Major Cash Injection

Doing a google image search for "cash injection" brings up
a surprising number of results.

That's kind of  filthy sounding title, no?  I like it!  As I've been strategizing how to not turn into a total money spaz while I'm not quite sure what my take-home pay is going to be, I got an email from former boss telling me that I can expect a payout of my accrued vacation hours!  Since it's been so long since I've had paid vacation, I completely forgot about all the hours I banked, and since I hardly used any (I was only part-time, remember), it ended up being quite a tidy sum of money.

This job also has a kick-ass online money management system where I can direct my paycheck into a number of different accounts.  That means that 5% of my net pay goes into my running account, 7% into my travel fund, 20% into my IRA, 30% into savings and the rest into checking.  So I've already kicked off the year with a healthy deposit to the IRA--huzzah!

In other news, I just learned about this new thing called Switch2Health, which is kind of like the swagbucks of fitness.  Leah Ingram (frugal guru extraordinaire) recommended it on a local news program that I then saw on her website.  The way it works is, you buy a pedometer or an activity tracking wristband, track your activity, upload that info to the website, and you can earn giftcards.  With my four-mile daily walk, I could certainly rack up the points, but the pedometer also costs $25, so it seems rather foolish to shell out the cash without knowing how quickly you actually earn rewards.  Still, I am intrigued, but not sure that a pedometer would go with all the cute dresses I like to wear...

Anyone thinking about trying this out?