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BS: Expensive hobbies
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Subject: BS: Expensive hobbies From: Fibula Mattock Date: 11 Feb 05 - 11:24 AM Why do they call it "free time" when it's anything but? I've just been adding up my hobby expenditure, and although I don't begrudge a penny of it (work hard, play harder, that's my motto), it does amount to rather a lot. To whit: Fiddling. Cost of fiddle, cost of lessons (when I find a new teacher), cost of pints in the pub, cost of strings, cost of earplugs for flatmate, etc; Climbing: Bloody pricey rock boots, wall fees, travel to crags... even if you borrow/steal your mates' gear it's pricey; Running: thought this'd be cheap cos I do it outdoors (as all archaeologists do, fnar fnar) but I had to fork out 80 quid for a decent pair of shoes; Set dancing - just paid 36 quid for shoes to dance in (all my own normal shoes have rubber soles); Poker - the set of chips alone were about 50 quid, and then at £5 per buy-in it soon adds up, even when I win (I'm currently breaking even); Wine and beer - nuff said. So, is there such a thing as a free hobby? And don't say sex, because there's always some hidden cost there too. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Expensive hobbies From: John MacKenzie Date: 11 Feb 05 - 11:28 AM Pressing wildflowers? |
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Subject: RE: BS: Expensive hobbies From: Fibula Mattock Date: 11 Feb 05 - 11:29 AM Cost of press, cost of bail when you're prosecuted for destroying the natural environment, cost of transport to get to wild flowers in first place. Etc. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Expensive hobbies From: John MacKenzie Date: 11 Feb 05 - 11:30 AM Singing Frank Mills? |
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Subject: RE: BS: Expensive hobbies From: Fibula Mattock Date: 11 Feb 05 - 11:35 AM Hurrah! No cost, and highly satisfying! |
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Subject: RE: BS: Expensive hobbies From: Catherine Jayne Date: 11 Feb 05 - 11:35 AM Singing is free...you already have your voice. The cost comes with getting to the sessions to sing with others and learn new songs. And when you get to the session it's in good keeping to have a couple of pints.....and then theres the festivals for the hardened folkie....yes folking seems to be expensive!!! |
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Subject: RE: BS: Expensive hobbies From: Layah Date: 11 Feb 05 - 11:41 AM reading books. Which I check out for free from the library that I walk to for free. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Expensive hobbies From: Fibula Mattock Date: 11 Feb 05 - 11:45 AM Yeah, reading books is what I do the whole rest of the time, but my local library is crap so I buy them second hand. It's a pity that libraries have book freezes on these days because so many people just want to read, not to hire DVDs and use the Internet. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Expensive hobbies From: Stilly River Sage Date: 11 Feb 05 - 11:47 AM Graduate School--a very pricey "hobby." :) I'm once again considering piling it higher and deeper, since the university where I work is doing a joint philosophy Ph.D. with the university where I did all of the course work on a masters in philosophy (haven't written the thesis yet). I'd convert the classes over to the Ph.D. program since I already have one MA (English). SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Expensive hobbies From: Fibula Mattock Date: 11 Feb 05 - 11:49 AM SRS - that's got to be one of the most expensive hobbies ever... leaves you stoney broke for 3 years (or more outside the UK), but takes up so much time that you don't need any other hobbies! |
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Subject: RE: BS: Expensive hobbies From: Once Famous Date: 11 Feb 05 - 11:55 AM Collecting vintage electric trains. They were the coolest toy you could get as a kid. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Expensive hobbies From: Stilly River Sage Date: 11 Feb 05 - 11:56 AM It's not as expensive as auto racing or yachting, but it leaves your house looking like the inside of a goat's stomach when you finish with all of the paperwork! |
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Subject: RE: BS: Expensive hobbies From: Stilly River Sage Date: 11 Feb 05 - 12:01 PM MG--I have friends who have converted whole floors (storys) of their houses to trains--that can be a very pricey hobby. One guy has this amazing attic. You stand on the steps half-way into the attic for his demonstration, when he turns on all of the lights and automation stuff and runs the trains through the rooms on convoluted track. No one can quite stand up in there under the rafters, but it is the attic over a good-sized house in Brooklyn, and he must have 1000-1500 square feet dedicated to trains and their paraphernalia. SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Expensive hobbies From: mooman Date: 11 Feb 05 - 12:02 PM Kate, Be very glad that you don't play several different instruments and thereby suffer MIAS (Multiple Instrument Acquisition Syndrome)! What about archery? I keep losing my (b****y expensive) arrows (don't know where the buggers go!). Best not to be around while I'm practising therefore. Peace moo |
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Subject: RE: BS: Expensive hobbies From: Once Famous Date: 11 Feb 05 - 12:05 PM SRS, collecting vintage/old electric trains is a white middle-aged man's disease I've had for close to 20 years. The last house that we bought 4 years ago was OK's by me because it had a good basement. My collection has over 500 different engines and rolling stock. The only thing that's just as bad to me is collecting guitars. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Expensive hobbies From: Teresa Date: 11 Feb 05 - 12:06 PM Computers are still an expensive hobby. I now have one desktop and one laptop, with all of my special bells and whistles for use as a visually-impaired person. Those two pieces of software alone cost $2000, and the Braille display alone cost $5000. I was lucky to have those paid for initialy by vocational grants, but the maintenance and upgrades are expensive. I seem to be collecting musical instruments, and that is not cheap. Many of the books I get now are "free" on the Internet. That, at least, is a good thing. Teresa |
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Subject: RE: BS: Expensive hobbies From: PoppaGator Date: 11 Feb 05 - 12:49 PM I got a beautiful Lionel train for my fifth Christmas, featuring a 6-8-6 Pennsylvania steam locomotive. I wonder what it'd be worth today? (Probably more than all the baseball cards my mother threw away ~ which is saying a lot!) I sold all my big "O"-guage Lionel gear in my early teens and started a new little HO setup, but lost interest within a few years ~ perhaps at the very same time that I took up the guitar. I suppose I can only support one hobby at a time. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Expensive hobbies From: Bee-dubya-ell Date: 11 Feb 05 - 12:56 PM Becoming top executive of a major world power and using that position to shove your world-view down the throats of others can be a very expensive hobby. It can cost almost as much as playing golf. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Expensive hobbies From: Mooh Date: 11 Feb 05 - 12:59 PM Yeah, trains! I got some old American Flyer parts about if anyone is interested. I would love to have the space again for a permanent layout, maybe N guage. Sportsfishing is pricey but since there's a family place on water I don't go bankrupt. Guitars pay my way nowadays but they didn't always and they sure aren't cheap for the ones I fancy. Insurance costs are killer too. Money doesn't buy happiness, but it will buy another guitar. Peace, Mooh. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Expensive hobbies From: Bunnahabhain Date: 11 Feb 05 - 01:02 PM Photography! A nice digital SLR is what I NEED. Not want, need. And you get used to the nice solid construction of a decent body, and a digital one is £1000, or more. And all the money that went on film, etc gets diverted to that carbon fibre tripod, etc And second the above. singing and dancing seem cheap, until you remember transport and beer! |
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Subject: RE: BS: Expensive hobbies From: John MacKenzie Date: 11 Feb 05 - 01:36 PM Yep fishing, there's a thought, I've got £1000s of pounds worth of gear, and a 19ft boat just fitted out with a 'new this year' 50HP Honda at £5000 or thereabouts. Still walking in the fresh air is free. Giok |
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Subject: RE: BS: Expensive hobbies From: pdq Date: 11 Feb 05 - 01:46 PM women |
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Subject: RE: BS: Expensive hobbies From: Scooby Doo Date: 11 Feb 05 - 01:47 PM I collect Steiff teddy bears which start around £30.00- £200.00 at a time.I have 6 in my collection plus membership ones which come to 9 so far.I started this hobby 3 years ago after going to Germany and buying my first bear. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Expensive hobbies From: WFDU - Ron Olesko Date: 11 Feb 05 - 01:51 PM Comic books. I'm not the type that collects comic books for their value, I just enjoy reading them... but today's cover prices are unbelievable! When I started as a kid, the price was $.12 per issue. Now the average price is approximately $2.99. Kids can't afford them today, they are the hobby of middle age guys like myself. I also enjoy HO trains, but they have not run in a few years. My project for the spring is to clean out the basement and get the layour running again. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Expensive hobbies From: Den Date: 11 Feb 05 - 02:03 PM Fibs, you should try one of my favourites which is free of charge just walk down to the street dressed in your oldest bathrobe and slippers and shake your fist at the passing traffic. Cheers me up no end. Den |
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Subject: RE: BS: Expensive hobbies From: open mike Date: 11 Feb 05 - 02:05 PM at least you do not have to purchase special shoes to play poker! |
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Subject: RE: BS: Expensive hobbies From: Donuel Date: 11 Feb 05 - 02:07 PM http://www.angelfire.com/md2/customviolins fixing up fiddles and such, making Korg Triton/Karma new age music (my 4 year old is doing some now on a setting called floating worlds and it sounds great), making digital pictures, conceptual light art, model cars and trains, gardening/landscaping, playing cello... these are all expensive hobbies. Thank goodness I don't have the time to expand on them. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Expensive hobbies From: John MacKenzie Date: 11 Feb 05 - 02:35 PM Who pays the fines then Den? Giok |
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Subject: RE: BS: Expensive hobbies From: Den Date: 11 Feb 05 - 03:01 PM What fines? |
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Subject: RE: BS: Expensive hobbies From: Den Date: 11 Feb 05 - 03:54 PM Or am I doing it wrong? |
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Subject: RE: BS: Expensive hobbies From: Wesley S Date: 11 Feb 05 - 04:03 PM I've heard that Neil Young is a big collector of Lional trains. He even became a partial owner and bailed them out when they had financial trouble a few years ago so that he could keep the compnay going. One of the network news magazines had a story on it awhile back. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Expensive hobbies From: Bill D Date: 11 Feb 05 - 04:14 PM woodworking....there is no end to the toys they want to sell you...and next weekend there is a BIG woodworking show in Virginia. I will be working at a demo booth, and seeing how long I last before I buy something. I have in my shop right now: 1-radial arm saw 1-table saw 2-band saws 2 drill presses 1-jointer (small) 1 planer (12") 2 wood lathes 2-bench grinders 1-combo belt/disc sander 3-shop vacuums (essential!) and 12-14 assorted drills, sanders, electric saws, routers, chain saws etc...etc...not to mention walls of hand tools and drawers of accessories enough? is 4-5 guitars enough? |
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Subject: RE: BS: Expensive hobbies From: Bert Date: 11 Feb 05 - 04:51 PM 4 or 5 guitars are not NEARLY enough. I've got more than that and "I" can't play worth a damn. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Expensive hobbies From: Little Hawk Date: 11 Feb 05 - 07:05 PM 1. plastic modelling - Bloody expensive! You buy many, many model kits and build a few. You buy specialty paints, tools, lighting aids, airbrushes, a compressor, and a library full of expensive reference books. You buy custom parts and extra decal sheets. You buy a storage unit to hold all the models. Etc... It's fun though... 2. music - You buy instruments that cost more than a used car, plus strings, polish, humidifiers, etc...etc... 3. women! - I don't even want to think about it... :-) (eh, pdq?) 4. trains - See "plastic models" above...you can spend $10,000 on trains in a year or two without even blinking... |
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Subject: RE: BS: Expensive hobbies From: The Fooles Troupe Date: 11 Feb 05 - 07:22 PM Standing in the shower tearing up $100 bills. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Expensive hobbies From: Bee-dubya-ell Date: 11 Feb 05 - 07:34 PM I don't consider music and musical instruments a hobby. They're more like a necessity. Sorta like food. Sure, I've spent a lot of money on instruments through the years, but I've spent more on food. And the instruments are still here while all the food's gone except three packs of ramen noodles and a half-full box of raisin bran. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Expensive hobbies From: Bunnahabhain Date: 11 Feb 05 - 07:38 PM By that definition women definitly count as a necessity, rather than hobby. Although the collecting more than one at a time seems to be restricted to Utah.... |
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Subject: RE: BS: Expensive hobbies From: Kaleea Date: 11 Feb 05 - 07:39 PM It started out innocently enough. A bandmate gave me his old Generation Bb penny whistle. Since I could only play along with pipers & pipe CD's with this, I had to get a D Sweetone. Because it sounded like crud, I had to get a better D penny whistle. Because I wondered if another one would sound better, I bought a D Feadog--made in Ireland! I ran across a couple of Generations in other keys, so I had to buy them, "just in case" I needed to play in Eb or C. Then, I saw a beautiful cherry wood little number by Ralph Sweet for under $100.00. By then, I was a victim of the malady known as WHOA! I had to do something to assuage the guilt, so I bought more whistles. So I heard about a website which has helped folks with the addiction--The Chiff & Fipple--and found out that I am not alone. Since they have all info you ever needed to know about whistles, there was lots of info about every known whistle under the sun. And links to them. So, naturally, I had to visit the websites, & one thing led to another, & before I knew it, I had to get a bigger place. So, . . . |
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Subject: RE: BS: Expensive hobbies From: The Fooles Troupe Date: 11 Feb 05 - 07:48 PM So, not bad for an 'inexpensive' instrument... |
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Subject: RE: BS: Expensive hobbies From: Fibula Mattock Date: 11 Feb 05 - 10:37 PM 3.30am: Just lost 4 quid on poker, so I'm now down on my luck and ready to try Den's dressing-gown-walking-annd-fist-shaking trick. bah humbug. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Expensive hobbies From: Donuel Date: 11 Feb 05 - 10:52 PM Is there a line between a hobbist and a professional? I think its only a matter of marketing. If there is obvious quality to your work, you are a professional. Profit is besides the point. Like Duke Ellington said of music, "if it sounds good it is good." |
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Subject: RE: BS: Expensive hobbies From: GUEST,leeneia Date: 11 Feb 05 - 11:07 PM Cheap hobbies: lying in the bathtub and singing washing the dishes and singing buying seeds and perhaps a little fertilizer and growing things. tearing offensive advertising out of magazines and throwing it on the floor joining a church choir collecting notable sentences Example: What asses horses are! (PG Wodehouse) studying and admiring clouds. Clouds take up absolutely no room in the home. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Expensive hobbies From: sixtieschick Date: 11 Feb 05 - 11:08 PM Being a professional writer is an expensive hobby. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Expensive hobbies From: GUEST,ragdall Date: 12 Feb 05 - 03:26 AM My principal hobby is "Tomorrow, or maybe next week...." I've been gathering supplies for this hobby for at least three decades:
The hobby which consumes most of my time involves using this computer to feel "connected" to people beyond these four walls and to learn more about the world around me. The computer and connected devices cost $1800. Calculating a life expectancy of about six years, that's $300 a year. Add $40 a month for the Internet connection and perhaps $150 a year for consumables such as ink and paper. I spend about $78 a month on this hobby. The $3 a day seems excellent value for the amount of time I spend at this machine and the pleasure and knowledge it brings to me. rags |
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Subject: RE: BS: Expensive hobbies From: Manitas_at_home Date: 12 Feb 05 - 01:54 PM "Just lost 4 quid on poker, so I'm now down on my luck and ready to try Den's dressing-gown-walking-annd-fist-shaking trick" ...or you could put those running shoes to some good use! |
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Subject: RE: BS: Expensive hobbies From: LuteMonkey Date: 12 Feb 05 - 02:34 PM I collect old radio broadcasts from the 30's. I am a Jack Benny fanatic. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Expensive hobbies From: Raedwulf Date: 12 Feb 05 - 02:53 PM mooman - Archery is cheap if you do it it properly. Bent stick, piece of string, arrows inexpensive. But it sounds like you want one of those {shudders} olympic style recurves (or worse)... Turn away from the Dark Side! Remember Agincourt! You can hit something with a longbow (it's mostly the ground till you get the hang of it, but you lose less arrows than the recurves cos they tend to stick up more...)! |
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Subject: RE: BS: Expensive hobbies From: Stilly River Sage Date: 12 Feb 05 - 03:09 PM Good points, ragdall! I have a few of those around the house myself. SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Expensive hobbies From: GUEST,ragdall Date: 12 Feb 05 - 11:49 PM "Good points, ragdall! I have a few of those around the house myself." SRS, (or anyone else), Have you ever been able to give up the hope of finding the time to use some of the hobby items, and gotten rid of them? If so, how did you decide which hobby to give up? Thanks, rags |
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Subject: RE: BS: Expensive hobbies From: Kaleea Date: 13 Feb 05 - 12:08 AM Ragdall, It was truly a painful experience. I gave up beading & jewelery projects I used to do. The bifocles never did give me quite the vision I needed for using those tiny seed beads. Then there was the arthritis. I kept the stuff around for a few years. Boxes & boxes of it, moved it cross country & back. Finally, about 4 yrs back I called a gal I know, & had her haul off all that stuff. Many hundreds of dollar$ worth of beads. Fine glass beads from Czecholslavakia before it splitntered. I made her promise to use the stuff to teach her daughter beading, as no one in my family knew how to bead since my Great Grandmother. I had to let go, so I did. I'm moving cross country-yet again-and this time, I really have to be brutal & get rid of most of what I own. I'll keep most of my instruments & a small portion of the printed Music. Tons of yarn & needlework supplies--out! Tons of collectibles--out! etc. It will be difficult. I think, however, that afterward I will feel relieved. Sometimes the stuff we own begins to own us. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Expensive hobbies From: GUEST,ragdall Date: 13 Feb 05 - 06:26 AM "Sometimes the stuff we own begins to own us." Very true. Still, it's sad to part with cherished possessions and the hopes and dreams they represent. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Expensive hobbies From: GUEST,freda underhill Date: 13 Feb 05 - 07:17 AM apart from folking and mudcatting walking buying & reading second hand books (there are heaps of second hand bookshops where i live) embroidering soaking in a bath with lavender and tea tree oil in it, and reading! having coffee and talking with friends drawing making my own body lotions - this has sort of happened without me planning it. I go to a herbal and homeopathic pharmacy in the city, where i get natural essences (peppermint, sandalwood, ylang ylang) and started combining the perfumes to see what they would be like. Then one day i had a lot of left over creams of various sorts. I combined Vitamin E cream with lavender oil, rose hip oil, a bit of tea tree oil and aloe vera gel, whipped it all up with a fork, and it has become a wonderful & very absorbent & relaxing body lotion. then i made another similar one with a few drops of bleach in it. this one I use on my arms, which have a lot of sun damage (i have spent too long in the australian sun, including in some desert locations) - it has been very good for my skin. i have started buying ingredients for my next one, which will be an anti arthritic one with vitamin e cream as the base, and including rosemary oil, eucalyptus oil and some Tiger Balm! as well i have made lip gloss, by simply microwaving the remains of a lipstick with vaseline. by heating it, the ingredients melt a little and its easier to blend them. a touch of peppermint oil also goes down well in this one - its very good for the lips, and when you smear it on, your lips tingle from the peppermint! corny, but i love walking along the beach. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Expensive hobbies From: GUEST Date: 13 Feb 05 - 07:51 AM Fibs, you are doing it wrong! Play a cheap instrument, like a Penny Whistle. Do not consider the pints as hobby, they are definitely food. Therefore, trips to the pub for the pints do not count as hobby - it is essentially the same as going to the supermarket to buy other foodstuff. The music in the pub is just a free extra you get ;-) |
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Subject: RE: BS: Expensive hobbies From: GUEST,Rapaire Date: 13 Feb 05 - 09:42 AM Well, I don't count tools. Tools include woodworking stuff, computers and computer stuff, the firearms I use for target shooting, the take-down recurve (Bear '76er) I use for archery, the camera(s) I have for sharing pictures, the lawn mower, the camping gear, my trumpet, the cooking stuff, the cross-country skis, the fencing equipment...hmmm...I guess I don't have any hobbies. So I guess I don't spend any money on hobbies, but I do a lot of work. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Expensive hobbies From: GUEST,MudGuard/MudGuest Date: 13 Feb 05 - 09:46 AM Ups, sorry for anonymous posting, I forgot to put my name into the from field of the 13 Feb 05 - 7:51 AM posting. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Expensive hobbies From: GUEST Date: 13 Feb 05 - 09:52 AM SRS said: I'd convert the classes over to the Ph.D. program since I already have one MA (English). And Fibula Mattock replied: SRS - that's got to be one of the most expensive hobbies ever... Oh, yes, but with a PhD you can get an up and coming job as a taxi driver! Dave Oesterreich |
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Subject: RE: BS: Expensive hobbies From: GUEST,Rapaire Date: 13 Feb 05 - 10:02 AM Wait, I forgot. There's my wife.... |
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Subject: RE: BS: Expensive hobbies From: Naemanson Date: 14 Feb 05 - 06:29 AM Hobbies? I'm retired. Life is my hobby. If I can't fit it into my annual income then I don't do it. Having said that I am currently in Japan but flying back to Guam at the end of the month. Then in July I start my round-the-world trip so I guess you could say traveling is my hobby. Not too expensive if you can crash on the couches of friends. Any offers? |
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Subject: RE: BS: Expensive hobbies From: Nick Date: 14 Feb 05 - 08:29 AM Theresa I presume you have already come across/used the Gutenberg project which should keep you in books for many many months? One of THE great free resources |
