Originally Posted by Gandalf97:
Originally Posted by Glacierman:
I agree Al. I rationalize that I don't spend it on tobacco, drugs, alcohol and the season tickets I used to have.
Matt
Plus... Your wife has you at home...
See, that's where I went wrong. I didn't give up the alcohol or tobacco. Never was into the whole drug thing. Wife would probably prefer if I was out of the house more...
But seriously, I've been through this with every hobby I've every had, and it always seems to find an equilibrium. Watches were the worst. I started out collecting and trading $200-300 watches and three years later, some of them were $7500+. Fortunately, watches hold their value pretty well - I actually made money on some of them. It was largely a zero-sum game, but try explaining that to the wife who only seemed to notice when the checks go out....
That was the only hobby I ever left. I quit it cold turkey. The lesson I learned was that in the end, it was easy to get caught up in the really high end stuff, but it wasn't any more FUN than the less expensive stuff (within reason). I'm trying to keep my purchases in the Railking/RK scale range. I get the features I want, enough detail to keep things interesting, and a price point that doesn't rock the boart too much. My biggest problem as a newbie is getting the basics out of the way; they piled up quickly. I won't have to worry about them again (DCS/Remote, most of the track, etc...) but my hope is that I get to a point where if I buy a new engine or a set of cars plus a few accessories, thats pretty much the extent of it. The $1000+ detail monster loco's are definitely tempting, but I keep trying to remind myself that they might be nice to look at, but they won't be much (if any) more fun to run.
The budget tip is a good one. One that I have a hard time following. But if you stick with it, you'll find a balance. Don't be afraid to walk away from it for a while - it might change your perspective and renew the spark when you return. The bottom line is that if it ceases to be fun, you need to re-evaluate it.
Best of luck!
-Eric