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Comment by Tade0 | Hacker News Reader

As someone with a similar story: I've found that there's a third cost and that's real estate.

As in: things take up space and if you consider the cost of that suddenly everything becomes expensive.

I while ago I wanted to buy a threadmill - I think I could get a decent one for €1000. BUT it would occupy two square metres in my apartment, so the space for that item is worth €5000 in my area.

€6000 for a threadmill? I think I'd rather use one of the two gyms available within a five minute walk.

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I don't think this analogy quite makes sense. You didn't use that space before buying a treadmill anyway.

If anything you actually paid 5000€ to not use it at all. Money wasted. But if you buy a treadmill you're finally putting it to use and starting to generate a ROI.

Unless you're thinking about large homes, these empty square meters are absolutely needed and healthy. You need space to walk in your home, it's much more pleasing psychologically than clutter (or even slabs of "organized" stuff), and reduces claustrophobia. So yeah, the space constraints can absolutely make some hobbies, or owning too many physical books and media etc., too costly.

It probably isn't quite that expensive since you don't buy the floor space with cash but a low-interest, high-leverage loan. And the resale value of that space is probably over 100%.

A better calculation would be annual costs. So say 2% mortgage × €5000 = €100/year. While the treadmill is €1000 / 5 years = €200 / year.

And a fourth cost for many items: time to clean and maintain them.

A lot of my hobbies require time devoted to maintenance. Woodworking, for instance. Lots of tools to keep sharp.

This is covered by the secondary cost already, isn't it?

This is so true. And there's an added time tax on the backend to declutter, and sometimes a monetary tax, just to get rid of stuff.

Along the same lines as realising that you'll eventually want to get rid of things is realising—at the time of purchase—that there'll be a cost (time, money, emotional) to getting rid of it is a healthier way of thinking.

The idea that getting rid of stuff is _just_ getting rid of stuff is missing the "third" cost, discussed here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30042285

Or walk right on past the gym. Once you're outside and walking, going inside to walk on the gym's machine isn't an improvement.

Running might be different, depending on your local streets.

That depends on climate and weather quite a bit. I'll walk five minutes in heavy rain / sub-freezing / muggy weather to spend an hour indoors, but not want to walk around for an hour in those conditions.

I can't tolerate the drudgery of any cardio machine that isn't a rower, but that's basically irrelevant.

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