Budgeting for hobbies

How do you folks budget for hobbies? My hobbies are essentially photography and then home improvement.

I think there's a larger initial investment and then spending starts to taper off, except for some special projects that might arise. I think I'm at the end of my initial investment in photography. Since 2008, I made incremental investments and upgrades to my gear - starting off with a 40D and 35-135. Averaging it all out, I figure I've spent about $2,000 a year on photography (high estimate). Does anyone think that's too much?

Home improvement - This is just beginning... I'm entering year 3 of home ownership. This will no doubt get very expensive.

As many people there are out there, there are just as many different ways to save and their threshold for spending. It's all about what you can afford to spend and then sticking to that budget. There are those like myself that can afford (after a bit of saving) the L lenses. There are those that will be scrapping by for a long while with just the basic kit systems. It's just a matter of recognizing what you can afford.

I got GAS (glass acquisition syndrome) fairly early and hard... then it tapered as I spent time improving on my hobby. I upgraded here and there... Now, I didn't quite work within my budget... well, I still justify it as saying that averaged out over the entire time I've done photography, I'm within my budget. =) What I've done now is opened an online savings account where I throw in extra money saved or such. That account is squarely used for "fun and extras". And I only spend what is in there.

Just a quick tip... the old rule of thumb for home ownership is 1% of purchase price for just home maintenance. Whether you count maintenance as part of "home improvement" is your decision.

Nathan wrote in post #17902015
How do you folks budget for hobbies? . . .

Home improvement - This is just beginning... I'm entering year 3 of home ownership. This will no doubt get very expensive.

I don't really budget. My income has always been irregular, so there was no predictable recurring dollar amount to parcel out to different expenses. I don't buy what I can't afford. Not being very materialistic helps.

Home improvement can be quite expensive if your home is old.

Yeah... I know there's lots of approaches to budgeting... just looking to see what I might learn from others - what to do, what to avoid, hard lessons learned, etc.

I'm fortunate enough that this is bonus season and I did pretty well. I'm thinking of putting 1/2 of it away into our joint savings, buy my wife a gift, buy myself a gift, and match my wife's contributions into vacation savings since I haven't put much in there. If there's a little left over, I'll buy down our escrow to make future mortgage payments feel lighter (I already pay an extra per month towards principal). I already have a separate "Play Fund" but I've been drawing on that pretty regularly for miscellaneous items, so there's not much there.

Luckily, our home is new so there aren't a whole lot of surprises. The gift to the wife will be an electric fireplace that she's been looking at. That's the "improvement" that we'll be making - I just need to build a custom wood frame around it to fit in with my designs for the basement.

Nathan wrote in post #17903303
Yeah... I know there's lots of approaches to budgeting... just looking to see what I might learn from others - what to do, what to avoid, hard lessons learned, etc.

I started getting serious about photography about the time that I stopped paying a personal trainer to make me exercise. At first, my "budget" for camera gear was the money that I had been spending on personal training. It was only ever a pretend budget, but it did give me a figure that I tried not to exceed.

Heya,

Depends how much disposable income you have really and what your priorities are.

I budget the same for everything. I either trade out things to generate capital (such as selling equipment to get different equipment). Or I just save here and there when I have money that isn't needed and I drop it in an account just for hobby spending. A basic sum of cash that I can play with and not feel guilty about spending, if there are not other more important things first.

I do this basically:

1. I pay myself first, so I put away 15% of everything I make to retirement funds. I do this before everything, even bills.
2. I pay my cost of living for my family. I do not keep debt. We budget our cost of living and try to stick to it.
3. I pay for any debt items (vehicles, etc) that are monthly that cannot be fully paid at the time.
4. I maintain enough accessible cash to cover our cost of living and expenses for up to 6 months in case unfortunate things were to happen.
5. I maintain a small "what if" cache that I keep skinny.
6. I have a hobby cache, and that's where I just dump excess stuff after I've satisfied the above and after my family's needs or wants are met (ie my wife & daughter).

I do this because my toys cost a lot more than my wife/daughter's do, and I'm the sole income in my family. So they are taken care of before my hobbies are.

I generally set a goal or set of goals for different hobbies, and I just shop, or wait, and keep eyes out for deals, or save towards a goal. I don't impulse buy unless it's really inexpensive (ie, under $100 or something). If I'm after a $2,000 lens, I just set a goal, budget for it slowly, shop for deals, trade out equipment I don't want/need, and when it's time, I earn the goal. I don't just buy what I want immediately and make payments. It's a hobby, not my business.

Very best,

what is this "budgeting" of which you speak?

MalVeauX wrote in post #17904026
I'm the sole income in my family. So they are taken care of before my hobbies are.

I just started wondering lately whether I should be putting more toward retirement. Right now, I'm putting in 12%, 6% of which is matched, so that's like 18%. My wife doesn't have any match and doesn't put away anything for retirement. Basically, I'm the sole contributor toward our retirement savings. Should I therefore, start budgeting her share of retirement, too?

joeseph wrote in post #17904161
what is this "budgeting" of which you speak?

Really. Why budget? I buy stuff. I sell stuff. If I waited until I could afford something, I'd never have anything. Retail value of everything in my closet is probably close to $15,000. I spent twice that on my motorcycle in the last few years.

Well, if "home improvement" is your other hobby, I hope your wife's picking up some of the tab for that, especially if she isn't budgeting for retirement.

Depends on what it is. If it's tools and raw material, I pay. If it's furnishings, she does it. She also pays for pretty much all the outdoors stuff and landscaping contracts.

Nathan wrote in post #17904349
I just started wondering lately whether I should be putting more toward retirement. Right now, I'm putting in 12%, 6% of which is matched, so that's like 18%. My wife doesn't have any match and doesn't put away anything for retirement. Basically, I'm the sole contributor toward our retirement savings. Should I therefore, start budgeting her share of retirement, too?

Depends. My retirement goal includes me retiring as I already own everything and the only payments I'm making are the required ones forever (ie, property taxes, home owner insurance, health insurance, daily living costs and maintenance). My spouse will eventually work, but she will not be able to put away as much as I will, so I am putting enough away for my "house hold" so to speak. Won't matter if it's just me or both of us, or even a third person. I should be able to cover the cost of living. But that is based on owning everything. If you don't own your house, etc, by the time you retire, that's a different story.

The more you put away now, the more you will have later. Compound interest.

***************

So my current budget goal for photography right now has a few options. I sold some gear and have some more gear to sell. And I have a few things I want.

My current options are:

Saved cash: $1100 sitting in the play account.
Stuff to sell worth: $700 maybe.
I can call that $2k with a little out of pocket which I'm ok with.

Option 1:

Get a used 300 F2.8L non-IS and Yongnuo 2.0x III TC.

Option 2:

Get a used 300 F4L non-IS, Get a used 100mm F2. Pick up a Yongnuo 685. Maybe get a telescope (90mm refractor). Keep the gear I was going to sell. And then start budgeting for that 300 F2.8L.

Very best,

I set aside $50 a week for photography gear. It doesn't sound like much, but it is enough for me. I don't like buying things on credit, plus it's a way to keep G.A.S to a minimum since it takes a while to accumulate cash. I don't rush into any quick decisions for the most part.

When I was having problems with my 7D2, I did buy a 1D IV on credit, knowing I'd either sell the 1D IV or the 7D2 when the situation was resolved. I ended up keeping the 1D IV and selling the new 7D2 Canon sent me. I'm still not quite sure I made the right choice. I still follow the very active 7D2 thread here and see the wonderful photographs posted there. The 1D IV thread isn't as active. I really do like the colors the 1D IV produces. In any event, the decision was made and I think I'm content.

Jon wrote in post #17904524
Well, if "home improvement" is your other hobby, I hope your wife's picking up some of the tab for that, especially if she isn't budgeting for retirement.

This wasn't directed at me, but I really need to respond.

I was 56 and my wife was 50 when we both left good paying jobs to completely start over again. Both of us left jobs that had grown tedious and boring. My wife went back to work in 2014. I will go back to work, hopefully, in July. I just did the math and our 401K will be gone in January, 2017. I will be 2 weeks short of 60 when that happens. We will both work until we die. Retirement is for sissies. Life is for living. Go DO, something. He who dies with the biggest pile of money has not won. He has wasted a lifetime of opportunities.

Hi Bassat - Thanks for sharing. I hope that I get to the point where I can spend the remaining of my years pursuing life and not merely waiting for the end of it. That said, our retirement money I hope will give us the cushion we need to do what we want to do. In the mean time, I'm not saving every penny because we need to enjoy life while we are physically able to. I'm 36 this year. I hope to have the house paid off in 15 years (despite being a 30 year mortgage). Once we own the home completely, a lot of burden will be lifted off our shoulders and we can really enjoy, I think. We'll still be working. Perhaps in my 60s, I'll be involved in the nonprofits and charities that I believe in as my "work".