Time vs. Money

Recently a new gym opened up less than a mile from Steven's office.  Since he works out during his lunch hour he was really enticed to try it out.  Making the most of his time.  Our current gym is about 5.5 miles away from his office.  Not too far, but not a block away either.

We had a little money dilemma facing us.  The gym we are currently members of, and have been since 2000, only charges us $30/month for the both of us.  No renewal fees.  No annual fees. Just $30 every month.  Not too shabby since Steven uses the gym five days a week.  Me, well, I haven't been in for-ev-er.  I blame it on pregnancy.

Even though I am very comfortable with our low monthly gym payment, I told Steven to look into the new gym.    He came back with a one time enrollment fee of $85 for the both of us and $40/month.  I wasn't too jazzed about the enrollment fee and/or the possible increase of a monthly bill.  You know me.  I like to decrease the bills.  Not increase.

Even though the new gym appeared to be more expensive, I thought about the time Steven would recoup from a shorter travel.  Then I got to thinking about the mileage.  I did the math.  After calculating the mileage of the round trip to the old gym vs. the mileage back and forth to the new gym it was a considerable difference.  Even though the new gym was more expensive, our savings in gas made the new gym more appealing financially.  By the time I was done adding, subtracting, and dividing, I realized we would save around $25/month by switching to a more expensive gym.

When you are thinking of making changes, it's really important to weigh your options.  Take into consideration everything that affects your bottom line.  Something that seems to be more expensive, can actually be the better choice.

Now here's the shocker.  Knowing that the new gym would save me money from reducing our gas cost, we went with our old gym.  Shocking, I know.  Amanda Torres chose the more expensive option.  The main reason...Steven likes our old gym better.  It fits his workout style better.  Since he looks amazing, I let him make the decision.  After all, he is saving us money in medical bills by keeping his body fine tuned.  I guess he's frugal after all!  Frugal and good lookin'. A very attractive combination.