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Treadmill to Nowhere

Buyer's Regret

By Ashleigh HolmesPublished 3 years ago 3 min read
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Treadmill to Nowhere
Photo by CHUTTERSNAP on Unsplash

2015 sparked a lot for my husband and myself. We moved from North Brisbane out to near Ipswich which meant saying goodbye to family, friends and our fitness regimen which helped me lose 25 kilograms from March 2013 to June 2015. Wanting to continue our training where there wasn’t a lot of option for gyms in the area, and with the daily commute for both of us, we attempted to set up a gym in our shed of our rental.

In an around work and driving, I was constantly Googling possible equipment and of course even back then Facebook was monitoring my searches, which sparked popups. One such product was the CardioTech X9-AC treadmill, which enticed me with reasonable loan repayments, delivery included and bonus it was bright pink. I jumped at it and signed up, not letting my husband know straight away, he did end up being ok with it but thought I was hasty.

I was like nah, it’ll pay off and we will both get fitter and healthier. And we set it up, and to be honest the novelty was there at the start like all new equipment, but overall I think I used it like 5 or 6 times and that was it. Keep in mind, that I am definitely not a runner, and mainly bought it for walking and cardio and so I thought my motivation that I had garnered would continue, and even took some videos for Instagram and such to help keep momentum, but to no avail. So much for it will be worth it. For the duration we were out there (6 months), our fitness fell by the wayside, as we were both way too tired during the week. I was commuting from 4am in the morning for over an hour one way to work, and then the same back. We just couldn’t do it.

Now we were torn, as we couldn’t sell it as we were paying it off (it was a 3 year term) and so it sat gathering dust for the rest of the 6 months we were out near Ipswich. At the first free chance, we moved back to Brisbane City, carting back the heavy, pink treadmill in the moving truck and lugging it up to the second storey of our unit. That was a workout in itself as we dragged it out into our sunroom where it stayed for the next 3 years gathering dust.

We didn’t forget about, where it was placed, we could see it from our kitchen and lounge room, but the joy to use just wasn’t there anymore. Finally the loan was paid back, I think we paid overall about $3000 for it and once we posted it on Gumtree Australia, we got bites and eventually sold it for like $400. Definitely a loss money wise, but it was better than nothing and the buyer took it away.

Word of warning to anyone thinking of buying a treadmill for home, really, really think about it and think how often you will use it realistically. I wasn’t realistic in my thoughts and went with my heart not my head. In hindsight, I never should have brought the treadmill and it will always be a point of conversation and my husband jokes ‘do you remember when you bought the treadmill you didn’t use’. I usually just laugh and go I know I know.

You don’t want to be remembered by a bad decision, unfortunately I have not learnt my lesson since and have spontaneously done things I regret. Life is a learning experience, and everyone makes mistakes.

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About the Creator

Ashleigh Holmes

Married mother of an adorable little girl who keeps me on my toes. I love art, craft, photography and food. I love to write about parenting and the trials I have struggled with, and also photography as an outlet for lifelong anxiety.

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