What do you treat yourself with?

[Jazzy]

If you're giving yourself a reward (for getting some work done, doing something you didn't really want to do, etc), what sort of things do you like? I need some incentives to get some things done I'd rather not, and I'm a little stumped for things that work well as a reward but aren't too expensive. My housemates like icecream, but the weather's far too cold for that, and I'm a bit bored of my knitting It doesn't work so well as an incentive if it sounds tedious!

[thelonetiel]

I guess I don't usually treat myself as a reward to do things, I just do it when I'm stressed.

Baths are nice things, if you have a decent tub in your place. An hour relaxing in warm water with a good book and gentle music is amazing to me. If you want to make it different, bath salts, new bubble bath, or similar could be used as rewards I'd imagine.

I also like to dedicate time to sit down and draw uninterrupted. It is something that is very relaxing to me that I enjoy, but that I don't get time to do very often, so sitting down with a picture and sketching it does me good.

Comfort foods also work, good sweet or salty, and/or fatty foods you don't usually let yourself have, but that easily trip the pleasure signals in your brain for eating. Frozen cookie dough, for instance, or I'll often make myself green bean casserole, something that usually only comes up in the holidays because of the deep fat fried onions that top it.

And of course, I'm still addicted to Neopets, so giving myself permission to waste a bit of time on the Neoboards, or coding a new pet page, writing someone's character, sketching a new pet, futzing in Photoshop with a possible new lookup design, all tend to do me pretty well.

Video games work the same way, and so does fiddling around with miscellaneous projects in Photoshop.

Watching TV online that I otherwise rarely get to see also works.

Good luck finding good positive inspiration Jazzy.

[AngharadTy]

Video games and books, for me. If I don't let myself play the game I want to play, or read the book I want to read, until I get chores and work done, then it helps a lot.

[Joey]

If I have money, I'll usually treat myself to a volume of manga or two. Usually those long series that I'm slowly buying, like Hana Kimi or Rurouni Kenshin. If I'm feeling like I should really spoil myself, I'll start a new series of manga. I did this last week with One Piece, gods help me. But since I usually don't have money, I go for something like slacking off playing video games or getting lost in a book.

[Huggles]

I am also broke, so usually it involves something free. Lately, it has just been allowing myself to poke around on the internet reading comics or watching shows. Which, incidentally, are the same things I do when I'm procrastinating.

[Jessi]

I tend to reward myself with either video games or a movie, or food. Like during NaNo this past month, I really wanted to watch my shiny new collectors DVD of Avatar, but I had to hit my word count goal before I'd let myself watch the movie, haha! I really like to reward myself with 'me' time.

Sometimes Lindsey and I reward ourselves with a treat though - like "If we can get the house cleaned by 9, let's go get ice cream", that sort of thing. It tends to work, but I've really discovered 'me time' is the best reward.

[Marah]

Which, incidentally, are the same things I do when I'm procrastinating.

^That

Guilt free procrastination time. for me it is making photobooks, indulging in some comfort food (chocolate!) or buying some stuff to pamper myself with. (Facial mask, new colour eye shadow, pair of earrings, something small and shiny.)
If bigger: A new book!

[Jamie]

Naps. Naps are just the most amazing thing for me lately, I've had so much going on and whenever I finish doing anything I kind of pass out fully clothed on top of my bed. Otherwise I watch one of the many TV series I downloaded recently... orrr... play Sim City 4. Heh, I'm so exciting!

[Alicorn]

Like others I'd buy myself a little something. Most of the time is treats like cakes and cookies. Sometimes if I have the money and I did something deserving a big reward, I'd buy anime.
Or I'll turn around and let myself watch something (be it a movie or anime) or play a certain game.
A good chunk of the time I'll allow myself to buy something for myself on Neopets or Subeta.

[Fjorab_Teke]

Usually when i need to prod myself to do something, there's a convenient carrot to dangle in front of me figuratively. Usually it's a much-wanted backroad drive or a favorite food treat, occasionally something like music or a toy or some other shopping-around of some kind. It's not always the same thing. I'm one of the worst when it comes to procrastinating. I'm just too darned lazy to do anything unless it involves something or someone i really love, and some of that laziness comes up when it's something i dread doing even though i can't pinpoint WHY it's so bad.

[Kali_Lupine]

I suppose my favorite treat is a bath or shower, of course that can translate into me having 2 or 3 shower/baths a day. I just can't help it, I love water. I am lucky that I live by a lake so in the summer swimming is always an option. Other than that, buying a new book, which is relatively cheap, always gets my incentive going. Of course I have a huge collection of books, and I can easily read a book a day so this usually cheap reward can easily turn expensive.
Food, my guilty pleasure. If I really want a reward, I will make my homemade cream soup. It is easy and pretty fast to make and taste divine!

[niklnip]

I tend to reward myself with either a book, a game, or a good long nap :3

[Kali_Lupine]

I tend to reward myself with either a book, a game, or a good long nap :3

heh heh lately books have been something that's been a huge (almost daily) reward for me

[Fjorab_Teke]

Soon i'll be done with some serious spring cleaning motivated by tomorrow's apartment investigation rounds. Tomorrow i'll reward myself with three CDs and tickets to a Yanni concert! *dangle dangle carrots* I really hate and dread cleaning, but it's not nearly as bad as my silly brain makes it out to be.

[Silverevilchao]

Video games. I regularly visit my Amazon.com wishlist as motivation to get lazy butt to work and not dread it so much.