The Detox Weekend. Create Your Own Weekend Retreat at Home for Cheap



Wish this was my bathroom



It is easy to forget about yourself. You have a lot on the go. So many commitments to juggle all the time it is easy to lose sight of one important person, yourself. You, like everybody else, deserve to have some time devoted to you. So my challenge to you is to make some. I challenge you to devote a whole weekend to your own health and well being. I will outline a few simple steps to ensuring you get the most out of your very own weekend retreat at home.

1.       Make your plan.

You don’t want to have to be running around fetching things during your retreat weekend. That is not relaxing. So have a plan in place ahead of time and get all of your stuff together before you start. While you are putting your plan together, keep a separate list of Stuff to Get. It is a good idea to organize this list by activity in case you change your mind on one or two. You don’t want to be buying unnecessary things.

a.       Make up a list of potential things to do.

The possibilities are endless here. You should focus on calm activities that reduce stress but there is nothing wrong with having a few active and exciting things in the list. You would not want to get bored.  I would recommend splitting your list into fun, pampering and stress release. 

b.      Make up a list of potential things to eat.

Often when you pay to go to a top of the line retreat, the food will be prepared for you and will be extra healthy. You may not be able to afford to fly a top chef in to cook for you over the weekend but you can plan out a simple, health menu and have the ingredients on hand. Try to focus on quick and easy recipes. I ate almost all raw food on my last detox. It was fun to try out a new type of diet and I added a bunch of tasty recipes to my repertoire. You don’t have to try a new diet on your weekend. You can do whatever you want as this weekend is all about you. But I would recommend eating healthy as your body is an important part of you and it could use a rest too.

I would recommend organizing your list by breakfasts, lunches and dinners so it is easy to drop these meals into your schedule.

c.       Make up your schedule

Drop your favorite things from the two previous steps in to a schedule. You can use an outlook calendar or Google calendar, which is free. You don’t have to do everything that you thought of in the last two steps. You don’t want to overwhelm yourself and it is nice to have a few things left over for your next detox weekend. Once you have dropped all of your meals and activities into your schedule your plan is pretty much done.

2.       Get prepared.

a.       Get everything together

Look over your plan and any notes you have and make sure your Stuff to Get list is complete. Then a few days before your weekend, go get the stuff on your list.

b.      Tell your family what you are up to so they don’t get in your way.

Remember, you deserve this time. Don’t let nagging kids rob you of your awesome weekend. If you can, have activities already to go to keep kids occupied. Also there is no harm in involving kids or your spouse in the fun. If you are giving yourself a manicure, they can be giving themselves one at the same time. Older kids can even be employed to help with cooking or cleaning up. Or there are always babysitters and relatives.

c.       Prepare in advance.

Anything that can be done in advance should be done in advance if at all possible.  If there are any recipes that you don’t want to be slaving over that you really want to have, you could make them ahead of time. If you are doing any spa at home treatments you could get everything you will need together in one spot so you don’t have to run all over the house collecting stuff on your weekend.

3.       Enjoy your weekend!

That’s it. You made it. The next part is simple.  Just follow your schedule for the rest of the weekend. Don’t let anything stress you out. Try to get a full night of sleep every night and eat three meals a day.  If you don’t follow your schedule to a T that’s ok, don’t stress about it.  So now, just sit back and relax, distress and replenish. You have earned yourself an at home retreat.