MoneyMindedMoms: It Pays to be in the “Club”

The best family time is simply time spent together. There are plenty of ways to do this without spending a dime. But sometimes we all like to venture out and take in activities that can easily break the bank.

While my family often enjoys at-home movie nights and game marathons (absolutely free!) we also enjoy visiting the local museums, zoos, children's venues, botanical gardens and amusements parks. A single visit can quickly consume your family’s allotted entertainment budget.

Our solution? Become a member! All attractions on your list probably offer this as an option. If you plan to visit multiple times a year, you can save oodles of money by joining their annual membership program. Not only can you visit as often as you’d like, but you’ll likely be given discounts on additional events and a percentage off purchases while you’re there.

When you calculate the cost of a singular visit, it sometimes amounts to half the cost of your membership. In just a few visits it quickly pays for itself, and then every outing beyond that is essentially free.

If the initial expense seems intimidating, I suggest staggering your memberships. Join one now, another one in a few months, and so on. This way they won’t expire all at the same time either.

We carry memberships for our Zoo, the Natural History Museum, the Art Museum and the Science Center. This past year I calculated all of our visits. If we had paid each time, we would have spent nearly an additional $400.

Membership awards you the opportunity to stop whenever you’d like. Drop by for an hour if that’s all that fits your schedule… and you don’t need to spend a cent. It’s free… because you’re in the “Club”.

Doreen Kukral is creator of MomGoesGreen.com, a popular weblog that offers a glimpse into her family’s journey to "going green". With her contributions to Money Minded Moms she hopes to inspire others by sharing realistic ideas and information necessary to make wise choices where family health, wellness and environmental conservation are concerned and dispel the myth that going green is a costly commitment.
www.MomGoesGreen.com
Mom Goes Green on Facebook
Mom Goes Green on Twitter