Time, Money, and Hobbies (or "The Plight of the Jack-of-all-Trades")
I do a lot of really excellent thinking in the car, and since I am in my car often enough to put ~2,000 miles/month on my dear vehicle, I am able to accomplish a lot of thinking.
I have a lot of activities that I either currently participate in or would like to participate in. I have a finite amount of time and money. I forecast both of these to remain pretty constant, unless something major changes. The only possible major change on the horizon would be having a child (don't get exclamation pointy, I'm not pregnant at this moment), which almost certainly changes the whole game with regard to time, money, and hobbies, and thus is not even going to be considered as a factor in this discussion. I am also excluding things I have to do for work. I am not excluding the fact that there is an acceptable range of time per week during which Joe would like me around (somewhere between "Not 24/7 because everyone needs their alone time" and "Do you still live here?")
I've been thinking about all this because I have recently been considering training for a sprint triathlon. While I don't anticipate the training will take that much more time than I can reasonably allocate on a daily basis for exercise (I do make an effort to spend time every day "working out" in some way, although my success at this varies), I get a very strong sense that it will require some additional funding, even if I try my best not to go gear-crazy. I already participate in multiple gear-intensive hobbies (surfing, diving, guitar-playing) anyway. This has me feeling a bit hesitant.
Let's break it down.
Run - I just bought new shoes, so I'm set here.
Bike - Have a bike, but it needs a tuneup ($50)
Swim - All set for a suit, but will probably need to train in a pool (~$100) until the ocean is warm enough to do open water swims instead
The event itself is ~$75-100 to register too.
I think that's pretty much the cheapest way to do things, although to be honest I am sure I would incur at least a couple hundred more to increase my comfort (hydration, nutrition, bike shorts...)
I've become a bit of a miser ever since I started keeping a budget. Anyway, I just have so many things I want to do, and hate feeling like something is limiting that (money OR time.)
Timewise, I find myself thinking about the things I have to do around the house (i.e. regular chores) plus the things I should do (e.g. fix our yard/garden), and that doesn't even get into maintaining my current hobbies (practice a cappella music, practices for bands, practice guitar, maintain some level of trombone skill, go surfing, go diving). The thing is, I really enjoy doing all these things, and I like being super-busy. I don't mind being scheduled back-to-back and driving all over the place, but when I am, that means I'm not home either doing the things I should be doing or want to be doing there (hobbies that require home practice excluded, but if I am practicing, I am not spending time with Joe per se.)
So, the rambling point is that while I don't really think training for the triathlon will cause me problems, the overall concept of another thing that uses time/money has given me an opportunity to really think.
I have a lot of activities that I either currently participate in or would like to participate in. I have a finite amount of time and money. I forecast both of these to remain pretty constant, unless something major changes. The only possible major change on the horizon would be having a child (don't get exclamation pointy, I'm not pregnant at this moment), which almost certainly changes the whole game with regard to time, money, and hobbies, and thus is not even going to be considered as a factor in this discussion. I am also excluding things I have to do for work. I am not excluding the fact that there is an acceptable range of time per week during which Joe would like me around (somewhere between "Not 24/7 because everyone needs their alone time" and "Do you still live here?")
I've been thinking about all this because I have recently been considering training for a sprint triathlon. While I don't anticipate the training will take that much more time than I can reasonably allocate on a daily basis for exercise (I do make an effort to spend time every day "working out" in some way, although my success at this varies), I get a very strong sense that it will require some additional funding, even if I try my best not to go gear-crazy. I already participate in multiple gear-intensive hobbies (surfing, diving, guitar-playing) anyway. This has me feeling a bit hesitant.
Let's break it down.
Run - I just bought new shoes, so I'm set here.
Bike - Have a bike, but it needs a tuneup ($50)
Swim - All set for a suit, but will probably need to train in a pool (~$100) until the ocean is warm enough to do open water swims instead
The event itself is ~$75-100 to register too.
I think that's pretty much the cheapest way to do things, although to be honest I am sure I would incur at least a couple hundred more to increase my comfort (hydration, nutrition, bike shorts...)
I've become a bit of a miser ever since I started keeping a budget. Anyway, I just have so many things I want to do, and hate feeling like something is limiting that (money OR time.)
Timewise, I find myself thinking about the things I have to do around the house (i.e. regular chores) plus the things I should do (e.g. fix our yard/garden), and that doesn't even get into maintaining my current hobbies (practice a cappella music, practices for bands, practice guitar, maintain some level of trombone skill, go surfing, go diving). The thing is, I really enjoy doing all these things, and I like being super-busy. I don't mind being scheduled back-to-back and driving all over the place, but when I am, that means I'm not home either doing the things I should be doing or want to be doing there (hobbies that require home practice excluded, but if I am practicing, I am not spending time with Joe per se.)
So, the rambling point is that while I don't really think training for the triathlon will cause me problems, the overall concept of another thing that uses time/money has given me an opportunity to really think.