Get Paid to Walk. You Heard Me Right!

Searching for ways to get paid to walk? I'll show you how to make money with Fitbit, and without a Fitbit.

I never knew how much walking would become part of our lives after having a baby.

From about birth + 14 days, walks have provided so much for us.

Taking a Walk with a Baby (or just walking in general):

• Gives you something to do. It’s amazing how many hours there are in the day that you need to fill once you have a small child. And sometimes, you just run out of ideas! I remember looking at our little guy about 9:00 in the morning, wondering (with a little desperation) how on earth I was going to get through the day. What were we going to do together? Ahhhh yes. WALK. For an hour, at least.
• Keeps your eyes on the fitness prize. Walking can keep you very fit, and can help meet your steps + weight goals.
• Gives you a break. Being outside, in nature, walking by all sorts of things keeps our little guy quite intrigued. Going on walks is really like a break for us, the parents, because we can disengage for a bit.
• Gets you out of the house. Especially in those first months when you’re nesting, being able to strap your baby in and get fresh air (even if just a mile around your home) feels like just enough to keep the cabin fever at bay.

So…it’s not surprising that with all these miles I've logged I’ve figured out how to get the most bang for your walks.

Psst: Speaking of logging miles…there's a new app in town that rewards you points you can cash in for gift cards for literally any kind of commuting that you do. Walking, riding a bike, driving, traveling by subway or train (basically, any kind of movement that gets you from Point A to Point B!). Miles are earned automatically. Redeem your miles for exclusive rewards, gift cards, donations, raffles, and other products & services.

Can You Make Money Walking (is the App that Pays You to Walk Real)?

Short answer? Yes.

You can absolutely make money walking. I've got loads of ways to do so below, but I want to let you know that the best way to do this is to layer these money-making deals. In other words — you want each mile you walk to count towards money in ore than one program at once.

For example, you can do the following all at the same time, using the same steps you walk once to count for each program: 

• Enter an Individual challenge at Healthywage.com for your chance to win $10,000 (psst: between now and 1/12/2021, if you sign up through this link, you get an extra $55 prize boost!).
• Sync your Fitbit with the Walgreens Balance App and log the miles towards Balance Rewards points ($50 for each 40,000 miles walked).
• Open the CharityMiles App on your phone while you walk, and have your miles go towards a donation to a charity near to your heart.
• Manually log the miles in your employer's health wellness program towards a financial incentive.

See how that money can start to add up?

All for taking Fido or your baby for a walk they should probably be going on, anyway!

Let's get down to the exciting details, now.

Get Paid to Walk Fitbit

You've got a Fitbit — or you want to purchase one — and you'd like to earn back the money for it (yes! great strategy to buying a Fitbit – earn money with Fitbit, and it will pay for itself).

I've got an excellent idea: use it to get paid to walk.

Seriously!

Let's look at opportunities to get paid to walk Fitbit and get paid to exercise Fitbit:

1. StepBet: With Stepbet, you bet in favor of meeting the step goals you set for yourself. If you reach your step goals for the whole game duration, then you get to split the pot with others (you'll at least get what the money you bet + a profit). Goals need to be met on a weekly basis. You can participate with Fitbit, but also Apple Watch, Apple Health, Google Fit, Samsung Health, and Garmin. Winnings are deposited as points into your account, which you can be sent to your Paypal within 48 hours! Ka-ching!
2. My Achievement: Track your steps using your Fitbit at MyAchievement, and get $10 CASH for every 10,000 points). You can earn up to 80 points per day for physical activity (like walking!). Payouts happen via Paypal or Giftrocket, and within a week of your request. Again, they accept over 30+ apps besides the Fitbit, so you might be able to participate with what you've got right now.
3. Walgreens Balance Rewards Points: For every 40,000 miles you log, you earn $50 balance reward. That's a lot of miles, granted, but hey — you're going to be walking them anyway. And, did I mention, you earn 20 points for each mile you walk? Plus there are other ways to earn 20 points here, 250 points there. Use this link to sync up your Fitbit to the program.

Log Your Steps and Win Up to $10,000

Did you know you can enter a challenge with the chance to win up to $10,000 for meeting your step counts or weight loss goals?

It's pretty awesome.

Especially since by entering, you can get both:

a) accountability

b) MONEY (average winner gets to take home several hundred bucks!)

You can enter a challenge — either as an individual, or get together a posse of your best friends and enter as a team — at HealthyWage.com.

In order to win a money prize for the step count, you'll need to increase your step count by 25%.

Sounds doable, right?

Take the challenge.

Psst: Now through 01/12/2021, you can get a $55 prize boost! Go through my link for the $55 prize boost. 

Log Your Miles for Health Insurance Premium Savings

Do you remember when I discussed the trick to employer-sponsored plan savings? It’s taking part in their wellness programs. For us, taking part in our wellness program will yield a total premium reduction of $900 this year.

That’s $900 directly back into our paychecks, folks.

This year, we participated again. Except we got to put our $900 in collective rewards towards a Southwest Airline gift card that is largely paying for our airfare home for Christmas!

Among various other things – such as tracking water we drink each day, and taking a biometric screening survey – is tracking the amount of walking and/or exercise we complete.

All of these activities add up to a lot of dough for us. It’s kind of like getting a cost of living raise…while raising your quality of life (double raise!).

Log Your Miles for Charitable Donations

One way you can catapult your results: make your walking goals bigger than yourself. Also a great way to use your Fitbit steps for charity.

• Charity Miles: With the use of the Charity Miles app, each time I leave the house to go on another walk I’m donating to The Wounded Warrior Project. In fact, I call them my Wounded Warrior walks. Hint: you can absolutely use the Charity Miles app on a treadmill. There's an option to click “indoor walk” or “indoor run” instead of “outdoor walk” or “outdoor run” for your activity.
• The Commit App: This charity-based app still collects your wager money for the steps and fitness goals that you have. However, if you fail to meet the goals, the money goes to a charity you chose upon sign-up. Talk about a fun “negative consequence”! It's really a win-win because you either meet you fitness goal (yes!) or you donate to a charity of your choosing (yes!).

Log your miles to donate for free to organizations and causes that are important to you (one of the 5 volunteer from home opportunities I talked about recently).

Log Your Miles for Cash (for Real!)

Let's talk about even MORE opportunities to earn cash for walking (no Fitbit needed).

Just sign up, walk and get money!

• SweatCoin: Here's an interesting way to earn cryptocurrency (although technically, they're not a cryptocurrency yet because they're not on a blockchain) — by walking (or possibly even riding your bike/running). Does Sweatcoin actually pay cash? Yes — though you have to catch the days when they offer PayPal cash for your sweatcoins. Earn 0.95 sweatcoins for each 1,000 outdoor steps you take (it won't work on a treadmill, as it's measured by GPS). Each day they offer different ways you can cash in your sweatcoins, such as through Amazon gift cards, Paypal cash, or credit for workout gear.
• GymPact: Do you do your walking at gyms (or even an outdoor track)? Bet on yourself to show up to the gym and do your walking workout, and get paid for keeping your commitments! According to this site, people get paid generally between $0.50 and $0.75 per workout — as long as they make their commitment. You make a pact, and the period for you to meet it is between Monday and Sunday. Gyms, yoga studios, outdoor tracks, rock climbing facilities, and lots of other places can all count as you going to the gym.

Which one are you dying to sing up for today? Perhaps two (or 5)?

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Amanda L Grossman

Writer and CEO at Frugal Confessions, LLC

Amanda L. Grossman is a writer and Certified Financial Education Instructor, Plutus Foundation Grant Recipient, and founder of Frugal Confessions. Over the last 13 years, her money work has helped people with how to save money and how to manage money. She's been featured in the Wall Street Journal, Kiplinger, Washington Post, U.S. News & World Report, Business Insider, LifeHacker, Real Simple Magazine, Woman's World, Woman's Day, ABC 13 Houston, Keybank, and more. Read more here.

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