Go On, Spend It
Not every hobby has to be cheap, and there’s nothing wrong with spending money on something that genuinely makes life more interesting. Some pastimes require expensive equipment, specialized training, travel, or regular upgrades, but the enjoyment, skills, memories, and experiences they provide can make the cost feel worthwhile. Of course, whether something is worth every penny depends on your budget, but a hobby that brings you consistent happiness is often money better spent than people realize.
1. Photography
Once you start wanting more than an amateur camera, photography can become surprisingly expensive. Lenses, tripods, lights, editing software, and other gadgets all take up a larger share of your wallet but also allow for more control over your photos. It can also make you pay more attention to the world around you as you search for subjects to photograph.
Nicolas Ladino Silva on Unsplash
2. Scuba Diving
You don’t often get to experience another world from your backyard quite like you can with scuba diving. Getting certified, purchasing equipment, and going on diving trips can set you back quite a bit. However, once you start diving, there’s always the chance to see amazing marine life, underwater views, and unique locations.
Sebastian Pena Lambarri on Unsplash
3. Horseback Riding
Patience and attentiveness are just a couple of qualities horseback riding requires. It also requires money, more than you might initially think. Lessons, equipment, boarding fees, food, and veterinarian bills add up quickly. Eventually, owning a horse of your own can become a huge expense.
4. Skiing and Snowboarding
Winter sports are experts at draining your wallet before you even reach the mountain. Lift tickets, equipment, clothing, travel expenses, and accommodations all add up quickly. Spending the day skiing or snowboarding helps you improve with every run down the slopes, though.
5. Playing a Musical Instrument
Learning to play an instrument can be fairly inexpensive at first. Before you know it, you’re buying more advanced instruments, paying for lessons, maintaining your instrument, buying accessories, and more. Musical instruments also have a tendency to need repairs that cost more than you expected to pay.
6. Traveling
You know traveling is expensive when there’s always another place you want to visit. Flights, hotels, meals, attractions, and transportation can all become overwhelming as you add up the costs. However, traveling is an experience few other hobbies can offer.
7. Sailing
Owning a boat isn’t enough to just sail around once you obtain it. Lessons, marina space, boat maintenance, safety equipment, and repairs all become costs of this hobby. Many who sail love the freedom of being on the open water.
8. Golf
People who golf tend to spend money on clubs, lessons, days at the range, golf balls, and club memberships. Before you know it, what was once a mild interest has turned into an expensive hobby. Many people also spend hours practicing to perfect even a small portion of their swing.
9. Mountain Biking
Once you start getting serious about mountain biking, your bike is only the beginning. Protective gear, repairs, upgrades, transportation, and getting to those trails are all costs of the hobby. Mountain biking teaches you about new trails, gives you exercise, improves your adventure storytelling, and offers you more reasons to get outside.
10. Cooking and Fine Dining
If you love food, you can spend a shocking amount of money on cookware, ingredients, dining out, cookbooks, and more. Finding a specialty pan or high-end ingredient can make you question your life choices. However, that meal you create or amazing dish you taste will usually last longer than that guilty feeling.
11. Collecting Watches
For many watch collectors, expensive is an understatement. Watches can range from affordable to five-figure prices. Watch enthusiasts also spend their time researching different brands, movements, history, and rare finds.
12. Motorsports
Track days, karting, auto racing, and more can all become expensive hobbies in the world of motorsports. Vehicles, safety gear, maintenance, tires, fuel, and even event fees can eat away at your wallet. It’s a hobby that demands respect and proper financial planning.
13. Woodworking
You can start woodworking with only a few tools and then watch as it takes over your garage. High-quality saws, drills, routers, clamps, workbenches, wood, and more can set you back some serious cash. The nice thing about woodworking is that you get to create useful pieces with your own two hands.
14. Home Brewing
Brewing your own drinks or experimenting with other homemade beverages requires equipment, ingredients, storage space, and plenty of patience. While it might seem like a money-saving hobby at first, serious hobbyists quickly discover how tempting it is to buy more specialized gear. The fun comes from experimenting with recipes and learning how small changes affect the finished product.
15. Surfing
Sure, surfing looks easy from the beach, but there’s more to it than strapping on a board. Lessons, boards, wetsuits, travel expenses, and finding the perfect waves all cost money. If you don’t live near the ocean, surfing can get even more expensive.
16. Flying Lessons
Pilot classes and learning to fly are expensive. You’ll go through hours of flight instruction, renting aircraft, taking exams, and more, all of which will take up quite a bit of your time and money.
17. Gaming
Gamers can pick up games for fairly cheap prices, but watch your hobby grow into a money pit quickly. High-end gaming computers, consoles, TVs, accessories, games, subscriptions, and collector’s editions are some of the many things that can add up. Gaming provides you with hundreds of hours of enjoyment, creative storytelling, and playing with friends.
18. Learning to Paint
Painting can get expensive as your skills improve and you look for better paints, brushes, and canvases. Art classes and workshops will also add to the cost if you’d like some expert guidance. Whenever you create a painting, you learn something new that you can use for the next piece.
Birmingham Museums Trust on Unsplash
19. Restoring Classic Cars
Expect the unexpected when you decide to restore a classic car. You’ll go through new parts, tools, possibly professional repairs, storage space, and more headaches than you care to admit. However, there’s nothing more satisfying than taking an older car and making it run like new.
20. Competitive Cycling
Cycling takes up a lot more of your bank account than buying a bicycle and riding around. High-quality bikes, clothing, shoes, maintenance costs, event fees, and travel will all add up. Competitive cycling allows you to test your skills against others, join cycling events, and be a part of an active community.
