Prepare for it like a vacation. Before your time off starts, wash all your clothes, clean the house, shop for groceries and pay all of your bills. Do all of the things you would normally do if you were going away. You might even want to put a temporary stop on your mail, just so you won’t have everyday things like junk mail and bills to distract you from your relaxation.

Make sure people know you’re on vacation! Just because you’re home doesn’t mean people should be bothering you for favors or other menial things. Tell everyone that you’re taking time off, and keep it that way. Just tell them you’re on vacation, and won’t be taking calls for a week or so.

Unplug the computer and the TV… and anything else that will interfere with your vacation. Ignore or hide any tool you wouldn’t normally use on a regular vacation. It’s impossible to relax if you’re checking your PDA every five minutes, you won’t be able to enjoy your vacation – And, don’t forget to put an auto-reply on your email accounts that tell everyone you are on vacation.

Create a vacation atmosphere at home. Buy yourself some expensive bed linens and towels. Splurge on fresh flowers and luxury items for your bath. You may even want to hire a maid service to clean the house a couple of times so that you don’t have to.

Decide what you’re going to do ahead of time. Just like a regular vacation, you need to do your planning before your time off begins. Think of activities to do ahead of time, so you’re not wasting your precious vacation time trying to figure out what to do.

Treat yourself. Do things you normally wouldn’t while you’re at home. Is there a fancy restaurant you’ve been wanting to try? How about a spa treatment? If you normally do these things while on vacation, do them during your vacation at home.

Invite people over. If you normally visit friends or relatives while on vacation, why not have them come visit you? You can show them all of the attractions of your town, plus go out to eat; just like you would if you were visiting them.

Do something you normally don’t get to enjoy. If you’ve been yearning for time to finish that great book, or take a scuba class, or anything else, now is the time do it, because you have the time. Make it part of your pre-vacation planning.

Check out the local attractions. A good place to start is with your city’s Chamber of Commerce website. They usually have a list of things to do, local attractions and events going on, so you can plan your stay-at-home vacation.

Get out of the house! Unless you’re one of those people whose idea of a perfect vacation is to never leave your bedroom, get out of the house!

Have you “staycationed” around your area? Drop us a comment and tell us about your stay-at-home vacation!