Staycation Ideas

Posts Tagged ‘tips’

Planning on a staycation this summer?

Great Idea (of course), but just as you would want to get your car’s oil changed before embarking on the family vacation, you might want to address some of these backyard health risks before starting your summer staycation. Here are the top 8 back yard health risks as identified by Winnie Yu of MSNBC.com.

1. Dangerous Grill Placement – make sure your grill is not placed near flammable material like low-hanging tree branches, deck rails or house siding.
2. Toxic Plants – 68,000 people a year are poisoned by plants so make sure you do some research before picking that new plant or flower for the garden bed.
3. Tiny pools of water – it doesn’t take much water at all to create a mosquito breeding ground.  Do a weekly check of buckets,pails, fountains and birdbaths that might be collecting stagnant water around the yard.
4. Not-quite-extinguished charcoal – it doesn’t take much eat from a still-warm charcoal to start a fire.  Make sure you soak coals with cold water and toss them in a metal trash to minimize your potential fire risk.
5. Unfenced pool – the dangers of a unfenced backyard pool are obvious so make sure you install a 5 foot high, 4 sided fense to keep the kids and pets safe from accidental drownings.
6. Pesticide residue – even in small amounts, the poisons that kills plant-eating insects can make you seriously sick.  Use the power of the food chain and reduce your pesiticide use by attracting birds that eat those flower loving bugs. 
7. Weather-worn deck – warped decks are hard to navigate and easy to trip on, which is why you should water-proof your deck every 2 to 3 years.
8. Too-short ladder – when you try and over extend your reach, you increase the chances of you and your ladder becoming top-heavy and falling over.  Take the extra time and get the right ladder for the right job. 

Thanks to Winnie Yu at MSNBC.com for highlighting these dangers to safely enjoying your backyard staycation!

8 health risks in your own backyard – More health news- msnbc.com

Happy Earth Day!

In celebration of Earth Day and school vacation week in Reading, Massachusetts, Wickedlocal.com has provided some “green” staycation ideas. 

1. Start a garden – Besides saving on your grocery bill, this is a great way to help reduce pollution.
2. Build Habitat – Make houses for birds
3. Walk or Bike – Find a bike trail or park and explore your town.
4. Take Transit – Use public transportation to local family friendly staycation destinations
5. Try a recycled craft – Use items that you would normally discard and turn them into unique creations.  Recycle old clothes into quilts or make your own new craft paper by tossing your old paper into a blender.
6. Energy scavenger hunt.  Use a kill-a-watt meter to test your appliances and electronics.  Encourage your kids to participate and help identify which items can be unplugged when not in use.
7. Explore your town – be a tourist in your home town.  Go spend time at the top tourist destinations for your local area.  Greenhouses, park and playgrounds are great options for enjoying the spring weather.

I’d encourage your to read Wickedlocal.com other thoughts on enjoying a green staycation.  You can do so here:

Green thoughts on vacation week – The Reading Advocate

The city of Denver has recently announced an interesting stimulus package: 100 bargains at the “mile high” price-point of $52.80.  These bargains include special hotel rates, sport team ticket prices and other local Denver attractions.  Designed at encouraging outside tourism to Colorado’s capital, the Examiner.com’s Diana Rowe, smartly pointed out that Denver-ites can also take advantage of these prices and enjoy a Denver staycation.  And to further encourage other citizens of Denver to participate in these staycations, Ms. Rowe(a.k.a. “Denver Travel Examiner”) has put together a great list of staycation tips:

Here are some of her suggestions to make the most of your staycation:

• Plan as though you actually are taking a vacation.
• Research your destination.
• Book a hotel.
• Visit local attractions.
• Finally, act like you’re on vacation (take pictures and buy a souvenir)

She provides several other tips and specific staycation ideas for the Denver area in her article. You can click here to read the article in it’s entireity:

Denver Travel Examiner: Tips to make the most of your Denver summer staycation

The term “staycation” and “high gas prices” are usually mentioned in the same breath, so it is only fitting that the internet’s only website dedicated to giving you staycation ideas is also wanting to help you save money when you do have to travel. Even on a staycaion, you might find yourself traveling a bit locally, so it only makes sense to find ways to improve your car’s efficiency and save some money.

First, it is important to be educated about how fuel efficiency works and the factors that can raise or lower your car’s MPG. My friend Shane has created a website to help with understanding how your car’s speed affects it’s efficiency. I’d encourage you to visit:

• MPG for Speed.com - features a fuel saving’s calculator used to calculate the effects of speed on your mileage

Once you calculate just how much fuel you are wasting by speeding we can work on trying to increase our MPG. I just saw a special segment on Good Morning America about hypermiling:

• Hypermiling.com – a method of increasing your car’s gas mileage by making changes to the way you drive (it really works)

Even if you hypermile, eventually you will run out of gas. So we need to find the cheapest price at the pump in town. Usually the local A.M. radio stations will tell you where to find cheap gas in town. But if you miss the announcement or want to find out on your own you can visit these sites:

• Gas Price Watch
• Gas Buddy

I’ve included links to these site on the right under Fuel Saving Sites.

Enjoy your fuel efficient staycation!