YMCA

**Missy** · 01-31-2005, 01:50 PM

Is anyone here a mamber of your local Y? Can you tell me a little bit about it?

**pita1213** · 01-31-2005, 04:54 PM

we are. we have the family membership for 2 adults adn 2 kids. it's $65.00 a month. i have it taken directly out of the checking account once a month. saves the check and the stamp. we also joined during one of their promos where the date that you joined was your sign up fee, ie if you joined on the 4th, your join fee was $4.00.
they have a lot of classes you can take, an excerise room, swimming pool, and courts for raquet ball. there is also a teen room for the teenagers to play pool and video games, and i think they do crafts or something as well. they also have a toddler room where you can drop off your kids and they watch them while you excerise. but that is only available certain times.
right now the kids are taking swimming lessons. and dh goes at least 3 times a week to work out bfore he goes to work. i don't get to go very often because of my work schedule. when/if i get to go part time or stop working all together, i want to go more often.

**frugalmel** · 01-31-2005, 05:33 PM

I am not a member of ours because in addition to the membership fee, if you want to do any of the classes you have to pay for that as well. I don't know if the prices are the same contrywide, but for us, to factor in the membership fee and the cost of the activites, its to high for us.

**pita1213** · 01-31-2005, 07:35 PM

the swimming lessons had an addtional fee, but the exercise classes like aerobics and yoga do not. there is one yoga/pilates class that has a fee to it, but it wasn't one i was interested in. they offer a parents night out from time to time and that has a fee to pay for the food and craft supplies, but it wasn't a large fee. but the membership fee for teh 4 of us is cheaper than the fee for dh to join a gym and then pay for private swimming lessons etc.

i'm not sure about the memebership fees being the same everywhere. i think they do vary depending on where you live. if i remember correctly( and i'm really not positive) but i think the membership fees were more when we were in CT.

**i.m.cheap** · 02-01-2005, 03:05 PM

We used to have a YMCA membership. I really miss it. We just could not afford it anymore. They do have reduced price memberships for those that qualify. You might apply and see what they say. I plan to fill out an application after we do our taxes for last year. Our income has dropped by about $20,000 a year, since 2003. We really love the Y. I hate not going. They have day passes available for non-members, but it is $16 for a family pass for one day.

**StarvingStudent** · 02-01-2005, 05:27 PM

We had a family membership at our Y for about 6 months this year. We ended up cancelling because of my pregnancy and DH's work schedule. It was $65 a month which was a good deal. In the past I was a member at 2 other gyms and it cost that much for just me. They had a good selection of classes which were included in the membership.

Negatives were that our Y didn't have a pool or many children's activities. It was pretty small. They also charged $4 an hour for baby/childcare, which got expensive quickly, and for parking. I would look at the YMCAs in your area if you have more than one, and compare prices. They vary a lot and some are better than others. The website helped us compare prices:

http://www.ymca.net/index.jsp

**AmyMCGS** · 02-01-2005, 08:33 PM

The YMCA is being built in our city right now, and I can't wait to join. It's $65 a month for a family, which is still cheaper than DH's gym membership. I'm looking forward to using the pool and getting DD into some tumbling classes & swim lessons when she's a little older.

We've never had a membership before , but I'm really looking forward to it.

**mommy2many** · 02-02-2005, 08:51 AM

Gee does anyone else think that $65 a month for the YMCA is too much? Seems like too much to me. Do they offer a sliding scale or can you sell fundraisers to provide the money? Seems the YMCA shouldn't be so much! Maybe I am just getting old

**BlessedMommy** · 02-02-2005, 09:04 AM

The 5 YMCA's in our metro area are all $80 a month for a family membership!!

**oreo** · 02-02-2005, 09:17 AM

The Y in my area is $65 a month but you have to pay extra for classes, lessons,etc. Its also very "hoity toity". Its not what I thought a Y would be. The kids can even sign up for golf lessons at a nationally known top notch golf course. This one is very "club" like.

**i.m.cheap** · 02-02-2005, 09:56 AM

I am amazed that the prices vary so much. It is $49.90 a month for a family membership here. The drop-in childcare (while you are in the building working out, etc.) is only $1 an hour. Check into reduced price memberships. They try not to exclude lower income families.

**Missy** · 02-03-2005, 04:00 PM

I will look into the sliding scale definitely. I was thinking going here would help after baby is born for getting back into shape, etc. I will look around, but I know this is much cheaper than a gym. In our town, our parks and rec dept has a few options as well, but they are more expensive, I believe. I will have to recheck that.

Thanks for your input everyone.

**Jayne** · 02-03-2005, 04:37 PM

We had a membership a few years ago...all the clases were included in the membership fee we paid like 675.00 for a family pass for 1 year...that is average around here for any club with a pool...the only thing I didn't like is that our Y is old and kinda dirty:yuke:

**daddys3chicks** · 02-03-2005, 06:00 PM

Our Y charges $88 a month for a family membership. But, if you can work there, you get the single membership free and it is only $20 more a month for the family. I am going to check into it for us, because my girls would love to go swimming!