Why my monthly gym membership is great – even though I don’t exercise

It saves me money in another important way.

the main points

• I joined the gym recently.
• I don’t play sports but I benefit from membership in another way.
• It enables me to get work done and save on childcare.

Recently, I decided to join a gym.

My son had been taking swimming lessons there as a non-member for several months, but we had never become a member before. There was no discount on membership-only lessons, and I walk my neighborhood instead of working out at the gym, so joining seemed like it would make little financial sense.

One big thing changed all of that, and I found the monthly membership to be well worth the price. Here’s why.

I joined a gym for this simple reason

I decided to join the gym and they charged my credit card an annual membership fee because they offer a great babysitting facility – and up to 2 hours of daily care is included in the membership price.

The facility has plenty of games and an indoor playground and we always saw parents dropping their kids off so I decided to look into it and found out it was a nice thing.

While parents are required to stay on site at the gym while their kids are being looked after, I didn’t find this to be an issue as I could still benefit from the service even though I wasn’t working out. The gym has wifi and a cafe so I can go and work there for 2 hours while my son has a great time with the other kids and games. Or my husband and I could meet there on “date night” in the afternoon without having to pay the babysitter fare.

Childcare in the gym works better for us than putting my son in daycare because most daycare facilities here require you to commit to keeping your child on a regular schedule. We travel a lot and don’t need baby care every week, so we’ll end up paying a fortune for care we don’t need. And daycares get much more expensive, even for morning care, than a monthly gym membership.

Will this baby care hack work for you?

For parents who need occasional care, it may be worth considering whether a gym membership can provide the solution. Many local gyms, including some YMCA, offer supervised childcare either as part of a membership fee or for a small fee. And while you’ll likely still be in the gym, this could still be a great solution for people who can get work done remotely or who can find something to enjoy at the facility.

Of course, you’ll want to research the quality of your child’s care and really do the math to make sure the numbers add up and that you’re getting enough value. But this solution was one I would never have come up with if my son wasn’t already attending a class there, and it could just be a ticket for other parents who need a short break but don’t want to commit to a regular daycare schedule. It’s worth researching your options if it seems like this could be an approach that would work for your family.