Walk it Out: Online Fitness Communities

Becky Luigart-Stayner

Walking is the ideal thrifty exercise; invest in good walking shoes and walk anywhere for $0 in monthly membership fees, with no basic training required. Since the weather is getting warmer, it's easier than ever to incorporate walking into your weekly fitness regimens. If I have errands to run within a 1 mile radius of the house, like picking up prescriptions, going to the post office, grabbing some milk at the grocery store, I will put on my tiny backpack and hoof it. Never underestimate the power of having time away all your electronic reminders and communications, the scent of wood and grass, and enjoying the dimensionality of the color green in contrast to a white computer screen. 

If the thought of walking a long distance feels daunting, incorporate it into your everyday schedule, eg:get off one bus stop before your usual stop on your daily commute and walk the extra block. If the weather isn't ideal, or if you are sensitive to dust, pollen, and other allergens in the environment, there are many walking groups that get together and make use of running tracks in a local university and shopping malls.

I realize not everyone lives in a walkable neighborhood, and that walking alone can get...well...lonely sometimes. That's why I I want to highlight online fitness communities which bring a sense of companionship and accomplishment to exercise. MapMyWALK.com is one such online tool, which can not only be used by individuals, but provides mapping tool for community groups and public health professionals to design walking routes tailored to different fitness levels.  The site boasts millions of existing members and millions of existing routes in their system.

Design a running/jogging/hiking/walking/bicycling map route around your workplace, campus, or home by entering in an address, and using a Google Maps interface to outline your route. You can incorporate off road trails onto your map and view it from "street view" or "satellite view" to see local landmarks. Once you have created a route, you will know exactly how many miles (or kilometers) it is, and be able to log trips which will help keep track of your total miles traveled and total calories burned. For a more detailed tutorial of how to use MapMyWALK click here.

You can save your personal route for future walks, or share it to your friends via Facebook Timeline or Twitter, or join an existing community group with existing maps to choose from. There are over 20,000 listed community walking events, and local races to further motivate you to set distance goals for yourself. An app (of course) exists for MapMyWALK for $1.99 but is not completely necessary.

Online Streaming Media Options

As many of you know, Netflix has announced it's latest change in it's pricing structure this week. Several months ago they offered an unlimited streaming program (no DVDs) for $7.99/month, and any extra DVDs that consumer wanted could be rented at $2/DVD. Netflix has now split DVD by mail and instant streaming into two separate plans entirely, instead of bundling them together as in the previously cheaper plans. The new breakdown is as follows:

• Unlimited streaming — $7.99/mo
• Unlimited DVD, one DVD out at a time — $7.99/mo
• Unlimited DVD, two DVDs out at a time — $11.99/mo
• Unlimited streaming and DVD, one DVD out at a time — $15.98/mo

The last bulleted plan was previously bundled together for $9.99/month. The issue that many consumers have raised is that the unlimited streaming offerings are not as vast as the DVD by mail offerings. Unlimited streaming usually has older releases, TV shows, and documentaries, whereas DVD by mail supplemented this with newer releases. It is yet to be seen if Netflix will increase it's selection of instant streaming movies. Existing Netflix accounts will not be grandfathered into the new price changes.

If you are looking to switch companies for media streaming, keep reading.

What's the best Movie Deal?

My people, Indians, are naturally thrifty when it comes to movies. It's true that while Bollywood and Kollywood are multi-million dollar industries,  Indians still now how to stretch that movie entrance ticket as far as it can go. For example, a typical Hindi film easily spans 3 hours filled with long, windy plots, extensive dances and musicals, and frequently an intermission midway. Indians are used to getting 3-4 hours worth of entertainment from one movie ticket. It is a whole day affair.

You might think that the movie theaters would reclaim some revenue from the concession stands, but if people are anything like my mother, that is probably not the case. As a child I would sit down next to her in the movie theater, and in her purse there would be unlimited juice boxes, chips, cookies, and Kleenexes to last me through the most riveting moments of the Lion King. Who needs movie theater popcorn anyway when you have Hi-C, pop tarts, AND starburst?

But today, admission tickets to movie theaters are on the decline, and movie rentals seem to be the preferred options for busy Americans today. The Thrifty Scholar has adapted to the times, and has created a comparison of popular movie options:

Finding the Right GPS Unit

Anyone who knows me can tell you I have no sense of direction. If I were lost in the woods, I wouldn't be able to find the North Star, figure out which side of the tree had more moss growing on it, or any other wilderness survival skills for that matter. Nevertheless, it wasn't until I squandered an entire tank of gas trying to get "un-lost" from various job interviews, that I finally felt the need to purchase my first GPS unit.

GPS stands for Global Positioning System and it works by "talking" to satellites orbiting the Earth, and then overlaying your geographical coordinates on pre-loaded maps. Thus, it can provide real-time information on directionality, speed, and estimated times of arrival.