Author Topic: How much per year do your hobbies cost?  (Read 21122 times)

TheWifeHalf

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Re: How much per year do your hobbies cost?
« Reply #50 on: December 05, 2017, 06:46:45 PM »
Dump Truck, Cool. Be careful!

TheWifeHalf, That is cool that you bought the house. We just bought a 1957 house. It's real dang close to being totally remodeled. It has what we call WAVY BRICK. You don't find houses nowadays like these old ones. Have fun fixing it up!


I was raised a mile down the road in a 1957 house my Dad built. Mom's got it for sale, it will be a remodeler's dream.
I,m going to Google wavy brick, not sure what that is

LibrarianFuzz

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Re: How much per year do your hobbies cost?
« Reply #51 on: December 06, 2017, 01:39:51 PM »
Glad to see so many library users here. ;)

asauer

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Re: How much per year do your hobbies cost?
« Reply #52 on: December 07, 2017, 05:32:18 AM »
I'm a marathoner.  I buy 1 pair of $100 shoes per year, about $50 of clothing and $200 in race entries.  So $350/ year.  Next year will be slightly more b/c for my 40th birthday I'm doing two travel races!

How many KMs/miles do you get out of one pair of shoes?

I get about 600 miles out of a pair.  honestly, I probably should buy them more frequently but it just doesn't occur to me until I start feeling it in my feet.

beee

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Re: How much per year do your hobbies cost?
« Reply #53 on: December 07, 2017, 10:30:06 AM »
Glad to see so many library users here. ;)

Borrowing video games from library saved me 1-2 grands easily :)

asauer

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Re: How much per year do your hobbies cost?
« Reply #54 on: December 07, 2017, 06:48:00 PM »
Glad to see so many library users here. ;)

Borrowing video games from library saved me 1-2 grands easily :)

Where the hell are these awesome libraries that have tons of books, games and movies?  My library has maybe 20% of the books that I want to read, very few kindle books, and no movies or games  Dang.  I feel ripped off.

beee

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Re: How much per year do your hobbies cost?
« Reply #55 on: December 08, 2017, 12:14:46 AM »
Quote
Where the hell are these awesome libraries that have tons of books, games and movies?


Cranky

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Re: How much per year do your hobbies cost?
« Reply #56 on: December 08, 2017, 03:48:04 AM »
Well, I’m not in Canada, and our county library system is amazing!

I know the main branch has video games to check out and there are tons of ebooks and magazines and audiobooks.

What I like is that I can have any book in the system sent to my branch library.

I don’t live in a major metropolis,either, but I do always vote for the library levies - it’s a great value!

Dances With Fire

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Re: How much per year do your hobbies cost?
« Reply #57 on: December 08, 2017, 05:29:46 AM »
Organic Vegetable Gardening...Maybe $100 However, we get 5X that back in fresh produce.

Boating/ Fishing...(No face punches please, it's what we do.) $500-$1000 per year including fuel and storage. Not bad considering the high costs of the hobby.


Schaefer Light

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Re: How much per year do your hobbies cost?
« Reply #58 on: December 08, 2017, 06:52:46 AM »
Boating/ Fishing...(No face punches please, it's what we do.) $500-$1000 per year including fuel and storage. Not bad considering the high costs of the hobby.

That's not bad at all for boating.  I went out with a friend on his boat and we spent $100 on gas in a day.

JimLahey

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Re: How much per year do your hobbies cost?
« Reply #59 on: December 08, 2017, 03:40:04 PM »
The hobbies that cost me the most would be hunting an fishing. A decent rod and reel combo can be a few hundred dollars minimum. A new compound bow can be $1500. Not to mention the accessories needed. With hunting I try to buy used. Stuff that I don't end up liking or using I will resell. A fishing license for Indiana is around $17. A deer hunting license cost me around $65. A turkey hunting license is around $35. They can really get as expensive as you make it. Some people have to have the latest and greatest as with any other hobby. I don't know exactly what I have spent this year but I would say it's less than $2K. I haven't made any large purchases this year for either hobby.

BlueMR2

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Re: How much per year do your hobbies cost?
« Reply #60 on: December 08, 2017, 04:08:07 PM »
I spend roughly $5000/yr on hobbies.  Exactly which hobbies varies per year, but the amount spent is amazingly consistent.  The core set of hobbies I bounce around between:

- Amateur Astronomy
- Amateur Radio / electronics
- Automobile racing
- Cycling of the pedal variety
- Motorcycle
- Video games
- Flying small airplanes
- SCUBA
- Carbine and handgun sport shooting

Sometimes I back off them too.  The year I had a surprise HVAC replacement I basically halted all hobby activity at that point so I could make my yearly budget numbers.

Nudelkopf

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Re: How much per year do your hobbies cost?
« Reply #61 on: December 08, 2017, 07:27:28 PM »
Sports: $2000 for the year. I playes netball & basketball all year, took circus lessons for 6 months, & dis bootcamps/ classes at the gym for 6 months. I include fees, uniforms, & sneakers. Doesn't include normal active wear, but does include leotards.

Travel: $14,000 this year ($8000 last year) Big Europe trip planned, plus I had 3 trips to our state capital cos I was a bridesmaid  (mad regrets). Last year was 2× trips to New Zealand tonsee family & go skiing.

Teachstache

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Re: How much per year do your hobbies cost?
« Reply #62 on: December 08, 2017, 07:53:30 PM »
Spouse's hobbies are crypto currency mining ($3k investment in hardware in the last 5 years), participation in the Star Citizen video game community ($1k over the last 3 years), listening to audiobooks ($150 annually for the past 5 years to keep his long-standing Audible subscription that he refuses to part with to keep his library). Spouse also walks while listening to audiobooks, so add in $30 annually for walking shoes.

My hobbies are listening to audiobooks and reading e-books from the library. Cost is $0. I also garden and can veggies from said garden. We get extra organic heirloom plants from siblings. Cost is $0. I buy canning jars on sale for around $20 annually for 3 years. Have purchased 5 dwarf fruit trees and materials on sale over the past 5 years for around $100 total.

Spouse and I hike, camp and kayak. We spent $5k 5 years ago for new Backcountry hiking tents, car camping tent, air kayak, and backpacking equipment. Should last us indefinitely since we are fastidious about caring for our equipment.

We spend $300 annually on travel averaged for the past 5 years. Traveling to visit family in the Black Hills of South Dakota, and mountains of Colorado. Every 3-5 years we splurge and spend extra gas money (around $100 extra) to travel to Glacier national Park for 2 weeks of Backcountry hiking and camping and kayaking. We take our camping equipment when we visit family in South Dakota and Colorado and get extra camping and hiking in.

Spouse and I usually buy decent hiking shoes or boots on sale, averaged out to a cost of around $30 per year for the past 5 years, so around $300 total for hiking footwear over 5 years. Spouse has large feet with high weight requirements, I have small feet with narrow hard to fit feet.

Cost over 5 years = $12,000 for all hobbies, so $2,400 per year, or $200 per month. Pretty extravagant 😮

It's worth noting that spouse's crypto currency mining hobby has earned us close to $20,000 at today's insanely high prices for Bitcoin.

This year, we are considering paying $450-500 for piglet and feed to raise an heirloom hog on a family member's acreage. It will yield around 280 lbs of organic heirloom pastured pork for our freezer. Butchering will be insourced by ourselves and family who have done it before. Would consider this a hobby but we may take it out of grocery budget.
« Last Edit: December 08, 2017, 08:09:00 PM by Teachstache »

wenchsenior

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Re: How much per year do your hobbies cost?
« Reply #63 on: December 09, 2017, 09:41:26 AM »
Dang, this thread is making me feel extremely frugal!  Pretty much the exact opposite of how I feel whenever food budgets are discussed LOL.

TomTX

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Re: How much per year do your hobbies cost?
« Reply #64 on: December 10, 2017, 08:03:24 AM »
Between the wife and I, net profit on hobbies is well over $5k, despite spending on a vacation in Florida, visiting relatives, new e-bike and such.

....since the main hobby this year was credit card/bank account churning...

alltheccdebt

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Re: How much per year do your hobbies cost?
« Reply #65 on: December 10, 2017, 11:29:12 AM »
I'm glad I'm not the only one with a bad racing addiction. Really starting focus on turning my finances around to make early retirement a real option, but I'm not ready to cut out the competition.

Rough estimate of $100/day for a single local event, traveling for national events really varies. Figure an average of $250/day or so for the big events with the higher entry fees and dog boarding costs. I've worked on cutting this down a lot by camping on site whenever it is allowed and bringing a cooler and preparing all of my own food/booze. I think it comes out to $5000/yr or so since I at least get a lot of free tires and other things from winnings.

Of course, there is the sunk cost of 25k or so for the car and I just bought a house to store everything for another 145k (although this is saving me $450/mo just in payments over my rental situation!).  Another 20k or so for the fun street car, 6k for the motorcycle and their insurance/maintenance which is probably ~$1000/yr. I'll likely add an older diesel 2wd truck and a trailer to haul the car to events for 8k total or so.  That all said, my other costs are extremely low and to me it's all worth it.

I have cut out hockey for the time-being so that's something!

SimpleCycle

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Re: How much per year do your hobbies cost?
« Reply #66 on: December 10, 2017, 04:31:51 PM »
Glad to see so many library users here. ;)

Borrowing video games from library saved me 1-2 grands easily :)

Where the hell are these awesome libraries that have tons of books, games and movies?  My library has maybe 20% of the books that I want to read, very few kindle books, and no movies or games  Dang.  I feel ripped off.

I live in a major city so our library is top notch.  If your local library isn’t up to snuff, you can join the Free Library of Philadelphia for $50/year and access their ebook collection.  I hear they have a great selection.

BikeFanatic

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Re: How much per year do your hobbies cost?
« Reply #67 on: December 10, 2017, 05:42:39 PM »
I spend avg 2200.00 per year on Ebike and bike and moutain bike. I supose I could put 50%mof that cost under  commuting.

stoaX

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Re: How much per year do your hobbies cost?
« Reply #68 on: December 11, 2017, 10:58:12 AM »
Glad to see so many library users here. ;)

Borrowing video games from library saved me 1-2 grands easily :)

Where the hell are these awesome libraries that have tons of books, games and movies?  My library has maybe 20% of the books that I want to read, very few kindle books, and no movies or games  Dang.  I feel ripped off.

I live in a major city so our library is top notch.  If your local library isn’t up to snuff, you can join the Free Library of Philadelphia for $50/year and access their ebook collection.  I hear they have a great selection.

My Orange County California public library is pretty good, too.  I guess the Orange county suburban sprawl is large enough and dense enough to be considered a major city.

Bracken_Joy

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Re: How much per year do your hobbies cost?
« Reply #69 on: December 11, 2017, 11:30:27 AM »
This is the big area we've increased our spending this year, with our income going up and our move.

Total this year for all hobbies: $2800
This included brazilian jiu jitsu for husband, hunting for both of us, a new tent and other camping costs, a bike for each of us, a kayaking trip, and setting up our garden. (New house, built raised beds etc). (The garden of course resulted in tons of produce).

Projected next year will be WAY lower for garden (sub-$50), no bikes or tent, probably no kayaking. Will still have the BJJ cost ($120/month, new rash guard a couple times a year $20-40 per), the hunting (~$100-200/yr), and a hiking pass ($36/yr). But, costs could go up if I join something additional.

Travel I guess counts as a "hobby" but I separated the categories this year: ~$4k
Not bad for a long weekend in BC, a week in Colorado, and a week in Maui.

Travel is also way up this year from previous years (generally, sub $500). How high it is next year depends on if we are able to conceive or not, mainly.

ETA:
I forgot to include all our free hobbies! I read a fair amount (34 books this year and counting), and get those through my library (overdrive mainly). We weight lift, and bought all our garage gym equipment (or built it!) a couple years ago. It's paid for itself vs gym dues a LONG time ago, within the first 4 months we set it up. We also hike a lot, the expense there being a trail head pass ($36/yr) and occasional shoe replacements. We walk the neighborhood a lot, and run (again, some shoes). We listen to free podcasts while commuting. Sometimes we'll watch a netflix show, I just borrow my mom's plan so it's logged on correctly when she visits (we've offered to pay, she doesn't want us to).
« Last Edit: December 11, 2017, 11:46:08 AM by Bracken_Joy »

GuitarStv

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Re: How much per year do your hobbies cost?
« Reply #70 on: December 11, 2017, 11:38:21 AM »
Hmmm . . .

- Playing Music: Maybe 200$ a year  . . . .I buy strings in bulk and do my own setups on instruments.  Every few years I have to retube an amp and then it's closer to 300$.  The library has a lot of music instructional stuff.
- Cycling: Probably around 400$ a year.  Chains, cables, cassettes, bearings, cycling shorts all wear out.  I've been able to keep costs down a lot by doing my own bike repair/setup/recabling for pretty much everything.
- Weight lifting: 0$  Purchased all the equipment in highschool and it's still going strong.
- Reading: 0$ Toronto libraries rock.
- Gardening: 50$ a year?  We might buy a new plant for the yard, or some mulch.  Usually we avoid paying for plants by growing from seed for annuals and splitting existing perennials.
- Watching movies/TV: 0$ Again, Toronto libraries rock.

new mustache city

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Re: How much per year do your hobbies cost?
« Reply #71 on: December 11, 2017, 12:21:46 PM »
Flying airplanes consumes a mid-five-figure sum every year, though that covers essentially all of our family's domestic travel (typically 5-6 trips a year x 4 people plus a dog).

Would you be willing to break this down a little? Does this include plane ownership & maintenance or do you pay dues to some organization with planes you rent? I want to fly but I have no experience and no real idea how much I should budget for a few years down the line.

Zola.

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Re: How much per year do your hobbies cost?
« Reply #72 on: December 12, 2017, 05:24:05 AM »
Way too much, two main things:

Gym - £360
BJJ - £1080

£1440 / $2000
« Last Edit: December 12, 2017, 05:26:15 AM by Zola. »

Kott308

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Re: How much per year do your hobbies cost?
« Reply #73 on: December 12, 2017, 05:43:58 AM »
Two uncomfortably expensive ones:

Martial Arts- $138/month or $1656/year.
Running- $200/year for good shoes with custom-fit insoles. I don't cut corners when it comes to my feet. I've had enough injuries to know better.

A family membership to the YMCA is $64/month. That includes unlimited gym use, pool use, an indoor track, and clasees. We get some of that back through a health insurance program.

But for free/almost free we enjoy:
Walking the dog
Going for bike rides
Cooking
Woodworking (the world is full of free scrap wood and paint)
Hiking
Photography (on a smart phone).
Local community events
Reading



Mikila

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Re: How much per year do your hobbies cost?
« Reply #74 on: December 12, 2017, 05:55:35 AM »
Spouse- $1980 on Guns, shooting (ammo), forging (knives, tools) , and holster/ sheath-making.
Family- $450 on pool pass, etc
Yours truly: 676 on gardening, knitting and crochet tools and yarn, 2 pairs of running shoes, and books.

All told for 4 people: $2906. 

big_slacker

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Re: How much per year do your hobbies cost?
« Reply #75 on: December 12, 2017, 07:21:38 AM »
Mountain Biking: I'd guess $500/yr in parts and gear. I'll bow my head in anti-mustachian shame when it comes to the actual bike cost, have a $$ carbon hardtail. Do I get less lashes if I ride it to work? :D Unlike some others here I don't race, preferring epics/ultras where no one is racing, just completing the adventure. Some do cost so I guess add $100 for entry fees here and there.
Offroading/camping: Around $600/yr in gas, food and land use fees
Gym/Swim/Sauna: $600/yr for family membership + kid care
Snowboarding: $1000/yr for pass, gas to the hill, gear

Easy, easy spends for me. This stuff keeps me sane and fit.
« Last Edit: December 12, 2017, 07:24:34 AM by big_slacker »

Fishindude

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Re: How much per year do your hobbies cost?
« Reply #76 on: December 12, 2017, 07:43:23 AM »
Probably $15-20K per year on hunting and another $5-10K fishing and boating.

dreams_and_discoveries

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Re: How much per year do your hobbies cost?
« Reply #77 on: December 12, 2017, 08:41:18 AM »
OK, what I think I spend in a year on my main hobbies.

Theatre - £1k
Travel - £1k
Running - £400
Learning Chinese - £200

And the actuals

Theatre - £640
Travel - £1400
Running - £450 (got a new Garmin)
Learning Chinese - £230

So about £3k a year, including other "lesser" hobbies....

honeybbq

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Re: How much per year do your hobbies cost?
« Reply #78 on: December 12, 2017, 09:19:31 AM »
Probably $15-20K per year on hunting and another $5-10K fishing and boating.

You win. Are you going on Safari??

Fishindude

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Re: How much per year do your hobbies cost?
« Reply #79 on: December 12, 2017, 12:13:08 PM »
You win. Are you going on Safari??

Nope, just do a lot of deer hunting trips in several states, and occasionally do an elk hunt or wild boar hunt.
A decent elk hunt will run you $6K+ these days.  My non resident deer tags & licenses in IL alone totaled $800+

wenchsenior

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Re: How much per year do your hobbies cost?
« Reply #80 on: December 12, 2017, 12:18:53 PM »
You win. Are you going on Safari??

Nope, just do a lot of deer hunting trips in several states, and occasionally do an elk hunt or wild boar hunt.
A decent elk hunt will run you $6K+ these days.  My non resident deer tags & licenses in IL alone totaled $800+

Out of state specialty tag costs are the main reason Dh hasn't gone for elk in recent years (or oryx, which I've heard is delicious).

Wings5

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Re: How much per year do your hobbies cost?
« Reply #81 on: December 12, 2017, 07:19:01 PM »
I get paid for my main hobby. All the others are fairly cheap. I buy lots of used bikes - enough so I can give them to my friends or their kids to keep them from buying crappy bikes and hating cycling for the rest of their life.


Sailor Sam

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Re: How much per year do your hobbies cost?
« Reply #82 on: December 12, 2017, 10:16:02 PM »
I went through everything labeled 'fun' in my budget spreadsheet. In fact it was fun exercise, since I've never broken the data down in this exact way. Looks like the main categories were:

Movies & Streaming - $227
Books & Audio books - $731
Violin & Lessons - $2876.

Plus a few one-offs:

Headphones $290
Gun Safety Class: 225
Legos: $330

Total spent enjoying myself this year is $4,697. Next year should be around 2.5k lower, since I won't be buying a new violin. Probably. I probably won't be buying a new violin.


2Birds1Stone

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Re: How much per year do your hobbies cost?
« Reply #83 on: December 12, 2017, 11:21:50 PM »
Quite a bit, but isn't that the whole point of MMM? To spend on what is important to you.

I don't track costs for this in it's own category, but if I had to estimate I would say $2,500/yr all in.

I do Triathlons, which had an initial outlay of ~$2,500 between a carbon tri bike, tri shoes, hydration system, wetsuit, swimming lessons, running shoes, a gps watch/heart rate monitor, etc.

Also an avid mountain biker, bike was $1500, cleats and hydration system from old bike (purchased 10 years ago and still using, ty shimano SPD)

The cost of races is high, I did IRONMAN Lake placid this year, between travel, lodging, and entry fee I spent ~$750 but it was well worth it, training for 4 months with a group/team here meant a lot of money saved on other spendy weekend activities.

I read a lot which is free, run which is a pair of shoes every 400-500 miles (2X a year).

Minnowstache

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Re: How much per year do your hobbies cost?
« Reply #84 on: December 13, 2017, 03:35:45 AM »
Whew Sailor Sam - violin lessons - I was hoping there would be more music-related hobbies people would admit to :)

My hobbies per year
Cello lessons $2500
Orchestra practice $680
Subscription to local professional orchestra (6 concerts for 2 people) $240 - a steal!

Children’s music lessons $330 for 2 (violin and percussion) group lessons in publicly subsidised scheme (dropped private lessons in guitar and piano this year as they were not practising). The music school is still letting my son sign up even though he is now 4 yrs over the max age!

Other hobbies - the big one is entertaining - dh loves cooking fancy dinners for friends - we have cut this down a lot in the last couple of years. But even a couple of times a year adds up. He is an amazing cook though! On the plus side we rarely eat out - maybe twice a year - and we almost never eat fast food or takeout.

Reading - I host a monthly book group - I usually get the book from the library but sometimes get it on kindle if I am short of time.

Hiking - we do a yearly multi-day hike. As we are pretty unsporty and unfit it probably comes under health rather than hobbies. This year we are doing a 3 day canoe trip. We do self-guided and camp or stay in basic accommodation. This also doubles as our annual holiday - about $1500-2000 including travel costs, eating out and equipment - this year hiring canoes.

Dh is an audiophile and builds his own stereo equipment. Don’t like to ask him how much this is as he will probably lie :))

Dh and the kids are also hopelessly addicted to online and computer gaming....

We have a Netflix account but never use it...

Ps sailor sam - loved the “probably” won’t be buying a new violin - I am eyeing a new cello on AliExpress that would be great to replace my very cheap current cello - I “probably” won’t buy it though....

« Last Edit: December 13, 2017, 03:45:01 AM by Minnowstache »

wenchsenior

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Re: How much per year do your hobbies cost?
« Reply #85 on: December 13, 2017, 07:45:46 AM »
I went through everything labeled 'fun' in my budget spreadsheet. In fact it was fun exercise, since I've never broken the data down in this exact way. Looks like the main categories were:

Movies & Streaming - $227
Books & Audio books - $731
Violin & Lessons - $2876.

Plus a few one-offs:

Headphones $290
Gun Safety Class: 225
Legos: $330

Total spent enjoying myself this year is $4,697. Next year should be around 2.5k lower, since I won't be buying a new violin. Probably. I probably won't be buying a new violin.

I often enjoy your posts, Sailor Sam, but for some reason your list of hobbies is particularly charming. 

Sailor Sam

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Re: How much per year do your hobbies cost?
« Reply #86 on: December 13, 2017, 09:03:11 AM »
Ps sailor sam - loved the “probably” won’t be buying a new violin - I am eyeing a new cello on AliExpress that would be great to replace my very cheap current cello - I “probably” won’t buy it though....

Yes, exactly. There's always the 'probably won't buy' element when your life involves appreciating the shiny perfection of some luthiers handiwork.

How's the cheap cello? Do you get scratchiness or muddied ringtones? I considered getting a cheap violin off Amazon, and taking it on my sea deployment. But I can't bring myself to leave my lovely violin behind. Rupert is just going to have to be a brave boy about all that corrosive humidity.


I often enjoy your posts, Sailor Sam, but for some reason your list of hobbies is particularly charming. 

Aw, shucks. Thank you, ma'am.

Bracken_Joy

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Re: How much per year do your hobbies cost?
« Reply #87 on: December 13, 2017, 09:06:59 AM »
Ps sailor sam - loved the “probably” won’t be buying a new violin - I am eyeing a new cello on AliExpress that would be great to replace my very cheap current cello - I “probably” won’t buy it though....

Yes, exactly. There's always the 'probably won't buy' element when your life involves appreciating the shiny perfection of some luthiers handiwork.

How's the cheap cello? Do you get scratchiness or muddied ringtones? I considered getting a cheap violin off Amazon, and taking it on my sea deployment. But I can't bring myself to leave my lovely violin behind. Rupert is just going to have to be a brave boy about all that corrosive humidity.

You know I would babysit Rupert for you if you needed yeah? He can have the guest room. The happy, similarly humid to his usual habitat guest room. Just lemme know. Then it's just a matter of getting him back to you after deployment that's the question.

(Just read this and realized it sounds like I'm talking about a lizard or something, ha).

Sailor Sam

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Re: How much per year do your hobbies cost?
« Reply #88 on: December 13, 2017, 09:10:50 AM »
Ps sailor sam - loved the “probably” won’t be buying a new violin - I am eyeing a new cello on AliExpress that would be great to replace my very cheap current cello - I “probably” won’t buy it though....

Yes, exactly. There's always the 'probably won't buy' element when your life involves appreciating the shiny perfection of some luthiers handiwork.

How's the cheap cello? Do you get scratchiness or muddied ringtones? I considered getting a cheap violin off Amazon, and taking it on my sea deployment. But I can't bring myself to leave my lovely violin behind. Rupert is just going to have to be a brave boy about all that corrosive humidity.

You know I would babysit Rupert for you if you needed yeah? He can have the guest room. The happy, similarly humid to his usual habitat guest room. Just lemme know. Then it's just a matter of getting him back to you after deployment that's the question.

(Just read this and realized it sounds like I'm talking about a lizard or something, ha).

That's kind of you, but hands off the violin, Plant Matter. You just don't touch another man's gun, and you keep your hands off the violin, too.

Bracken_Joy

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Re: How much per year do your hobbies cost?
« Reply #89 on: December 13, 2017, 09:30:43 AM »
Ps sailor sam - loved the “probably” won’t be buying a new violin - I am eyeing a new cello on AliExpress that would be great to replace my very cheap current cello - I “probably” won’t buy it though....

Yes, exactly. There's always the 'probably won't buy' element when your life involves appreciating the shiny perfection of some luthiers handiwork.

How's the cheap cello? Do you get scratchiness or muddied ringtones? I considered getting a cheap violin off Amazon, and taking it on my sea deployment. But I can't bring myself to leave my lovely violin behind. Rupert is just going to have to be a brave boy about all that corrosive humidity.

You know I would babysit Rupert for you if you needed yeah? He can have the guest room. The happy, similarly humid to his usual habitat guest room. Just lemme know. Then it's just a matter of getting him back to you after deployment that's the question.

(Just read this and realized it sounds like I'm talking about a lizard or something, ha).

That's kind of you, but hands off the violin, Plant Matter. You just don't touch another man's gun, and you keep your hands off the violin, too.

Hey, I have my own guns and violin over here. I was trying to be neighborly-like. Pshaw. No respect for hospitality.

Minnowstache

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Re: How much per year do your hobbies cost?
« Reply #90 on: December 13, 2017, 10:33:16 PM »

Yes, exactly. There's always the 'probably won't buy' element when your life involves appreciating the shiny perfection of some luthiers handiwork.

How's the cheap cello? Do you get scratchiness or muddied ringtones? I considered getting a cheap violin off Amazon, and taking it on my sea deployment. But I can't bring myself to leave my lovely violin behind. Rupert is just going to have to be a brave boy about all that corrosive humidity

Ha! It is a very cheap and scratchy cello - I have punked it as much as I can with new strings, bridge and tailpiece but I have a serious addiction to visiting cellos for sale online. I am an adult beginner who has only been playing for two years but I love it. I did buy quite a nice one for a good price but I managed to drop and break it 2 months after I bought it.  So I loved your comment - even when I had my good one I looked .... Hope Rupert survives his salty experience. Could I be a geek and ask what he is?

Rosy

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Re: How much per year do your hobbies cost?
« Reply #91 on: December 15, 2017, 05:58:56 PM »
The garden - about $1K pa
Reading - about $50-100 a yr
Walking and sightseeing, visiting parks - $200 avg
Mini trips - $1K at most

2018 will be expensive but long awaited one time projects that have been planned forever.
Photography - new camera etc. $1K
Travel - $6K - 2 months overseas
Garden and Home Improvement Projects - 10K to 15K

TartanTallulah

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Re: How much per year do your hobbies cost?
« Reply #92 on: December 17, 2017, 02:06:33 AM »
Variable, but substantial.

This year, £6500 on a customised tandem for DH and me, including boxes to put it in for travel. This is an unusually high amount for us to spend on a bicycle. Also around £300 for cyclosportive entries, another £500 or so on clothing, helmets, shoes etc, and I try not to think about how much DH spends on bike parts and unguents.

Other associated costs: around £5000 on vacations, both home and abroad, to ride our bikes, and maybe £600 for lunches and coffees at restaurants when we're out riding.

Running: less than £100 on kit and shoes, around £150 for race entries for my son and me. I recouped some with age category wins. Some electricity for the treadmill in the worst weather.

Indoor climbing: just wall entry fees and coffees, around £300 for DH, occasionally DD2, and me.

Watching sport: DH has a £60 annual subscription to some TV channel. I sometimes watch over his shoulder.

Everything else is negligible.

I think I understand why our savings rate isn't higher despite us living frugally most of the time.

We have one more major bicycle purchase planned - a proper midlife crisis toy - but I anticipate costs going down when we retire. We'll get our summers back and be able to explore our own country instead of travelling overseas so much, the bikes are one-off purchases, and we'll be able to earn our event entries and possibly climbing wall subscriptions by serving time as volunteers, which is fun in itself.

EDIT: And l almost forgot my needlecrafts! In previous years I've spent a lot on craft supplies, but in 2017 I've bought none and sold off some of my surplus. My reasons for stashing craft supplies will disappear after retirement. In the meantime, as long as I keep my head in destashing mode I'll avoid reaccumulating.
« Last Edit: December 17, 2017, 02:12:04 AM by TartanTallulah »

Anon in Alaska

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Re: How much per year do your hobbies cost?
« Reply #93 on: December 17, 2017, 06:22:21 AM »
Games - actually earns me money, since I am paid to run Dungeons & Dragons. Maybe $500/year spent, and $3,000 earned.

Movies/DVD's/Streaming - maybe $200/year.
Travel/Vacations - Maybe $1,500 every 3rd year, and $250 the other two years. Call it $ 675/year.
Museums/Shows/Music/Plays/etc. - Maybe $50/year
Eating out - Maybe $125/year, but I probably spend $25/year less on groceries because of it, so call it $100/year net.
Reading - less than $100/year.
Walking - less than $50/year (shoes, outdoor clothing, etc.).
Surfing the net - free since I use the same computer & internet I'd need anyway for business.
Alcohol - maybe $30/year
Driving for pleasure - Maybe $10/year in gas, since I almost never do this.

Total after tax profit - maybe $1,400/year.

tinylittlemonkey

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Re: How much per year do your hobbies cost?
« Reply #94 on: December 18, 2017, 12:21:39 PM »
My big hobby is cars... but I have an old one and it is pretty cheap to take care of...

Annual Registration - $100
Annual Insurance - $500
In 20 years it's gone to the shop twice... so nothing very expensive there.
Last year I bought new tires so that was $500 after 15 years?
So basically just oil, gas, and additive is left.

I want to get her painted sooner or later so that'll run a few grand. I am not looking forward to that but if the next paint job lasts as long as the last then I guess it is ok. :)

My other hobbies include reading (blogs, library, and discount books), cooking, blogging (makes money!), music (free), and learning to play an instrument (which is free now but cost $275 to buy in 2017).

FiftyIsTheNewTwenty

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Re: How much per year do your hobbies cost?
« Reply #95 on: December 18, 2017, 01:15:21 PM »
Terrible example here, I got into frugality (preMMM) so I could spend 30K a year on sailboats.

We live on ours, so we don't spend anything on that hobby, it is all just rent and maintenance :)

I plan to be there in a few years too.

FWIW, I'm expecting to pay around $5k/year on maintenance for a 30-40' sailboat, and $400/mo for a slip.  This is assuming the boat I buy is in good shape and won't need anything major (as if this is ever true).

CharlesBronzee

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Re: How much per year do your hobbies cost?
« Reply #96 on: December 18, 2017, 05:50:58 PM »
I play frugal golf.  30 x  9-hole games a year at $30 each.  Driving range once a week maybe 40 times a year at $10 each.  I buy previously sliced golf balls :), gloves, tees.  So total around $1500 per year.

 

Wow, a phone plan for fifteen bucks!