Suppose your car needs repair. You bring it somewhere, and the guy analyses it and says he can fix it. The enxt step is to find out how much it will cost. Suppose that worked with hobbies. I got into photography in the 1960s. I've been keeping track of expenses since I began using Quicken in about 1987, so I can see how much I've spent on photography - unfortunately. If someone could have told me how much I would spend on this hobby right at the beginning, I might still be using my Kodak Brownie. The same goes for my ukulele hobby. The totals for both are ridiculous. I'm not going to post the totals, and I'm not asking you to post any. The only bright side is that these expenses are spread over many year, a few dollars here and a few dollars there.

On a related topic, although I now have to pay $60 a year to keep using Quicken, I can look up the make, model, cost, and purchase date of almost everything I've bought. That come in handy if I want parts, a manual, or make a recommendation to someone.