Hobbies - A Grumble

I found myself grumbling to myself the other day about how hobbies are expensive.  Now, that's an oversimplification but let me explain...

To enjoy a hobby, in my experience, it's best if you have good....stuff.  Supplies.  Gear.  Whatever.

Like, say you want to take up running, yay!  Well, if you try to run in your flip flops, it's going to be bad.  If you buy, however, a cheap pair of runners, it's going to be.... still bad.  But if you invest in a really good pair of runners, it will be less bad.  And you'll be less likely to injure yourself.  And you may actually want to keep doing it for longer because it's not terrible.  Except running is terrible so that was a bad example.

Take this hot yoga thing I've been trying.  You really don't need much.  I already had a good yoga mat someone gave me, so yay, and I bought an inexpensive "hot yoga towel".  Which... is fine.  Except it does all the things the expensive ones don't... which is annoying.  But do I really want to invest in a hundred (ish) dollar towel?  Maybe?  But what if it doesn't stick?  I mean, my "doing" of hot yoga.  So the cheap towel it is for now.

But good gear is worth the money.  For sure.  It makes things so much better.  I've stopped buying dollar store paint for example because it cracks if you use it too thickly and it's just.. not as awesome.  The pricier paint from the art store?  Lovely.  Wonderful to work with.  Can't go back.  So much more enjoyable and with better results.  I just try to wait for it to go on sale and stock up then.

But say I wanted to try something like stand up paddle boarding.  I could, I'm sure, rent one to try, but if I liked it, then what?  All my experience with the "cheap" version of things tells me not to cheap out.  But how do you know if it's worth spending a whole lot of money for the more expensive board paddle, cold weather "clothing", and whatever else would help make you so much more comfortable?

Sure, you can get into a hobby inexpensively... but man, it's so much nicer to try things when you pay good money for good... things.

Final example... ukulele.  First time I tried one it was an inexpensive kid's one that Santa had brought someone.  And even without having my own at the time I could tell it wasn't in tune and the parent involved told me it pretty much wasn't able to stay in tune.  Which would sound terrible for everyone involved.  When I went to buy my own ukulele I tried a few in the store and the one I chose had the nicest sound... and the higher (not quite highest!) price tag.  But I don't imagine I would have enjoyed learning on something that made my ears bleed, you know?  But for a week or two I wondered if I'd wasted a lot of money.  (The store assured me I'd be able to sell it second hand if I ever needed/wanted to, so I knew I'd probably get at least a few bucks back.)  So to start up ukulele as a hobby, I didn't just pick up the dollar store equivalent.... and I keep finding out that that is the way to go with things.  At least for me.  Your mileage may vary I suppose... but I don't think it will all that much.