31-Day Self-Care Challenge
This is more of a monthly self-care checklist than a daily one. But since it’s a 31-day challenge, you have at least one self-care habit to accomplish each day. At the end of the month, you’ll be surprised at how many things you were able to achieve.
7. Colorful Daily Self-Care Checklist
This daily self-care checklist from the Learning to Be Free blog provides you with eight self-care dimensions that you can fill out according to your lifestyle. These include the physical, financial, environmental, social, emotional, spiritual, professional, and intellectual aspects of your life. It also has gratitude and learning sections where you can write your musings and words of appreciation.
8. Self-Care Checklist by a Seattle Nurse
This is another daily self-care checklist that was developed as a product of the coronavirus pandemic. But if you take a closer look at it, you’ll realize that the habits listed are things you should practice no matter what. Check out this checklist by Raquel Dixon and see if it will fit your lifestyle.
9. Complete Self-Care Checklist
As you can see, this is a three-in-one self-care checklist, complete with a daily, weekly, and monthly list. If you want to track your habits and see your progress all in one place, then this is an excellent choice. It even has blank spaces where you can add habits you personally want to track.
10. Self-Care Cheat Sheet
This checklist is specially designed for moms, but it serves as a good option for other people as well. What we love about it is that there is a designated timeframe for each self-care activity. This way, you’ll be able to balance self-love with other aspects of your life, like work and study.
11. Simple Daily Self-Care Checklist
This daily self-care checklist is simple yet quite powerful. Each task focuses on various aspects of your health, whether physically, mentally, or emotionally. It has small circles that you can color to track and monitor your self-care habits. You can download a free copy of it from the healthywealthyskinny website.
12. Self-Care Ideas & Checklist
We love this self-care checklist from Cheat Sheet Life because it is divided into six fields: physical, psychological, emotional, spiritual, social, and professional. You may want to focus on one aspect first and then proceed to the next. Alternatively, you might want to focus on one task per field simultaneously.
13. The Ultimate Self-Care Checklist
Here’s a printable that is divided into daily, weekly, and monthly agendas. There is also a section that provides you with the things you should do if you ever find yourself in a state of emergency. Mildlife Rambler calls it the ultimate self-care checklist, and we think it’s pretty great too.
14. Self-Care Habits Tracker
Here is a list of 42 habits that gives you some ideas if you want to start practicing self-care. It is also divided into six fields: physical, emotional, mental, social, health, and routines.
15. At-Home Self-Care Ideas for Stress Relief
For those who have a thing for creative art, you might want to use this free printable. It is full of super-cute icons and graphics. You can display it in your room, on your wall or study table, so you won’t forget.
16. Wellness Wednesday Self-Care List
This Instagram chart is part of the #WellnessWednesday trend. Of course, it is important to follow your self-care routine every day of the week, but having one day in particular when you focus specifically on self-care can help you establish the habit.
17. Mental Health Checklist
We like how this self-care mental health checklist is so simple, but at the same time so powerful. It includes prompts that can help you internalize and assess your thoughts and emotions, which is another form of self-care.
18. Spring Self-Care Checklist
While you can’t print this one out, you can take inspiration from it. If you are a physical journal keeper, you can add a section like this to one of your weekly or monthly spreads.
19. Self-Care Checklist for Men
via Instagram
This template is for men who find it difficult to take care of themselves. Perhaps you want to invest in self-care, but do not know where to start. You can use this as your guide and then add things that are suitable to your lifestyle as you move forward.
20. 60-Minute Self-Care
If you are extremely busy and can only spend an hour doing a self-care routine, you can use this example to track the time spent. It is divided into four parts, but you can adjust that depending on your needs.
21. Self-Care Checklist with Time
Here’s another self-care checklist that includes time management, except that it is not limited to a one-hour routine. You can mix and match the tasks or activities, or you can even change some of them if they do not apply to you.
Final Thoughts on Self Care Checklists
It is extremely valuable to have a checklist prepared to help you balance out self-care and the other aspects of life, like work-related matters and relationships with other people. With a checklist, you’ll be able to develop habits that can change your life for the better.
We hope that we were able to inspire you with our list of self-care checklists. As mentioned above, you can print them and add them to your journal, or you can just draw ideas from them and create your own.
What matters most is that you actively pursue self-love and find more happiness in life.
And if you're looking for more resources on self care, be sure to check out these blog posts:
- 16 Practical Ways to Love Yourself More
- 55 Self-Care Day Ideas to Focus on Yourself
- How to Heal Your Inner Child: A 7-Step Guide
