Self care cards: 108 ideas sorted by the time you have and what you need

Self care cards made in true 3 by 5 and 4 by 6 inch index sizes, forming a little card system for a box on your desk rather than one more big planner. The 27 undated pages hold nine menu cards sorted by time and by need with 108 original ideas, a blank menu card, a weekly check-in, a comfort list, a boundaries reminder and an evening wind-down card, all in both sizes with crop marks, plus lined and dotted reverse sides and box dividers for Time, Need and Lists.

It is an instant PDF download in US Letter and A4. Nothing is mailed.

How self care cards help on tired days

When energy is low, you only need to ask yourself two things: how much time is there, and what would help? Then reach for the 5, 15, 30 or 60 minute menu, or the rest, move, connect, create or calm menu, and choose a single idea. Check off the ideas that truly work and add more on the empty lines, until the cards become a menu that is entirely yours.

Once a week, the check-in card scores your energy, sleep, mood and stress and asks what filled your cup and what emptied it. The comfort list gathers favorite foods, shows, people and places, and the boundaries card helps you prepare a gentle no. With no dates anywhere, you can begin on any day and print more of only the cards you reach for.

Who these self care menu cards are for

• Anyone who knows that self care matters yet draws a blank when a free moment finally arrives
• Busy moms, caregivers and people with long workdays who get five or fifteen minutes at a time
• Index card fans who want a calm little box beside their planner, habit or goal cards
• People with a full page self care planner already who want small cards for the nightstand or desk

Card sizes, design and printing

• Elegant, minimal style: white backgrounds with soft blush pink touches that use little ink
• Generous margins, so a home printer will not clip anything
• True trim sizes: 3 x 5 in (7.6 by 12.7 cm), three on a page, and 4 x 6 in (10.2 by 15.2 cm), two on a page, with crop marks, set on US Letter or A4 paper
• Undated, so you can begin on any day of the year
• The reverse sides land right behind the fronts when you print on both sides and turn the page along its long edge
• For sturdy cards, use 200 to 250 gsm (65 to 90 lb) card stock, keep the scale at 100 percent instead of fitting to the page, and trim on the crop marks with a paper cutter

Inside the self care cards: 27 pages

1. 1Cover listing the contents
2. 2Guide to the card system: five steps (check in, choose, do it, notice, refill), a chart pairing each card with its role and its pages in both sizes, how cards move through the box, tips for printing and trimming and a gentle note
3. 3 to 7Self care menus at 4 x 6 in, two to a sheet with crop marks: menus for 5, 15, 30 and 60 minutes and for rest, move, connect, create and calm, each with twelve ideas and two empty lines with tick boxes, plus a blank menu card on page 7
4. 8Blank menu card at 4 x 6 in (who or what the menu is for, time and need boxes, fourteen tickable lines)
5. 9Weekly self care check-in card at 4 x 6 in (energy, sleep, mood, stress and body scored 1 to 5, what filled your cup, what drained you, what you need more of next week, and the date and day of your self care date)
6. 10Comfort list card at 4 x 6 in (food and drinks, shows and books, people to phone, calming places, scents and sounds, words you need)
7. 11Boundaries reminder card at 4 x 6 in (what you are declining, what that frees you to accept, your own words, a sample script and tick boxes)
8. 12Evening wind-down card at 4 x 6 in (screens off time, lights out time, six tickable wind-down steps, three good things from today, what is on your mind and what to put aside)
9. 13 to 14Lined and dotted reverse sides for 4 x 6 in cards, printable behind any 4 x 6 sheet
10. 15 to 17All nine menus at 3 x 5 in, three to a sheet, each with eight ideas and two empty lines
11. 18 to 22The blank menu, weekly check-in, comfort list, boundaries reminder and evening wind-down cards at 3 x 5 in, three to a sheet
12. 23 to 24Lined and dotted reverse sides for 3 x 5 in cards
13. 25Tabbed box dividers at 3 x 5 in: Time, Need, Lists
14. 26 to 27Tabbed box dividers at 4 x 6 in: Time, Need, Lists, plus a spare to name yourself

Files in your download

• Self Care Menu Cards 3x5 & 4x6, US Letter PDF (27 pages)
• Self Care Menu Cards 3x5 & 4x6, A4 PDF (27 pages)
• Read Me First, a brief printing guide (PDF)

How to download and print

• Check out with PayPal, a debit or credit card, Apple Pay or Google Pay. Your download page opens as soon as the payment goes through.
• We email the same private download links to you, so you can download your files again later.
• Open the PDF in a free reader such as Adobe Acrobat Reader and print at 100% or Actual size.
• Print only the pages you need, as often as you like, for your own personal use.

Good to know

• You receive a PDF to print and trim at home. Printed cards and a card box are not included.
• This is a digital file only, and nothing physical is shipped.
• Printed colors may vary slightly from what you see on screen.
• Personal use only. Please do not share, resell or pass along the files.
• Digital files cannot be returned. If a file will not open or print correctly, email us and we will help right away.
• The cards are a simple tool for self care. They are not therapy and do not replace a doctor, counselor or other qualified professional.

How this was made

Designed and written by PetiteDiary. AI tools helped draft parts of the text, and some background scenes in the preview images were created with AI. Every page was designed, reviewed and checked before release.

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