I'm on a Budget
 

It's budget time as I'm doing an internet spreadsheet to come up with costs this year for all my hobbies. What to buy; what to buy later; what I'll avoid buying.
And much of my search is for the less than best of the best. I'm on a budget and have to find the funds to just keep all my hobbies going.

From the looks of my spreadsheet, those one sport hobbiests, sure have advantages. They can better select the best of the best items and not think about it. And those without hobbies have nothing to spend.

I'm on a budget.

Here's how I go about it (being a project manager I do this for a living)...
1. Prioritize your hobbies - which one is your absolute passion you couldn't live without. Put each one in a column. Column A would be #1, B would be #2, and so on.
2. Under each column put your needs under each hobby and prioritize them as you see fit. Put the cost of each next to it.

Your number one priority for purchase should be in column A2 (assuming A1 = Bowhunting). #2 priority is A3 and so on. At some point you'll get to the point in the A column where items in the B column will be higher priority. Start tackling the B column. Or you can take the approach of all hobbies being equal and attack Row 2, left to right.

Additionally, if there are items you don't use or hobbies you don't care as much about, start selling things off to increase your budget.

Keep in mind, it's only as expensive as you want to make it :)

Pretty much what he said at the end. I do alot of hobbies, mountain biking, camping, backpacking, fishing both saltwater and freshwater but mainly saltwater and hunting. It can add up and it certainly does but keep in mind you should never try to do all things at once. Track the items, i tend to prioritize as mentioned above and purchase things out of season while on sale to cut back on costs. Used items are the way to go as well but also realize that many items can sufficiently do the job, or even dual purpose. The more expensive or single track items may just have more bells and whistles.