One day of snowboarding or skiing can cost a bundle. If you are spending several days in a season on the mountain, you could spend hundreds of dollars. A day at the zoo can cost a family the entire entertainment budget for the month. Season passes or memberships save you money in a big way. A season pass or membership gives you a discount every time you use it. You're going to be doing certain activities anyway, so you may as well buy a membership so you can get a discount. Most memberships and season passes pay for themselves within just a few uses and give you money for your cash reserve with every use after.

The average cost of a one-day lift pass at a US ski resort is $70. If you go skiing or snowboarding only six days out of the season, you have already paid for a season pass. The average price of a season pass for US ski resorts is $400, but you can get even greater discounts if you buy early. If you know you are going to go skiing or snowboarding at least six times during a season, you can save yourself some money just by getting a season pass. The average ski season is five and a half months. That's 21-24 weekends. If you go up to the mountain just one third of those weekends, a season pass would pay for itself, not to mention all the skiing and snowboarding people generally do over the holiday break in December and January. If you go skiing half of the weekends in the season, eleven times, you will save $350 over buying a one-day lift ticket each time. That's $350 you can put into your cash reserve over five months of days on the mountain. If you are an avid skier or snowboarder, you can save even more. You'll save $70 every time you go after your sixth day. That's a lot of money for one season that you can put into your cash reserve and some season passes, if bought early enough, can give you an even greater discount and you can ski for two seasons with it.

Zoos are fun to visit anytime, but a one day trip can be expensive. The average cost to get a family of four into the zoo for one day is $40, or $10 per person. If you purchase a zoo membership instead, you can go to the zoo as often as you like and you pay for your membership in just a few trips. The average zoo membership costs $50, and most memberships will get you into 150 zoos and aquariums across the United States for free or at a discount. If you are planning several zoo trips for the summer, you could save several hundred dollars by purchasing a zoo membership. If you visited just a tenth (15 zoo trips) of the zoos you can go to for free with a membership, a family of four could save $550 (15 trips at $40 a trip = $600 - $50 zoo membership = $550). Every time your family goes to the zoo, you can put $10 per person into your cash reserve if you buy a season pass rather than paying for each individual trip.

The same deal goes for almost every type of season pass, season tickets, or membership. If you buy early and you can get multiple uses from one purchase, you are going to save money and be able to put everything you save into your cash reserve.