As golf season kicks into high season here in the Northeast, I’ve decided to review my hobbies not just because they are important part of anyone’s budget, but because they’re important part of everyone’s life. I’ll be the first to admit, I have some expensive hobbies. However unlike some other personal finance bloggers, I don’t preach just having cheap hobbies. It’s great if you can have cheap hobbie, but sometimes hobbies choose you and not the other way around. However, I do think there are ways to minimize costs.

Golf

Equipment and green fees are expensive. However, I think most golfers are better off not spending a ton of money on top of the line equipment. Buy used when you can. A club that costs $100 a new can be had for $10 used. Especially if you’re a hacker like me, the club is most likely going to be chipped after a few holes. I may be the exception but I’ve never purchased a club as I’ve been lucky enough to get hand me downs, first from my brother and then later from a friend. Green fees in the Boston area are expensive easily running $40-50 for good but not great course. Besides playing at cheaper courses, the other thing to take advantage of are late afternoon/evening rates that some courses offer. Estimated Yearly Cost: $700 (for 15 or so rounds at around $45/round) + $100 for equipment. Golfers who belong to country clubs can easily spend in excess of tens of thousands per year on member fees.

Skiing/Snowboarding

Like golf skiing or snowboarding is expensive because of both equipment cost and use fees (lift tickets). Travel costs then take another big bite out the wallet. Few people are conveniently located near a ski slope and as result transportation and lodging can be substantial. Good thing I snowboard much less than I golf. Though I’m a much better snowboarder than golfer - that’s more of statement on my golf game as I’m pretty bad snowboarder.  Used equipment makes somewhat less sense here given the more fitted nature of ski equipment. Only the actual Skis, and Snowboard really make sense to buy used.  Boots should be personally broken in, and be the right size.  The cost of lift tickets are hard to avoid.   Besides owning a Jeep and taking advantage of Jeep appreciation day (2 free lift tickets), it’s not that easy to score free lift tickets.  However if you really do ski alot, a season pass can make sense.

Videogames

The best days of playing video games are well behind me. Most of my gaming took place on Apple //c. I currently own a Wii, but don’t play it all that much. Gaming as far as cost $/hour is quite cheap. That may be reflection of the large denominator. Playing games take alot of time, and the actual cost of any given video game is low. For example a standard action video game might cost $60, but deliver 60 hours of playing time. $/Hour is pretty a good rate. If you buy and keep alot of video games, the costs can add up. However if you instead buy used, and play quickly, and resell the game, the actual cost of a video game be quite low. As low as $10-$15 a game depending on how long you keep the game. Given that games are just software, there’s really no need to own a Game CD/DVD new. Of course the real cost of gaming is time. Like any Hobby , playing videogames takes time. However given the number of folks who have died in Asia from not stop gaming, the time suck nature of video games is quite apparent.

Cooking/Entertaining

I enjoy entertaining and cooking for friends. I definitely do not do this as often as I’d like, and less often than I used to. While I’m always happy to spend the money, entertaining friends can be quite expensive. I will be the first to admit much of this is my fault. Since I cook on a irregular basis, I end up needing to buying excess ingredients that often go to waste. Some of this is related to packaging size, but much of this is due to bad estimations on my part. If you’re going to entertain be accurate with the guest count, and don’t buy too much food. You want enough for leftovers, but you don’t want too much in leftovers.

Blogging

This is my one hobby that doesn’t cost anything beyond what I already own, a computer and internet connection. Like gaming, it’s a big time suck. But unlike video games, it’s actually a productive use of time.