# How expensive is your hobby? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [December 29, 2025, 12:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-expensive-is-your-hobby/1026139 "2025-12-29T12:55:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 10
**Author:** ![minor7flat5](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/minor7flat5/32/258_2.png) [@minor7flat5](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/minor7flat5)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2026, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-expensive-is-your-hobby/1026139/181 "2026-01-05T13:34:34Z")
> [@wguy123](#): > > I’m replacing with La Bellas! Maybe I should wait till you put out that video 🙂 They have that ribbon wound portion and I’m not quite sure how to deal with them. Finally got around to posting it: [JMJ Mustang Bass: From Factory Flats to La Bella Flats](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QDi1gTZbV_M) Not much special about them, just get the right ones made for the Mustang and you’re golden. I included an interlude in the video showing Danny Partridge playing a red Mustang bass on The Partridge Family. Pretty cool to see the exact same model in the wild. When I first saw that clip I saw the split pickup and wondered how that little kid could handle a P-bass, then I realized it was a Mustang! > [@Kimstu](#): > > This situation is called “SABLE” (Stash Acquisition Beyond Life Expectancy). It’s very common among knitters and other textile crafters! Wow, that sounds awful! For me (and presumably many hobbyists) the thrill of the chase is much of what keeps us going, always looking for something new. As long as one can afford it and their stuff could (possibly) be tossed in a dumpster if necessary, who cares what happens when they pass? I already told my daughter that my Seeburg 1000 record collection has value if parted out–approximately ten dollars per record with some surprisingly high prices for special ones–but if she wants to pitch it, go for it! ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2026, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-expensive-is-your-hobby/1026139/182 "2026-01-05T13:56:45Z")
> [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](#): > > So many hobbies are just following directions. I get enough of that at work, thank you. For some people it’s the opposite, their jobs are high stress and require a lot of their creative brainpower and they want a hobby that lets them just zone out. ---
**Author:** ![wguy123](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wguy123/32/3161_2.png) [@wguy123](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wguy123)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2026, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-expensive-is-your-hobby/1026139/183 "2026-01-05T14:12:21Z")
> [@minor7flat5](#): > > Finally got around to posting it: [JMJ Mustang Bass: From Factory Flats to La Bella Flats](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QDi1gTZbV_M) Excellent! I will give this a watch and then figure out when to swap mine out. Thanks for recording. ---
**Author:** ![xtenkfarpl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/c2a13f/32.png) [@xtenkfarpl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xtenkfarpl)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2026, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-expensive-is-your-hobby/1026139/184 "2026-01-05T15:20:18Z")
> [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](#): > > So many hobbies are just following directions. I get enough of that at work, thank you. This is why I enjoy writing and recording songs. I get to be the writer, performer, engineer and producer all myself. Though collaborative songwriting is a lot of fun as well. Just sit down with a friend after a drink with your instruments, and noodle around; maybe busk one or two favorites. Then - just jamming -someone comes up with a musical phrase - and you realize: hey, I’ve got a bit in my bottom drawer that would fit _perfectly_ with that! And a song is born… ---
**Author:** ![Mollie\_Magill](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mollie_magill/32/20882_2.png) [@Mollie\_Magill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mollie_Magill)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2026, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-expensive-is-your-hobby/1026139/185 "2026-01-05T15:22:13Z")
> [@Kimstu](#): > > This situation is called “SABLE” (Stash Acquisition Beyond Life Expectancy). It’s very common among knitters and other textile crafters! The struggle is real. **Mrs Magill** has not had time to knit or crochet, but she has a stash of yarn that rivals Michael’s. ---
**Author:** ![jnglmassiv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f07891/32.png) [@jnglmassiv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jnglmassiv)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2026, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-expensive-is-your-hobby/1026139/186 "2026-01-05T17:44:57Z")
> [@Kimstu](#): > > This situation is called “SABLE” (Stash Acquisition Beyond Life Expectancy). I love it. I just dug through my, erm, archives and located a tiny bag containing a spare pair of tiny o-rings for a keychain flashlight I bought and started carrying everyday in Nov 2016, fully nine years of steady use. A reasonable person would not have kept those (or the flashlight) but us stashers know better. The original orings are understandably falling apart but the light is still a reliable performer and worthy of the effort. > **[JETBeam MINI-1Cu Rechargeable Copper LED Flashlight, 130 Max Lumens](https://www.knifecenter.com/item/JTMINI1CU/jetbeam-mini-1cu-rechargeable-copper-led-flashlight-130-max-lumens)** > > JETBeam MINI-1Cu Rechargeable Copper LED Flashlight, 130 Max Lumens > [@minor7flat5](#): > > Finally got around to posting it: [JMJ Mustang Bass: From Factory Flats to La Bella Flats](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QDi1gTZbV_M) Just watched it, great work! I’m not even supposed to be interested in bass strings but, for a few minutes, I was. ---
**Author:** ![Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mean_mr.mustard/32/3865_2.png) [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2026, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-expensive-is-your-hobby/1026139/187 "2026-01-05T19:55:36Z")
> [@beowulff](#): > > One of my hobbies is photography. It’s become increasingly expensive for relatively little benefit. > I decided to bite the bullet and buy my first “mirrorless” camera last year, a Nikon Z8, which was somewhere in the $3K range. I then needed to buy a couple of lenses, which were over $4k total. I like the camera, it’s become my go-to, but I find that the images I get from it are really not much better than my old D800E or even my D7200 - and it’s much bigger and heavier. > Still - I feel drawn to buying more gear, for some baffling reason… I use a Z6iii, but I still have my Z5 and my D7100, going to sell both when I get around to it. Just today I’ve been drooling over the [Plena](https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1788915-REG/nikon_20123_nikkor_z_135mm_f_1_8.html) lens, a mere $2,200. I’ve been trying to talk myself out of it. mmm ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2026, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-expensive-is-your-hobby/1026139/188 "2026-01-05T22:57:21Z")
> [@Kimstu](#): > > Sure, let me push this red thread you sold me through these specific red holes in the printed canvas pattern you sold me. How rewarding. I’ve been doing counted cross stitch for a couple years now. Currently doing my second project that didn’t come in a kit (it has a pattern you have to follow, but you have to buy all your own supplies and count the stitches yourself.) First, I like the repetitive movement. It’s soothing. I just wanted to say I feel like there is space for creativity, not so much what stitch goes where, but the order in which you do the stitches, the types of stitches you use, how you tie on and tie off a thread (there are many options and it depends on the context which one you think is best), the method you use (parking method? royal rows?), and how you tackle problems, all of that leaves a lot of room for a pretty dynamic experience. There are also techniques far beyond my intermediate ability to add to the complexity. I find it’s a task I have to concentrate on carefully. Not that I’m trying to talk you into it, I just wanted to offer the perspective of someone who enjoys doing it. I do it for about 30 minutes a day after breakfast. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2026, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-expensive-is-your-hobby/1026139/189 "2026-01-06T00:24:46Z")
> [@minor7flat5](#): > > > [@Kimstu](#): > > > > This situation is called “SABLE” (Stash Acquisition Beyond Life Expectancy). It’s very common among knitters and other textile crafters! > > Wow, that sounds awful! For me (and presumably many hobbyists) the thrill of the chase is much of what keeps us going, always looking for something new. > As long as one can afford it and their stuff could (possibly) be tossed in a dumpster if necessary, who cares what happens when they pass? Okay, now you’ve confused me! It sounds like you’re actually in **favor** of the “SABLE” mindset of _“Who cares if I’ll never have time in my life to actually use this, it’s great and I want it and I have ideas of how I MIGHT use it, so let’s get it!”_ But also you said it sounds awful?!? 😵‍💫 ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2026, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-expensive-is-your-hobby/1026139/190 "2026-01-06T00:26:29Z")
> [@Spice\_Weasel](#): > > First, I like the repetitive movement. It’s soothing. I just wanted to say I feel like there is space for creativity, not so much what stitch goes where, but the order in which you do the stitches, the types of stitches you use, how you tie on and tie off a thread (there are many options and it depends on the context which one you think is best), the method you use (parking method? royal rows?), and how you tackle problems, all of that leaves a lot of room for a pretty dynamic experience. There are also techniques far beyond my intermediate ability to add to the complexity. I find it’s a task I have to concentrate on carefully. > > Not that I’m trying to talk you into it, I just wanted to offer the perspective of someone who enjoys doing it. I do it for about 30 minutes a day after breakfast. Good point, as usual when I (or most anybody else really?) think that something that is a real and complex thing sounds uninteresting, I am mostly just extrapolating from my own ignorance of it! ---
**Author:** ![andrewm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c57346/32.png) [@andrewm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/andrewm)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2026, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-expensive-is-your-hobby/1026139/191 "2026-01-06T00:26:49Z")
> [@wolfpup](#): > > There’s a good reason those things, whether sail or motor, are referred to as bottomless money pits. Only for the owner, though! Yacht racing as crew is practically free: in a reasonably warm area you can go out pretty much in street clothes. Plus owners are expected post-race cold beer, lunches during all-day events, and often even team shirts for regular crew members. Fresh boat shoes and sailing gloves are a good idea but can be as little as $100/season. Personally I spend under $1000/year (periodically replacing stuff that lasts for several seasons: waterproof pants, jacket, auto-inflating PFD, radio, multitool, etc) and I can get out as much as I want (usually 40-50 times a year). The owner of the main boat I race on spends probably $20-$25K per season for new sails, docking, winter storage, bottom-cleaning diver, fuel, beer, food, event entry fees, insurance, etc. That’s all on top of probably $50-75K to buy the boat but given that it was used and is part of a very popular one-design class he can expect to get the vast majority of that back when he eventually sells. ---
**Author:** ![minor7flat5](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/minor7flat5/32/258_2.png) [@minor7flat5](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/minor7flat5)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2026, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-expensive-is-your-hobby/1026139/192 "2026-01-06T02:21:22Z")
Oops. It was my misreading of the acronym. 😆 No, now I know what it means then surely I’ll have SABLE too! Sounds like the normal process of getting old. As long as you don’t force your offspring to treat your belongings as precious children…give them license to get a big dumpster and go wild. There’s a machine shop full of tools on the other side of my darkroom door, and a ton of other crap that would be worth while for someone to sell on eBay, but who cares! I’ll be dead! ---
**Author:** ![minor7flat5](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/minor7flat5/32/258_2.png) [@minor7flat5](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/minor7flat5)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2026, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-expensive-is-your-hobby/1026139/193 "2026-01-06T02:25:48Z")
> [@jnglmassiv](#): > > Just watched it, great work! I’m not even supposed to be interested in bass strings but, for a few minutes, I was. Thanks! Now I feel better knowing that at least one non-bassist found it interesting. YouTube gives content providers a stats page that has useful things, and one statistic is “subscribers”, which tells how many people subscribed while watching the video. This morning I looked at the video’s stats and for the first time I saw “-1” in that counter ☹ We can also see the thumbs down count that they have hidden from public view in recent years, and nobody gave it a thumbs down (yet). So I figured someone subscribed earlier because of a cool photography video and said “What? Why am I watching a guy change bass strings?” and unsubscribed politely. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2026, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-expensive-is-your-hobby/1026139/194 "2026-01-06T02:27:30Z")
> [@minor7flat5](#): > > There’s a machine shop full of tools on the other side of my darkroom door, and a ton of other crap that would be worth while for someone to sell on eBay, but who cares! I’ll be dead! Why not give them away now? I give things away on Craigslist for free. I’d rather have people use them than gather dust. ---
**Author:** ![minor7flat5](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/minor7flat5/32/258_2.png) [@minor7flat5](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/minor7flat5)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2026, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-expensive-is-your-hobby/1026139/195 "2026-01-06T02:46:35Z")
I do. I have a friend in mind for “machine shop” when the time comes. And we regularly put stuff out on the street in our urban environment: it simply evaporates, and I know it went to a good home. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2026, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-expensive-is-your-hobby/1026139/196 "2026-01-06T03:02:13Z")
It’s really gratifying. I’m in a suburban neighborhood but I sometimes put stuff out by the bins on garbage pickup day and it’s always grabbed before the trucks come. ---
**Author:** ![scabpicker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scabpicker/32/8268_2.png) [@scabpicker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scabpicker)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2026, 5:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-expensive-is-your-hobby/1026139/197 "2026-01-06T05:37:15Z")
Hehe, I once purchased a bag style dumpster at the home improvement store. The purchase is cheap, you pay more to have it picked up. I was using it to put remodeling debris and other stuff out to be picked up later. Over the course of a day or so I had come close to filling it, but folks kept showing up and grabbing stuff out of it, so I did more work and kept filling it up. The next morning I did some more work and put some more debris in it. When I came out to to put the last batch in it, someone had made off with the whole bag. I almost wanted to be mad, but: they had saved me the pickup fee and removed everything including the bag, I could carry the remainder by hand in two trips, and the municipal waste station was only about 3 miles from my house. If they had waited about 45 minutes, it would have been perfect. ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2026, 6:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-expensive-is-your-hobby/1026139/198 "2026-01-06T06:08:26Z")
> [@minor7flat5](#): > > And we regularly put stuff out on the street in our urban environment: it simply evaporates, and I know it went to a good home. It’s amazing how apparently useless stuff disappears to scroungers. I put an old corded electric lawnmower out on the curb a few months ago, along with a corded electric weed-whacker, with a sign saying “Free!”. They disappeared within hours. When I first moved here a nice, relatively new sofa-bed turned out to be just too big to fit through the convoluted turns to the basement stairway, so I had the movers set it out on the curb. Within hours someone rang the doorbell and asked if it was OK for them to take it. It’s just as well it didn’t fit as the basement is already too cluttered. More than half of what’s down there should never have been moved in the first place. To my credit, though, a large full-size dumpster was filled absolutely to capacity before my last move. Yet my basement is still filled with old furniture and unopened boxes! ---
**Author:** ![Mollie\_Magill](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mollie_magill/32/20882_2.png) [@Mollie\_Magill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mollie_Magill)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2026, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-expensive-is-your-hobby/1026139/199 "2026-01-06T13:54:30Z")
> [@wolfpup](#): > > Yet my basement is still filled with old furniture and unopened boxes! Sounds like my basement. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2026, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-expensive-is-your-hobby/1026139/200 "2026-01-06T13:57:34Z")
> [@minor7flat5](#): > > it simply evaporates, and I know it went to a good home. I fully agree with the evaporates part. And darn handy that is, as we’ve seen from the other anecdotes. I’ve had similar myself. But as to good home, I wonder how much that’s true, at least for some classes of goods. I’m thinking particularly of the metal scroungers. You see folks in old ragged pickups full of random bits & bobs of metal. They might grab your fully functional [whatever] solely to bust it up for whatever metal it may hold. That old but still works washer/dryer set you put out at the curb with the “Free & still works” sign? Maybe a needy family snags a free functioning washer / dryer. And maybe some scrapper gets $20 worth of steel and a bunch of trash parts to landfill. No way to know which. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-expensive-is-your-hobby/1026139.md?page=9) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-expensive-is-your-hobby/1026139.md?page=11)