Staycation has become the marketing buzzword of the season. I've been guilty of using it in writing myself, but last night I was watching TV and a commercial came on that made me think it's all gone too far.

The furniture store Raymour and Flanigan was having a Staycation Sale. "Gas prices put the brakes on your vacation plans? Take a staycation instead and create the ultimate getaway with Raymour & Flanigan!" their ad says.

Lots of retailers have tried to jump on the bandwagon of people saving money by staying at or near home for vacation this summer. USAToday reported in May that big box retailers were targeting homeowners with backyard equipment. I've seen ads just on Maine cabin rentals hawking their places as a staycation for other Maine residents.

If you're going to save thousands of dollars by not driving or flying out west this summer, sure, go splurge. Buy a new grill or Adirondack chair to make your backyard more fun. But spend hundreds or thousands on furniture instead? Raymour and Flanigan furniture may be nice and might well be a great improvement to your home. But I think it defeats the purpose of saving money by staying near home.

Today the federal minimum wage increased 70 cents to $6.55, as the second phase of a series of moves meant to bring the minimum wage up over a three year period. The "raise" will affect roughly 1.7 million workers or 2.3% of hourly workers, which means that collectively the cost of employing all minimum wage workers for one hour jumped $1.19 million today.

Despite the increase, the new rate is still below the inflation-adjusted 1997 level of $7.02, and far below the inflation-adjusted level of $10.06 from 40 years ago, according to a Labor Department inflation calculator. And it obviously still leaves many families well under the poverty line.

You'd think that getting a 12% raise during poor economic times would be a great help for 850,000 people over 25 who are making minimum wage. Unfortunately the increase is often quickly passed to the items these same workers need to buy; including food and gasoline. Smaller Businesses will also feel the pinch as they struggle to cope with higher wages and customers who are sick of seeing prices go up time and time again.

Earlier this month we covered 25 ways to raise cash quick with ideas ranging from medical testing and gambling to renting out your extra parking space. If for some reason pimping out your bod for science doesn't sound like a sound method for raising some extra dough, and you already have a day job, then I have the answer for you! Instead of taking a stay-cation and exploring your local town for your 2-3 week vacation, take a workcation. That's right; you can use this short period to do some temping, or work at one of many random jobs while still collecting pay from your regular employer.

For example, if you already have some kind of part-time or freelance gig, see if you can use your vacation to tackle a new project or get some extra work done. I've been using my vacation days to write posts here at WalletPop, but even if you aren't a blogger, there are many possibilities for taking a workcation.

If you've already tried a temp agency, then your next stop for finding short-term employment should be with small businesses. Hit up any small businesses you frequent or whose owners you know to see if you can do any odd jobs that have been sitting on their corporate "honey-do" list for ages. Your own company may be the source of some workcation money. If they have extra tasks which need completed, see if you can take your vacation days and still come in to work at full pay even if you are doing something else in another department. If your company is weathering the recession, they might be up for it.

We have already covered the frugal vacationer's plight this summer, as many families will embark on staycations.

Our own Tracy Coenen has shared some great ideas for planning your staycation. Despite the fact that you can make the best of a staycation to explore your hometown, John Hodgman explains what it means to go on a staycation or as he calls it a "holistay." You may know John better for his character "PC," in the Apple ads currently in heavy rotation on TV.

This clip is wonderfully hilarious and brings up an interesting point about positive spin that media in general is giving to the staycation. I suppose the staycation could be a sign that people aren't financing their travel on credit cards.

Me? I'll call a staycation what it is, a bummer! You can watch the embedded clip and surf the web all day during your staycation, but how would that differ from work? Actually, I take it back: Staycations are awesome, especially when you consider that next year due to a failing economy you'll be taking a workcation. You heard it here first.