Spending on hobbies/special interests ?

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You really should look at the backside of anything that looks silver plated in a thrift shop. Many of the local workers do not know the difference and that can lead to bargains if you find them first. I picked up a foot wide silver platter for $1 that was very tarnished, almost completely black. After polishing it, the marks for sterling were there. It has about $300 worth of silver metal by weight, so it was a great buy for the price. If I had not looked it over, it would still likely be sitting there on the shelf. It is but one of many sterling items that I have found this way.

Do not underestimate jewelry as I have picked up a real 18K gold ring that everyone thought was cheap costume jewelry. It was marked with the percentage of gold, not the karat number. That one cost me $3. It pays to know what to look for with metals.

I often overspend on my hobbies and often have credit card debt. I have too many interests, collecting cameras, Daguerreotypes and other had images, and growing carnivorous plants. When I worked I could keep up with expenses but now I am technically retired and looking after my mother. I have to get by on $600 a month. An indulgence, getting someone to illustrate one of my books put me in debt for a long time but thanks to the stimulus check I cleared my credit card debt. Only to go into debt again but I have put myself on a rigid budget. I'll only get one, or two if cheap, tintypes and only by one plant a month. I hate it when I spend money on a plant and it dies. I have had too many do that lately. I'm trying to stick with seeds right now. At least tintypes and daguerreotypes and ambrotypes don't die. I also have at least half a dozen magazine subscriptions and other expenses that eat into the credit card. However, I have never had to do drastic debt consolidation.

I am normally sensible with money, but every so often I take a break from being sensible. Over-thinking and risk avoidance followed by sudden irrational / slightly stupid decisions is one of the reasons I'm on the waiting list for ADHD assessment as well as already having an ASD diagnosis.

At the moment I have three cars, all of which need varying degrees of work. It was fine when two were parked up and didn't need to be taxed, MOT'd or insured, but I've lost my storage space. One is at a garage being worked on, but the other two both have to be kept registered and road legal now and that's a huge waste of money. Especially when I need to save up to get one of them serviced so it's worth selling. Essentially I'm overly asset rich, cash poor.

I've also messed up in ordering an expensive model loco that I thought I could justify - more or less - because it's rare and this was a one off opportunity. Made sense at the time but then it turned out some DD payments due on the 1st December weren't taken until the 4th, so it looked like I had a much healthier bank balance than was actually the case. Oh and then I dropped my phone and broke the touchscreen too

You might want to check out if any farmer/ranchers would have some extra space to rent in their barns/sheds. I do that with my project cars that I plan on restoring.

Ooh. What loco?

I like to find bargains in expensive shops to pack into cute gift boxes for friends and family. I'm currently learning how to do those adhesive labels to make things more customised.

Since it's Christmas I'll probably wander around the shops to look for more stuff to put into the gift boxes.

I might start doing charity ones, they're usually a good shout. Plus it beats any kind of depression into the ground and gets you out of the house which is why I enjoy doing it. Makes you feel good making others feel good.

I'm collecting N gauge stuff with the intention of building a layout around the saloon of my narrowboat, which is my home. The layout concept is based around the Faroe Islands being bigger and more railway friendly, and in British hands. But being British this means it struggles on with all the stuff rejected by mainland BR in the 1960s and 70s - so steam freight locos and WR diesel hydraulics on the passenger trains, Met Cam Pullmans for the midday boat train, that kind of thing. I'm also going to give it a slightly weather-beaten, concrete Soviet bloc style in contrast to the stereotypical picturesque Cotswold cottage look of many model layouts, because I prefer character to "chocolate box" scenes.

When Dapol last produced Cls.52 Westerns, Osborn Models did a limited edition run of D1000 in Desert Sand livery. This has impossible to obtain for sensible money for a long while now.

I discovered the other day, quite by accident, that Dapol are doing another batch, and Cheltenham Model Centre are doing D1015 in Golden Ochre. [Osborns are doing D1000 again but weathered, but I'm not so keen on that].

Put my order in with CMC the moment I found out. Just a shame I'm now unexpectedly overdrawn....

40 years ago, I was subscribing to a newsletter on Human Powered Vehicles, and regularly browsing the newsstands for pertinent information, most often found in Homebuilt Aircraft, but also in RC model magazines, so I saw all the model railroad offerings too. Seeing the vast effort people were putting into small vehicles they could only watch, I expected that soon I'd be seeing magazines filled with ads for Velomobile components and kits. They fit a home shop easily, and actually help in daily life when in use. I spent $2,500 on mine, and it took me two years to pay it off.

Apologise. Didn't see the reply. Yes. One can spend a lot in the hobby on limited editions. Have done so myself in the past. I wasn't ignoring you. I just didn't see it.

I am into 7mm narrow gauge though was into 00 and still have a lot of 00. 7mm NG offers me what I need. A means to keep modelling when I don't have the funds to buy. Scratchbuilding saves on costs and frees oneself from the collecting adiction, which is why this scale and gauge (0-16.5) is ideal. I also find it space friendly as I can turn my models on a 2ft wide board. Is also easier to build things in the larger scale and more things such as drawing pins and tea sturers can be used.
(I make my central buffer type couplings out of drawing pins (Thumb tacks) and make drop loops to hook over them so as to couple out of paper clips using wire as a hinge. I will PM to apologise incase you don't see this.
Pretty much my money goes into either keeping a car on the road or maintaining one of my bicycles or my trains! I do not often spend on other things, apart from a pair of shoes.

Was following the various designs of HPV with interest. Made my own and so did my youngest brother though his was electrically powered instead using a wheelchair motor.
The commercial ones were a bit out of my price range which is why I made my own to test the riding position etc. (Knowing it was just a test so my creation would not be so good).
Decided to stick to diamond frames due to the 1in 4 (25%) hillclimb to get back home and the difficulty with rear vision. (Mirrors are not ideal). But still loved the HPV concept.
These days I hardly been on a bike for a few years due to burnout in 2019 (And previous burnouts) hit me in physical ways. I am getting my folding bike (Birdy Blue) ready for a trip when I need t drop my car off for repair. Birdy needs re-rigging as I shortened her cables a bit too short and found out they need the length to fold! Left rigging undone for a few years while moving house etc so I could fold her. Addressing it now, apart from a toilet break which is why I am on the tablet. Actually used to find bicycle mechanics second nature until the last burnout or two where it hit me mentally. (Spent years on and off fixing and servicing bikes but not been able to work since). So I need to do a bit, then relax and do something else... Then do a bit more etc. Can't just "Do it" like I used to do it. Thought process was effected, as I hit burnouts while working in the bicycle trade. So I have to relax and think of other things.... Why I dare not get a driving job incase I get a burnout while driving and I would end up not being able to drive. Can't risk that! But not worked since 2019 so am concerned as don't want to be an invalid.... But don't want to do anything that pushes me into anothet burnout or breakdown either. So my work coach and I agreed an idea which she will set upvia her connections. So when I see her next, she will put me in touch with a preserved railway (Worked on the railways in the past) so I can help them at my own pace. And if it is too much I can just stop. As I explained to her that if it is an ordinary job I have to keep on working when I am in trouble as I hand in my notice but it takes a few weeks of torture before my last day. Voluntry work in theory means I can just stop and give myself recovery time for when I am ready if that makes sense? So I can make myself useful and not stagnate! (And hopefully I can relax ad enjoy. Hate anxiety! It causes me to physically not be able to walk! So we will see how it goes).
I want to have future options. But at the same time I want to avoid at all costs, another burnout/breakdown situation as last time I forgot how to walk which was scary as I didn't know what to do! (The thought of an ambulance comingnor me asking others for help would make things many times worse even though I knew I needed help if that makes sense? Managed to learn to walk again as I stood there waiting, and worked it out after watching others walk in the distance. I was like Bambi!)

I will wait until I have quite a bit in my savings and I spend it on gifts for my fiancée, history books and video games.

What video games?

I've been spending a lot on custom golf clubs. I was fitted for clubs and bought an expensive half set that worked very well. I've been assembling and modifying my own custom clubs to complete the set! I'm too small to use normal clubs.

I have a special budget for it, which I call the "Frivolous Purchase Fund." I build up points in this by basically doing useful or sensible things in my day-to-day life that I'd otherwise neglect. It works. I sometimes have to suspend this game when it's stressing me out too much, but at those times I'm also too stressed to want to spend money.

Sounds expensive, but if you enjoy your golf it is money well spent!

I am not into golf myself, but I am into other things which can get expensive. Fortunately, in both my special interests (As the main one is more than a hobby and when I talked about my secondary hobby in a little depth people in here said "I think we have discovered your special interest!" So if my secondary hobby is a special interest, my main hobby that I have had for all my life apart from about a month or three after I was born : D is a major special interest! ), I have matured enough to reach the point where I can limit my spending because I have what I need, and am able to build or make what I want so it does not cost me so much. My secondary special interest I already have the major things I need so the spending is not needed so much other than in maintenence, as I am mature enough to have also had decades of involvement in the trade of this interest and the modern versions being sold to customers today are in my oppinion not as suitable a the fashion has taken the interest into the realms of being ultra costly when it need not be for the same desired results if that makes sense? The so called "Improvements" in the hobby I know have gone backwards apart from the rare few aspects. I believe that the hobby peaked in its technological improvements around the 1990's though some aspects I would say the latter half of the 1980's depending on which area one looks, but there have been a few improvements since then, but some much older technology from nearly 100 years ago still holds its own today if doing specific tasks... So really, it all depends what one is doing as is a wide ranging hobby!

It helps that I've never been a collector or a gearhead. In pretty much any hobby these days, there this insidious pressure to "collect ALL the special things" or "have ALL the bestest gear," and not really spend much time and effort actually doing the hobby. Frankly, I resent it. Even music is full of blokes with 27 guitars gathering dust on the wall, virtually unplayed. I have one guitar, and dust never gets the the chance to settle on it. One of my hobbies is making boards and pieces for obscure traditional games. My ingredients are a) cheap art supplies and b) stuff that is literally being thrown out. The main thing I do blow money on is books, but I don't give a fig for valuable antiquarian books or signed first edition hardbacks. They are for reading.