Saving Money on Gym Membership

SNEAKY TECHNIQUE I DISCOVERED TO SAVE 

QUITE A BIT ON A GYM MEMBERSHIP

I joined 24hr Fitness a couple of years ago, using the Costco system - Grab the big chunk of cardboard on the sales-floor, pay the price, and then go to Customer Service to get your smaller piece of cardboard, which you bring to the 24 hour Fitness gym.

I THOROUGHLY recommend the 24 hour Fitness gym in the Mission Valley mall, conveniently located next to the See's candy store :-). Nice, clean and large gym. No pool or sauna, but you save bucks that way.

Nowadays, the two-year membership via Costco costs $349.99, I believe. That's fourteen bucks a month. The CHEAPEST I could find it without going through Costco is $29.99 per month, and it works ONLY with that gym alone.

If you really feel spendy, you can spend up to $59.99 per month, which gives you full access to 400+ clubs, including the monstrous barns (like the one at UTC) that include every possible class, contrivance, contraption and convenience. I've evaluated them, and I don't need them. I'll pay one-quarter as much, thankyouverymuch.

So, let's say that you sign up using Costco, and you're getting close to the end of your membership. You're SPECIFICALLY told that you can't use the Costco cheaperino method to RENEW your membership. What to do?

Wait until your membership has LAPSED - one day overdue will do nicely. Then, you can start out cheap with Costco again! 24hr's computers consider you to be a stranger at this point. So it takes you six minutes with a manager to re-enter your data. It's worth it.

I verified this with a friendly member of the staff to be sure beforehand. She also told me that the cards you get from Costco DON'T EXPIRE. So, if you have some extra bucks at some point, buy more Costco membership cards, and then store them. The prices have been galloping upward in the last few years. I dimly recall paying $250 for the two-year membership last time around, two years ago.