The Value of a YMCA Membership

I've been thinking of rejoining the YMCA for a while now.  We live less than 5 minutes from a very nice one.  It's been about 8 years since we were members.  On New Year's Day I saw an advertisement that we could join and only pay a $16 registration fee.  The normal registration fee is $90 and I refuse to pay that much for them to take 10 minutes to register me.  So I talked to Mr. R and he was all for it.  

Here's how we justified the expense.  Monthly YMCA Family membership cost is $61 + tax.  

• Mr. R canceled his other gym membership that he was paying $10 per month for.  
• We will save $59 total per 7 week session on the girls' gymnastics lessons as members. Plus now we can register earlier as a member so hopefully we won't have to deal with the classes we want being full.
• Free Child Watch - Mr. R and I can both work out at the same time then take the kids swimming or to play in the gym as a family.  
• Free Classes - There are a whole list of classes that are free (included with the membership). My goal for now is to start going Tuesday evenings while Mr. R is at work for a Zumba class.
• Walking Track - I always used to love to walk.  I would go for long walks around the neighborhood and in the winter I would walk at the Y on the track.  For some reason, I'm not a big fan of walking on a treadmill, but outside and even on the track, I can just get lost in thought and walk for hours.  I got out of the walking habit once I had kids. Hopefully, I can get back into it.
• Open Swim - The girls and Mr. R love to swim.  
• Other activities - The YMCA has lots of family activities throughout the year. Some are free to members, others cost a fee.  But as a member the fee is less than what we would have paid as a non-member.  We have attended some of these events in the past and paid the non-member fee.

Overall, it's still an added expense to our monthly budget.  But I'm hoping to really make sure we continue to use it.  Especially for the activities/classes that are already included in the membership fee.

To keep myself motivated, I am going to keep track of the amount of times we go each month so I can calculate the actual cost per use.  We had to pay $44.80 for the first part of January including the registration fee.  Then from now on, our credit card will be charged the 15th of each month.

I took the girls swimming today, so we've used the membership 3 times so far.