FULL STORY:  Was your weekend so packed, it feels like you didn’t even have one?  According to a “happiness expert,” you may need to get into the mindset of treating your weekends like a VACATION.

Cassie Holmes is a happiness researcher who wrote a book called “Happier Hour:  How to Beat Distraction, Expand Your Time, and Focus on What Matters Most”.

She ran a study where hundreds of people were told to treat their two days off like a mini vacation instead of a “weekend.”  And just thinking about it like that made a difference.

People slept in a little longer . . . had more fun . . . didn’t worry about knocking EVERYTHING off their to-do list . . . and just felt more in-the-moment.

It might mean you’ll have to spend more time knocking those chores out on weekdays.  But she says it’s worth having those extra days where you truly get to relax and kick back.

If your life is too busy to take two days completely off, she suggests easing into it and just giving yourself one “vacation” day a weekend.  Like take Saturday off, and cram all your chores and errands into Sunday.

She also says it’s not something you should try to do EVERY weekend.  It works best if you do it occasionally, like after a really tough week.  (CNBC)