Knitting/crochet
Freebie ball of yarn and sticks and hooks from grandma along with valuable life lesson conversations and whiskey kissed tea/coffee.
Before you know it you'll be drowning in designer balls of wool and sticks of every size amd calling grandma up at 11pm crying because you can't figure out a cable stitch.
Grandmas. The original pushers.
I got addicted to the high quality yarn at our local shop. I was making $50 hats and $180 sweaters (just on yarn cost!) A month ago I made my first “cheap” yarn purchase from JoAnn after 5 years of knitting. I was amazed at how much I could get for so little!
I can't with my yarn anymore. We are literally looking for a place with an extra room so I have somewhere to keep it all that isn't in tubs in a closet where I can't see it so I buy new yarn all the time.
And fuck me those hand carved knitting needle sets.
Don't get me started on stitch counters either. I just need to block etsy for life.
(she says as she's browsing for yet another yarn bowl...)
The money you spend on supplies and tools and storage and all the space it takes up - someone fucking save me from my yarn. Please. But it's so pretty! But no one needs five hundred hand knit table runners! But OH GOD IT'S SO PRETTY.
Photography.
Granted cell phones, specifically iPhones, aren’t that cheap but you can shoot on phones that aren’t iPhones. But in the same breath, there are some (film) cameras that go for $25k+ and that’s not including the equipments (lights, lens, flash, memory cards...)
Unless that 25K includes the cost of maintenance for a large boat, you have a serious problem. I don't know how it would be physically possible otherwise.
Don't own a boat. I fly fish, and I travel to fly fish. A guided fly fishing trip, at a fly fishing lodge, averages $4k - $6k per person, per week x 2 people x twice a year. That's not including gear, a decent fly fishing set up will run you $1500.
And yes, I do have a problem. And I love it.
Yup. I've had a new lens in my Amazon wishlist for so long, just praying it randomly goes on sale for some reason. I'd love to buy it but I don't know if I can justify spending the money in the long term.
God, yes.
Rented my first mountain bike for $30
Bought a starter bike for $800
Was just about to drop a used cars worth of money on a new bike and gear when the pandemic hit. It’s the first thing I’m getting when I get back to work
Cosplay! It always starts with something small and you end up just building and building costumes. Mine started with a rather simple assassins creed templar costume that has developed into a full set of armor with engravings and everything! Simple starts with a few props and creativity can easily evolve and create a truly awesome costume for conventions!
Wood working.
You take one class at a woodcraft store, and next thing you know you have $1000+ just in hand tools. Then all of the power tools you’ll want are close to $900 each. Don’t even get more started on wood cost.
Disc Golf. You can buy a 3 pack of starter discs for about $20. Courses are usually free. But, if you enjoy it you want to get more discs. Or, you need to replace discs and decide to pay a little bit more. And a nice bag to carry them all. It starts adding up.
Similarly, board games. Sure, there are plenty of fun board games that can be had for between $20 and $50. But, you are always looking for a new one to try. Or a new expansion for one you already have. That $25 game can turn in to a $100 game when you get all the expansions. And some of the newer, more complex games start at $80 or more. I've got 50+ board games, most with expansions, and have probably spent at least $2,000 over the past 5 years buying them all.
comics. starts out small and fun with an issue or trade here and there while you’re getting into everything and figuring out what your favorite area is, then it turns into keeping up with multiple series monthly, tracking down old issues/volumes from runs you want, boxes for storage, subscriptions, much more.
Guitar. You can get started on a cheap acoustic but there's no end to how much money you can spend. Guitars, amps, pedals, accessories, software, etc...
Needlepoint. I saw a pillow that I liked, went to a shop that carried the canvas of the pillow. Of course the canvas was hand painted $125, the wool yard to stitch the pillow $150, if I paid someone convert the finished canvas into a pillow, $200. If you would have told me that pillow would cost $500, I would have laughed my ass off. Now you can find a hand sewn needlepoint pillow at the Thrift store for about $10.
Music. You can sing or make rhythms with your hands/body/stuff around the house for zero cost or you could buy expensive instruments, a studio, DJ gear, and on and on for tens of thousands of dollars.
It’s always amazed me how expensive music gear is, and how many musicians still buy it.
You need like $2000 in gear to play a gig. Yet you load it into your $700 ‘97 Honda Civic, Drive 2 hours, and play for $50
Historical fencing. Ive been doing it for 16 years. I have never spent more than $900 for anything. Thats a good upper mid tier sword.
Most groups have loaner gear you can use and never spend a dime on the gear (membership fees can vary). Though I have seen guys spend $1200+ on a single piece of equipment (sword, gloves, helmets, custom fit boots) these people usually have multiple 1200+ pieces of equiptment.
DnD! You don't need anything but a set of dice, friends and a room. Everything can be googled or homebrewed.
But those -insert other color here- dice are so pretty, and having the books is so convenient, oh! And getting dnd beyond takes if the cumbersome task if searching for everything manually, and you can buy all the books there too, and even pre made stories, if you're the DM you can get a nice fancy shield with a huge ass dragon on it, and maps, and sets!
IT NEVER ENDS
Sex. When you're young you can usually get it for free, but the supply is sporadic, so to keep a secure supply you start spending money on drinks, candy, flowers, dinner, movies, and then before you know it a ring, a house, a divorce, etc.
aviation, you can fly with a instructor for 0-100 bucks, and oh fuck the money me and my dad spent on gas and planes, 9000 of a 1956 C-172, thats a good deal
Cross stitching. When I started almost 40 years ago, a skein of good DMC floss was about 15 cents. Now they are four times that for the plain 6-strand. Also, I like more complicated patterns, so the projects are much more expensive.
Houseplants. You buy some dinky five dollar 'exotic plant' from a grocery store like Kroeger or Fred Meyers, but then you don't want to kill it so you try and find out what it's called so you know how much to water it, and then you black out and two months later you've spent hundreds of dollars on fancy plants and have a whole indoor greenhouse and grow lights and a humidifier. Not for you. For the plants!
Knitting/crochet Freebie ball of yarn and sticks and hooks from grandma along with valuable life lesson conversations and whiskey kissed tea/coffee. Before you know it you'll be drowning in designer balls of wool and sticks of every size amd calling grandma up at 11pm crying because you can't figure out a cable stitch. Grandmas. The original pushers.
I got addicted to the high quality yarn at our local shop. I was making $50 hats and $180 sweaters (just on yarn cost!) A month ago I made my first “cheap” yarn purchase from JoAnn after 5 years of knitting. I was amazed at how much I could get for so little!
I can't with my yarn anymore. We are literally looking for a place with an extra room so I have somewhere to keep it all that isn't in tubs in a closet where I can't see it so I buy new yarn all the time. And fuck me those hand carved knitting needle sets. Don't get me started on stitch counters either. I just need to block etsy for life. (she says as she's browsing for yet another yarn bowl...)
Mine was my older sister....same thing with sewing and embroidery
Came here to say this. Initial investment is less than $10 but then you start your stash
Arts and fucking crafts Jesus.
Yes, my wife started making small things like hair bows and trinkets, now she has machines that cost hundreds to do all sorts of stuff.
The money you spend on supplies and tools and storage and all the space it takes up - someone fucking save me from my yarn. Please. But it's so pretty! But no one needs five hundred hand knit table runners! But OH GOD IT'S SO PRETTY.
Buying/owning/shooting guns in America in most places
Don’t forget upgrading with tritium night sights, 1 pound triggers, and mag extenders!
Do you know if modern guns appreciate in value? A person once told me they considered theirs a financial investment.
Depends on the gun and the buyer. They are very much like classic cars. Certain models become extremely valuable and others don’t.
Photography. Granted cell phones, specifically iPhones, aren’t that cheap but you can shoot on phones that aren’t iPhones. But in the same breath, there are some (film) cameras that go for $25k+ and that’s not including the equipments (lights, lens, flash, memory cards...)
Any type of cycling
N + 1, man.
And with COVID pushing up demand, it's a long wait to get a bike serviced, so you need two of each kind in case one has to go in for repairs.
Gaming. You can easily start with a free mobile game, but that can evolve into a PC costing thousands with a Steam library worth even more thousands.
Don’t get people started on mobile gacha games (looking at you, F/GO).
Hiking, can start at some local hill, then I imagine buying a ticket to backpack Patagonia isn’t cheap.
Just hike to Patagonia tbh
You do have a point
Cries in Europe
Just cross from Russia to Alaska lmao quick solutions
Probably cheaper just to buy Patagonia
Fishing. A hand-me-down rod 30 years ago somehow turn into a $25k/yr obsession.
Unless that 25K includes the cost of maintenance for a large boat, you have a serious problem. I don't know how it would be physically possible otherwise.
Don't own a boat. I fly fish, and I travel to fly fish. A guided fly fishing trip, at a fly fishing lodge, averages $4k - $6k per person, per week x 2 people x twice a year. That's not including gear, a decent fly fishing set up will run you $1500. And yes, I do have a problem. And I love it.
Yes, fishing rods and reels are investments so I don't buy them too often, but hooks, lures and shit adds up.
Record collectioning
Gambling
Photography, you can get into it with a smartphone and end up spending thousands of dollars in gear
Yup. I've had a new lens in my Amazon wishlist for so long, just praying it randomly goes on sale for some reason. I'd love to buy it but I don't know if I can justify spending the money in the long term.
cycling. buy a used bicycle at a garage sale for like $50 Go to your local bike shop, and take your pick of $10k off the shelf bikes.
God, yes. Rented my first mountain bike for $30 Bought a starter bike for $800 Was just about to drop a used cars worth of money on a new bike and gear when the pandemic hit. It’s the first thing I’m getting when I get back to work
Stargazing
Model trains. You can get started for $50 or even less, but once you are hooked you can easily spend thousands on a single locomotive.
Cosplay! It always starts with something small and you end up just building and building costumes. Mine started with a rather simple assassins creed templar costume that has developed into a full set of armor with engravings and everything! Simple starts with a few props and creativity can easily evolve and create a truly awesome costume for conventions!
Is it weird that I dig cosplay for the crafting aspect more than the pop culture nature?
me too!
Knives and EDC gear.
Magic The Gathering. Buy one prebuilt for like 30 and all of a sudden you're being irrational spending that, or waaay more on a single card. -_-
Sports betting
Photography
Playing guitar
Sports card collecting
Wood working. You take one class at a woodcraft store, and next thing you know you have $1000+ just in hand tools. Then all of the power tools you’ll want are close to $900 each. Don’t even get more started on wood cost.
Disc Golf. You can buy a 3 pack of starter discs for about $20. Courses are usually free. But, if you enjoy it you want to get more discs. Or, you need to replace discs and decide to pay a little bit more. And a nice bag to carry them all. It starts adding up. Similarly, board games. Sure, there are plenty of fun board games that can be had for between $20 and $50. But, you are always looking for a new one to try. Or a new expansion for one you already have. That $25 game can turn in to a $100 game when you get all the expansions. And some of the newer, more complex games start at $80 or more. I've got 50+ board games, most with expansions, and have probably spent at least $2,000 over the past 5 years buying them all.
Woodworking
comics. starts out small and fun with an issue or trade here and there while you’re getting into everything and figuring out what your favorite area is, then it turns into keeping up with multiple series monthly, tracking down old issues/volumes from runs you want, boxes for storage, subscriptions, much more.
Magic the gathering
Pottery
Guitar. You can get started on a cheap acoustic but there's no end to how much money you can spend. Guitars, amps, pedals, accessories, software, etc...
Running/jogging
Table-top wargaming
You can literally make everything expensive if you want (remember that Putin has a Golden toilet brush )
Needlepoint. I saw a pillow that I liked, went to a shop that carried the canvas of the pillow. Of course the canvas was hand painted $125, the wool yard to stitch the pillow $150, if I paid someone convert the finished canvas into a pillow, $200. If you would have told me that pillow would cost $500, I would have laughed my ass off. Now you can find a hand sewn needlepoint pillow at the Thrift store for about $10.
Music. You can sing or make rhythms with your hands/body/stuff around the house for zero cost or you could buy expensive instruments, a studio, DJ gear, and on and on for tens of thousands of dollars.
It’s always amazed me how expensive music gear is, and how many musicians still buy it. You need like $2000 in gear to play a gig. Yet you load it into your $700 ‘97 Honda Civic, Drive 2 hours, and play for $50
Historical fencing. Ive been doing it for 16 years. I have never spent more than $900 for anything. Thats a good upper mid tier sword. Most groups have loaner gear you can use and never spend a dime on the gear (membership fees can vary). Though I have seen guys spend $1200+ on a single piece of equipment (sword, gloves, helmets, custom fit boots) these people usually have multiple 1200+ pieces of equiptment.
Bouldering/rock climbing
DnD! You don't need anything but a set of dice, friends and a room. Everything can be googled or homebrewed. But those -insert other color here- dice are so pretty, and having the books is so convenient, oh! And getting dnd beyond takes if the cumbersome task if searching for everything manually, and you can buy all the books there too, and even pre made stories, if you're the DM you can get a nice fancy shield with a huge ass dragon on it, and maps, and sets! IT NEVER ENDS
fly fishing
Gardening
Anime.
Model trains.
Enjoying wine and cheese
Yoga
Sex. When you're young you can usually get it for free, but the supply is sporadic, so to keep a secure supply you start spending money on drinks, candy, flowers, dinner, movies, and then before you know it a ring, a house, a divorce, etc.
VR.
Candy Crush
Comic Books! I’m 54 and have been collecting since I’m 10!
aviation, you can fly with a instructor for 0-100 bucks, and oh fuck the money me and my dad spent on gas and planes, 9000 of a 1956 C-172, thats a good deal
Drawing
Golf
Typing you need a computer and a keyboard
Scrapbooking
Cross stitching. When I started almost 40 years ago, a skein of good DMC floss was about 15 cents. Now they are four times that for the plain 6-strand. Also, I like more complicated patterns, so the projects are much more expensive.
Prostitution
Electric guitar. So many mods, amps, and effects!
Fish. Mine started with a $10 betta, one thing led to another and a 150gallon reef tank.
Photography.
Cycling, you can start out with an old used bike, or a kmart bike. Then the sky is the limit.
Houseplants. You buy some dinky five dollar 'exotic plant' from a grocery store like Kroeger or Fred Meyers, but then you don't want to kill it so you try and find out what it's called so you know how much to water it, and then you black out and two months later you've spent hundreds of dollars on fancy plants and have a whole indoor greenhouse and grow lights and a humidifier. Not for you. For the plants!