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PaperclipPerfector  2yr ago (text post)   4727 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?

Depending on the specifics of the hobby, you may be able to use something along the lines of the Ken Rockwell justification, which goes something like "if you have the capital and choose wisely, buying an expensive (used) camera can be almost free -- since you can sell it later for at least what you paid".

This doesn't apply to anything electronics related, but may work for bikes and knives -- collectable cars, guitars, guns and quality tools could also have a case made.

The trouble with it is that it relies on you actually selling the stuff later instead of just letting it accumulate, but is easily rationalized around. The real key is that if you have nice tools, you can't blame them for your own deficiencies.

I tell myself this every time I buy a new gun.

Remember, it’s not a loss till you sell!

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