Thousands of parents across the country are taking the jogging stroller down from the rafters this spring. More and more of these parents are looking forward to the opportunity of taking the kids for a jog. Not just because of the quality time spent with them, but also for the fresh air and the fitness benefits.

Of course, jogging while pushing the children is not able to provide you with the full body workout that an hour at the fitness center can potentially provide, but with more families keeping a tighter grip on their finances, many are finding that they can commit to a summer fitness plan without paying for a gym membership by purchasing a jogging stroller… and in most cases that purchase costs less than one month’s gym membership.

Jogging strollers can range in price from as low as $30 for a used one to several hundred dollars for high end models. One tip to scoring a great find on a jogging stroller is to purchase a used. Unfortunately, these items dont generally make it past the first half hour of a neighborhood rummage sale, so locating a nice stroller at a bargain price can be a little difficult.

StrollerWarehouse.com added a used stroller marketplace earlier in 2009 that does provide a great service to anyone considering buying one. With millions of parents in the United States selling used items online, there are literally thousands of used strollers available for sale… and you don’t have to settle for the bright purple one… unless that’s what you choose.

Take a moment to consider this scenario:

1. Young couple buys a jogging stroller

2. Takes it out 10 times on a local bike path

3. Puts it away for the winter and the following spring they realize their kids are too big for it, or that they now need a double stroller

4. Puts the stroller for sale online (because believe it or not… not everybody gets excited by neighboorhood garage sales)

5. You score a sweet used jogging stroller for $25 with $10 shipping, and the stroller tires still have those little “spikes of newness

So do I think that a jogging stroller is able to replace a fitness center membership? I personally couldn’t use it to replace my membership to the gym, but it does make for a nice warm up on the way to the gym and refreshing cool down on the way home,