If you're like most people, you wish you could come home to your own spa one day. You imagine a world where you can leave the stresses of the day far behind and relax in peace and happiness until the phone rings or the kids ask for dinner. I don't know what to say. Every dream has a way of bringing the real world into it.
Home spas come in a wide range of prices and features, as you might expect. A basic spa will cost you about $2,000, but you could easily spend $6,000 or more on a spa with more features. If you want a spa that cleans itself and is warm and ready when you get home, you can expect to pay an extra $1,000 to $3,000 for the remote control system that will make it happen.
If you think you can't pay for these prices, don't worry! You can get the money. At the moment, you can pay for a spa with as little as $50 to $100 a month. Of course, if you buy the more expensive model, you could spend a lot more than that. But if money is a big issue, keep in mind that a cheap spa is probably just as relaxing as an expensive one. You should also think about the fact that a more expensive model might have a lot of features that you may never use.
Other costs to think about when owning a spa are the costs of maintenance and upkeep. Of course, if you have a spa, you will need to keep chemicals on hand. But if you keep your spa clean and check the chemical levels regularly, you'll only need to use a small amount of chemicals to keep everything running smoothly. In fact, for about $40, you can get a complete spa chemical starter kit with testing tools.
If you buy a home spa, you will also need to spend money on spa equipment. Again, these will be small purchases that can be spread out over time. A few $20 purchases here and there will help you build up your spa equipment quickly. Here, you can also save money by choosing manual tools over automated ones.
If you use your home spa for an hour every day, you can expect the energy costs to be about $7 per week for an average-sized spa. You can cut these costs by using a spa cover or thermal cover and only using the jets when you are in the spa. Bringing the temperature down by 3 degrees also saves a lot of money.
In the end, if you don't have any money saved up right now, you could have a spa for $100 to $125 per month. If you can't get a loan, you can save up quickly and easily for your dream spa. Just save $50 a week, and by this time next year you could be relaxing in your own home spa.