Don’t Overspend On Your New Year’s Resolutions

Well, we are just about ready to say goodbye to 2014. The ball will drop in Times Square and we will all celebrate the arrival of a fresh new year. Or we will fall asleep before midnight and just wake up in a new year.  Either works.

When the new year rolls around, there are all sorts of businesses clamoring for your money. It is New Year’s resolution season!  Get that resolution going!  The big industry, of course, is the fitness and weight loss industry. If you have been considering joining a gym, January is a great time because there are all sorts of deals. But buyer beware.

Your New Year’s Resolutions and the Package Trick

One big way that gyms make money is through the people who buy a year long package at the gym and then don’t show up much past January.  Those packages are great if you stick to it, but will you?  A better deal for many is a shorter term membership. It may cost more, but then you don’t lock in to something you won’t be using.

Sadly, I know people who buy gym memberships and then who stop showing up because they feel intimidated at the gym. Don’t let this be you!  Don’t worry about how you look. Just keep showing up. The endorphins from a good workout are worth it.

The weight loss companies will be after your wallets as well. Some of these companies are great, others just lighten your wallets and not your waistline. Remember, if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Those pills, creams, and potions aren’t going to do you any good.  Weight loss is hard work, but if you stick to it, it will happen. Can you do it without one of these programs and go the free route?  Sure, but many people find a structured plan easier to stick to whatever you choose, if you are spending money, be careful to not get locked into something you won’t use.

Then there are all the home fitness equipment options. Personally, this is what I prefer. I love having a treadmill in my house. I spent a pretty penny to get a good machine and it has been worth it. Other people swear that home treadmills just turn into a place to hang your clothes. I also have a full set of hand weights that I should use more (one of my goals for the year). But I am careful to not get sucked into buying any of the programs that are being advertised now. P90X can produce great results, but it won’t fit into my current triathlon training schedule.

It is all about deciding what will work for you. This is a great time to spend money on weight loss and fitness. But you have to be smart about it. Spend money where it makes the most sense for you.

Megan Smith

Megan is a 40-something government employee in the Washington, DC area. She got interested in Personal Finance when she got out of college and realized that her paycheck wasn’t going to go as far as she had hoped. Since starting this blog, she has managed to buy a house and make a solid start on her retirement goals, and hopes to help others do the same. Here is her story:

In 2007, I was a gainfully employed 20-something with no debt but not a lot of knowledge about personal finance.  It was a co-worker’s comment about Roth IRAs that sent me to the internet, searching for information.  It was then that I realized that I really didn’t know a whole lot about personal finance and that my current financial situation was due a lot to inherent frugal tendencies, generous family members, a fear of debt, and good luck.  While that was working for me, clearly I needed a better plan.

While I had no debt, I was also pretty much living paycheck to paycheck and not worrying about going over budget (I say this as if I had a real budget) because I had an emergency fund set aside to cover any overages.

Except that’s not what an emergency fund is for.

So I did a lot of research, read a lot of blogs, and decided that I needed a plan.  I needed to budget.  I needed to know what I was spending my money on.  I needed to prepare for the future.

I decided to create a blog not only to make myself accountable to others but also to share the knowledge that I gained along the way.  I’ve learned so much from my fellow bloggers, and I hope that my readers can find something useful in what I have to share as well.