When you go on vacation, don’t check work e-mail, call in or come by and say, “Oh, I’m not really here.” When you go on vacation, you go. You vacate. You leave work.

Right now, there are some deals to be had on the Internet if you do want to get out of town. However, if you don’t want to spend a lot of money on vacation, you can have a “staycation.”  This word has become part of the lexicon in the past couple of years back when the only thing we worried about was rising gas prices.

Here are a few ideas to have a happy and nurturing staycation:

Become a tourist in your own town. Go and do all those things tourists usually do. Spend the day at museums, aquariums, and other attractions. Most attractions have discounted coupons or have discounted or free days during the week. For example, most museums have a free day for the community.

Take a short trip. Explore nearby cities and towns for a long weekend. There are lots of cute towns and bed and breakfasts. Put names of cities in a hat and pull one out.

Have a Spa Day. What a better way to relax than enjoy your favorite spa, and then still sleep in your own bed. Most spas offer a spa lunch so you can get your tootsies painted and have a bit to eat.

Take a class. Use your time off to take a class. You can go to yoga for a week, attend a wine tasting, take a cooking class, or sign up for a class through a local university or other continuing education program.

Sit by the beach or pool. Nothing’s more relaxing than sitting by a body of water and reading a trashy book. Don’t have access to a beach or pool? Find another relaxing place — even if it’s your own living room.

Whatever you do, take time for yourself. It’s more important than ever to take care of yourself.  

I had heard people talking about Mint.com so I decided to check it out myself. I entered all of my banking and credit card information, and the site showed me how much I was spending on everything from food and shopping to bills and books. You can set the amounts you want to spend monthly in each area and monitor how much you’re really spending. The one thing I really love about Mint is that I feel more control of my budget. It’s so much easier and faster to see and monitor.

You can choose your preferences on how often you want to receive e-mail updates.  I opted for a weekly update. If budgets are a mystery to you, check it out.

Here are the highlights from ABC News and the BeCentsable.net website:

• Keep eggs in the carton and not in the door. The door is the warmest part of refrigerator and should be used for condiment storage.

• Pour milk in cardboard cartons into a large Mason jar or glass pitcher. Glass containers will keep the milk better longer.

• Put bread into a re-sealable bag and put it in your bread box instead of the refrigerator.

• Put flour and grains into re-sealable bags and put them into the refrigerator or freezer. This will save them from going rancid.

• Potatoes, garlic and onions don’t need to be refrigerated unless they have been cooked or sliced.

• Bananas, pears, and avocados need to ripen on the counter. You can peel a banana, put it into a bag and freeze it.

• In the refrigerator, keep fruits and vegetables separated – apparently one of my biggest mistakes. Apples give off an ethylene gas that causes veggies to turn bad faster.

• Store vegetables in the Debbie Meyer Green Bags to keep them longer. The bags are reusable so you only need to buy one set.

• If something gets close to the expiration date, do something with it. Steam vegetables and freeze them. Cook fish and meat and freeze. Make vegetable stock out of wilted vegetables.

Many people are using more coupons. To learn more how to use coupons more effectively, check out BeCentsable.net. The website was started by a couple of moms who wanted to save money on groceries, and now they’re teaching people across the country how to use coupons.

Here are a few tips to save a few bucks:

• Draw names instead of buying a gift for everyone in your family.
• Gather the gift cards you haven’t used and use them to buy gifts.
• If you have a gift card that you won’t use, sell it on the web, such as www.GiftCardBuyBack.com, www.plasticjungle.com, and www.cardavenue.com, just to name a few out there. Do your research.
• Use your talents and make coupons as gifts. For example, offer babysitting services for busy parents or make dinner for a culinary-challenged friend. Get creative!
• Instead of buying gifts for friends, spend time together. Everyone can bring a favorite dish and dish the dirt.