Is it just me or does nearly everyone have some sort of activity tracker these days?  About a year ago, I won a FitBit Alta.  It was really exciting since I had toyed with the idea of purchasing one myself.  My place of employment has a walking program/competition every summer.  We break out into teams of 6 and see which team has the most steps at the end of 12 weeks.  The first two years, I used those old school pedometers that are about $10.  I’ve had my FitBit for almost a full year and it was so nice to have that log my steps for me instead of trying to remember!

Since this was my third summer partaking in the program, and the past year I have seen my steps every day all year round, I have picked up some tricks to getting that 10k step goal.  I also have found a way to get paid for my steps and other fitness tracking!  Keep reading to find out how.

How to get more steps in during the day

Park far away – I like to park in the last row at work because a) I get more steps when I get there and when I leave and b) no one parks by me so my car never gets dings.  Same goes for the grocery store, mall, etc. ?

March in place – While you are brushing your teeth, waiting for the microwave, waiting at the printer, listening to a conference call…  30 seconds of marching here or there adds up quickly! ??

Switch wrists – Often my FitBit doesn’t register steps if they are slow or my left arm isn’t swinging like crazy.  I once spent 45 minutes vacuuming AND mopping my house and when I was done working up a sweat, the thing went off saying I hadn’t gotten all my steps in for the hour.  Now when I vacuum or mop, I switch it to my right wrist to count that work!

Pace – Similar to marching but better if you have more than 30 seconds.  For example, if I have to go switch out the laundry, I’ll take a lap around our house, down our front hall, and back before entering the laundry room.  Circling the living room makes my husband nervous but I get my steps in.  And Landon has gotten used to it now. ?

Take a moving break – Every day I get two 15 minute breaks at work.  And every day I walk during them.  You know the feeling of eye strain so you take a break from looking at your computer?  And then you stare at your phone?  Yeah, I leave the phone and go walk up and down the flight of stairs.  It takes about a minute or two but it helps refresh my mind way more than my phone would! ??

Don’t sit down! – Sometimes I find I have 5 or 10 minutes to spare before we have to leave, or someone picks me up.  I’ll use that time to get steps in.  Maybe I’ll walk around the house tidying things up (cleaning bonus!).  There have been many Sunday mornings before church that I head down to our treadmill and walk in my Sunday’s best.  I get about 100 steps per minute so I consider that a win!

Dance it out – On weekends I like to meal prep so I don’t have to cook so much during the week.  I’ll put music on and dance while something is boiling or baking.  It makes the work fun and goes by quickly plus counts as a mini workout. ??

All these little hacks give me between 5k-7k steps in every day that I wouldn’t get if I didn’t try for them.  That’s a lot!

How my FitBit makes me money

I signed up at the end of last year with Achievemint.   It syncs many different activity trackers, health apps, even Twitter, and you get points for syncing.  Once you reach 10,000 points, they pay you $10 via Paypal or Venmo.  It may take months to reach that but it’s absolutely no work to you after you sign up.  You even get points for sleep!  They are paying you to sleep and if that isn’t awesome, I don’t know what is.

I have had Map My Run synced previously (but I only track roller blading through that app, ironically) and recently added My Fitness Pal to the mix.  Yesterday I was an overachiever and rollerbladed and golfed.?  You can sign up here to start making money with your activity trackers and apps too.