Comments on: My Current Spending Vices and Devices: Photography and Coins

By: John

John — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 18:51:13 +0000

I have a very small personal spending budget of $500 dollars a month. The budget include about $60/month for gas and $15/month for Friday eat out at a local burger restaurant. The rest of the budget of $425/month is for misc shopping.

I’m glad I never got interested in electronic gadgets, clothing, shoes, cable tv, high speed internet, oversea vacation. I don’t remember the last time I spent a buck on those stuff; otherwise I would not have much saving for future rainy days

By: Chloe

Chloe — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 20:27:00 +0000

I believe that hobbies can excite and do stimulate the mind and enrich the soul and make you an interesting person. Hobbies also are a form of wholesome meditation. They can lead to earning an income. Your hobbies can educate your children and guide them into wholesome interests. The earlier in your life you spend money on your hobby to grow it the greater the quality of your journey through life and the achievement in your hobby – I don’t believe you should save to the extreme for your old age and sacrifice the quality of your journey when young or middle-aged.
I believe the money you spend on hobbies which leads to life enrichment till the end of your life span is money very well spent.
Rather live frugally and cut down on other budgetary expenses to allow for more hobby finance eg: cell phone costs, entertainment and food costs etc.
For example I’ve just cancelled my cell phone contract and bought a prepaid ‘straight talk’ cellphone package from WalMart for $45 per month for unlimited calls and text messages. I save about $1200 over 2 years moving to this prepaid package and it even pays me to pay the cancellation fee of my contract.. Another dirt cheap prepaid ‘Straight talk’ package is the $30 one for 1000 any where/any time minutes and 1000 text messages.

Another example of cutting costs on a daily basis – buy a cook book of ‘low budget’ recipes – just because the ingredients are low cost doesn’t mean the food is not as tasty as recipes with more expensive ingredients. Get creative with new food combinations, and spices.

By: Terry

Terry — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 22:28:31 +0000

Photography and coins are – to me at least – a great combination. I would like to learn coin photography.

By: Ryan @ SpillingBuckets

Ryan @ SpillingBuckets — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 12:04:52 +0000

HA, We share the same interests. I just purchased a Canon 7D a few months ago, and while I have a lot more learning to do, I absolutely love it. We also inherited my grandfathers and my mother-in-laws coin collections and since then have been totally hooked. The digging through rolls of bank coins has worn off a little, but we now attend coin shows and will probably start building to the collection slowly over time. Just not enough time in the day.

Best,
Ryan & Leslie @ Spilling Buckets

By: Ace of Wealth

Ace of Wealth — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 06:12:38 +0000

It’s great that you’re getting a chance to enjoy your money. I recently started taking up many outdoor hobbies which have fairly expensive startup costs, but it’s great to be able to enjoy my money on things that make me happy. I recently wrote about making financial compromises here:
http://aceofwealth.com/2010/02/finacial-compromises/

To me the most important thing to understand that you’re making a tradeoff. As long as you know that you’ll be happy with that tradeoff later one then I say go for it.

By: Austin

Austin — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 01:45:16 +0000

My girlfriend and I really enjoy good meals either at home or at restaurants. We don’t pinch pennies in that category because it’s something we both love and get a lot of enjoyment from. We also don’t eat 30 meals out a month, so there is some restraint there.

I still find it hard to say “buy it” to myself even when I can afford it. There’s something in my makeup that always says that money could be used better else where.

Enjoy the new toys, Flexo!

- Austin @ Foreigner’s Finances

By: Candide

Candide — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 22:12:48 +0000

My only advice is collections like coins should be for YOUR enjoyment, not for the idea of passing them on to another generation to enjoy. My father and grandfather both collected coins and stamps, and nobody in my generation cares about them; we would sell them in a heartbeat.

By: SteveDH

SteveDH — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 20:02:57 +0000

You caputed my interest right up until you mentioned the Richard fella…….just kidding.
We often here people say “They got what they deserved.” but it is usually tied to a prison sentence rather than nice things. Enjoy your success – and your art!!!!

By: Terry

Terry — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 18:26:39 +0000

A high-grade 20th century type set has long been a dream of mine. I am sufficiently ancient that I collected coins from circulation as a kid – my prized find was a Fine 1932-S – and even remember Buffalo nickels, Standing Libertyt Quarters and Walking Liberty half dollars in circulation.

p.s. As one living on a poverty-level income, I’d say that just about everyone (in North America) could save and invest more.

By: Erica Douglass

Erica Douglass — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 17:23:12 +0000

I’m debt-free and the two things I enjoy spending on most are art and experiences.

I made a commitment years ago that when I sold my company, I would buy some art by Romero Britto. He’s one of my favorite artists. When I sold my business, Richard and I went on a cruise and the art auction there offered a set of 5 prints of his! I ended up buying 6 of his works total, plus several other pieces (including a nice limited-edition Rockwell reprint for my dad’s office as a thank you to him.) Total cost about $12,000–but they are hanging all over my house and they look fantastic!

As a bonus, buying art on a cruise incurs no tax, and the prices are often cheaper.

Richard and I recently went on another cruise. We visited Belize, Honduras, and Mexico. I went zip lining through the jungle and cave tubing through a river. Don’t regret spending that money, either.

I have no debt and I fully fund my IRA every year, plus make a lot of taxable investments…so I’m happy I get to do things I enjoy. Of course, there are plenty of free things I enjoy, too. :)

-Erica

By: Steve

Steve — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 16:23:14 +0000

My wife and I have been spending our money on vacations, two each year. We’ve recently started a new project that I suspect will soak up all our extra funds – a child.

I started out my adult life with student loans and a new vehicle loan, however I paid those off pretty quickly and am now maxing out various accounts. We’ve got our “down payment account” up high enough that it could pay for 20% of any house we’d currently consider (even though we haven’t bought one and aren’t even looking), so we were pretty much out of things to spend money on. Both my wife and I have always been naturally frugal.

By: Ken

Ken — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 16:09:35 +0000

Now you need to get the 7D to take advantage of the focusing offered by the 100mm.

By: Evan

Evan — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 14:55:14 +0000

I bought my wife a dSLR for Christmas this year…WOAH I had no idea what those things cost and then as soon as we bought it the upsell on other products is NUTS. I am still waiting for her to learn how to use it.

I actually don’t have any hobbies (sounds kind of sound) – the only thing I spend money on is going out, and recently a lot of bachelor parties.

By: Flexo

Flexo — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 14:12:24 +0000

Smithee: Perhaps but I could always do more. You never know if the choices you make will lead to the result you desire, even if you choose to follow all the typical advice. The future is unpredictable and all we can do is make best guesses.

By: Flexo

Flexo — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 14:09:03 +0000

I don’t think any of my friends have a compatible camera; in fact as far as I know I’m the only one into photography. Sharing lenses is something I would consider though.

By: SteveDH

SteveDH — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 13:59:58 +0000

I took a two week cruise to Hawaii last year with my Rebel XSi, various accessories and – oh yeah – my wife. (some 40 year anniversary or something) Even though I’m retired and do not have anymore “Savings Plans” to contribute to, I still budget and spend less than I receive in pension income. Two years into retirement and I haven’t touched any of my investments or tapped any savings accounts. As Smithee suggested, you need not feel guilty when enjoying what you’ve earned as long as you’re meeting your financial responsibilities and maintaining a plan to insure your future.

“Budgets are like underwear – we shouldn’t feel comfortable without them” ..somebody said this …really!

By: mapgirl

mapgirl — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 13:56:12 +0000

Would it help you to know that Bill Gross the head of PIMCO is an avid stamp collector? (I saw a part of his collection at the National Postal Museum in DC.)

Wait till you start buying lights and backdrops. :-) Do you share lenses amongst friends?

By: Smithee

Smithee — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 13:29:58 +0000

Anybody who can say this:

“I’m currently investing in my 401(k) up to the government-mandated maximum as well as in my SEP IRA as much as possible each year.”

should never feel guilty or worried about spending money on the things they enjoy.