Why I'll never own a house
I’m not sure if it’s because I’m particularly clumsy, but I’m always finding mysterious bruises on various limbs, with no idea how they got there.
This morning, it was one on my arm. I spotted it in the mirror as I was attempting to do my hair and try as I might, I cannot think how it got there. I don’t recall colliding with the barre – or the floor - in ballet class last night.
Random bruises, scrapes and blisters, however, while sometimes painful are often a bit of a badge of honour for the recreational athlete. It’s almost like you’re not really in training if you don’t have a few of these, along with those vibrant tan lines from your shorts.
It’s a brand, a bit like the chain tattoo up the back of your calf that you didn’t notice in the shower. You might as well have a neon sign flashing above your head "cyclist, cyclist, cyclist" – well, you get the idea.
I lost two toenails in my first Ironman. No-one warned me about this sort of issue when I took up training, so I was somewhat surprised when two of my toenails fell off. As you would be, had you never experienced it.
It was not the last time. I’ve lost just about every toenail at some point. But it seems a small price to pay for a hobby. It’s certainly a lot less than the financial outlay over the years.
I thought I might write a blog on that today. Eight years of training and competing. At a conservative guess, that’s at least 12 pairs of shoes. So, around $3600.
Two bikes, coming in at close to $5000. That’s not including services, tyres, tubes, chain lubricant, which would add at least another $600. Three Ironman entry fees – close to $2000. Easily that amount again for multiple smaller events over the years.
Then there’s the clothing. Cycling shorts and shirts. T-shirts, running shorts, thermals, gloves (those suckers are easy to lose), windbreakers, rain jackets, tights and hats. I'm not even sure how much that's set me back. Socks and sports bras alone have probably set me back $1000.
Good god, if I keep going, it’s going to add up to a deposit on a house I’m unlikely to ever own. It’s more than a little alarming, so with that in mind, I’m going to stop. Hence my lack of a complete blog entry on the subject.
Even if you’re not into sport, have you got an expensive hobby? And please tell me I’m not the only clumsy bruise-prone person?
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I can never go mountain biking without coming home with a few bruises, most of them are just general knock bruises but I've been known to come home with grazes up my leg and handle bar bruises on my arm.
As for what I spend on my hobbies, my head is in the sand on this one!
I keep justifying the price of being a triathlete, by saying it is cheaper than a fishing boat.... I am just beginning to think I might be wrong.
I bought a harness & shoes for indoor climbing last year - paid for themselves within 8 months by not having to hire gear.
Skiing's my most expensive hobby, though I'm pretty much set in terms of gear now. It's just the tickets/transport/on-mountain costs now. Club fields are good for keeping the costs down, but I'm finding they require me to put in a bit more pre-season training than if I was riding chairs all day.
Otherwise, my book collection's out of control. My flatmates always think I'm weird because I have my own bookcase. And use it. DVDs & CDs I have a replacement system - one must go in order to gain another, but books I can't ever let go of, no matter how bad they are!
If my dodgy maths is right this works out at about $5 a day over the last 8 years. Even if you add in the cost of gyms and swimming its probably still less than $10. If you haven't had 10 times that much enjoyment out of your activities I'll be very surprised. Don't be concerned. House ownership is overrated.
If those costs worry you then it's probably best you never own a house. If you start with a "doer upper" you can easily sink well over $100K into it and still be nowhere near finished.
I sank $40K into my last car and had to sell it when my first child was bron, and I got less than half that back. I hadn't even got it cloe to the point I wanted it at either.
Now I'm back to sinking money into a house again. Thousands of dollars disappear in an instant.
Holy crap! You have to PAY around $700 to enter an iron-man competition? I bet you've having 2nd thoughts about the wisdom of THAT decision when you hit the wall, lol ;-)
My quest for world domination seems cheap by comparison ;-)
Racing cars. Enough said.
One day at a track you can kiss goodbye to $150 worth of gas, $200 - $400 worth of tyres (depending on how soft they are), $200 worth of brake pads. Oh, and that's at a cheap event where assuming all goes well you don't crash, or actually break anything.
Meantime you've spent over the years $15000 developing a car that cost you $1000 to buy. At the end of it, the car is worth about $4000. Bye bye $12,000 + running costs.
I should have taken up knitting.
But on the positive side, my mountain bike cost $150
used to do smallbore but as soon as you get really good then you have to consider really expensive rifles and all the other extras. Sticking to writing now and working the barefoot running thing so I only pay about $4-$10 per pair of 'barefoot running shoes' (also know as aqua socks..)
You're not the only clumsy, bruise prone person... Arnica should be your bestest friend. I teach pole fitness and have broken my toes kicking poles, bruise myself weekly and am nursing a sore shoulder from falling on my head (note to self, don't dismount in handstands if you can't do them...).
It's also expensive at about $1k for a good pole*, plus shorts and singlets and shoes aren't cheap. But it's cheaper than Ironman...
*yes I know there are cheaper ones out there, but they are really dangerous due to being fakes or not engineered well. Many wouldn't even hold up an Olsen twin or Nicole Richie, let alone a normal kiwi female and when you're inverted, holding on by one knee you just don't want to take that risk.
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Expensive hobby? Hmm, yeah just a little bit.
$28k at last count for the current race car development over the last 4 years. That's quite a small amount compared to what some people can and do spend on them though.
Photography being another expensive hobby but mostly just dreaming about high end lenses and camera bodies at the moment.
Indoor rock climbing is relatively cheap by comparison at under $1000 to get membership and enough gear to get started.
We won't discuss mountain biking or computer hardware though.