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People reveal which paid memberships are 100 percent worth every penny

"Costco… For the chicken and food court alone it is worth it."

Photo (left) by Johannes Andersson on Unsplash Photo (right) by Ben Wicks on Unsplash

From National Parks passes to air ambulance services, some memberships are totally worth it.

With the basic cost of living stretching many folks financially, people are always on the lookout for ways to save money. But with long-term commitments and ever-increasing costs, people are also often wary of memberships or subscriptions that might save you money (or at least be worth what they cost), but also might not.

Thanks to a Reddit user who asked fellow Redditors, "What membership is 100% worth every penny you pay for it?" we've got a list of memberships that might actually be worth checking out.

The kinds of memberships people listed vary widely, from warehouse stores to learning programs to medical evacuation services, but everyone who shared made a strong case for why the cost of them are worth it.

Here are the memberships people say are worth every penny:

Emergency Helicopter Services

"I live on an island in Alaska with limited healthcare. An emergency flight to a more capable hospital will cost $50000. For $100 a year I save $49900 if I ever need their services. That $100 covers everyone living under my roof. There is no limit on the number of flights. And seniors pay $75. Of course, the flight isn't a guarantee. Bad weather or the donated jet needing repairs can, and does, prevent you from being flown out." – Ksan_of_Tongass

"Can't believe someone beat me to this.
A year and a half ago, I had to be medevaced to Seattle with a broken back. Price tag on the flight would have been $141,110.89...
Good thing we are a member of the air med network!" – Tedious_research

"More common than you would think. They have this same premise in rural Texas for about $25/m." – sevargmas

The Great Courses (or Wondrium)

"The Great Courses. It’s now under the umbrella of Wondrium (and they have a bunch of other stuff, but I look for the GC stuff) They have hundreds of courses. Each one has roughly 26-40 lectures. They’re the best professors in the world - the ones that students report as their favorite teachers.

My boyfriend and I always have four on Thursdays: a science, an art, a philosophy (or wild card) and a history. We’ve done classes like: botany, the analects of Confucius, The Medici’s, the physics of time, early humans and the history of food.

I’ve got a good deal with them at $10/month all I can stream. Great for lifelong learners." – Shaydie

"I bought a 2 year subscription (when it was 50% off) and never looked back. Ancient Egypt is probably the best course I've ever taken, even including courses I've taken in college. It's old (1999) and some things have been disproven since, but it's still so damn good. Now I'm watching Ancient Mesopotamia, which is also very good." – Ok-Supermarket-1414

"I’ve learned so many things from having a Wondrium subscription (and mostly the great courses ones are my favourites). I think having the streaming version of this versus buying courses has led me to learn so many more things than I would have, and try and some and find out they weren’t really for me." — Shipping_away_at_it

Mountains rising up behind a lake at sunset

Grand Tetons National Park

Photo by Nate Foong on Unsplash

National Parks Pass

"The US National Park Senior Pass. The BEST bargain in the nation." – BrunoGerace

"We toured the us in an rv this year, and the america the beautiful pass paid for itself many, many, many times over." – mushnu

"And if you're not a Senior (or Vet) the annual pass is still a deal. Visit 3 NPs or NMs in a year and it's paid for itself." – Kerensky97

"I’m canadian, I’ve seen national parks in canada, a lot of europe and the us, and it’s not even a fair contest. The national parks in america are s tier amazing sites. Diverse, well cared for yet wild, affordable, etc." – mushnu

The YMCA (though this varies a lot by location and income)

"YMCA - I pay $70 a month for a family of four and it includes use of the pool, gym, and sauna and up to four hours of childcare a day. I go nearly everyday and have lost 60 pounds over the last six months. It’s also my only childcare as a stay at home mom so it keeps me sane." – neopolitandynomite

"Came here to say this! I’m in WI and pay $82/month for my family of 7. We go 3-4 times a week, love it. Also have volunteered to coach soccer and have kids in the youth sports. Pool, hot tub and sauna is like a spa to me." – Martini6288

"My family YMCA membership (one adult + children) is $115/mo, but even so, it's totally worth it! I attend at least 3 group ex classes a week, my kids go in the kid zone, they get swim lessons, T-ball, summer camp, etc at reduced cost. It's also very convenient as we live right across the street. We attend many of their special events too (Halloween party, pumpkins in the pool, etc)." – WhJoMaShRa

AAA

"AAA or equivalent roadside service club in your respective country. A single tow costs more than your membership and it quickly pays for itself. Plus all the other discounts and affiliated services they offer, it is absolutely worth the money." – llcucf80

"Between tows and the times either I or someone I was with locked their keys in their car, it has more than paid for itself. It has been a life saver more than once." – nelsonalgrencametome

"Family car broke down on a road trip. My dad had some upper level AAA membership or something, because they covered the tow, a bus ticket for me home while they got covered in the affiliated hotel for 2 nights, along with meals." – DopeCharma

"I haven't owned a vehicle in over 6 years, up until the last two years I've had a AAA membership.

It's worth mentioning that it's not like insurance, it's your membership. I kept it because I could call them if a friend needed a tow, someone locked their keys in their car, needed gas but no way to get it, flat and no spare, doesn't matter

If you have a membership, youre present, card in hand, doesn't matter who's vehicle it is, you're golden. I even got complete strangers a tow, I wasn't gonna use them.

One time I even got my own vehicle out of an impound using AAA because the tow company was certified with AAA and it was only impounded for expired tags. I didn't pay a dime to the tow company, they just got more from me requesting the tow through AAA to an auto shop

Amazing service, 100% worth every penny." – drklunk

front view of a costco store

Costco can save you on a lot more than just chicken.

Photo by Grant Beirute on Unsplash

Costco

"Costco… For the chicken and food court alone it is worth it." – Peach3ater

"Even if you ONLY buy allergy med from Costco, it’s worth the membership fee. $70 membership + $14 bottle of 365 allergy pills is basically 2-3 months max of Claritin or other brands at regular grocery store." – the_bio

"For me it's my contacts. Just my regular prescription for a year is more of a discount at costco vs 1800contacts than the membership costs." – MRoad

"There are so many things it can save you $10 a month on. It’s insane. My wife and I probably save $120 a month on everything from bulkier groceries/snacks, paper towels/toilet paper, laundry detergent, some clothes, tires and gas. We don’t even drink soda or have pets, both of which can more than pay for a membership. We live an hour away and factor our time/wear and tear on the car into how much it saves us. $120 a month easily even on a light month." – sevseg_decoder

Spotify Premium

"I've had Spotify premium since 2011 and I listen to it all day every day. Best value subscription." – Breakfast_1796

"Undoubtedly this, especially compared to what you used to have to spend on physical media. Even then, you’d be stuck with the same handful of albums with one good track instead of nearly every song ever recorded." – Chewie83

"Sometimes I imagine explaining Spotify to my 16-year-old self. "So for about the price of a single CD a month... You can have all the music ever, on demand. All of it, Whenever you want..." It's honestly a dream come true for me lol." – DAFUQ404

"I've had the spotify family plan since like 2015 or so. 15/month for 6 people? Yes please!!! I'd be paying 10 just for me to have premium. Now my fiancée, my adult children, my bestie, and her husband all have a quality music service." – eyemacwgrl

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Democracy

Artists made these 40 chalk portraits honoring each passenger and crew member of Flight 93

Flight 93 National Memorial/Facebook

September 11, 2021 marks the twentieth anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Two decades, yet in many ways it still feels like yesterday.

We'll never know how much worse the attack could have been, how many more buildings would have been hit if flights had not been grounded after two planes hit the World Trade Center and another hit the Pentagon. But we do know that the heroic acts of passengers and crew members on Flight 93 prevented one attack, likely on the U.S. Capitol or the White House.

After learning about the attacks in New York, passengers and crew aboard Flight 93 realized they were part of a planned attack and took matters into their own hands. A group of them stormed the cockpit and foiled the plan. The terrorists ended up crashing the plane in a rural area of Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, east of Pittsburgh. No one survived the crash.

To honor those on board Flight 93, Pittsburgh-based chalk artist Erik Greenawalt (also known as The Chalking Dad) and a team of artists are creating chalk portraits of each passenger and crew member at the Flight 93 National Memorial site.

The Flight 93 National Memorial shared photos of some of the portraits in progress on Wednesday, and they are stunning.

The 10 artists are using photos from the National Parks Service to create the portraits on 3-foot by 5-foot charcoal-covered canvases, which can be moved under cover if inclement weather hits. Visitors to the memorial can watch the artists work while they tour the grounds.

"I think it gives people who walk by a chance to stop and sort of absorb a little bit more of who they were—to see them as individuals," artist Shelley Brenner told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. "They were people with families, neighborhoods, their own lives."

For those who knew the passengers and crew personally, the portraits honoring their loved ones are particularly mpactful.

Art is a powerful tool for creating a collective experience, so a live art installation that commemorates the 40 individuals whose lives were lost while stopping a terrorist attack feels like a fitting tribute.

Thank you, artists, for always helping us process our emotions and experiences in the most beautiful way possible.

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heroes
Culture

A woman fainted in Arches National Park. She woke up to actress Julie Bowen helping her.

Minnie John/Facebook

Minnie John thought she heard a familiar voice before she opened her eyes and wondered if she'd fallen asleep watching TV. But she wasn't at home, she was in the middle of Arches National Park in Moab, Utah. The voice was indeed familiar, though, which she discovered once she finally came to.

John had been hiking a difficult trail in the park with her family over the weekend when she became too fatigued to continue. She didn't want her family members to miss out on the site they had been hiking towards, which was still 15 minutes away, so she insisted that they continue on while she rested on the side of the trail. It wasn't terribly hot and there was a cool breeze, so she figured she'd be fine.

The last thing she remembered was sitting down on a rock with her head in her hands.

John told the story on Facebook in three parts, but the final post is where it gets fun.

"Next thing I hear someone with a familiar voice kept asking me questions," she wrote. "I wondered if I might be watching TV. My eyes were closed and they said I will be fine and they were cleaning my face and bandaging me up."

She continued:

"I heard that familiar voice saying I am going to be ok, a doctor is cleaning me up. After so many more questions and sticking gooey things in my mouth, giving me electrolytes, they lifted me up as I opened my eyes and set me back on that rock, that face looked so familiar again and I asked her again if I knew her or was she famous and the doctor said yes. As my eyes started to focus more, she smiled and took her hair tie off and shook her hair for me to figure out. Her sister the doctor asked me to guess and I told her I just hit my head, I can't remember. She said smiling 'Modern Family' and I said of course!"

John said she told Bowen she was "so beautiful," then Bowen introduced her to her sister, Annie, who happened to be a doctor. The guide they were with had seen John fall from the rock, and they had everything on hand to clean up her wounds. The group also used John's phone to call her family and some ran ahead to find them.

"Such wonderful men and women, selflessly giving of themselves!" wrote John. "God bless them!"

No one expects to pass out while they're on vacation, much less wake up to a famous actress and her sister giving them medical care. John told CNN that Bowen and her sister "were so down to earth, so genuine, so sweet: Not at all how you might expect a big actor or a big doctor to be -- which they are. They were just so humble, so loving."

She asked if she could have her picture taken with them, and Bowen said, "Of course," before giving John a hug and posing for a photo.

"I knew I'd never meet them again but I appreciated and admired the human part of what they did -- selfless, not selfish," John told CNN. "We tend to forget the daily kindnesses we encounter. We're blind to everything around us and don't imagine that people will be so good, kind and caring."

John is okay, but battered a bit from where she fell and hit her face and glasses. Despite ending up with a fractured nose and five stitches at Moab Regional Hospital, doctors say she was lucky.

What a delightful ending to a potentially tragic event.


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Nature

Yosemite ranger shares devastating post about the death of a bear cub and its grieving mom

via Yosemite National Park / Facebook

A gut-wrenching story shared by a Yosemite park ranger shows why it's so important for people to be mindful of surrounding wildlife.

Yosemite is a 750,000-acre national park that occupies four separate counties in northern California.

Last week, the national park shared the first-hand account of a park ranger who took care of the body of a dead bear cub that was struck by a car. Sadly, the ranger says that it happens far too often in Yosemite. "I try to remember how many times I've done this now and, truthfully, I don't know. This is not what any of us signs up for, but it's a part of the job nonetheless," the ranger wrote.

The ranger received a call about a bear that was struck by a car and after an hour's drive, they located the cub by the side of the road, next to a part that had fallen off of a car.

"I turn my gaze from the car part down the embankment on the side of the road and there it is," the post reads. "A cub. Its tiny light brown body lying just feet from me and the road, nearly invisible to every passerby. It's a new cub — couldn't be much more than six months old, now balled up and lifeless under a small pine tree."

There's not much the ranger can do but move the cub to a wooded area away from the road so that scavengers are safe from speeding cars when preying on the body. The ranger realizes the cub is a female and wonders what the future could have held for the bear if tragedy hadn't struck.

"This immediately triggers thoughts of the life this bear may have lived — perhaps she would have had cubs of her own," they wrote.

After lying the body down in the forest, the ranger heard a stick snap behind them. It was the bear's mother.

"From behind me there's a deep toned but soft sounding grunt. I immediately know what it is. It's a vocalization, the kind sows (female bears) make to call to their cubs," the ranger wrote. "I turn and look in its direction and there she is, the same bear from before intently staring back at me. It's no coincidence. I can feel the callousness drain from my body. This bear is the mom, and she never left her cub."

The mother had stuck by the cub for over six hours.

"Now here I am, standing between a grieving mother and her child. I feel like a monster," they wrote.

The ranger then set up a remote camera to document the situation and left the scene.

via Keep Bears Wild

Vehicle collisions have become a leading cause of death for black bears in Yosemite and over 400 such collisions have occurred along roadways in the national park since 1995.

There are currently an estimated 300 to 500 black bears living in the national park.

The ranger hopes that their emotional post will put a face to the numbers and encourage people to be more mindful of wildlife in the park and beyond.

"So please, remember this. Remember that when traveling through Yosemite, we are all just visitors in the home of countless animals and it is up to us to follow the rules that protect them," they wrote. "Go the speed limit, drive alertly, and look out for wildlife. Protecting Yosemite's black bears is something we can all do."

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