Note: please consult with your health care professional before starting a new exercise program.

Even the best intentions aren’t always enough to get us to the gym for a trip to the weight room or to attend our favorite spinning or yoga class. Stuff happens. No worries. With a minimal investment and a few feet of floor space, you can take your workout home.

Below is a bare-bones list of “must-haves” for your home fitness set-up with general pricing. Most items can be purchased at your local sporting goods store, and your total investment shouldn’t top $250. Many of these come with training DVDs and booklets to help you with your workout, too.

• Stability ball ($30). Also called an exercise ball, Swiss ball and fit ball, this tops the “must-have” list for its role in strengthening your abdominal muscles, and for its use as a versatile total-body shaper. You can use the ball for hundreds of exercises. Pick up a copy of Ultimate Core Ball Workout from Ulysses Press, which includes over 200 exercises on a ball with step-by-step photos.

• Dumbbells ($32). Not just for building biceps, dumbbells work your entire body. If you’re just starting out, invest in three sets of weight: 5, 8 and 10 pounds. Then start pumping, lunging and squatting to tone, firm and strengthen even those hard-to-reach spots. Total cost for weights shouldn’t exceed $32.

• Exercise mat ($15). Treat yourself to a clean, comfortable and shock-absorbing surface on which to stretch and do your floor exercises. A good mat also provides much-needed traction when paired with a stability ball or when you’re doing yoga stretches.

• Elastic bands and tubes ($16). These super strengtheners rely on resistance to tone arms, legs, glutes and more. Bands are a fabulous go-anywhere alternative to dumbbells. Start with a band for upper body ($6) and a tube for lower body ($10). Light, medium and heavy resistance is available.

• Stretching straps ($10). By combining isotonic, isometric and prolonged stretches, a stretching strap will help you stretch all your major muscles—from your calves, hamstrings, hip flexors and quads to your biceps, triceps and lower back.

• Ankle weights ($20). Previously thought to increase the risk of injury, a recent study reported in the Physician & Sports Medicine Journal noted that adding five-pound weights to each ankle increased caloric burn by 25 percent. Add weight gradually to prevent injury.

• Weight bench ($75). Though certainly not essential to your home fitness center, a flat or incline weight bench is a great enhancement to your dumbbell workout.

• Cardio ($10 and up). For a real challenge, break out your jump rope and add short cardio intervals (30 seconds to 2 minutes) between your weight sets. Or lace up your running shoes for a quick speed walk or jog around the block. You can also purchase a wind trainer ($80 and up) to turn your bike into an indoor spinning machine.

When you set up a gym in the comfort of your home, it will make it that much harder to make excuses to not work out. Have fun!

Fitness writer, Sharon Cutler’s, favorite at-home piece of equipment is her stability ball.