At the beginning of the year, I dished out over $600 for a gym membership. With the exception of the two times I went in January, because of my “resolutions”, I have barely gone.

According to a recent study*, Canadians spend upwards of $800 a year on a gym membership, and I’m going to venture to guess that many of those people also fall into the “never use it” category!

Here’s the thing, I prefer to workout in the mornings, but since I’m often on solo school-drop-off duty in the a.m., there’s no chance of slipping out early to pump iron à la Arnold Schwarzenegger. So, I recently decided that if I can’t get to the gym, why not bring the gym to me?

Now that my boys are edging towards “tween” status, they’ve completely outgrown what was once their toy-filled (and often cluttered) playroom. Subsequently, the playroom has sat unused for about as long my unused gym membership – and the barely used furniture, electronics, and toys were simply taking up space!

I devised a plan to transform the playroom into a home gym by posting and selling the majority of its contents and then putting all of the earnings towards buying second-hand furnishings and gym equipment.

I’ve had great success in the past selling my items quickly online, and knowing that the average Canadian earns $1,134 per year from selling in the second-hand economy, I was confident that I could create my own workout space for a fraction of what my membership cost.

After only a few weeks, I had sold almost everything! A futon for $80, book shelves for $100, a gaming system and video games for $125, and the drum set for $180. With the addition of books, toys, and a heap of outgrown costumes, I made a whopping total of $712. Not too shabby for items that we didn’t use anymore!

With a stack of cool cash in hand, I set out on a search to find some used gym equipment to create my home gym.

Fun Fitness Fact: There are over 30,000 treadmills, 11,000 dumbbells and 20,000 ellipticals available on Kijiji, so there was definitely no shortage of options when I started my own search.

I found a weight bench for $30, a set of hand weights for $25, and a BRAND NEW TREADMILL with the tags still on it for $175! I looked the model up online before purchasing it second-hand, and it was listed at a local retailer for almost $800! If you consider that the average Canadian saves $825 a year by shopping second-hand, I was feeling pretty good about my $600+ savings on the treadmill alone!

After investing in some additional paint and materials to makeover additional gym storage, I spent a total of $720. Now, I’m no mathlete, but after earning $712 and spending $720, that means my total home gym makeover cost $8! That’s literally ONE PERCENT of the average cost of an annual gym membership! ANNNNNND I have my home gym forever with NO annual membership fee! Say what?

I’m thrilled with how my new fantastically-fit-and-frugal space turned out, but the only downside is that now I’m fresh out of excuses for NOT working out!

If you’re looking to get rid of some unused items or create your own home gym, make sure to head to Kijiji to make awesome sales and find amazing deals!