Don’t Let Your Hobbies Control Your Wallet: Funding Your Hobbies

When you seek financial advice from others, they will often say that hobbies will cost you money, and your daily work is what actually funds them. Hobbies like paper crafts, textile crafts, working on vehicles, r/c vehicles, models, and many others could have costly equipment or tools involved to complete that project. Your hobby could put a drain on your wallet over the long run, and if it is not under control, it could blow your budget in different areas of your life. Take these few tips to help fund your hobby, so you can find your joy for many years to come.

Budget

In many areas of personal finance, the place to start is to have a written plan in place. Always take care of the necessaries first, including food, transportation, shelter, electricity, water, and sanitation. Then you are going to write down your other financial oblations such as credit card debt, student loan debt, car payments, streaming services, gym memberships, etc. The last line item you should add is an allowance of how much you could spend on your hobbies.

Giving yourself a limit of how much you can spend on your hobbies should help you to curb the costs as you enjoy your hobby. Do not put purchases for your hobbies on your credit card or go into other debt to maintain your interest in your hobby.

Cut Expenses

Now that you have your budget written down, go through each item and determine if it can be cut or dropped to allow more funds to flow toward your hobby. For example, if your hobby is riding bicycles, you might not need your gym membership to exercise. Another example is if you find your hobby entertaining, do you need all of the streaming services?

Carry Cash

If you tend to overspend on your hobbies, it might be in your best interest to only use cash to purchase supplies for your interest. Studies have shown that when you use cash to pay for an item, it triggers pain in your brain. However, with credit cards or debit cards, the brain does not recognize that the transaction is real and allows you to spend more money.

Buy Used

When you search for new equipment or start a new hobby, do your homework and attempt to purchase an item used whenever possible. However, buying used equipment does take a certain amount of knowledge. Find a mentor already in the field and ask for advice on finding reliable and not damaged equipment.

Start a Business Around Your Hobby

For many people, it is their dream to make money based on a hobby or something that they love. Starting a business based on a hobby could be as easy as starting an Etsy or eBay account. For example, if you love to work on cars, you might decide to put your services out in your neighborhood to fix other people’s cars. When starting your own business, the critical point is knowing exactly how much supplies and time it would cost.