Staying home this weekend? Getting the house ready for a 'staycation'

What's the best part of a vacation? It's coming home, right?

So why not make the whole vacation the best part and stay home in the first place. You save $50 to $120 on each tank of gas you don't use. You save $15 on each piece of luggage you don't put on an American Airlines plane. And think of the carbon credits! Get out the halos.

But staying home for vacation — a staycation — requires a little preparation to make the place feel special. Here are some tips to make your home a destination:

• Wash the windows. That alone could make many homes feel resort-like.
• Place pots and vases of flowers around the place. Act like some company's coming that you want to impress with your gracious lifestyle.
• Plan a few creative projects: Make the gumbo you've always wanted to attempt, or a stained-glass window, or a gravel pathway through the garden.
• Buy a new outdoor grill. You could spend your tax rebate on this. And when you cook on this throughout the summer, and avoid heating up the house with indoor cooking, the carbon credits just keep on coming.
• Stock up on books and read them. Maybe that's why people fly so much, to justify a few hours reading. Just calculate how much time you spend packing, driving to the airport, parking, standing in the ticket line, going through security, waiting for your flight, getting your flight cancelled, waiting in line to reschedule your flight, waiting for that flight, missing your connecting flight, waiting to use the restroom, and so on. It adds up to quite a few chapters.
• And finally, set out some bird seed and watering dishes and sit back and enjoy the show.

Read more on staycations at MSNBC, Consumer Reports and the Wall Street Journal.

Your plans?

(Photo: Kathy Price-Robinson)