How does a domestic goddess stay off the couch?

I just read an article that people who sit most of the day increase their risk of heart attack by 54%. The article is mainly geared toward people who work in offices and it doesn’t count if you exercise when you leave work after sitting all day. I don’t have an office job or work out or anything but I do have a home routine of my own to help me stay moving. The tips in the article I read are good yet obvious ones for business people but if you stay at home like I do, you have to be more creative in making yourself not sit for long periods. I’ll share with you what I do to stay up and going despite the temptations.

1 Buy furniture for looks. They are usually the most uncomfortable and you won’t want to be there all day.

2. Leave yourself tons of “little stuff” on your to do list. Like a dish or two or all of them in the sink after dinner so you can get up in a little while when you feel like it and wash it.

3. Don’t be a neat freak. If your house is always clean and you have everything in order, you may be forced to sit around all day Saturday with nothing to do.

4. Leave your cell phone on the other side of the house. Its best if you leave it in a different place each time. When it rings you have to jump up, run across the house and actually find it to answer it. You will probably miss some calls but you’ll increase your movement when they keep calling back.

5. Make sure you have some laundry piled up. You want to be able to do 3 or 4 loads in a given day. If you time it right, you would get up about every 2 or 3 commercial breaks from your soaps to change over or fold laundry. This is excellent movement.

6. Be forgetful. This is one of my favorite “moving” workouts. There is nothing better than forgetting what you went to the kitchen for. You have to go back to where you were and start over. If you are lucky enough to be extremely forgetful, you could repeat this process many times. It helps also to lose your keys or your wallet randomly to get in a quick workout in before sitting in the car.

There are so many other creative ways to keep yourself moving when you’re at home, the kids are in school , and you’re faced with that risky dilemma of me time.