Cost versus satisfaction of Hobbies

[Steve Peterson]

Hobbies have a huge range of costs. Riding bicycles can range from $100 to many thousands of dollars. Fishing can cost as little as $100 for a simple pole and a license or it can cost $50K for a boat and another $50K for the truck to pull it. Even watching TV can be really cheap or really expensive.

I think I have spent less than $20K over the course of about 5 years for a well equipped shop. At least half of that should be recoverable if I decided to sell everything. This puts my real cost at about $10K for 5 years, or around 2K per year. My future expenses are expected to be lower, since I don't plan many large power tool purchases. I consider this to be a fairly cheap hobby. It could also get really expensive if I spend $100K on a workshop.

Steve

[Andy Pogue]

As hard as it can be to find the cash for a hobby, It seems that it is increasingly difficult to find disposable time for them.
when I was 20 I thought by now (55) I'd just be doing whatever I wanted to do, whenever I wanted to do it.
As the poet said, " youth, like love, is wasted on the young".

[Richard Hutchings]

disposable time

That's what I want. I probably have spent enough on tools through the years. I still want more.

[Andy Pogue]

Grandma said, "we always find the time to do what we really want to do."
I wonder if she was wrong about other things too?

[Kent A Bathurst]

Grandma said, "we always find the time to do what we really want to do."
I wonder if she was wrong about other things too?

No. She was right about all of them. You need to pay closer attention to your Grandma, Grasshopper.

[Justin Pfenning]

I agree with many of the replies here. Hobbies can be expensive, or they can be cost effective. For me, it boils down to time available for the hobby, and what I want to accomplish in a given amount of time. It's a give and take as I see it. If your goal is to produce a piece of fine furniture, many techniques will get you to your goal. Building with hand tools (cheaper) will take much longer than building with nice machinery (expensive). I need to see progress when I make time for a hobby, or I get bored and move on to something else. Because I'm wired this way, I can't take the long road. I'm sure others here are the opposite, and only want to take the long road. To each his own, that's what you need to figure out. Good luck.

Justin

[Bert Kemp]

Well Said it is a priceless Art

Although I can sell a custom surfboard for up to $5k, a kayak for $6k, and a boat for $30k+, for me it's not about making money. It is about the joy, and that is priceless. I am about to drop at least $60k on a shop that will mostly support the hobby, although it is planned that in retirement (many years away- still young) it will be supplemental income. If I break even I am more than happy. The closest we come to God is when we create. Think about it- what really separates us from animals is the ability to create. I love to create, and it is worth it to me to pay $10,000 for hand tools that allow me to continue to do so, or much more for a workshop to do it in. Do I need hardwood floors instead of plywood? Of course not, but looking at the wood every day inspires me. I think of the many years that the tree took to grow the unique pattern of rings, and I want to do it justice. Sorry for getting religious, but for me it is religious. I think of how God created the wood over many years, and I am the one privileged to see it for the first time as I open it up. I feel honored to do the wood justice. The tree sacrificed its life for my art, and I am entrusted to do it justice through my creativity. Can you really put a price on that?

[Bert Kemp]

Wow it amazes me the people we have here and the things they've done, I really enjoy reading about all the stuff you've done. Me I guess I'm like most here had many hobbies over the years, I guess my first hobby was WW I made coffee tables from pine slabs about 3" thick, easy to find pine slabs in NH not so easy in AZ. Tools , belt sander, skill saw, and a drill was about all I needed. I got into Photography for a while even had a dark room, then digital came along and I stuck with it for a while but now its mostly family pic's.I didn't spend a lot of money on cameras or ww tools.Motorcycling has always been a hobby of mine got my first bike when I was 17 and haven't stopped since, by far I spend the most money on this hobby, several bikes over the year and who knows how many thousands in gas, camping equipment and hotel rooms. I've ridden to 38 States, 4 Canadian provinces , and Mexico. And now laser engraving a fair amount of money spent here. laser engraving also incorporates woodworking, I think I've bought more wood working tools since owning a laser then ever before. But I don't regret spending any of the money because the satisfaction far out weighs the cost.

[Larry Edgerton]

Try racing, you will realize how inexpensive woodworking is.........

[John Sanford]

One of the more interesting aspects of hobbies is the divide between "useful" hobbies, and essentially useless hobbies. Now, the truth is that almost all hobbies are, for us denizens of the First of the First World, useless. But those of us drawn to the useful hobbies often work hard to convince others (and ourselves?) that our hobby is useful. But it rarely is, from a purely functional standpoint.

A table is a table is a table. It keeps stuff off the floor. The dinner plate doesn't care in the least that it is being supported by particleboard from Ikea or a French polished curly maple with ebony and cocobolo inlaid top. WE care, yet they are the same (over the short term) functionally. And before anybody goes into how the particleboard table will fall apart in 3 years or whatever, so what? Instead of particleboard, how about a "crappy" metal and plastic folding table from Wal-Mart? It will last decades. And it folds up for easy portability.

The same applies for almost all of the "useful" hobbies. Whether it's cooking, sewing, woodworking, gardening, fishing, etc, etc, the wonders of the modern economy can generally deliver as much functionality for a fraction of the cost, especially if we factor in our time. Yes, that beautiful segmented bowl is a masterpiece, a work of art even. And it complements the handcrafted living room so well. And the styrofoam bowl next to it does just as good of a job of keeping a few pieces of fruit at hand. At least those who ski or race cars or are audiophiles can generally dispense with any notion that they're "saving money" in their hobby.

Once one understands this, then you can truly grapple with the satisfaction issue. Knowing WHAT it is that brings one satisfaction is really the key to "maximizing your hobby ROI". It may be creating, it may be solving a problems, it may be mastering process, it may be the meditative aspect, it may be the oohs and ahhs of others, it may be an adrenaline rush, the "may bes" are infinite. (Generally, adrenaline rushes in woodworking are to be avoided, whereas in skiing they may be sought out.... just sayin'.) The useful stuff that we create CAN bring down the cost of the hobby.

Never forget that part of the joy of any hobby is learning new things. That's likely part of what sucked the OP into the twisted, sick, oh. so. wrong. world of shaving. Me, my shaving hobby is about as cheap as they come. I don't shave.

[Andrew Joiner]

Building and designing things was my first hobby as a kid. I've always been value oriented so selling the things I made soon followed. My satisfaction level was at an all time high when clients paid me well for work I loved to do. There was no cost to having my shop, it was an investment that was paid for many times over. After that I thought I could never design and build as a hobby again.

Then I got into the hobby of windsurfing in 1986 with a second hand $200 board and sail . It was truly a hobby the first few months. Just a simple, cheap form of sailing with no boat or trailer maintenance. As my windsurfing skill increased, one day in a stiff breeze, I got planing. Planing is when the board magically pops up and skips across the water like you just found it's accelerator. That was when windsurfing went from a hobby to an expensive sport! I wanted to recapture that planing magic as often as I could. I bought new boards and sails that were lighter and more efficient. Then I had to travel to find higher winds, so I bought a trailer and a van. The gear got better when carbon was introduced, but carbon is, no surprise expensive. I finally had to quit working(some call it retirement) so I could travel and windsurf, that cost money and my income dropped! My skills increased so luckily I've gotten free gear from sponsors over the last 20 years. Now I live in a high wind area where used gear is readily available at a low cost if I lose my sponsors. I got lucky with my investments that allowed an early retirement and we're healthy. I have to say from 1986 to today my satisfaction with windsurfing has only increased. For awhile it cost a lot but so worth it.

I got into designing furniture again a few years ago. I was bored in the winter. I had only minimal tools. I tried building with just hand tools. That was frustratingly slow to me. I had high quality machinery in my commercial shop and was use to the speed and precision. Unlike the first time I put together a shop I've got plenty of money, but how could I justify the lavish expense of a woodshop for hobby use? I started small with a minimal shop. Then I got the satisfaction of designing and building a fine piece of furniture again after a 10 year hiatus. It opened my mind to just building things for pleasure. I can build anything I want with the hobby shop that I have now. I have about $5K into it. The materials to make what I like get expensive. Overall it's actually cheap for the satisfaction level I get.

If I felt I needed expensive machinery to build the things I wanted I might be less satisfied.

[Brian W Smith]

Have sort of subscribed to "The Futile Pursuit of Happiness" notion since reading it.......in fact,it was on a machinist forum 10 or so years ago.Here's a quickie NYT review.

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/09/07/ma...happiness.html

[Frederick Skelly]

Have sort of subscribed to "The Futile Pursuit of Happiness" notion since reading it.......in fact,it was on a machinist forum 10 or so years ago.Here's a quickie NYT review.

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/09/07/ma...happiness.html

That was an interesting article. Gonna have to think some more about that.

[Jim Becker]

As hard as it can be to find the cash for a hobby, It seems that it is increasingly difficult to find disposable time for them.

I agree with this 100%!!!!