Cheaper by the 10,000

If someone asked for a list of books that have left a lasting impression on me—I might be a little bit embarrassed to admit Cheaper by the Dozen (the children’s book by Frank Gilbreth Jr. and Ernestine Gilbreth Carey) is somewhere near the top of that list.

I read Cheaper by the Dozen when I was in grade school, and the dad’s obsession with efficiency lodged itself in my brain. For years, I tried to accomplish doing laundry and washing dishes and cleaning the house in the fewest possible steps. I’d carry around towering armloads of laundry and unload everything from the dishwasher that went into one cabinet before moving on to the next cabinet’s contents.

That is…. until I got my Fitbit.

Prior to strapping that thing to my wrist, I was confident I walked 10,000 steps a day. My laundry room is on one side of my house—our closets are on the complete opposite side. I walk Pearl three, four, five times a day. I cook, I clean, I show people around houses, I drag the trash cans out to the street, and I walk back and forth to the refrigerator all day.

But, as it turns out. It takes a conscious effort for me to get to 10,000 steps every day.

Most nights, I can be found pacing around our bedroom, just waiting for my bracelet to vibrate before climbing into bed.

Matt routinely averages between 13,000 and 15,000 steps per day. My daily average: 10,020.

(Those extra twenty steps resulting from an overshot lap around the room or needing to climb out of bed to go pee before midnight.)

So, now, in order to “get my steps”—I walk around the house in the least efficient routes possible, taking detours around the kitchen island and walking around the couch twice before sitting down. I carry one wash cloth at a time (or one pair of socks, or one shirt), walking back and forth across the house like I’m taking part in some demented, domestic relay race.

….that is until I hit my 10,000 steps.

The second my bracelet vibrates; I turn into Mr. Gilbreth Sr. again, and I’m right back to being that girl who used to carry ten or fifteen grocery bags from the car to the house all at once.

Tara Winfield / Writer, Reader, Realtor / 4851 Tamiami Trail N. / Suite 258 / Naples, FL 34103