Are you embarrassed or even able to admit to your spouse/partner how much you spend on model railroading?
…
A family patriarch lived in an insular land, with a strict moral code. The family was wealthy, not because of hard work and enterprise, but because the family was of ruling class and the lands produced, with little effort or expense, a product highly demanded around the world. The patriarch sent his son to college in Berlin to provide a well-rounded education because the home country could not provide such despite it’s great wealth being all were wealthy and need not be productive
His son wrote a letter a couple of months upon his Berlin arrival. He said he was enjoying the experience but that he was embarrassed He explained that while he rode in a solid-gold Ferrari, his professors and fellow students used the train.
The patriarch wrote back. “Son, I have transferred 200 million Euros to your account. Do not further embarrass your family. Buy your own train.”
However, my wife and I each keep our own finances. I don’t ask what she spends hers on and she, usually, doesn’t ask what I spend mine on. So we have our own version of “Don’t ask, Don’t tell” going on… [(-D]
Are you kidding? My wife has a very good idea of how many thousands I have invested. She is often bringing me home things for the layout. Once she brought me home an Atlas gold series Trainmaster and said “can you use this to pull those new cars you bought”. ( Rapido Passenger Coaches) I said “I can, however the loco with this # didn’t have the steam generator in it so I will need to buy another Trainmaster with one of these #s on it so the coaches will have heat”. I was kidding, but a couple of days later she walks in with another Trainmaster in the # range that had the steam generators in them. It alway’s seems to happen the day after the night before.[:-^]
Three streams of money pour (well, trickle) into three separate bank accounts. Since all three come from a source which won’t dry up unless the U.S. goes out of business…
The largest goes to the account that pays the mortgage and most normal household expenses.
The second largest pays for communications and security, and can be tapped for funds for modeling purposes, trips to gymnastics events, etc…
The smallest (which isn’t all that small) goes to anything that my wife wants to spend money on.
Both of us audit the main account. I control the second account. My wife controls her account, and I keep my nose out of her statements. Most months, all three accounts accumulate a surplus. Any time that surplus gets large enough we pre-pay some of the mortgage principal. We do use credit cards - but the balances are all paid off with every statement (which reminds me that there are enough points accumulated to make cashing them in worthwhile.)
My wife has a very good idea how much I’ve spent over the years, and how much I spend now. Not quite as much as she’s spent on golf balls and green fees. She has a collection of score cards. I have a layout a-building, and all the rolling stock I’m likely to need to operate it.
No, certainly not embarrassed by what I spend on the RR. While I have spent a good $4-5k in the last two years, the majority of that came from Ebay sales - mostly train stuff.
My wife has been supportive and even used a bonus she got to let me get my Digitrax Super Empire builder DCC system, heck, she was the one who got me started into trains with my first train set for Christmas. She realizes that most of my buys are “capital investments” and once I have something, it is not like I have to go out and replace it right away. I have gotten my track laid, a decent fleet of rolling stock, some buildings, and a few engines, enough to keep my big spending at bay. Future purchases will be mostly smaller items to fill the scenery. Plus trains are a lot cheaper than my other passion, sailing, and thankfully I have a friend with a boat I can use when I want so that is an expense I don’t have to cover and I can put towards my trains.
I am not embarrassed at all to discuss the money I spend on model railroading with my wife… we strive to be open and honest about all aspects of our lives. And to her credit, it does not embarrass her to drive a brand new car off the dealer’s lot every 5th year or so… [swg]
My good fortune was to have relationships where there was trust, so as long as I “held up my end,” what I spent on model railroading was my business. (This included a 10-year voluntary hiatus from the hobby after the first child was born.) After the kids finished college, I was “free.” My LTGF even encourages my spending (as long as I can keep up with her travels.) But when she asks how much those SP heavyweights by Coach Yard cost, I say “I’m not saying.”
At the beginning of a San Francisco – Alaska – San Francisco Princess Lines cruise in July this year:
Endicott Arm, an Alaskan fjord:
Mark
PS: Cruisin’ is cheap. An 11-day transatlantic cruise costs about the same as a single Coach Yard passenger car.
The word embarrassed has no place in my hobby what so ever. We live by a simple philosophy know your priorities and obligations. My first priority is to my family of course, keep a roof over their heads, food on the table etc. Pay all the bills or maybe the important one’s first after all that if there is anything left …lol she could give a rats behind how much I spend and what I spend it on. Heck she has found me plenty of good deals on Craigslist and other places.she encourages me to go to train shows and other things model railroad related that I enjoy. I intern do the same for her. She is now into this square foot gardening so of course her ideas translate into work for me. She has this new found interest in ponds as well you know the things where u dig holes in your yard and put these plastic liners in and then put fish and plants and all that good stuff. Well guess what they don’t build themselves…lol I said to her one night how come your hobbies always mean work for me but when I ask you to help me with something on the layout you say no thats your thing i have no interest. She said thats because I can, I said ok next time buy something expensive for my layout I’ll give you the same answer ok…lol she jsut shot me one of those looks.
I live with my parents when I’m home from college, and thats where the layout and boxes of train stuff reside 100% of the time. Generally I’ll go out and get what I want from the train shop, and my parents dont really poke in to see how much I’ve spent. I’m sure they’d be surprised if I showed up with like five new engines, but they know what I can and cannot afford. They have their hobbies and I have mine so its not really something they pay attention to.
I tailor my spending to available income. Many years when the kids were growing up that was 3 magazine subscriptions. Later on it was locomotives and DCC system. Now that I’m retired spending will drop but I already have all the locomotives and rolling stock I need, the DCC system, half the benchwork and wiring, some buildings, lots of parts, bunch of track, etc. I’ll just be filling in and adding a few things as they appeal to me.
Are you embarrassed or even able to admit to your spouse/partner how much you spend on model railroading?
Nope never did…My late wife and I would set aside a monthly “hobby allowance” and ask no questions on how much we had spent enjoying our hobbies besides we wasn’t drinkers. I smoked,she didn’t.
The good part once she became active in the hobby she would buy buildings,paint,figures and other detail parts which gave my CD&B the needed cash for more locomotives and freight cars.
It’s pretty much don’t ask don’t tell here as well with our hobbies. As long as the bills are paid and the savings account grows a little each month all’s well. Upcoming daughter’s wedding will slow things down a bit but I have enough stockpiled to keep me busy for quite some time.