Small Steps to Health and Wealth™

Small Steps to Health and Wealth™ Online Challenge Begins April 10

"Just in time for warm spring weather and more time spent outdoors, the Cooperative Extension system is launching an online Small Steps to Health and Wealth™ (SSHW) Challenge called “Spring 2011 SSHW Challenge.”  This free five-week program will be held from Sunday, April 10, through Saturday, May14.  Prizes will be awarded for participants who report the highest point totals. 

To sign up for the SSHW Challenge, follow the “Challenges” link on the Small Steps to Health and Wealth™ Web site at.  Set up a user name and password and download a simple one-page user’s guide with instructions about how to proceed. Enroll in the Challenge titled “Spring 2011 SSHW Challenge.”

The SSHW Challenge is part of Small Steps to Health and Wealth™, a national Cooperative Extension program developed to motivate Americans to take action to simultaneously improve their health and personal finances.  SSHW was built around a framework of 25 research-based behavior change strategies. 

It has been well documented that, when people monitor their behavior and measure their how they’re doing, they are often inspired to do better and achieve positive results.  Participants in a SSHW Challenge are “on their honor” to report their activities accurately.  If they “cheat” on reporting their points, they are only cheating themselves by not following the recommended daily practices.

The SSHW Challenge is based on the performance of ten recommended practices on a daily basis: five that involve health and nutrition and five that involve financial management. The five daily health and nutrition practices are: eat at least 4 cups of fruits and vegetables; get at least 30 minutes of exercise; drink water or unsweetened beverages instead of sugar-sweetened beverages; walk 10,000 or more steps with a pedometer; and learn something new about health and nutrition.

The five daily financial management practices included in the SSHW Challenge are: save a $1 bill (or more) and/or pocket change; invest $5 or more per day (including automated retirement savings plan deposits); track money spent throughout the day; eat lunch prepared at home; and learn something new about personal finance.  The latter activity, for both health and personal finances, can be accomplished by visiting Web sites, attending seminars, or by reading, listening to, or viewing media reports. 

As participants enter their personal data, they will see their point totals for each day of the week and for each of the ten activities described above.  They’ll also see a bar graph that compares their personal progress to the average scores of everyone else participating in the Challenge.  Daily motivational messages will also be provided to participants.

Doing even one of the ten recommended daily practices is a great way to get started on the path to better health and improved financial security. To sign up for “Spring 2011 SSHW Challenge” visit the SSHW Web site at http://njaes.rutgers.edu/sshw/."

For further information and/or questions contact: Barbara O’Neill, Extension Specialist in Financial Resource Management, Rutgers Cooperative Extension

oneill@aesop.rutgers.edu  732-932-9155 (X 250)