Too many hobbies

[Rokitman88]

On a fixed income I have too many hobbies too be able to enjoy each equally so I had to choose. Off road UTV riding is my main hobby. I have always been involved in motorsports so doing off road in a UTV fit my agenda perfectly. I also love my rockets and fishing but I had to choose what makes me happiest at the least cost. Mind you, UTVs are not cheap, fishing is cheap but mundane, and my fetish with high power rockets is not cheap either. But I can do low power with a local club but dang it, their launches often conflicted with my out of town UTV rides. Between those two, fishing seems to be a lost art.

So finally after 9 months I get to go launch this weekend with my local club and I'm stoked. Can money buy happiness? Damned right it can! Problem is, I don't have enough money to be happy doing all my hobbies. Retirement's a bitch...................sigh!

 

[ArizonaSportsman]

You can never have too much time, health and money - right?

 

[AfterBurners]

I'm not retired, but aside from rockets mostly MPR stuff and my new fairly new hobby of RC trucks (nitro power) I've learned to find balance and put some limits on what I can and shouldn't buy. For rockets current count I have about half dozen flyable rockets all mid power and about the same in the build pile. That's my cutoff. I know for a fact that the kits I have RTF will provide lots of entertainment until I blow them up or lose them and they are at least somewhat "affordable". The other kits I have that need to be built well those will take me some time...maybe couple years, probably less if I decide to work at it.

I have a couple nitro SCT one of which I'm doing a ground up rebuild and the other still in the box. I try not to get carried away with either hobby and I try to put balance /limits on each one. For rockets I don't want to fly bigger than a 29mm for RC's I limit myself to (3) vehicles. Also if I need something for one of my hobbies I try to sell something that I don't need or use, whether it's hobby related or not. I put a lot of stuff on Craigslist. This way I'm not dipping into my bank accounts.

If you can set limits where you are happy and can afford them than it's win win...I try to launch 4-5x a year if possible? Sometimes I'm lucky if I fly that much.

 

[dave carver]

...same boat here The race car sits, the fishing poles unused, the air rifle is built so no money except for CO2 cartridges and pellets and I get those in bulk to keep the price down. I further economized the rocketry by not buying kits, I buy quantities of parts like I just got 100 16" parachutes for $21, a near lifetime supply. SSI pays like crap so I have been refurbishing my PA system and am getting ready to start running sound again, good bucks in that and I'm my own boss and take whatever jobs I feel like, 4 gigs a month means doubleing my income and guess what, I don't tell the Gov because it's a cash biz. I don't feel bad about that because with the crap raises from the Feds are countered by the state taking away the same or more than the raise. I make less now than I did 6 years ago when I started.

I'm hopeing to use the fishing gear this summer with a trip to the Oregon coast to fish. I have rods and reels that have never hit the water. I rebuilt a Penn Senator 114 6/0 that the rings were all busted up. The last fish it caught was a 350 pound Mako shark so it trashed the reel.

Anyway, I try to get my rocket parts in bulk. SEMROC and Uncle Mike's have the best prices on things I have found and both will get orders from me in the comeing months, biggest expense there is nosecones. Couple of BT70's and a BT80 cone and your pushing $50 easy. The last order of couplers I got has 50 couplers in various sizes.

This kind of thing is about all you can do to keep costs down. Keep an eye on the yard sale section. I got over 100 motors last fall for around $1 each shipped, a good deal

 

[thobin]

There are three key elements to life and while all three are rarely together you don't need all three for life to be good (but it helps ), Time, Money and Energy.

Unfortunately most are always missing one or more of the three, when you are young most only have time and energy. When you are middle aged you usually have energy and money and when you are old the best you can hope for is time and money.

Too many hobbies will bleed you of to much time and money.:sigh:


TA

 

[Fdog]

Yo Rokitman!

If you get just a bit more time on your hands, come on a road trip up here to the Black Rock...fantastic RZR rides, and a HUGE waiver.

We'd be glad to show you to some of the cooler rides around here.

All the best, James


PS - in this case, we are NOT our own worst enemies

 

[CarVac]

One of my hobbies doesn't really cost anything...computer programming has basically no consumables except electricity.

 

[Rokitman88]

Yo Rokitman!

If you get just a bit more time on your hands, come on a road trip up here to the Black Rock...fantastic RZR rides, and a HUGE waiver.

We'd be glad to show you to some of the cooler rides around here.

All the best, James


PS - in this case, we are NOT our own worst enemies

James, Black Rock is on my bucket list and my RZR is a great rocket chaser.

 

[ThirstyBarbarian]

I don't think of rocketry as a very expensive hobby, especially for LPR and MPR (which is really just upscaled LPR). The kits don't cost very much --- it's the motors that get you. If you are trying to stretch your dollars with rocketry, get the most out of every build. Spend the time to make it nice. Stick to low-cost motors, shop around and buy in bulk. TRY NOT TO LOSE YOUR ROCKETS! And enjoy aspects of the hobby that don't cost anything, like going to a club launch and watching people fly rockets you can't afford.

 

[RocketT.Coyote]

I have been fishing since the 1960s and have a small fortune tied up in bait, tackle and equipment. But I have pretty much given up on it now. My siblings have all married and/or moved away. Most of the fishing spots I started out with have dwindled. Gas prices have soared, so getting to a good spot for trout or salmon may cost as much as having bought the fish from a local market.
Even for a MI Free Fishing Weekend, a morning excursion on a small inland lake, which used to yield a stringer-full of panfish, now yields nothing but a few catch-and-release undersize bass. I suspect the locals are catching everything they can to offset the increase in food prices. I should put some of my stuff up for auction on Ebay.

I gave up deer hunting one year after 6 years of no luck. It wasn't worth the time and effort, even with a friend putting me up at his place to hunt on his land. The deer just aren't there. I'd have better luck playing the state lottery. As a disabled person, I qualified for a crossbow permit, but gave that up as it required more time and effort than I cared to spend.

I also shot service rifle matches until it became an exercise in futility. At first it was okay because at the end of each season, you were entitled to one round of military surplus .30-06 for every round you shot in competition. When Clinton ended that program, the numbers of competitors dwindled. As one of the poorer shots in the league, it dawned on me that I was basically buying everyone else's trophies. I was still expected to give good pit service and marked the shots on the framed target that I was assigned. Yet when it was my turn on the firing line, I often had to holler for my target to be marked during the slow-fire legs of the match. Whoever was in the target pit wasn't paying attention. Plus you had to shoot three 80-shot matches to be eligible for a trophy. With ammo costing over 50 cents a shot, this was no cheap date. So my shooter's jacket and mat have been idled.

 

[blackbrandt]

I gave up deer hunting one year after 6 years of no luck. It wasn't worth the time and effort, even with a friend putting me up at his place to hunt on his land. The deer just aren't there. I'd have better luck playing the state lottery. As a disabled person, I qualified for a crossbow permit, but gave that up as it required more time and effort than I cared to spend.

Come to our house and you will have fun. We have enough deer in our front yard to solve world hunger...

 

[Maxx Mayhem]

I have been fishing since the 1960s and have a small fortune tied up in bait, tackle and equipment. But I have pretty much given up on it now. My siblings have all married and/or moved away. Most of the fishing spots I started out with have dwindled. Gas prices have soared, so getting to a good spot for trout or salmon may cost as much as having bought the fish from a local market.
Even for a MI Free Fishing Weekend, a morning excursion on a small inland lake, which used to yield a stringer-full of panfish, now yields nothing but a few catch-and-release undersize bass. I suspect the locals are catching everything they can to offset the increase in food prices. I should put some of my stuff up for auction on Ebay.

I gave up deer hunting one year after 6 years of no luck. It wasn't worth the time and effort, even with a friend putting me up at his place to hunt on his land. The deer just aren't there. I'd have better luck playing the state lottery. As a disabled person, I qualified for a crossbow permit, but gave that up as it required more time and effort than I cared to spend.

I also shot service rifle matches until it became an exercise in futility. At first it was okay because at the end of each season, you were entitled to one round of military surplus .30-06 for every round you shot in competition. When Clinton ended that program, the numbers of competitors dwindled. As one of the poorer shots in the league, it dawned on me that I was basically buying everyone else's trophies. I was still expected to give good pit service and marked the shots on the framed target that I was assigned. Yet when it was my turn on the firing line, I often had to holler for my target to be marked during the slow-fire legs of the match. Whoever was in the target pit wasn't paying attention. Plus you had to shoot three 80-shot matches to be eligible for a trophy. With ammo costing over 50 cents a shot, this was no cheap date. So my shooter's jacket and mat have been idled.

Sorry, I believe I have your deer...:wink:

 

[Sparkytfl]

I'm also loaded down with gear from hobbies I can no longer afford or dont have the location to participate in.

Ammo used to be cheap and my parents had a cabin to go shooting at, but I gave up on that a few years ago. Now its hard to even sell the stuff legally.

Worked on cars over the summers but gas doubled in price and I lost the garage with my parents moving across the country. I'm stuck with piles of tools and a firebird I have to sell for a huge loss with nowhere to work on it.

Played magic the gathering for years but couldnt keep up with four new sets and rules changes every year. At least the third of my closet filled with cards is going up in value still.

Played guitar for years but it slowly dawned on me that I dont have the patience or dexterity to ever be good, so I gave it a break, and now am so frustrated every time I pick one up that I get no fun out of it.

All this stuff is just sitting around. I loved all of it at one time and had reasons for buying all of it, so it's hard to get myself to sell any of it. Now it's just waiting to see if I'll ever get back into it. I'm starting to see why some people do nothing with their time but watch tv.

 

[matthew]

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[AfterBurners]

I don't think of rocketry as a very expensive hobby, especially for LPR and MPR (which is really just upscaled LPR). The kits don't cost very much --- it's the motors that get you. If you are trying to stretch your dollars with rocketry, get the most out of every build. Spend the time to make it nice. Stick to low-cost motors, shop around and buy in bulk. TRY NOT TO LOSE YOUR ROCKETS! And enjoy aspects of the hobby that don't cost anything, like going to a club launch and watching people fly rockets you can't afford.

good points I agree