Benefits of Membership - Reciprocal membership at zoo's, museums, and parks

Image via WikipediaOne of the things I hate most about financial planners, right now, is that they are happy to give you advice to sit on your butt, for a big payoff later.   Of course, they don't come right out and say... "Go ahead and sit on your left butt-cheek for the next 495 years, bored out of your mind, night after night, and let the money in your bank account slowly creep upwards until you can afford to retire at the age of 84." 

No!  

They paint you a picture of how bad your retirement could be.  For example, they might suggest the following scenario...

What if you slip and fall on your kitchen floor, you spill hot boiling coffee all over your skin, you break both hips in the fall, unable to move or call, you're now trapped in your soiled Depends, and since you bought a park membership when you were 33, you are now unable to afford Life Alert.  And to-top-it-all-off you're helplessly lying there starving to death.

Then, once you've gotten their picture, they encourage you to give up all normal living expenses, now, for that HUGE payoff when you retire.     


However, one of the hardest parts about staying sane in your day-to-day life, now, is to have new and interesting activities you can do with your family.  Sitting on your couch, watching the paint peel off the walls with your kids, is NOT an exciting activity - although most of these financial planners would probably tell you it's a perfectly fine event you can enjoy together.
Image via Wikipedia
So, one of the best uses of your family finances, is to get long-term memberships at local organizations, like zoo's, museums, or parks.  Wisely used, the benefits of membership to these places can easily pay for themselves in fun and entertainment for your entire family.  This fact is no surprise to most parents out there.

What you may not be aware of, is the reciprocal membership benefits you get by owning your membership.  You see... by getting a membership at one organization, you are usually granted reciprocity to other places as well.  Typically this is a free reciprocal exchange. 

Here is a perfect example of what I mean:

Today, Groupon.com is offering a year-long membership to an aquarium in St. Pete, Florida.  One of the main links on their website, is the reciprocal visits calendar.  When you look at the calendar, you can view all of the other parks, museums, gardens, and aquariums you can visit throughout your year long membership. 

You see, by getting a membership to this one aquarium, you are also gaining access to at least 7 other organizations in the surrounding area. That's powerful!  And that's a great way to save money.

Now, couple on top of that the opportunity to use two other cost savings tricks.

• First:
  Like I mentioned above, you might be able to find a discounted membership to the organization of your choice.  If so... DO IT!
• Second:
  The other way to save a little more money, is to find out which of the reciprocal locations has the lowest annual membership costs.  And then, purchase the membership for that one.  Usually all of the organizations have the same reciprocal exchanges with all the other parks, so you can get the same access by joining the lowest cost member organization.
  For example, in Oregon we used to purchase memberships to a children's museum in Salem.  That membership also gave us access to other higher-priced parks in the Portland area.  

These last two strategies may not always work.  But they are definitely worth looking into, especially if you want to save money on those memberships.