Keeping You and Your Wallet Fit

Raise your hand if you've committed to working out and getting fit this year. Uh-huh... I see you. Don't make me come over there and hold you accountable... :)

I'm all about fitness, but NOT the price tag that ensues with home gym equipment and gym memberships. January is NOT the month to purchase said equipment or (sometimes) join gyms for that matter. Let's face it, we all start out in January with our right hand on the holy word that we are going to lose weight so-help-us-God. So we get a treadmill (or something similar) and/or join a gym.

#1- A friend said it best on Facebook a couple of days ago, when her status was, "only 2 more weeks until the newbies at the gym are gone and I get my treadmill back."

If you just joined a gym since the start of the new year, the people that were members at the gym last month are cussing you right now, because the gym is CRAZY CROWDED. Not to mention they know most people will fall out of their fitness plan by March (or no later than whenever their spring break might happen to be).

Am I saying don't join-- NO! I'm saying wait for the bait. The YMCA offers "Amnesty" months, where they waive your fee to join, but you need to know when they are. As it happens, there are some YMCAs that offer that in January. If a gym membership is in your future, it would serve to call and ask! It would also serve to look just plain CHEAP when you sign up. No, I don't mean wear sleazy clothes, I mean ASK them to waive the membership fee. They just might-- after they pick themselves up off the floor, if it's a fru-fru gym with a smoothie bar and such. :)

#2- Do you know more often than not people give up their pipe dream of fitness within a few months? A survey actually showed most people gave it up within 3 weeks (!!). I know. Hard to believe, with so many svelte Americans and all... Get yourself on Craigslist and find some home gym equipment on there for next to nothing! Sometimes people just want their treadmill out of their bedroom because it has become nothing but an extra hanging rod-- I see you hanging your heads from the weight of guilt, by the way. I'm kidding. I'd never hurt your feelings without hurting mine too. :)

Get fit, but keep your pocketbook intact in the process and save on, friends! :)