How much do you spend on your hobbies?

[Blackpaw]

Oooh fun thread, BEG

When i think about it i have a lot of expensive hobbies too - good thing i have no mortgage and so disposable income!

Skiing for sure is a big one, i snowboard myself and its a very expensive undertaking. Im lucky though i live in the mountains and work in the industry so i get my pass for free, but the gear, oh it kills me - i need new boots and a new board at the moment, not to mention id love to get setup with touring gear but thats even more pricey

I also LOVE scuba diving too, and to do it i have to travel - travel BTW is my number 1 fave thing, i have spent a literal fortune on it over the last 5-6 years. Which i suppose is why no mortgage yet! My SO and i will dive wherever we can, we were in central america last year so dived a lot, id guess we spent at least 3k on diving. We rent our gear though (on account of the expense of buying it and the difficulty traveling with it). Sadly this year i dont think we'll get any diving in (going to alaska), and next year we're getting married in europe so im not sure what our chances are of diving next year either.

Also this year i took up piano and i love it! my keyboard was cheap but my lessons are nearly 30 bucks a week...which really adds up over a year. That said i feel like i get a lot of enjoyment out of it (just learnt beauty and the beast - so happy!).

Apart from these i have a gym membership and do yoga once a week, but i mostly run outside and hike in the summer which are cheap at least!

Oh and i recently developed a shameful problem with Hermes scarves. No really its shameful....but i love them

 

[vc10um]

I pay $100 a month for a gorgeous all-women gym in Boston which is my respite from the world. (For the record, I have nothing against exercising with men and do not generally agree with such gender segregation. However, my company had a deal with that gym where I only paid $30, and it's the only gym in town which offers the Les Mills Body Pump classes, so I decided to pay the full rate when I left the job.)

Another PUMP'er! Just got back from an awesome morning class! I don't blame you for paying the high prices so you can continue taking Pump...it's totally worth it!

Clearly one of my hobbies is Pump/working out! My gym membership runs $54/month, so not too bad. I also run and am in need of a new pair of shoes, so that'll run me about $100 and I've been losing weight so I've been replacing all my clothing slowly but surely at about $50/month. Race fees can be killer, but I haven't done a destination race in awhile...thinking maybe next year? We'll see.

I love to travel and hubs and I are heading to Paris for our anniversary! That's a big expense, but it'll probably be the last big trip for awhile, so it's easy to justify!

I've recently taken up crochet, and Octavia, I can TOTALLY understand how you can drop that much money on yarn! There's so much beautiful wonderful yarn out there! Right now since I'm just learning I'm not really splurging on anything, but man oh man...I can tell this could be pricey down the line!

Oh, and MIchigan Football. Hundreds of dollars every fall for tickets, tailgating supplies, etc.

 

[Cozystitches]

I knit and do some sewing. Since I have quality needles (only replace as needed) and a lot of quality yarn I don't spend much per year, maybe $100. As for sewing well, I don't have an extensive fabric stash and so I spend somewhere around 200/year.

Not that much, but years ago I spent more building my knitting stash. I'm a yarn snob and refuse to knit w/crap yarn, but I look for bargains where I can. I have a lot of patterns, so I am stingy w/my pattern buying.

For you knitters/Crocheters: have you found Ravelry.com? Awesome place... ;D

 

[Smith1942]

Well, I had no idea that ballroom dancing, and knitting/sewing cost so much!

VC, isn't Body Pump just the best class ever? It's been reviewed by various exercise experts and generally agreed that it's an extremely effective yet safe workout.

Anyway, I had to do it...I've posted below my awesome collection of Folio Society books! This is the only thing I collect besides jewellery, and I'm pretty much done collecting both those things. I have just about everything I want. The books are printed on vellum, and they are sewn, each with leather or cloth original bindings and inside there are illustrations specially commissioned by various artists for these Folio Society editions. Normally, books of this quality would cost $200-$300 each, since the production costs are so high and the print runs are small, but the FS is subsidised by its owner, Lord Gavron. Therefore, with sale bargains and a ton of free sets, each of these books cost approx $30-$35, incl postage from the UK. Isn't it nice to know that the aristocracy is good for something??

ETA: The photo below is 1 MB, but PS converts is to a mere 147KB, so it's blurred and doesn't look very good. The photo on my computer is much clearer and much higher-res than this. Why is PS converting it to such a low-res image? I tried placing it inline - same thing. PS can handle 1MB, usually. Any suggestions? My Folio books don't look good!

 

[House Cat]

My main hobby is gardening. Over the past two years I have spent more than I want to mention because we have moved into a new (to us) home and it needed landscaping. We installed a large vegetable garden with 14 raised beds, that was quite a bit of money and I am still getting the soil in good condition.... I can vegetable garden year round in my zone, which is very nice.

I just ordered 14 antique roses, that was quite a bit of money. Then I will buy companion plants...

It never ends. Thank goodness....

 

[Octavia]

For you knitters/Crocheters: have you found Ravelry.com? Awesome place... ;D

Yes! There used to be a knitting/crocheting thread somewhere around here (maybe in FHH?) and a couple of us PS knitters found each other on Ravelry through project photos, haha. I don't spend so much time on the forums there, but I've spent an embarrassing number of hours searching and sorting through patterns...

 

[CharmedOne]

CozyStitches, I have never heard of that but I will definitely check it out!

 

[PinkTower]

My hobby is three Standard Poodles. Top quality food for three large dogs is substantial, but the grooming is the main expense. I do lots of touch ups myself, but I am not a professional, that is for sure.

 

[Cozystitches]

CozyStitches, I have never heard of that but I will definitely check it out!

When you sign up, make sure to set aside a few hours surfing patterns. You can also friend me there if you want,

 

[distracts]

I thought I spent a lot but after thinking about it, aside from jewelry (including silversmithing classes/supplies, which can be pricy) I don't spend as much as I thought. Though I think I still probably spend more than many people.

I love playing in Adobe Creative Suite products. I used to just buy a couple of them, but now that they have the Cloud membership I get that. So it's like $650 a year, but that's less than just buying Photoshop used to be.

I love to read... and I love to buy books. I probably spend about $30 a week on books, though I only manage to read about a third of what I buy. (The nicest thing about the kindle is that no one can see just how much of a book glutton I am. The second nicest thing is that I can read on my iphone, which is small enough for my tiny hands to hold comfortably, and backlit so I can read right until I fall asleep without having to wake up later to turn off the light.) A quick calculation shows me that if $30 a week is true, I spend about $1560 a year on books. One day, I will be like Smith1942 and collect pretty Folio Society and Easton Press books. Her collection is so amazing.

There are other things that I sporadically collect... perfume probably is the main one. My spending on that can vary wildly. And I'm a big scifi fan so scifi memorabilia can eat up some money too. Recently my husband and I bought Anovos costumes, which are really nice quality but not the cheapest ever. Occasionally I do watercolor painting. The startup cost for that was big but fortunately the paints keep pretty much forever. The expensive part now is buying the paper, haha.

(Also, $100 gym membership? I'd kill to find a decent gym for just $100, omg.)

 

[CharmedOne]

Will do Cozystitches. I'll do it tomorrow, since I will be home all day because my LO is out of school Just wondering, are any you knitters left handed? That is the reason I am having such a hard time learning to knit. I have tried several times to learn with no luck. I've also seen quite a few younger "knitters" using a round thing from Martha Stewart's line, but they mainly make hats and leg warmers. It looks more like weaving to me but I thought about trying it. Sorry for the thread jack but I would really love to learn how to knit. Any suggestions? Thanks ~d

 

[Octavia]

Will do Cozystitches. I'll do it tomorrow, since I will be home all day because my LO is out of school Just wondering, are any you knitters left handed? That is the reason I am having such a hard time learning to knit. I have tried several times to learn with no luck. I've also seen quite a few younger "knitters" using a round thing from Martha Stewart's line, but they mainly make hats and leg warmers. It looks more like weaving to me but I thought about trying it. Sorry for the thread jack but I would really love to learn how to knit. Any suggestions? Thanks ~d

CharmedOne, my mom is left-handed and I tried to teach her to knit, but we didn't really have enough time to work on it so I'm not sure if I was teaching her well or not. But my recommendation is to go on YouTube and find some videos -- this is often how I learn new techniques. The website knitty.com is also good, as is TechKnitter, but I'm not sure whether either of them have good instructions for lefties. The biggest issue you're going to run into if you don't learn to knit "right" is that it will be really hard to follow patterns because everything will be backward. Are you trying to knit using the English method ("throwing" the yarn) or Continental ("picking" the yarn)? IMO, Continental might be easier for a leftie because you hold the working yarn in your left hand -- I find this method difficult because I don't have the muscle tone in my left hand to keep the yarn at an even tension. The bonus to Continental is that it's easier on your wrists because you don't move as much. Do you have a local yarn shop nearby? If so, ask about getting a lesson or two because it really doesn't take that long to get over the hump of learning what to do and once you know that, it's just a matter of practice! Videos are a good start but a real live person will probably get you up and running much more quickly. If you have more questions, I can try to dig up the old knitting thread so we don't threadjack this one too much.

 

[CharmedOne]

Octavia, Thank you so much. I'm not sure about the technique I was attempting to use, but I will look up and research the one you suggested. I have two shops nearby, so I will also check on a knitting class. I will look at those websites as well, hopefully I have some success. knitting just looks so relaxing and you can do so much more knitting than you can crocheting. Thanks again for being so helpful. Oh and I will look for that knitting thread too.

Sorry again for the thread jack. ~d

 

[vintagelover229]

A fairly new knitter here I have been doing it for just over a year but was taught by someone who has a serious serious serious stash. Like 10k in yarn-mohair is a huge chunk of it.

I recently spent 25.00 on a beautiful ball of yellow and orange variegated baby alpaca that I plan on knitting wingspan with. I'd love to find PSers on Raverlry.

Any of you knitters/crocheters have Dyak needles?
http://www.dyakcraft.com/

There is a little over a year wait list for their wood needles but they have heavy metal ones that go from sizes 0-3 in circulars and all their needles are SO beautiful. I can't wait to get mine

 

[Cozystitches]

Will do Cozystitches. I'll do it tomorrow, since I will be home all day because my LO is out of school Just wondering, are any you knitters left handed? That is the reason I am having such a hard time learning to knit. I have tried several times to learn with no luck. I've also seen quite a few younger "knitters" using a round thing from Martha Stewart's line, but they mainly make hats and leg warmers. It looks more like weaving to me but I thought about trying it. Sorry for the thread jack but I would really love to learn how to knit. Any suggestions? Thanks ~d

I agree w/Octavia on the YouTube videos. You should also look up Continental knitting vs English knitting. I can do both and have taught left handed knitter to knit Continental (I knit English style). The difference is the hand that holds the yarn. If you're in the Tucson area lmk, we can get together for knitting party!

 

[Cozystitches]

A fairly new knitter here I have been doing it for just over a year but was taught by someone who has a serious serious serious stash. Like 10k in yarn-mohair is a huge chunk of it.

I recently spent 25.00 on a beautiful ball of yellow and orange variegated baby alpaca that I plan on knitting wingspan with. I'd love to find PSers on Raverlry.

Any of you knitters/crocheters have Dyak needles?
http://www.dyakcraft.com/

There is a little over a year wait list for their wood needles but they have heavy metal ones that go from sizes 0-3 in circulars and all their needles are SO beautiful. I can't wait to get mine

I'm a metal needle user only. I love metal needles. My current favorites are Chiagoo needles. Love them! Pointy pointy pointy tips and nice cables.

Oh, and you knitters: http://www.knitpicks.com they have decent yarn @ reasonable prices.

Any knitters/crocheters here on PS, I'm on ravelry too as cozystitches

 

[Octavia]

I'm a metal needle user only. I love metal needles. My current favorites are Chiagoo needles. Love them! Pointy pointy pointy tips and nice cables.

I mostly use metal, too -- I'd estimate I use my Addi Click Lace interchangeables about 90% of the time. I'm kind of bitter that they came out with the Lace Long Tips about 2 months after I dropped $180 on the regular lace tip set, though. I keep some cheaper plastic and wooden needles around for yarns that just don't work on slippery metal (anything with a high silk content gets tricky on the turbo finish, IMO) or if I'm traveling and don't want to risk my expensive needles on the plane. I really, really love interchangeable needles because I only use circulars and being able to switch tips and cables means I always have the right size for any project.

I've never heard of Chiagoo before, I'll have to check them out!

 

[jazzoboe]

Since the knitters have thread-jacked, I figured I'd jump in. Knitting is one of my hobbies, too, and I definitely became a yarn snob fast. It seems crazy to me sometimes that I spend twice as much on yarn for a project as I would pay for a similar item already made, but I have to remind myself that what I make will be much better quality than what I'd buy. I'm awful at getting around to finishing projects, though. I get distracted easily...

As far as other hobbies, I enjoy photography. I bought a lower end DSLR a few years ago, but I haven't spent much on it since. I'd love a few more lenses and an eventual camera upgrade, though.

I also read a lot, but kindle books don't add up too much. I love collecting old books but luckily (for my wallet) there are no good shops nearby, so I just grab a few when I happen across them, usually when I'm travelling.

Which I guess brings me to the fact that I love to travel, but I really can't afford to do much right now. Maybe after I find a decent and replenish the savings.

 

[roadtonowhere]

Before my daughter was born, my hobby was skiing and road biking. I spent quite a bit of money on road bike and ski equipment. Now that I have my daughter, I barely have time to do anything without her, so my hobby now is reading pricescope

 

[artdecogirl]

I dabble in a few things, some more expensive then others. My main hobby is gardening, it varies from year to year how much I spend but it can get pretty crazy at times, hard to put a number on it, some of it is food too. I live in minnesota so our growing season is not very long so of course I need other things to do So we kayak, the outlay was about a grand but after that we do not need more just gas to take the kayaks places, we also camp/ bike and hike, not super expensive. We have all the equipment and we go pretty basic so a little outlay but now we pay just campsite fees and park stickers every year, We also go to auctions often, DH does this more then I do, it is fun to people watch and we love antiques but I hate clutter and am constantly fighting the flow of stuff into our house so I will stay home while he goes but then I am not there to say "do you really need that"? (and I might miss something good) oh and then there are the books, yeah I have a few hobbies that are a little pricey but nothing too big.

 

[sonnyjane]

I don't have any hobbies that are expensive. Or really any hobbies, ha. Which is a good thing because DH's hobby is very expensive- guns.

Ha. Kind of like me! I don't have any hobbies, but DH works on cars, which is NOT cheap! He always tells me "I wish you had hobbies too!" and I just think "We couldn't afford for us to BOTH have them" lol!

In reality though, my "hobby" is definitely travel. I try to go on at least 3-4 trips a year - some small (a long weekend in Vegas), some large (a week in Kauai), etc.

 

[artdecogirl]

My main hobby is gardening. Over the past two years I have spent more than I want to mention because we have moved into a new (to us) home and it needed landscaping. We installed a large vegetable garden with 14 raised beds, that was quite a bit of money and I am still getting the soil in good condition.... I can vegetable garden year round in my zone, which is very nice.

I just ordered 14 antique roses, that was quite a bit of money. Then I will buy companion plants...

It never ends. Thank goodness....

Thank goodness, I agree House cat, I would love to see pics of your gardens ooh and antique roses

 

[artdecogirl]

Well, I had no idea that ballroom dancing, and knitting/sewing cost so much!

VC, isn't Body Pump just the best class ever? It's been reviewed by various exercise experts and generally agreed that it's an extremely effective yet safe workout.

Anyway, I had to do it...I've posted below my awesome collection of Folio Society books! This is the only thing I collect besides jewellery, and I'm pretty much done collecting both those things. I have just about everything I want. The books are printed on vellum, and they are sewn, each with leather or cloth original bindings and inside there are illustrations specially commissioned by various artists for these Folio Society editions. Normally, books of this quality would cost $200-$300 each, since the production costs are so high and the print runs are small, but the FS is subsidised by its owner, Lord Gavron. Therefore, with sale bargains and a ton of free sets, each of these books cost approx $30-$35, incl postage from the UK. Isn't it nice to know that the aristocracy is good for something??

ETA: The photo below is 1 MB, but PS converts is to a mere 147KB, so it's blurred and doesn't look very good. The photo on my computer is much clearer and much higher-res than this. Why is PS converting it to such a low-res image? I tried placing it inline - same thing. PS can handle 1MB, usually. Any suggestions? My Folio books don't look good!

I think they look fabulous This is me being green with envy I would love to see these in person, I will admit I have bought a beautifully bound book for the sheer beauty of it versus content