A Treadmill Story

Hey guys! Did you all have a great Christmas? Get any cool presents? I got a Fitbit Charge HR and I love it. I'll blog about it soon once I learn all the niftiness of it. For now, I'm going to tell you a story. The story of the fitness gadget that stole my heart before the fitbit did a few days ago.

Are you ready to hear the story of my treadmill? Gosh, how nerdy am I? Haha. 

So, a few months ago, I broke down and bought a treadmill. My family had a really old one that we bought at a yard sale for $50 when I was 14. I’d guess the previous owners had already had it for four or five years, so when it started shorting out and dying after 20 or 30 minutes of running on it, I had mixed feelings. Bummed, of course, because on nights I didn’t feel like playing DDR, the treadmill was a great alternative and sometimes just what I needed to get a break from DDR. But then again, this treadmill seemed to last forever and I had bought it for next to nothing. It definitely had a good life with us and I’d imagine it did well for the people who had it previously! I couldn’t complain about the treadmill itself, but but the cost to buy a new one knowing that I would use it a lot was a bit unnerving. There are sooooo many out there, I research to the death, I’m wishy washy and a bit indecisive and, I’ll admit it, very frugal. If I’m buying something, I want to be sure I’m making the right decision. With that said, I’m the only person in my home that exercises regularly and eats healthily and frankly, the treadmill was my decision and mine alone. I had input and opinions about where and what to buy, but in the end, it was all me. And since I’m the only person who exercises, it was hard to get my family on board to go to different places and test out different treadmills. I drove to a second hand sports store one time but mostly the only other option I had were to look online and read different reviews. I also asked questions in a workout group I’m apart of on Facebook what treadmills, if any, that they have bought to get more opinions. 

In the end, I had it narrowed down to two treadmills. One from Walmart (which would have been bought on Walmart.com and unable to actually test out) with several positive reviews. It was a Weslo Cadence G5.9. The treadmill that was bought at the yard sale was also a Welso and it lasted a long time. It was reasonable (under $300) also, which made it an ideal purchase. The other one was a Proform Crosswalk 415 from Sears, which I actually got to test out at our local Sears when we made a random trip to the mall. I had no intentions of testing out the treadmills but happened to walk past and it seemed to be fate! The sales guy at Sears (shout out to Timothy at the Tri-County Mall in Cincinnati - you were beyond awesome and helpful!) was great and he was really helpful by letting me know how long the sale would last with the treadmill (it was on sale for just over $400) and also printed out something that I could take to another Sears which was a bit closer and buy it there for that price guaranteed. After coming home and researching it I was in a bit of a dilemma. The Proform was a bit more expensive, and whereas the Weslo had over 1000 reviews and a lot of information online, it seemed as if the Proform was hiding. There were less than 50 reviews on the Sears website, there was a video on YouTube that only had a few hundred views, and it was as if the Proform was virtually unknown. Phew. It might not seem like much, but I agonized over this for days! It seemed like the Welso was the way to go, I mean I had all the reviews I needed, ample youtube videos, it was cheaper by $100, my only option was to order online and that would help me earn Swagbucks* through Shop and Earn, and even some of the ladies from the group I mentioned previously had a Welso, although a few actually said they had a Proform and liked it. The Welso had a manual incline vs. the automatic incline on the Proform and that was a con, but still not sure what to do. But in the end? I bought the Proform from Sears. And seriously, I could NOT be happier with it! I sure I would have been happy with either Treadmill, but the cool thing about the Proform is that I got to try it out, I got to hear it run at the store. The sales guy at Sears was beyond nice. If something goes wrong with it, someone from Sears can come and fix it. I think I made the right decision.

I paid for the treadmill completely with money I earned via Swagbucks, which makes it extra awesome. If you’re not familiar with Swagbucks, here is a quick rundown: you earn “Swagbucks” for little tasks you do throughout their site and on their phone/tablet apps. One swagbuck (or SB) equals one cent. You can  one cent or 1SB by voting in a daily poll. You can take, say, a 10 minute survey and earn around 50SB’s (sometimes it’s more, sometimes it’s less. The higher paying surveys are usually a little longer). You can install the Swagbucks TV app on android and iOS and watch videos on your tablet or phone and earn at minimum as of this writing for the US 36SB’s a day. The other day I requested a brochure on a vacation to Alaska through their discover section and I got 68SB’s. I ordered something for my dog a few weeks ago at Petsmart and activated Shop and Earn via Swagbucks and picked it up in the store later that day, and I got 360SB’s ($3.60)! With very minimal effort (it usually takes me about an hour a day give or take a few minutes) I can usually made anywhere from $1-3 a day or 100-300 Swagbucks. Sometimes I make more, and sometimes I make less. But at the end of the month, I usually make anywhere from 3000-5000SB’s, or $30-50 a month. It’s not a lot by any means, but it definitely adds up! You can trade the Swagbucks in for several different gift cards to places such as Walmart, Sam’s Club, Target, Ebay, Foot Locker, Bass Pro Shops, Kohls, a Visa Check Card, and so much more. I usually trade mine in for a Paypal gift card, which can be moved over to my bank account. That’s how I paid for my treadmill! While researching and trying to decide what was right for me, I was Swaggin’ away earning money to help pay for it, which definitely helped with my frugality! I definitely recommend Swagbucks if you’re looking for a quick and fairly easy way to earn a little bit of extra money. Sometimes I take the money and buy work out clothes, shoes, or groceries or even pay bills with it! I have linked Swagbucks with my referral (which is ArrowDancer - get it?! :D) and would love if you signed up to sign up with my referral. It’s not necessary, but I would much appreciate it!

So there it is, the story of my treadmill. All the research, the wishy washy thinking, the major Swag I had, and more was totally worth it. I actually haven’t played DDR once since getting my treadmill. I miss it quite a bit actually, but my workout playlist consists of DDR songs and I will watch DDR videos WHILE running on the treadmill. Oh man. DDR nerd for life!!