Hobbies do not have to be expensive. Making them expensive is a choice of the individual. My wife and I got introduced to buying used at garage sales and thrifts when bought our first home. It did not hurt that we both appreciated real wood and antique furniture. I bought two new cars when I was single and used vehicles since and new cars depreciate more than most items.
Some have said boating and golf are expensive. I bought a 13 year old 18 ft inboard/outboard with trailer for $800 from a news paper ad in 1980 and sold it for $700 in 2015 and used it for 35 years. I play golf weekly, walking 9 holes at historic municipal 9 hole coarse for $10 and have $600 professional (Ping, Titlist, Adams) golf clubs from garage sales and thief stores for $30 a set or less.
My vintage audio gear (1970s) is worth a few thousand of dollars more than I paid for it in the 2000s and fixable as they have discrete transistors. I chose postwar era trains in 1976 when I started and they were about the only ones available. By staying with them my costs are lower than what I can sell them for. In all the above cases, lower costs can be had if one buys older, depreciated gear verses the newest, greatest full price new stuff.
Life requires compromises. In my case, much of the older stuff is made in the USA, of great quality, self repairable and available. If I were wanting a new $2000 fancy model train engine, I would think I could buy two new LCD 65 inch flat screen TVs, for that money. I am using a free 55 inch LCD TV, from a neighbors garbage at the street, in my train room. It ran great for 2 years and then needed a $140 power board 3 years ago.
I am not encouraging others to buy older and less expensive stuff as that would give me more competition and raise their prices but there are options besides buying new.
Charlie
