Gym Membership

[Done by Forty]

It's interesting that they gym membership seems to be a sacred cow for us Mustachians (we have one, too: $10 per month, per person at YouFit).  Usually these sort of recurring expenses would be on the chopping block...FI is achieved $10 at a time, and all that.

[grantmeaname]

I'd say it's far from a sacred cow. MMM seems to be against it for people in the accumulation stage, and there seem to be nearly as many forum members opposed to it as favoring it. It's more like a mixed bag.

[einzweidrei]

My husband switched to the cheapest gym around (Planet Fitness) which costs $10/month and a yearly registration fee of $30/year. I thought that was pretty reasonable, considering that when we first started living together, he was going to a gym that cost us about $72/month.

I'm not sure if this helps anyone here but he actually hasn't paid for the gym in years because his insurance will offer a reimbursement of up to $200 every six months if you go at least fifty times during that time period. Your insurance might offer this as well. My insurance offers discounts but they're not good enough and seem to discount more expensive gyms that aren't even near me.

[Done by Forty]

I'd say it's far from a sacred cow. MMM seems to be against it for people in the accumulation stage, and there seem to be nearly as many forum members opposed to it as favoring it. It's more like a mixed bag.

Maybe that's too strong of a term.  I'm just having a hard time thinking of some other sort of recurring, discretionary expense that would have this many people defending the expense, even a relatively high one.

[grantmeaname]

Gym memberships are much more benign than most recurring discretionary expenses (cable TV is the number one I can think of). I agree - it is striking, though.