Personally I don't think things that are 90% purchase/consumption (housing/renovations/appliances) are hobbies in the same way as photography/kitesurfing/gardening/cycling which may be expensive but have some sort of skill/learning/activity attached.
I remember two stories among many:
He once told me he was upgrading the doorknobs and hinges in this house. The bill just for those items came to $45K.
We were both getting coffee in the office once, and he looked towards me and ask, “My socks cost more than everything you’re wearing.”
And he liked me.
- Look at this, got me this tie for $1000
- Hah what a dummy you are, they sell them for 1200 two blocks away!
That’s a strange thing to waste money on for signaling. It just showed the lack of understanding on marginal utility on commodity items.
I think you're showing the lack of understanding of marginal utility.
By the time you're spending $45k on doorknobs, $400 on socks might offer equal marginal utility per dollar.
That's kind of whats interesting about the modern economy is we can all express our preferences in how we spend. The bottom end has gotten much cheaper and the top end has gotten exponentially more expensive, and in many markets the middle has sort of disappeared.
This contrasts a lot with the 1950s boom era where there was a big thick middle end and not a huge range from bottom to top.
There is no such plain ladies’ fit t-shirt consistently offered anymore. Either tissue-thin and less than $20, or involves a silly print and/or ruffles and lace.
This enrages me so much. I hate cheap crap, but I equally hate over the top, necessary, expensive crap.
I prefer something well made, with minimal functions, for a middle price. But finding this is becoming increasingly rare as time goes on.
But people often conflate "investment" & consumption when its anything related to home renovation. I'd still argue these types of "hobbies" are 90% consumption, and for most of the people I know.. usually financed with loans.
No one I know with a $100k kitchen cooks any better than my poor immigrant grandmother did.
I also have a restaurant grade toaster. It costs quite a bit more than the usual toasters do. But the usual ones would always break after a year or two. The restaurant toaster makes better toast, and has worked fine for 25 years now. It was actually cheaper to get the restaurant grade one over the long haul.