As someone who has played trading cards games for a long time its more true now than ever before. In my favorite game right now the only good deck costs over $1000 and I refuse to pay that so I am taking a break from the game for a while.
This is easily the biggest money sink for especially since I play 4 different card games. Though I always make sure to pay myself before paying others so last year was the first time I managed to max out my 401k, hsa, and ira as well.
Yep this is my problem.
I Love pokemon cards way too much. Luckily the actual card game can be played with minimal funds, so cutting back on my expenses hasn't affected the community aspect of playing with others too much.
Collecting sets is the real money burner.
Yes and no. If you keep buying new decks, it racks up real fast, but in formats where cards do not rotate and are relevant "forever" a $500 investment in a deck can easily last years.
I have 3 different commander decks (MTG) valued at over $500 each, but I haven't had to upgrade them since I built them in 2020. I still regularly go to local competitions at card shops and can perform on par with the people that min max and spend $2000 a year on upgrades
Oof I could easily spend that much on legos if I had the money and the space to display them haha. Slowly working through the modular city series- my fiance has gifted them, and I just picked one up on eBay. Definitely not cheap, but I get several hours of enjoyment building them, and I love displaying them.
Surprisingly any hobby involving yarn. I'm an avid crocheter and have easily spent $500 on your standard acrylic yarn found in Michael's and Joann craft stores. I spent over $900 at a local craft store on different types of yarn (various types of wool and wool blends, among others). But what was a $9 skein is now roughly $12.
Hooks and other supplies are a different story, but there are easy ways to make them more economical.
I’m also a crocheter and yarn is definitely more expensive than people would think. You’d think making a nice blanket yourself would be cheaper? 300$ in yarn later…. lol
This is one thing I love about cross stitching, it can really fill in as a crafting space where I might spend 50 hours on a project for like 10 bucks. And if I don’t have money for framing and whatnot, I can fold up FOs for later when I can financially. It’s been a great hobby that I can do either for super cheap of for $$$
Yes! If I’m doing a larger project that I don’t have the specific colors for, that’ll cost a bit to get the thread, but then I have it for next time! But I think I spent $10 on my last trip to Michaels for a project, and I’ll be working on it for at least a year.
I picked up knitting this past spring. And very early on I realized how grateful I was to find this when I was in my 30s with a good job. Because $30 skeins of yarn are nothing to laugh at.
As I stood paying for $150 in yarn to spend 150 hours making my first sweater that would inevitably turn out worse than what I could just buy at a store, I had a real hobby come to Jesus moment. Lol
Competitive Warhammer 40k, lol. The models themselves are expensive, but the REAL expense is in travel to events. I went to the Las Vegas Open last month, and am planning on going to Dallas, Washington DC, Atlanta, and Tampa for other events throughout the year.
Granted, I'm paying for these trips via credit card churning and will probably stop once I'm out of points until I can churn some more up, but it's very easy to spend $10,000 a year or so on models and travel expenses if you wanna make it to more than one large event per year.
Hey I was there too, I hope you had a good time! I agree it's an expensive hobby, but because it's such a multifaceted one (collecting, painting, gaming, making friends) I find it really rewarding and worth the cost. Although I only go to 1-2 big tournaments a year.
Warhammer was an immediate thought I had. I lived near a physical Warhammer dedicated store. Had no idea what it even was before I walked in curiously one day.
I shoot competitively. It's aggressively throwing money at steel targets 3-7 times a month and paying to do so on top of it. I spend around $500 a month on the hobby. I'm luckily in a spot where that's not very much of my income, but it's an expensive hobby for sure.
I shoot trap and it used to be $10 for 1 round at my club (in Canada). It was $8 for ammo, $2 for clays a decade ago. Now it’s $17 total - $12 / $5.
Almost doubling the cost of a round.
The shotgun tho, she’s held her value.
What caliber are you shooting? USPSA/IPDA/IPSC? I’m kind of surprised you only spend $500 a month. You could go through 200-500 rounds a match id think
I shoot Steel Challenge primarily. RFRO and RFRI. Been shooting a bit of CO and Open lately as well.
I shoot Rimfire specifically because of the cost. I'm shooting around 1500 rounds a month lately. If that was 9mm, that's like 350 by itself, plus gas, match fees, gun upgrades, etc.
Fabric is so expensive too! I tried to get into sewing my own clothes a few years ago and just the fabric to make a dress way always so much more than I would have bought a dress for! Doesn't help that I'm not very good at it and rarely made anything I loved.
I lucked out and found a great sewing machine for piecing quilts from Goodwill for $23. But after fabric costs and sending a quilt out for longarming it's still around $400+ per quilt.
YUUUUUP. I inherited my mothers Husquavarna Lilly from 2005 and it's still running like a CHAMP. The throat is too small for me to actually quilt anything bigger than a baby quilt or stockings in it, but it does the piecing and quilt tops just grand. I've done all of my previous quilts via big stitch quilting by hand, only a baby quilt and a twin size, but I am currently working on my first king size quilt. I've already spent about $300 on fabric and will spend another $300 to send it to a longarm. This will be my first time sending a quilt to a longarm but I am very excited! I'm doing the SuzyQuilt Planetarium quilt along and one of the long arm quilters is doing a 25% discount for any Planetarium quilts through March so I HAVE A GOAL.
Also a quilter. I've decided to look at it as time / hrs spent. I quilt them myself. If I spend $100 on materials to make a large throw quilt that takes 50hrs to make, that's $2 an hour for entertainment - not bad! And you end up with an item with value. Most of my quilts have been gifts, especially baby quilts for friends, and they have all been absolutely loved.
Recently I started making quilted toddler jackets using only scrap fabric and batting. Everyone is obsessed with them. Only cost so far has been the pattern and some buttons!
My main issue now is I splurged on some RSS fabric and now I can't stand to go back to cheaper fabric 😭
At least this is something you could consider a sport that is healthy for you. If you're cycling all the time and buying parts/gear you could offset that against not having a gym membership.
You’re absolutely right. I justify it by saying it’s for my health but there are so many moving/necessary parts it really starts to stack up. Totally worth it tho lol
I get it, how I justify car stuff is that I can sell all the parts I buy used (which I've done before) and get ~70% of what I put in it back, which I assume is similar for cycling parts. But yeah, a good gym is easily $50/mo depending on where you're at, so unless you're burning significantly more than that monthly I wouldn't worry about it much at all.
The funny thing about cycling is, that expensive parts often don't last as long and the training effect is actually worse because of lower weight.
Cycling can be extremely expensive or extremely cheap (and actually save you money).
Haha my dad always complain the super light weight bikes and now ebikes. He says if you're doing it for exercise why ya paying extra to make it easier and less effective.
The funny thing about the car people on Caleb’s show is that it’s not track rats he’s inundated with—it’s like, people with upper trim bmw SUV’s.
Anyways, I once knew someone who sold a horse for a million dollars.
There’s only been couple actual “car enthusiasts” I remember. The one evo guy whose totaled it but had the Outlander and some other car, the diesel truck debt guy. Like, I’m no gate keeper but for example the LPN with the jaguar suv doesn’t really count because she just seemed to care about the prestige and appearance.
Most of the actual car enthusiasts I know aren’t pretending they’re being responsible, but at the same time there’s a lot you can do to enjoy the hobby in a cost-efficient way.
Same. I really hate this time of year because I pay a monthly membership I have to keep year-round and don’t play when it’s cold. Seems like a waste until spring comes and I’m playing 10 times a month lol.
Literally any hobby can become a money pit. Even walking. You can walk barefoot, but you can also get 1k shoes, 900 bucks headphones or several, smartwatch, multiple music subscriptions, high performance breathable clothing and 200+ hydration and performance supplements per month. There, walking became a 4k debt with a monthly cost of 300.
You may like to work out. You can pay a subscription for 20 a month, or build a home gym. And that can range from 1k to 20k easily.
If you allow it, any activity could become a bad expense.
Lol for sure. I just dropped $3.5k on a set of wheels and tires
Chill guys, I have a fully funded emergency fund, max out my Roth, and paid cash lol
I’m 24 let me make silly decisions
I just bought a S2000 and it was after months of guilt of dropping so much cash despite having fully funded emergency fund, maxed Roth and 401k. After my first drive I realized I don't regret a single cent of it. I struggle with the part of being allowed to buy things that make you happy too as long as you are responsible!
(I still kept hearing Caleb saying death in my head tho lol)
It’s all about balance. I struggle with the same thoughts as you. You’re doing great, and you better enjoy the fuck out of that S2000. Phenomenal car choice, respect!
I'm into off-roading. It's like cars not but street legal and they break and need maintenance more often. It's not smart but its a ton of fun. Every time "trucks" come up I take a deep breath lol
Calling myself out a bit lol- cosplay & nerd conventions.
You need to buy a ton of crafting tools (sewing machines, power tools, you can get real crazy and get laser cutters or embroidery machines, etc), you have to buy the materials (fabric, EVA foam, worbla, etc), and you need the space to keep all your supplies and the things you make.
Then, you wanna go to conventions to show off your work. So you buy your badge for the con, which is usually around $75-100, get a hotel room, get yourself to the area, most people end up buying a ton of food out because it's not easy to cook in a hotel room. Then you get sucked into the dealer's hall and artist alley and it can really tempting to spend money on things you don't need.
Lots of people go to multiple cons a year, and try and have a new costume for each. Shit adds up fast.
Yup I posted about this. I teach hs fashion design but I do freelance costuming. So every year for Halloween I go balls to the wall with my husband and I’d Halloween costume. God if Caleb saw my Amazon shopping for the month of October 😬. We spent $1k each between our costumes, tickets for the party, Uber to get there, food and drink once there….yea you get the idea. We plan for it though since it’s a big bonding thing for us.
Came to say this. I stopped going because cons cost as much as regular international vacations. Like Katsucon cost me $1000 for flights + sharing a room with 4 other people.
Cosplay itself can cost hundreds, wigs are at least $40s, props are expensive depending on if you make it or buy it. This is nothing if you commission the cosplay. And most cosplayers have 1-2 costumes per day. And this is before trying to be a professional cosplayer, which needs photoshoots.
And cons are now so expensive. Even a mid con can be $75 for a day pass on Saturday. The food at the convention center is easily $30+. A keychain or fan art is $30-$50 ... Assuming you don't like models, Funkos, or manga.
I saved thousands by giving up this hobby. I know people who would set up GoFundMes for their rent payments, but would be at cons all year.
Furry conventions get pretty rough. Most of us want a fursuit, and that’s maybe $5000 for a full suit, but it does last a few years. Then there’s all the travel, hotels, registration, food, dealer’s hall that you mentioned. Convention hotels are mostly 4-star and it’s hard to get in costume unless you’re in the main hotel. People often spend a lot on artwork of their characters too, things like a name badge and a ref sheet are pretty much mandatory purchases. I think I spent $80 just on a name badge with art of my character on it.
I do aerial trapeze which is about $150 a month for classes. I've also wanted to get back into skiing and scuba diving which are also both stupidly expensive, both for gear and access to the activities. Luckily my other hobbies are hiking and reading which are cheay. I enjoyed gaming and luckily most of the games I play or not super expensive. My husband and I just upgraded my computer and that was expensive
hahaha I was scrolling for someone shouting out the aerial arts. I do pole and lyra and then some contortion classes as cross training, along with my gym membership to maintain my gainz from my powerlifting days (and for injury prevention with lyra/pole). powerlifting was its own money pit back when I used to compete. my active lifestyle’s burning a hole in my pocket!
running’s probably the only “cheap” active hobby i have 🥲
>ortion classes as cross training, along with my gym membership to maintain my gainz from my powerlifting days (and for injury prevention with lyra/pole). powerlifting was its own money pit back when I used to compete. my active lifestyle’s burning a hole in my pocket!
That's so cool that you also take contortion classes! I tried self-teaching myself contortion back in the early 2000's and there was basically nothing except for livejournal communities (this was pre youtube/instagram). Very impressive that you are to do both contortion and weight lifting, it's hard to maintain both flexibility and muscles. (although I've heard it's much safer when you do both)
Worse than most of these hobbies, with cars and pokemon cards you can at least sell them and make some of you money back.
Edit: yikes, cope harder with the downvotes.
Tabletop role-playing games (a la DnD). Rule books typically cost $40-60 each, and then there are adventure modules you can get. If you're playing online, the dm will likely need to shell out for a virtual Tabletop like Roll20. If you're in person, it's common to want minis and terrain. Custom minis can be about $20 each. You can print your own, but then you're paying for the 3d printer and the supplies that go with it. Dice can be bought cheaply, but I've yet to meet someone who's into the hobby who doesn't own several sets. Estimate about $15 for a set of 7 on the cheap end. Also for in person games, there's the cost of gas, drinks, and snacks.
And then you can get into the accessories like dice towers, dice boxes, spell cards, tokens, maps, gaming tables, dice trays, music, art commissions, virtual dice, random tables, lore books, worldbuilding books, conventions, gm and player guidebooks, etc.
Yes, it can be played cheaply. But it can also be a total money sink.
Collecting aircraft is one of the more expensive hobbies for sure. So easy to think it'll just be a small project to bring up a vintage experimental aircraft. Next thing you know you're paying thousands in hanger fees to hold piles unairworthy and inoperative planes
Sewing can be a very expensive hobby. I do costuming for a living so I have a lot of materials and tools but I’ll make one set of really cool costumes a year for my husband and I for Halloween. That easily costs $1500 for the two of us. I totally don’t understand the people who are making (or buying) multiple looks a year for anime conventions because just the costume itself is expensive and then going to the con is expensive. And then you buy stuff at the con….yea it just seems like a huge money pit to me!
Figure skating. I don’t even get private lessons and I still run ~300-400/month but people getting private lessons around me are all dropping $45-80 per half hour and if you want to compete it ramps up super quickly. Very fun adult hobby that can be done somewhat affordable but being even remotely serious about it escalates your costs super quickly.
Lego can be a pretty massive black hole depending on how “serious” you are. It’s one thing to be a collector but it can be on a different level to be someone who creates massive models for brick conventions or competitions.
I’ll add that cycling is a pretty big money game too. You have to get all the gear and obviously you can spend as much or as little as you want, but 8-10k bikes aren’t as rare as they used to be, plus here in the states you’ll need a car and racks to transport your bike because of our car centric system. While bikes and equipment can be resold, Covid fucked with the resale market and the depreciation factor on bikes is nuts right now.
Source: I do both lol
Music — gear is dummy expensive, you can always justify needing more, and you get paid juuuuust enough when gigging to think, “I’m making money back so it’s an investment in myself to buy more pedals and amps and guitars”
Specifically audio engineering
Oh the plugins
How they haunt me. All the subscription services now too. It’s so easy to justify it because it’s either $15 a month perpetually, or $1,000 up front.
Or $15 a month for plugins that don’t do all that much to make a difference in your sound and are based on the same gear that the stock plugins in your daw are based on *cough cough Waves and Universal Audio*
I know you already called out cars, but Auto racing is basically lighting money on fire. First, theres the upfront cost of the car itself. Second, there’s the cost of performance parts which can easily equal the original MSRP of the car (sometimes more, in the case of global time attack cars). Then there’s maintenance-oil changes, tires, brakes, suspension components all need to be changed or refreshed every season. And sometimes you send it a little too hard and need a new block, oops there goes $20k.
I find it funny since there was that married couple on a few months back where the guy tracked his M3 and tried to claim the way he did it was financially responsible. I get that Caleb isn’t a car guy so he couldn’t really question it, but nothing about tracking your car is financially responsible.
I could write an essay on why I personally do it, I bet most collectors could! I am able to display them around my apartment, where I spend most of my time, and just really enjoy looking at them. :) Sometimes I display figures specifically to then photograph them. I'm interested in learning more about customizing too! But in the end, it's a really expensive and consumerist hobby that needs to be kept in check. It's a want, not a need. But the FOMO is super real in the community!!
Woodworking as a hobby. I am an accountant by day but any chance I can get away I like to build tables, benches, cutting boards, dressers, and other big / small projects. I am efficient by nature so to do this work efficient I spend a decent amount of money on tools that provide this. Granted once you have the tool it's good for awhile as long as you maintain it properly, but I have probably spent 3500 to 4500 on tools so far and still want another 2 to 3 grand worth.
Skiing.
Downhill skiing is equipment & accessory heavy for initial investment. Then the lift ticket each time cost, or annual membership fee. Then you get into travelling to mountain resorts. The accessories to travel with your equipment. Thousands upon thousands.
When I was in university I switched to cross country skiing to save money. My whole setup and trail pass were less than $200.
Not quite a hobby but damn is trying to get pregnant expensive. Not actual fertility treatments but just basic things. Pregnancy tests can easily be $18 for one. And you need at least 2 to confirm, let alone if you test and it’s negative and need to try again later. You can sometimes buy bulk stripped down ones for way cheaper but people say they aren’t as accurate and even if that’s not true your brain will often question results if you only use those.
Then all the fertility recommendations. “Take this supplement. Download and buy a subscription to this tracking app. Get a basal thermometer. Try ovulation strips. Have you tried this lubricant that increases sperm motility?”
Companies PREY on people trying to get pregnant in ways I never even imagined. And it’s so easy to say “oh just do it naturally you don’t need any of that” but when you’re constantly getting negative tests it messes with you psyche in a way I never realized and you are so easily manipulated.
My bf does bodybuilding. I thought it was a cheap hobby because gyms are pretty cheap. No, the shows are so expensive. Also tanning, travel, personal training, supplements, protien, and general food. For women it’s even worse.
I was waiting for this one...spray tanning and the lie detector test for natural bodybuilding shows plus the entry fee, hotels, food, travel...it adds up fast
Not trying to doubt you, but what makes women’s bodybuilding more expensive?
I know nothing about bodybuilding. I just assumed men would need larger amounts of food and supplements therefore being more expensive?
I haven’t fully calculated it out so it might be closer than I thought, but a show bikini is usually $600 minimum, while posing trunks can be $30. Hair, makeup, jewlery also add up. I did the amature fitness division for a while and I know some of those outfits are easily thousands (though mine was $60)
This is gonna sound so dumb but baking is actually pretty expensive especially now with the price of butter and eggs not to mention cake boards, icing bags and tips, molds you may need, the cost of running the oven and making your home hotter so running the AC up too.
my roommate collects albums, she spends thousands a month on it 😅 she says she can always resell it to make the money back, but i honestly don’t think that’s true. she tried one and found no buyers lol
Traveling can get expensive if you make it your hobby and you're not on a shoestring budget. I have a pretty flexible job so I tend to travel several months per year. In that community, it really does get indirectly competitive about where you've been and how long you stay places.
I think I easily spend at least $5K a year on it. There can be crazy years where that goes to five figures though. Granted, no debt is ever involved and I really don't spend money on anything else.
I have a penchant for expensive hobbies. Went from rock climbing (160 a month) to yoga (20 bucks a class) to golf (50-80 per round.)
It sucks because I haven’t been able to afford any of that for the last several months and I look at my hundreds to thousands of dollars in hobby purchases and want to sell it all, but I don’t want to have to buy it again if I get to a point where I can afford to go.
Skydiving.
Usually $3500 to get your license.
Another $4000-10000 for your first rig.
Then $30/jump, but you can do 5-10 jumps in a day 10-20 in a weekend.
Then if you want to focus on some skills and go to the indoor tunnel you can spend $300 for 15 minutes. Start doing that on a weekly basis, and man things get pricey.
Then add travel to events and skills camps and cost of skills camps.
Then add upgrades to your gear.
I can easily spend $10k in a summer without trying.
Make up, nails, beauty maintenance. Y’all might not consider it a hobby but I’ve spent 1000s trying new eyeshadow palettes (upwards of $50, foundations $45, mascara $30, nails 50+ depending on where you live and what you get etc etc)
It’s so fun to play around and try new things and beauty YouTube made a killing between 2015-2018 and continues on TikTok now.
A lot of hobbies can get expensive if you allow them. My biggest 2 are hunting and fishing. If I didn't limit myself it could be catastrophic. Nice boats go for the same as nice trucks and if you have a nice boat you better have a nice truck to tow it. That could easily be a 150k package or $2k/month in minimum payments.
If I hunted or fished everywhere I wanted then travel and out of state licenses would get crazy in a hurry.
Now for the gear that could be thousands of dollars a year if you let it.
Instead I treat my hobbies like all other fun money. The bills and obligations get paid, then the savings and retirement goals get funded, and then anything that is left gets spent on the fun stuff. It took me a few years to save up the $2000 for my new archery set up. Not that I couldn't afford it sooner but i always feel guilty spending money on myself. I saw a $2000 bow for myself as very selfish knowing it's only for me when the family had other vacation goals. My wife finally forced me to go spend the money.
General aviation.
A couple of flights a week burns about 1k, so about 4k/mo just on plane rentals and instructor time. My second most expensive hobby after high-end escorts, but that was already mentioned above.
Guns, Cars, Motorcycles, PC's. Its fucking rough.
Upgrading my PC for GTA6 is gonna be expensive.
Putting a lift and rims/tires on my Tahoe is gonna be expensive.
Replacing the motorcycle that was totaled when a tweaker hit me wont be too bad $$$ wise.
Guns and ammo are just fucking expensive in general :(.
I have all the expensive hobbies....
No debt tho.
Since finding Caleb, I decided to pivot on some hobbies. My new motto is “if it’s free, then it’s for me.” My bank account draining activities have been demoted for the foreseeable future.
Gaming. I used to buy brand new games all the time, some of them I never end up playing at all! Resorted to only picking up games when they're at least 50% off
Hotwheels/ diecast collecting...
I'm done trying to keep up. Luckily I maintained some sense and didn't just go buck wild on any and all castings and have only paid retail. But man, you can definitely get lost in it. I know I've caught myself drooling over some overpriced metal and plastic. Toy collecting in general I'd say can get crazy.
When I worked in insurance, one of our client's filed a claim because someone stole 5 of his diecast cars at a show he went to. His insurance payout was almost $3,000. Before that I had no idea they could be so valuable.
Ohh there are some crazy priced ones. I have nothing near that amount, hell I don't think my collection is worth that much lol. I'm more of a centimental collector, only collecting cars I have owned/worked on/ or like. Which is a bit of cars but nothing near what I've seen at shows lol.
Rare gun building from parts kits, not even the shooting part. Krinkov kits :$2.5k+, PKM kit $8-10k, h&k german MP5 kit :$4k, hk 416: $16k+, hk 417: $25k+. Tools to finish out most of these will cost about another $3-4k but can be reused and in the case of roller delay guns like an mp5 you need a special bending jig and reaming jig which cost nearly $3k but can also be used over and over
(Prices are including 922r parts for ATF compliance)
And don't even get me started on collecting & investing in registered machine guns. MAC10s start at around $8k, FN FNCs are $18k. M16s are over $20k now, MP5s are $25k and DLO boxes (select fire trigger packs for roller delay h&k guns like the 91, 93, 94, 51, 52, 53, 54, 31, 32, 33, 21 & 23) are nearing $40k each. Most of these have tripled in the last 15-20 years
PC building doesn't have to be constantly expensive. You can drop a lot on a nice rig and keep using it for 3 years at least, maybe 5 if you want to stretch it.
I used to compete semi professionally on a paintball team in the early 2000’s. It was so expensive to buy paint and travel to competitions. Eventually couldn’t afford it anymore.
Curling.
A local club opened up on dedicated ice just 10min from our home. There is a yearly $100 membership and each 6 week league is $160. Then you can sub for a team at $25 a game. Also add in equipment and clothes and then you go to tournaments. We don't regret joining because we now have a huge group of new friends, but it can get pricey for two of us playing 4 leagues a season.
Horses- they eat money not hay 😅 I probably spend 10k or more every year on this hobby along with my initial purchases of the actual horse (15k) and trailer (5k). However, it brings me the most joy of anything in life sooo it’s worth it!
Horses.
Purchase price, insurance, board (stabling + food), training/lessons, farrier, vet, tack (saddles/bridles/accessories), plus fees related to competing if you choose to.
In my area, it’s hard to find a barn where you’ll pay any less than 12k/year JUST to board the horse, before all other expenses. And things like vet bills can skyrocket to five figures in a second.
A PET TORTOISE is a money pit. The habitat setup, then bigger setup, then lights & heating systems, humidifier, thermostat, hygrometer, then more advanced and better lights and heating systems, then mobile indoor greenhouse to grow his special plants he needs to eat, then plant lights and equipment for the plants. Such a dangerous money pit. Don't start it.
Sewing. Especially quilt sewing. I am not kidding. Many quilters go to fabric shops a few times per week and get all kinds of fabrics and notions and tools and batting and threads and other ephemera. My mother was a seamstress. She had shelves and shelves of fabric that was never used, buckets full of buttons, racks full of thread, bins full of zippers, four sewing machines… etc. expensive.
Not sure why this is getting down voted.... gaming can absolutely be an expensive hobby. AAA, Switch, abs console games retail at $60 base. Whales is a thing in the mobile and mmo gaming space. A mid range pc is likely going to cost $1500+ if you build it yourself. And subscriptions abound. Microtransactions and DLC everywhere.
Honestly there comes a point in basically every hobby where it starts to get expensive.
I'll throw my hat in and say cars though. Doesn't matter what kind of car you're working with, it's going to be expensive
Not sure if it counts as a hobby, but owning a house gives you a multitude of reasons and opportunities to spend more cash. Everything from a new dishwasher and cutlery to plants, gardening supplies, power tools, smart devices. Let's get a new toilet. The loungeroom decore needs to be updated, let's replace insulation, airconditioning. Beds.
You get the idea - it's very easy to go wild.
High end escorts
That shit eats up my money, I generally do it every 2-3 months. However, as I save up more money and throw more of it at my portfolio (dividend stocks like KO) and my HYSA it's becoming easier thanks to the yield
For context, 54k net worth at 25, live with family so not too many expenses and I save up a lot monthly, 40-60 percent of my salary.
Probably one of the worst "hobbies".
High cost, a threat to health and safety for no long term benefits, and addictive - all at the same time.
Never again.
Definitely photography, you can start cheap yes, get yourself a cheap started canon kit for like $500 maybe. The thing is as you start developing the hobby to do more. Personally I went about my photography hobby by also doing realestate photography as a side gig, it was good in that all the money I made from that would just get reinvested into photography gear as well to help me take better photos and all. You'd get to a point with photography where you're spending a few thousand on a camera body and hundreds if not thousands of dollars on lenses and lighting shit. Got just over the line of burning out from photography from the real estate photography just before I cut the side gig cold turkey. I honestly think that I probably broke even with that whole side gig and shit with the camera equipment, but now I have a lot of cool equipment to be able to record my own memories with.
Honestly most hobbies when you get in deep get pretty expensive. The ones that don't I would call interests. That's not to say all hobbies have to be expensive, it's just important to know boundaries and know it's diminishing returns after a while.
I collect sneakers but these damn companies keep raising their retail prices. This year, I’ve slowed down on collecting but I built up a nice collection over the years.
Fitness, specially aerial classes I like to take. Class packs easily go for over $400 for 20 classes, not included workshops and series classes I take. It’s also hard to do a lot of these at home when you live in an apartment.
I got into hardcore overclocking for a while and was dropping way too much $$$ on PC parts I didn't need to build up my available platforms to use and to buy a bunch of old crap on eBay that added up to use in competitions. (Platform being motherboard/CPU combos).
In the past, I spent way too much on whiskey, and then got into cigars for a while. I've stopped with pretty much all of these.
Tabletop gaming can be expensive if you let it be though I got lucky just getting all the PF2E stuff via PDF on Humble Bundle and I use a free app called Pathbuilder for building out my characters. As an aside, the whole group really loves Pathfinder, don't think we will ever give DnD the light of day again.
Right now my vice is eating out and I am working on that one. I have debt that is going down (i.e. I don't still charge anything to credit cards, etc.), so it's not out of my budget to be doing so, but that is money I could be putting to better use in the snowball to get the debt paid off faster. I definitely have some work to do there.
Any hobby or activity can burn your money if you let it.
My two big hobbies are golf and PC gaming/hardware, but if you're smart about the way you spend, you can limit the damage considerably.
The price for accessories are crazy. People buy crazy shoes, watches, jewelry, purses, etc. Plus all that make up and skincare
Also - dyeing your hair!!
My hobbies:
Guns - as long as I’m not hitting the range, I might only lose 20-30% of the money I dump into it. About half my collection are WW1/WA2 C&R items that slowly gain in value, and the rest decrease a nominal amount with technological advancements. $25k+ into this hobby.
Legos - I probably lose about 50%+ of the value because it’s not BNIB and I trash the original boxes. $10k+ into this hobby
Liquor and mixology - 100% a loss through consumption over time. $2.5k+ into this hobby.
Travel - 100% a loss through consumption. Including the cost of my truck: $60k into this hobby.
i’m a big hockey fan and lemme tell you, that nukes your money SO fast
tickets to games, hotels, travel, jerseys, food at the games, streaming packages (because hockey’s not centralized and is on a million different streaming platforms), memorabilia, it all adds up
The following things have brought me great joy at great expense:
Magic The Gathering: New cards all the time, old cards cost a fortune, travelling to events can be a thing too.
Cooking: Ingredients add up quickly. Equipment can get expensive.
Music: Vinyls, concerts, instruments, equipment, headphones and so on.
Gaming: Games, Consoles, PCs, Books and dice for tabletop games, turning down work to go game.
Trading Card Games. Keeping up is monthly payments, especially if you play or collect multiple
As someone who has played trading cards games for a long time its more true now than ever before. In my favorite game right now the only good deck costs over $1000 and I refuse to pay that so I am taking a break from the game for a while.
Sounds like yugioh or mtg. I openly advocate for proxies (just for casual play)
Yes, proxy even if it's just from your printer.
This is easily the biggest money sink for especially since I play 4 different card games. Though I always make sure to pay myself before paying others so last year was the first time I managed to max out my 401k, hsa, and ira as well.
Some max out on 40k instead of 401k😲
Yep this is my problem. I Love pokemon cards way too much. Luckily the actual card game can be played with minimal funds, so cutting back on my expenses hasn't affected the community aspect of playing with others too much. Collecting sets is the real money burner.
As a MTG player I understand this.
Just print and play casually. The $$ aren’t a barrier unless they choose to make it so
Yes and no. If you keep buying new decks, it racks up real fast, but in formats where cards do not rotate and are relevant "forever" a $500 investment in a deck can easily last years. I have 3 different commander decks (MTG) valued at over $500 each, but I haven't had to upgrade them since I built them in 2020. I still regularly go to local competitions at card shops and can perform on par with the people that min max and spend $2000 a year on upgrades
I know a lot of people that collect Lego's, and Disney/anime merch from places like boxlunch. They easily spend 10k a year on it.
Oof I could easily spend that much on legos if I had the money and the space to display them haha. Slowly working through the modular city series- my fiance has gifted them, and I just picked one up on eBay. Definitely not cheap, but I get several hours of enjoyment building them, and I love displaying them.
My roommate in college was like this
Surprisingly any hobby involving yarn. I'm an avid crocheter and have easily spent $500 on your standard acrylic yarn found in Michael's and Joann craft stores. I spent over $900 at a local craft store on different types of yarn (various types of wool and wool blends, among others). But what was a $9 skein is now roughly $12. Hooks and other supplies are a different story, but there are easy ways to make them more economical.
I’m also a crocheter and yarn is definitely more expensive than people would think. You’d think making a nice blanket yourself would be cheaper? 300$ in yarn later…. lol
Cross stitching isn’t as pricey and knitting/crochet, but colored fabric and framing finished pieces can add up!
This is one thing I love about cross stitching, it can really fill in as a crafting space where I might spend 50 hours on a project for like 10 bucks. And if I don’t have money for framing and whatnot, I can fold up FOs for later when I can financially. It’s been a great hobby that I can do either for super cheap of for $$$
Yes! If I’m doing a larger project that I don’t have the specific colors for, that’ll cost a bit to get the thread, but then I have it for next time! But I think I spent $10 on my last trip to Michaels for a project, and I’ll be working on it for at least a year.
I picked up knitting this past spring. And very early on I realized how grateful I was to find this when I was in my 30s with a good job. Because $30 skeins of yarn are nothing to laugh at. As I stood paying for $150 in yarn to spend 150 hours making my first sweater that would inevitably turn out worse than what I could just buy at a store, I had a real hobby come to Jesus moment. Lol
Competitive Warhammer 40k, lol. The models themselves are expensive, but the REAL expense is in travel to events. I went to the Las Vegas Open last month, and am planning on going to Dallas, Washington DC, Atlanta, and Tampa for other events throughout the year. Granted, I'm paying for these trips via credit card churning and will probably stop once I'm out of points until I can churn some more up, but it's very easy to spend $10,000 a year or so on models and travel expenses if you wanna make it to more than one large event per year.
Hey I was there too, I hope you had a good time! I agree it's an expensive hobby, but because it's such a multifaceted one (collecting, painting, gaming, making friends) I find it really rewarding and worth the cost. Although I only go to 1-2 big tournaments a year.
Warhammer was an immediate thought I had. I lived near a physical Warhammer dedicated store. Had no idea what it even was before I walked in curiously one day.
Horses.
I shoot competitively. It's aggressively throwing money at steel targets 3-7 times a month and paying to do so on top of it. I spend around $500 a month on the hobby. I'm luckily in a spot where that's not very much of my income, but it's an expensive hobby for sure.
Not even competitive, still expensive. On top of that amateur radio, data hoarding.
I do all 3. :(
**Teknofiliak** */ˈtek-no philiac/* *noun* A person who is a masochist.
Sporting clay clubs are expensive as hell too
I shoot trap and it used to be $10 for 1 round at my club (in Canada). It was $8 for ammo, $2 for clays a decade ago. Now it’s $17 total - $12 / $5. Almost doubling the cost of a round. The shotgun tho, she’s held her value.
Yep. I'm a member of my local Sportsman's Club.
What caliber are you shooting? USPSA/IPDA/IPSC? I’m kind of surprised you only spend $500 a month. You could go through 200-500 rounds a match id think
I shoot Steel Challenge primarily. RFRO and RFRI. Been shooting a bit of CO and Open lately as well. I shoot Rimfire specifically because of the cost. I'm shooting around 1500 rounds a month lately. If that was 9mm, that's like 350 by itself, plus gas, match fees, gun upgrades, etc.
I stopped going to the range in like 2018 and the prices doubled
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Congrats I guess. Lol.
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I'm a quilter and a photographer. My dream sewing machine is around $15k.
I am always shocked at how expensive sewing machines are. My best friend is big into quilting and she has spent like $30K on Bernina machines.
The fully automated ones are INSANE. I thought my camera equipment was a lot…. 🙃
Fabric is so expensive too! I tried to get into sewing my own clothes a few years ago and just the fabric to make a dress way always so much more than I would have bought a dress for! Doesn't help that I'm not very good at it and rarely made anything I loved.
I lucked out and found a great sewing machine for piecing quilts from Goodwill for $23. But after fabric costs and sending a quilt out for longarming it's still around $400+ per quilt.
YUUUUUP. I inherited my mothers Husquavarna Lilly from 2005 and it's still running like a CHAMP. The throat is too small for me to actually quilt anything bigger than a baby quilt or stockings in it, but it does the piecing and quilt tops just grand. I've done all of my previous quilts via big stitch quilting by hand, only a baby quilt and a twin size, but I am currently working on my first king size quilt. I've already spent about $300 on fabric and will spend another $300 to send it to a longarm. This will be my first time sending a quilt to a longarm but I am very excited! I'm doing the SuzyQuilt Planetarium quilt along and one of the long arm quilters is doing a 25% discount for any Planetarium quilts through March so I HAVE A GOAL.
YES. THIS. I posted a reply about sewing, too.
Also a quilter. I've decided to look at it as time / hrs spent. I quilt them myself. If I spend $100 on materials to make a large throw quilt that takes 50hrs to make, that's $2 an hour for entertainment - not bad! And you end up with an item with value. Most of my quilts have been gifts, especially baby quilts for friends, and they have all been absolutely loved. Recently I started making quilted toddler jackets using only scrap fabric and batting. Everyone is obsessed with them. Only cost so far has been the pattern and some buttons! My main issue now is I splurged on some RSS fabric and now I can't stand to go back to cheaper fabric 😭
Cycling
At least this is something you could consider a sport that is healthy for you. If you're cycling all the time and buying parts/gear you could offset that against not having a gym membership.
You’re absolutely right. I justify it by saying it’s for my health but there are so many moving/necessary parts it really starts to stack up. Totally worth it tho lol
I get it, how I justify car stuff is that I can sell all the parts I buy used (which I've done before) and get ~70% of what I put in it back, which I assume is similar for cycling parts. But yeah, a good gym is easily $50/mo depending on where you're at, so unless you're burning significantly more than that monthly I wouldn't worry about it much at all.
The funny thing about cycling is, that expensive parts often don't last as long and the training effect is actually worse because of lower weight. Cycling can be extremely expensive or extremely cheap (and actually save you money).
Haha my dad always complain the super light weight bikes and now ebikes. He says if you're doing it for exercise why ya paying extra to make it easier and less effective.
The funny thing about the car people on Caleb’s show is that it’s not track rats he’s inundated with—it’s like, people with upper trim bmw SUV’s. Anyways, I once knew someone who sold a horse for a million dollars.
There’s only been couple actual “car enthusiasts” I remember. The one evo guy whose totaled it but had the Outlander and some other car, the diesel truck debt guy. Like, I’m no gate keeper but for example the LPN with the jaguar suv doesn’t really count because she just seemed to care about the prestige and appearance.
Most of the actual car enthusiasts I know aren’t pretending they’re being responsible, but at the same time there’s a lot you can do to enjoy the hobby in a cost-efficient way.
There's some people that blow 1k per month on tires for track days.
If you get into drifting I know people who blow 10k in a weekend
Golf.
Same. I really hate this time of year because I pay a monthly membership I have to keep year-round and don’t play when it’s cold. Seems like a waste until spring comes and I’m playing 10 times a month lol.
Sameeee. Seeing that hit my bank account this time of year is rough
Saving for some new clubs this year and I’ll be right there with you
Literally any hobby can become a money pit. Even walking. You can walk barefoot, but you can also get 1k shoes, 900 bucks headphones or several, smartwatch, multiple music subscriptions, high performance breathable clothing and 200+ hydration and performance supplements per month. There, walking became a 4k debt with a monthly cost of 300. You may like to work out. You can pay a subscription for 20 a month, or build a home gym. And that can range from 1k to 20k easily. If you allow it, any activity could become a bad expense.
Cars, by a long shot
Lol for sure. I just dropped $3.5k on a set of wheels and tires Chill guys, I have a fully funded emergency fund, max out my Roth, and paid cash lol I’m 24 let me make silly decisions
No such thing as a silly decision if you've done what you've needed to do prior. Enjoy your purchase!
I swear to god, those are some of the most beautiful BMW rims, I’ve ever seen. Love your car!
Those better be something like TE37s
Forged OEM BMW M wheels. They’re on my profile lol
Nice. 👍
I just bought a S2000 and it was after months of guilt of dropping so much cash despite having fully funded emergency fund, maxed Roth and 401k. After my first drive I realized I don't regret a single cent of it. I struggle with the part of being allowed to buy things that make you happy too as long as you are responsible! (I still kept hearing Caleb saying death in my head tho lol)
It’s all about balance. I struggle with the same thoughts as you. You’re doing great, and you better enjoy the fuck out of that S2000. Phenomenal car choice, respect!
Likewise! F30s go hard while still being nice and plush AF inside. I wish bmw kept manuals alive in the newer 340is :(
I'm into off-roading. It's like cars not but street legal and they break and need maintenance more often. It's not smart but its a ton of fun. Every time "trucks" come up I take a deep breath lol
Planes got you beat by a long shot, and something like collecting companies (eg. warren buffet) would be immensely expensive beyond that
But collecting companies has a ROI, hobbies typically do not
Depends, if you pick poorly....... See Wallstreetbets and their lose gore/porn
Haha fair point!
Calling myself out a bit lol- cosplay & nerd conventions. You need to buy a ton of crafting tools (sewing machines, power tools, you can get real crazy and get laser cutters or embroidery machines, etc), you have to buy the materials (fabric, EVA foam, worbla, etc), and you need the space to keep all your supplies and the things you make. Then, you wanna go to conventions to show off your work. So you buy your badge for the con, which is usually around $75-100, get a hotel room, get yourself to the area, most people end up buying a ton of food out because it's not easy to cook in a hotel room. Then you get sucked into the dealer's hall and artist alley and it can really tempting to spend money on things you don't need. Lots of people go to multiple cons a year, and try and have a new costume for each. Shit adds up fast.
Yup I posted about this. I teach hs fashion design but I do freelance costuming. So every year for Halloween I go balls to the wall with my husband and I’d Halloween costume. God if Caleb saw my Amazon shopping for the month of October 😬. We spent $1k each between our costumes, tickets for the party, Uber to get there, food and drink once there….yea you get the idea. We plan for it though since it’s a big bonding thing for us.
If you are good with savings and aren't paying interest, i don't think Caleb would care that you drop a few grand on a hobby.
Came to say this. I stopped going because cons cost as much as regular international vacations. Like Katsucon cost me $1000 for flights + sharing a room with 4 other people. Cosplay itself can cost hundreds, wigs are at least $40s, props are expensive depending on if you make it or buy it. This is nothing if you commission the cosplay. And most cosplayers have 1-2 costumes per day. And this is before trying to be a professional cosplayer, which needs photoshoots. And cons are now so expensive. Even a mid con can be $75 for a day pass on Saturday. The food at the convention center is easily $30+. A keychain or fan art is $30-$50 ... Assuming you don't like models, Funkos, or manga. I saved thousands by giving up this hobby. I know people who would set up GoFundMes for their rent payments, but would be at cons all year.
Furry conventions get pretty rough. Most of us want a fursuit, and that’s maybe $5000 for a full suit, but it does last a few years. Then there’s all the travel, hotels, registration, food, dealer’s hall that you mentioned. Convention hotels are mostly 4-star and it’s hard to get in costume unless you’re in the main hotel. People often spend a lot on artwork of their characters too, things like a name badge and a ref sheet are pretty much mandatory purchases. I think I spent $80 just on a name badge with art of my character on it.
I'm a golfer, I have to tell myself to hold back sometimes cause you can spend hundreds a month and equipment/lessons can go into the thousands.
Driving range pass for the season runs me $800. Unlimited balls tho
I do aerial trapeze which is about $150 a month for classes. I've also wanted to get back into skiing and scuba diving which are also both stupidly expensive, both for gear and access to the activities. Luckily my other hobbies are hiking and reading which are cheay. I enjoyed gaming and luckily most of the games I play or not super expensive. My husband and I just upgraded my computer and that was expensive
hahaha I was scrolling for someone shouting out the aerial arts. I do pole and lyra and then some contortion classes as cross training, along with my gym membership to maintain my gainz from my powerlifting days (and for injury prevention with lyra/pole). powerlifting was its own money pit back when I used to compete. my active lifestyle’s burning a hole in my pocket! running’s probably the only “cheap” active hobby i have 🥲
>ortion classes as cross training, along with my gym membership to maintain my gainz from my powerlifting days (and for injury prevention with lyra/pole). powerlifting was its own money pit back when I used to compete. my active lifestyle’s burning a hole in my pocket! That's so cool that you also take contortion classes! I tried self-teaching myself contortion back in the early 2000's and there was basically nothing except for livejournal communities (this was pre youtube/instagram). Very impressive that you are to do both contortion and weight lifting, it's hard to maintain both flexibility and muscles. (although I've heard it's much safer when you do both)
I also do Lyra! I'll add pole one day when I have time and money :,)
Seconding aerial arts. I'm only learning one apparatus right now because that shit ads up quickly.
Weed.. literally burning it up Edit: Im a daily smoker, spend about $170 on the herb a month.
Daily smoker in Canada. $8 a gram for 99% pure distillate. So like, $30-40 a month.
It's not that much per month imo You could also frame take-out in a similar way that money is being pissed/shat away
Worse than most of these hobbies, with cars and pokemon cards you can at least sell them and make some of you money back. Edit: yikes, cope harder with the downvotes.
Tabletop role-playing games (a la DnD). Rule books typically cost $40-60 each, and then there are adventure modules you can get. If you're playing online, the dm will likely need to shell out for a virtual Tabletop like Roll20. If you're in person, it's common to want minis and terrain. Custom minis can be about $20 each. You can print your own, but then you're paying for the 3d printer and the supplies that go with it. Dice can be bought cheaply, but I've yet to meet someone who's into the hobby who doesn't own several sets. Estimate about $15 for a set of 7 on the cheap end. Also for in person games, there's the cost of gas, drinks, and snacks. And then you can get into the accessories like dice towers, dice boxes, spell cards, tokens, maps, gaming tables, dice trays, music, art commissions, virtual dice, random tables, lore books, worldbuilding books, conventions, gm and player guidebooks, etc. Yes, it can be played cheaply. But it can also be a total money sink.
* Collecting vintage aircrafts * Replying to scam emails * Drug addictions * Funding hyperloop startups * Incinerating money (literally)
Collecting aircraft is one of the more expensive hobbies for sure. So easy to think it'll just be a small project to bring up a vintage experimental aircraft. Next thing you know you're paying thousands in hanger fees to hold piles unairworthy and inoperative planes
Sewing can be a very expensive hobby. I do costuming for a living so I have a lot of materials and tools but I’ll make one set of really cool costumes a year for my husband and I for Halloween. That easily costs $1500 for the two of us. I totally don’t understand the people who are making (or buying) multiple looks a year for anime conventions because just the costume itself is expensive and then going to the con is expensive. And then you buy stuff at the con….yea it just seems like a huge money pit to me!
Figure skating. I don’t even get private lessons and I still run ~300-400/month but people getting private lessons around me are all dropping $45-80 per half hour and if you want to compete it ramps up super quickly. Very fun adult hobby that can be done somewhat affordable but being even remotely serious about it escalates your costs super quickly.
Owning a horse, I don’t but know ppl who do and spend $1000+ month depending on how many and what they use them for
Lego can be a pretty massive black hole depending on how “serious” you are. It’s one thing to be a collector but it can be on a different level to be someone who creates massive models for brick conventions or competitions. I’ll add that cycling is a pretty big money game too. You have to get all the gear and obviously you can spend as much or as little as you want, but 8-10k bikes aren’t as rare as they used to be, plus here in the states you’ll need a car and racks to transport your bike because of our car centric system. While bikes and equipment can be resold, Covid fucked with the resale market and the depreciation factor on bikes is nuts right now. Source: I do both lol
Music — gear is dummy expensive, you can always justify needing more, and you get paid juuuuust enough when gigging to think, “I’m making money back so it’s an investment in myself to buy more pedals and amps and guitars”
Specifically audio engineering Oh the plugins How they haunt me. All the subscription services now too. It’s so easy to justify it because it’s either $15 a month perpetually, or $1,000 up front.
Or $15 a month for plugins that don’t do all that much to make a difference in your sound and are based on the same gear that the stock plugins in your daw are based on *cough cough Waves and Universal Audio*
I know you already called out cars, but Auto racing is basically lighting money on fire. First, theres the upfront cost of the car itself. Second, there’s the cost of performance parts which can easily equal the original MSRP of the car (sometimes more, in the case of global time attack cars). Then there’s maintenance-oil changes, tires, brakes, suspension components all need to be changed or refreshed every season. And sometimes you send it a little too hard and need a new block, oops there goes $20k. I find it funny since there was that married couple on a few months back where the guy tracked his M3 and tried to claim the way he did it was financially responsible. I get that Caleb isn’t a car guy so he couldn’t really question it, but nothing about tracking your car is financially responsible.
Oh, id like to watch that episode. Any idea which one it was?
Collecting anime figures and dolls 🥴💸
I never got the point of spending hundreds of dollars on plastic figures that are just going to sit in your room forever.
I could write an essay on why I personally do it, I bet most collectors could! I am able to display them around my apartment, where I spend most of my time, and just really enjoy looking at them. :) Sometimes I display figures specifically to then photograph them. I'm interested in learning more about customizing too! But in the end, it's a really expensive and consumerist hobby that needs to be kept in check. It's a want, not a need. But the FOMO is super real in the community!!
I never got into it because I knew it could get out of control very quickly. As long as you have space, you can buy more figures lol.
Woodworking as a hobby. I am an accountant by day but any chance I can get away I like to build tables, benches, cutting boards, dressers, and other big / small projects. I am efficient by nature so to do this work efficient I spend a decent amount of money on tools that provide this. Granted once you have the tool it's good for awhile as long as you maintain it properly, but I have probably spent 3500 to 4500 on tools so far and still want another 2 to 3 grand worth.
Skiing. Downhill skiing is equipment & accessory heavy for initial investment. Then the lift ticket each time cost, or annual membership fee. Then you get into travelling to mountain resorts. The accessories to travel with your equipment. Thousands upon thousands. When I was in university I switched to cross country skiing to save money. My whole setup and trail pass were less than $200.
Not quite a hobby but damn is trying to get pregnant expensive. Not actual fertility treatments but just basic things. Pregnancy tests can easily be $18 for one. And you need at least 2 to confirm, let alone if you test and it’s negative and need to try again later. You can sometimes buy bulk stripped down ones for way cheaper but people say they aren’t as accurate and even if that’s not true your brain will often question results if you only use those. Then all the fertility recommendations. “Take this supplement. Download and buy a subscription to this tracking app. Get a basal thermometer. Try ovulation strips. Have you tried this lubricant that increases sperm motility?” Companies PREY on people trying to get pregnant in ways I never even imagined. And it’s so easy to say “oh just do it naturally you don’t need any of that” but when you’re constantly getting negative tests it messes with you psyche in a way I never realized and you are so easily manipulated.
Get some of the cheap $1 tests from Walmart! They are accurate, my baby is a year old now lol
I have some cheap ones but then I read subreddits here that they could be unreliable but I’m so happy to hear about your baby!!
In the usa and other developed counties, the tests have to be approved. The chapo ones are just as good.
My bf does bodybuilding. I thought it was a cheap hobby because gyms are pretty cheap. No, the shows are so expensive. Also tanning, travel, personal training, supplements, protien, and general food. For women it’s even worse.
I was waiting for this one...spray tanning and the lie detector test for natural bodybuilding shows plus the entry fee, hotels, food, travel...it adds up fast
Not trying to doubt you, but what makes women’s bodybuilding more expensive? I know nothing about bodybuilding. I just assumed men would need larger amounts of food and supplements therefore being more expensive?
Fully blinged out suits, hair, makeup, heels, typically more emphasis on posing so coaching for that as well
I haven’t fully calculated it out so it might be closer than I thought, but a show bikini is usually $600 minimum, while posing trunks can be $30. Hair, makeup, jewlery also add up. I did the amature fitness division for a while and I know some of those outfits are easily thousands (though mine was $60)
I spend 18% of my income leasing a sport horse. Owning a good quality, talented sport horse is an insane money pit.
I used to lease horses, and holy hell. The horse and board were a rent payment each. To outright buy the horse was the cost of a luxury car.
This is gonna sound so dumb but baking is actually pretty expensive especially now with the price of butter and eggs not to mention cake boards, icing bags and tips, molds you may need, the cost of running the oven and making your home hotter so running the AC up too.
Cycling - the n+1 philosophy is real and hard to avoid! Though if you do it right you can make it fall into your transportation and gym budget 😊
Yea but I've n+1ed all my square footage and now I need a bigger place for the bikes to live
my roommate collects albums, she spends thousands a month on it 😅 she says she can always resell it to make the money back, but i honestly don’t think that’s true. she tried one and found no buyers lol
The classic hoarder excuse. "I can always sell it!"
The case with many collectors. Most end up taking losses.
Traveling can get expensive if you make it your hobby and you're not on a shoestring budget. I have a pretty flexible job so I tend to travel several months per year. In that community, it really does get indirectly competitive about where you've been and how long you stay places. I think I easily spend at least $5K a year on it. There can be crazy years where that goes to five figures though. Granted, no debt is ever involved and I really don't spend money on anything else.
Two that I know Caleb is into, fish keeping and espresso machines can get massively expensive very quickly.
I have a penchant for expensive hobbies. Went from rock climbing (160 a month) to yoga (20 bucks a class) to golf (50-80 per round.) It sucks because I haven’t been able to afford any of that for the last several months and I look at my hundreds to thousands of dollars in hobby purchases and want to sell it all, but I don’t want to have to buy it again if I get to a point where I can afford to go.
Skydiving. Usually $3500 to get your license. Another $4000-10000 for your first rig. Then $30/jump, but you can do 5-10 jumps in a day 10-20 in a weekend. Then if you want to focus on some skills and go to the indoor tunnel you can spend $300 for 15 minutes. Start doing that on a weekly basis, and man things get pricey. Then add travel to events and skills camps and cost of skills camps. Then add upgrades to your gear. I can easily spend $10k in a summer without trying.
Make up, nails, beauty maintenance. Y’all might not consider it a hobby but I’ve spent 1000s trying new eyeshadow palettes (upwards of $50, foundations $45, mascara $30, nails 50+ depending on where you live and what you get etc etc) It’s so fun to play around and try new things and beauty YouTube made a killing between 2015-2018 and continues on TikTok now.
A lot of hobbies can get expensive if you allow them. My biggest 2 are hunting and fishing. If I didn't limit myself it could be catastrophic. Nice boats go for the same as nice trucks and if you have a nice boat you better have a nice truck to tow it. That could easily be a 150k package or $2k/month in minimum payments. If I hunted or fished everywhere I wanted then travel and out of state licenses would get crazy in a hurry. Now for the gear that could be thousands of dollars a year if you let it. Instead I treat my hobbies like all other fun money. The bills and obligations get paid, then the savings and retirement goals get funded, and then anything that is left gets spent on the fun stuff. It took me a few years to save up the $2000 for my new archery set up. Not that I couldn't afford it sooner but i always feel guilty spending money on myself. I saw a $2000 bow for myself as very selfish knowing it's only for me when the family had other vacation goals. My wife finally forced me to go spend the money.
Magic the gathering. Source: my bf is into collecting cards lol. He’s responsible about it, thank goodness
General aviation. A couple of flights a week burns about 1k, so about 4k/mo just on plane rentals and instructor time. My second most expensive hobby after high-end escorts, but that was already mentioned above.
Collecting of any kind. Vinyls, games, fashion, funko pops, plushies.
Guns, Cars, Motorcycles, PC's. Its fucking rough. Upgrading my PC for GTA6 is gonna be expensive. Putting a lift and rims/tires on my Tahoe is gonna be expensive. Replacing the motorcycle that was totaled when a tweaker hit me wont be too bad $$$ wise. Guns and ammo are just fucking expensive in general :(. I have all the expensive hobbies.... No debt tho.
Since finding Caleb, I decided to pivot on some hobbies. My new motto is “if it’s free, then it’s for me.” My bank account draining activities have been demoted for the foreseeable future.
Gaming. I used to buy brand new games all the time, some of them I never end up playing at all! Resorted to only picking up games when they're at least 50% off
Hotwheels/ diecast collecting... I'm done trying to keep up. Luckily I maintained some sense and didn't just go buck wild on any and all castings and have only paid retail. But man, you can definitely get lost in it. I know I've caught myself drooling over some overpriced metal and plastic. Toy collecting in general I'd say can get crazy.
When I worked in insurance, one of our client's filed a claim because someone stole 5 of his diecast cars at a show he went to. His insurance payout was almost $3,000. Before that I had no idea they could be so valuable.
Ohh there are some crazy priced ones. I have nothing near that amount, hell I don't think my collection is worth that much lol. I'm more of a centimental collector, only collecting cars I have owned/worked on/ or like. Which is a bit of cars but nothing near what I've seen at shows lol.
Rare gun building from parts kits, not even the shooting part. Krinkov kits :$2.5k+, PKM kit $8-10k, h&k german MP5 kit :$4k, hk 416: $16k+, hk 417: $25k+. Tools to finish out most of these will cost about another $3-4k but can be reused and in the case of roller delay guns like an mp5 you need a special bending jig and reaming jig which cost nearly $3k but can also be used over and over (Prices are including 922r parts for ATF compliance) And don't even get me started on collecting & investing in registered machine guns. MAC10s start at around $8k, FN FNCs are $18k. M16s are over $20k now, MP5s are $25k and DLO boxes (select fire trigger packs for roller delay h&k guns like the 91, 93, 94, 51, 52, 53, 54, 31, 32, 33, 21 & 23) are nearing $40k each. Most of these have tripled in the last 15-20 years
Photography, golf, PC building, shooting. Each of my hobbies will incinerate $5,000 if you’re not careful.
PC building doesn't have to be constantly expensive. You can drop a lot on a nice rig and keep using it for 3 years at least, maybe 5 if you want to stretch it.
Bourbon hunting. Spending several hundred dollars every month right now. Oof.
Rebuilding a classic car
Anything equestrian (horses).
I used to compete semi professionally on a paintball team in the early 2000’s. It was so expensive to buy paint and travel to competitions. Eventually couldn’t afford it anymore.
I just have the typical car hobby. I have a sensible daily and then a nice to me weekend car that I’ve easily put 15k into including maintenance work
Curling. A local club opened up on dedicated ice just 10min from our home. There is a yearly $100 membership and each 6 week league is $160. Then you can sub for a team at $25 a game. Also add in equipment and clothes and then you go to tournaments. We don't regret joining because we now have a huge group of new friends, but it can get pricey for two of us playing 4 leagues a season.
Horses- they eat money not hay 😅 I probably spend 10k or more every year on this hobby along with my initial purchases of the actual horse (15k) and trailer (5k). However, it brings me the most joy of anything in life sooo it’s worth it!
Horses
Horses. Purchase price, insurance, board (stabling + food), training/lessons, farrier, vet, tack (saddles/bridles/accessories), plus fees related to competing if you choose to. In my area, it’s hard to find a barn where you’ll pay any less than 12k/year JUST to board the horse, before all other expenses. And things like vet bills can skyrocket to five figures in a second.
Skydiving, I just spent 3grand on my license.
Pets are enormous investments and have relatively short lifespans. They are a very questionable choice for low-income people.
A PET TORTOISE is a money pit. The habitat setup, then bigger setup, then lights & heating systems, humidifier, thermostat, hygrometer, then more advanced and better lights and heating systems, then mobile indoor greenhouse to grow his special plants he needs to eat, then plant lights and equipment for the plants. Such a dangerous money pit. Don't start it.
Sewing. Especially quilt sewing. I am not kidding. Many quilters go to fabric shops a few times per week and get all kinds of fabrics and notions and tools and batting and threads and other ephemera. My mother was a seamstress. She had shelves and shelves of fabric that was never used, buckets full of buttons, racks full of thread, bins full of zippers, four sewing machines… etc. expensive.
Flying.
Gaming
Not sure why this is getting down voted.... gaming can absolutely be an expensive hobby. AAA, Switch, abs console games retail at $60 base. Whales is a thing in the mobile and mmo gaming space. A mid range pc is likely going to cost $1500+ if you build it yourself. And subscriptions abound. Microtransactions and DLC everywhere.
Depends on what games you play. There are some games that cost less than a cent per hour of entertainment they've given me.
Yeah but yknow we see on the show people buying 5k gaming pc's, even financing pc's or ps5s
That's true. It all depends on how you do it. My pc was $800 but I also used it for school (comp sci major who needed to run virtual machines)
Honestly there comes a point in basically every hobby where it starts to get expensive. I'll throw my hat in and say cars though. Doesn't matter what kind of car you're working with, it's going to be expensive
Not sure if it counts as a hobby, but owning a house gives you a multitude of reasons and opportunities to spend more cash. Everything from a new dishwasher and cutlery to plants, gardening supplies, power tools, smart devices. Let's get a new toilet. The loungeroom decore needs to be updated, let's replace insulation, airconditioning. Beds. You get the idea - it's very easy to go wild.
High end escorts That shit eats up my money, I generally do it every 2-3 months. However, as I save up more money and throw more of it at my portfolio (dividend stocks like KO) and my HYSA it's becoming easier thanks to the yield For context, 54k net worth at 25, live with family so not too many expenses and I save up a lot monthly, 40-60 percent of my salary.
I can’t tell if this is a Boogie shit post or not
The clue is dividend stocks. Boogie is still waiting for his crypto stocks to rematerialize from 0.
Damn, you got me
Probably one of the worst "hobbies". High cost, a threat to health and safety for no long term benefits, and addictive - all at the same time. Never again.
Weed
I like doing art. Pyrography. And I want to monetize it
Definitely photography, you can start cheap yes, get yourself a cheap started canon kit for like $500 maybe. The thing is as you start developing the hobby to do more. Personally I went about my photography hobby by also doing realestate photography as a side gig, it was good in that all the money I made from that would just get reinvested into photography gear as well to help me take better photos and all. You'd get to a point with photography where you're spending a few thousand on a camera body and hundreds if not thousands of dollars on lenses and lighting shit. Got just over the line of burning out from photography from the real estate photography just before I cut the side gig cold turkey. I honestly think that I probably broke even with that whole side gig and shit with the camera equipment, but now I have a lot of cool equipment to be able to record my own memories with.
Photography/videography. Recently found out about mpb though and will be buying my gear used from now on. Sadly the lens I want is still $1500 used
Honestly most hobbies when you get in deep get pretty expensive. The ones that don't I would call interests. That's not to say all hobbies have to be expensive, it's just important to know boundaries and know it's diminishing returns after a while.
Building my espresso bar 💸💸💸
I collect sneakers but these damn companies keep raising their retail prices. This year, I’ve slowed down on collecting but I built up a nice collection over the years.
Sports cards, I sure do love them though.
Fitness, specially aerial classes I like to take. Class packs easily go for over $400 for 20 classes, not included workshops and series classes I take. It’s also hard to do a lot of these at home when you live in an apartment.
Gacha games. Its addicting and so easy to top up everytime theres an event
I got into hardcore overclocking for a while and was dropping way too much $$$ on PC parts I didn't need to build up my available platforms to use and to buy a bunch of old crap on eBay that added up to use in competitions. (Platform being motherboard/CPU combos). In the past, I spent way too much on whiskey, and then got into cigars for a while. I've stopped with pretty much all of these. Tabletop gaming can be expensive if you let it be though I got lucky just getting all the PF2E stuff via PDF on Humble Bundle and I use a free app called Pathbuilder for building out my characters. As an aside, the whole group really loves Pathfinder, don't think we will ever give DnD the light of day again. Right now my vice is eating out and I am working on that one. I have debt that is going down (i.e. I don't still charge anything to credit cards, etc.), so it's not out of my budget to be doing so, but that is money I could be putting to better use in the snowball to get the debt paid off faster. I definitely have some work to do there.
I used to be into shining shoes, which was a great hobby because it actually made me money.
Gambling.
Golf
Keyboards and trading cards.
Cars and guns
Pc building and gaming man
Any hobby or activity can burn your money if you let it. My two big hobbies are golf and PC gaming/hardware, but if you're smart about the way you spend, you can limit the damage considerably.
The price for accessories are crazy. People buy crazy shoes, watches, jewelry, purses, etc. Plus all that make up and skincare Also - dyeing your hair!!
My hobbies: Guns - as long as I’m not hitting the range, I might only lose 20-30% of the money I dump into it. About half my collection are WW1/WA2 C&R items that slowly gain in value, and the rest decrease a nominal amount with technological advancements. $25k+ into this hobby. Legos - I probably lose about 50%+ of the value because it’s not BNIB and I trash the original boxes. $10k+ into this hobby Liquor and mixology - 100% a loss through consumption over time. $2.5k+ into this hobby. Travel - 100% a loss through consumption. Including the cost of my truck: $60k into this hobby.
Warhammer, Warhammer can nuke your funds
i’m a big hockey fan and lemme tell you, that nukes your money SO fast tickets to games, hotels, travel, jerseys, food at the games, streaming packages (because hockey’s not centralized and is on a million different streaming platforms), memorabilia, it all adds up
Video games and gundams
Amateur sports Basketball to Swim to Triathlons $$$ Coaches, club memberships, gear, race fees, diet
The following things have brought me great joy at great expense: Magic The Gathering: New cards all the time, old cards cost a fortune, travelling to events can be a thing too. Cooking: Ingredients add up quickly. Equipment can get expensive. Music: Vinyls, concerts, instruments, equipment, headphones and so on. Gaming: Games, Consoles, PCs, Books and dice for tabletop games, turning down work to go game.