Memberships make sense (if you use them)

When most people are looking for budget assistance, one of the first suggestions made is to eliminate memberships and subscriptions: diet programs like Weight Watchers, gyms, Netflix, magazines, etc. While that is an excellent suggestion, there’s this to remember–what if you actually use those memberships? What if those memberships actually enhance your life?

Take the gym, for instance. I will agree that gym memberships can be expensive and if you’re on a very tight budget, it may not make sense to keep it. But what if you go to the gym every day? What if you use it not only for the health benefits but for a social outlet or a networking mechanism? You never know who you might run into while you’re on the treadmill or in a Zumba class! You might be a social worker in dire need of a job who just happens to strike up a friendship with the HR rep for a local counseling agency. You might be a high school graduate in need of some income who happens to run into a family who’s looking for a weekly babysitter. Not only that, but you might find out that your gym has an opening in one of its departments (this mainly applies if you belong to a YMCA-type place); that job might then come with a free or reduced cost membership. Let’s not forget the classes, programs and facilities that most gyms offer. Seems to me that the perks are worth the money, even on a very tight budget.

Netflix is another membership that, to me, is worth the money. The streaming feature alone will make you forget that you no longer pay one of the greedy cable companies. If you’re low on funds, movies and old TV shows may provide one of your only sources of indoor entertainment (board games and cards can get old if you’re playing with the wrong people), especially for date nights. In addition to movies and TV shows, there are also educational documentaries and exercise videos available. It’s a comprehensive source of entertainment that serves as the pepper to the salt of free TV through Hulu or streaming through the network channels.

Magazines are a tricky one for me. I used to buy my husband a magazine subscription every year for Christmas and he would do the same for me. But the magazines wouldn’t come regularly, we would get bothersome phone calls from a company selling one of the subscriptions, they would automatically renew the subscription even though we never selected that option, and most of the content is online anyway. Not worth the headache or the money. This year, though, my in-laws bought us subscriptions and I’m quite enjoying them (probably because it’s on someone else’s dime). I get a monthly subscription to Southern Living and I am in love with the recipes! I have a pile of recipes that I’m dying to try. My husband gets Money, Maxim and Conde Nast Traveler–nothing like an ecclectic mix of magazines with expensive tastes to give someone a case of the “I wants” (for the record, I don’t care that he reads Maxim. The pictures don’t bother me and some of the articles are really good. And funny. I was as surprised as you.) I can’t say that I would purchase a subscription for myself, but I can see why if you’re in a niche industry or have a very specific hobby why a subscription would be worth it.

Obviously, it does not pay to keep memberships if you don’t regularly use them. They become a drain on your budget and a waste of services. If you’re not getting anything out of the memberships–educationally, socially, physically–then dump them, stat! But if you do find value in any memberships that you do have, I would look to see other places to cut before getting rid of those. If it’s important to you, find the money for it. I promise not to judge your priorities.

What memberships do you have that are worth the money?