The cost of living crisis has affected many aspects of day-to-day life, including weekly food shopping, travel costs and of course energy bills.
Londoners are now increasingly showering at their local leisure centre to cut costs from their water and heating bills, a conference at City Hall has heard.
Research by King's College London's Policy Institute found that low-cost gyms and swimming pools made this a viable alternative for many.
Seb Mandzak, a peer researcher at the institute, said he had come across several cases where Londoners are hitting the gym or pool every day as the cost of living crisis takes hold.
But while this killing-two-birds-with-one-stone approach might do wonders for your fitness, will it save you money?
Average cost of a leisure centre membership?
The BBC found that an average monthly gym membership is £40 per month.
However, the average does take into account more executive and leisure club-style gyms.
Secret London found, in research last year, that the cheapest gym deals in London include:
The Gym for £14.99 per month,
PureGym for £25 per month,
Fitness4Less for £29.99 per month,
There is also the added factor of how much it costs to travel to a leisure centre.
Cost of taking a shower
BBC research has found that taking a shower for eight minutes per day would set you back by around £14 per month. If you were to take a five-minute shower that can be reduced to £9 per month.
Cold showering can also have reported health benefits if you are looking for another way of saving money on heating.
Does it save money to shower at a gym?
Weighing up the cost of showering versus the cost of a gym membership would leave you in the red if you only used your leisure centre for the sake of the shower.
Exercising at home or going for a run or bike ride would be the cheapest all-around solution.
However, if you are a committed gym-goer it would save money and time if you did use the facility’s shower even from time to time.
TikTok user Heidi Ondrak, who describes herself as the Duchess of Thrift, reckons to be able to “save” £760 a year on water and heating bills by only showering at her gym.
She told Wales Online: "I’ve got a membership for one of the cheap budget gyms, it’s like £15 a month. Even if you are just popping in the gym, because mine is five minutes away, just to have your shower you’re making the best use of your gym membership, and, if you have two adults in the house with a gym membership, obviously you can double that amount."
“So per year, it’s £760 you could save if you have an electric shower at home and you have your shower at the gym. It’s £320 a year [you save] if you use gas."
