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PaperclipPerfector  8mo ago (text post)   3790 thread views

Small-Scale Question Sunday for August 27, 2023

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What's your philosophy on spending on hobby equipment? Let that be better kitchen equipment, better sports gear, better gaming gear, whatever.

I strongly lean towards the "A bad carpenter blames his tools" and "The magic is in the artist's hand not the paintbrush" camp and think that when partaking in a hobby the "right" way to do things is to practice frugality in the initial stages and upgrade the equipment as you grow out not in.

Some examples of this in practice;

  1. I used a rackety old bicycle I bought used for years until I built up enough fitness where the cycle was the limiting factor and not my legs. Then I bought a name-branded bike and was instantly much faster. (For aspiring cyclists, yes it actually takes years.)
  2. Used shitty grocery store knives until I developed enough knife skills to justify owning a Victorinox Fibrox. Still nowhere near justifying one of those Japanese blades.
  3. Bought a good gaming setup with a good GPU, Mouse, and 120Hz monitor after years of gaming on a shitty setup.

However, I'm seeing the holes in this line of thought as I am in a place now where I can just afford the "good" equipment to start off with. There exists no Frugality or Thriftiness God who will look down on me for breaking the old ways, if anything, I might be somewhat of an extremist in that regard.

But it feels "wrong". One of the things that helps me sleep easier at night is that I live this way. But why? Any arbitrary things helping you sleep well at night? Or is it just a made up struggle?

Most of the time I’m pretty frugal when it comes to my hobbies (my goal for the “hobbies” line item in my budget is $100/month or less); however, I do think it’s worthwhile to spend more on better equipment if it means you’ll spend more time on that hobby or get more enjoyment out of it. For example, when I first started sailing with my boyfriend I didn’t have the proper gear (wetsuit, footwear, etc) and was often wet and cold. The next season I spent the money on two wetsuits even though I knew I wouldn’t use them more than a few months that year, but my enjoyment of the activity went way up because I was comfortable and my hands weren’t getting torn up from the lines because I bought proper well-fitting gloves. Likewise, I know I cycle more than I would otherwise because I like my bike and it’s comfortable to ride. There is something to be said about waiting to invest in good equipment until you know you enjoy the activity and will engage in it often, but sometimes the equipment is the limiting factor and can needlessly put a person off.

However, I do enjoy being a bit of a cheapskate and if you can make secondhand work for you, or get away with skimping on certain things without impacting your enjoyment or usage, then why wouldn’t you want to save the money?

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