Taking a Break: I Like Lap Swimming. I Don’t Want to Pay the Gym Membership Fee

I love to swim. I was a swimmer in high school. I’ve done lap swimming on and off for years as a way to:

1. Relieve stress.
2. Get some good “thinking” time in.
3. Stay healthy through a great form of exercise.

After watching swimming in the Olympics, I was once again seized with the desire to have lap swimming in my life. After looking at my schedule, I can see some time for it a couple times a week. It would allow me to take a break, plus get into shape, while doing something I love.

So I looked into a gym membership.

The local sports and racket club has an excellent pool. However, the price is $54.95 per month. Yikes! That’s not really worth it to me, since I wouldn’t go every day.

Alternative to the gym membership: Student spouse card at the university

Lucky for me, my husband is a student at the local university (working on his Ph.D.) I can either pay $4 a swim, or I can get what is called a spouse card. For $35 a semester, I can get access to all of the university facilities and activities — all because my husband is a student.

So I don’t need the fancy gym. I have access to tennis courts, exercise equipment and (most importantly) a pool. Let’s add up the savings:

• Gym membership: $659.40 per year.
• Spouse card: $105 per year (summer semester requires another payment).
• Total savings:$554.40

Do you have any tips for saving money on gym memberships?

image credit: Adrian Pingstone