This is the time of year when the big fitness corporations spend millions of dollars trying to get us to join a gym. I firmly believe that you don't need to belong to a gym to get fit. Save that money for a trip to Europe or something. I have heard more people than I can count say they joined a gym, went two or three times, didn't like being the only fat person there, didn't like being stared at, didn't like the fact that everytime they arrived the place was crowded with lines to get on their favorite equipment, didn't like the men trying to pick them up and so on.
Now if you have a passion, like belly dancing, or fixed gear bicycles, by all means invest your money there. But once you have a vocabulary of dance steps, or a functional bike, you don't have to keep spending on more and more accessories.
And the beauty of it is people are always getting out of those things, so you can buy used equipment, videos, costume bits and all kinds of things used either on craigs list, freecycle, local yard sales, dance studio swap meets and so on. I got a great set of used silver toned finger cymbals for less than half the new price because the dancer decided she liked the bronze color better. Keep your measurements and your tape measure handy so you can snap up those great deals.
And remember if you have skills like sewing, you can trade services for goods sometimes. It doesn't hurt to ask.
I used some of my Christmas money to buy a new frisbee with a California surfer girl on it. My boyfriend promised to toss a frisbee with me from time to time. So yay, another cheap way to work out! My local park has a frisbee golf course as well.
