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For all my mentions of my prior life as a beer truck driver, and the monthly meetings of the ElderBeerMen (retired beer truck drivers), you might think I have a drinking problem. In reality I average about eight drinks per month. And usually, that involves having two at one sitting, so most days, I’m a teetotaler, but I do enjoy my transgressions. Many who imbibe can’t control the habit; the alcohol owns them. Many pastimes are the same way.
I have written about my ‘Vinyl Resting Place’, the room that houses my music collection. I own several hundred records and CDs, many of which go back to my childhood. I add to my collection, maybe one album per month on average; usually rock, country or jazz artists who are not currently in my collection. I follow a Facebook group of collectors whose collections have taken over every room in their house. If I tried that, Chrissy would relocate my Vinyl Resting Place to the front yard. Is there a Record Collectors Anonymous?
Many of my friends have guns. Some hunt, some have them for protection, they are all responsible owners. I don’t own any, but I have researched guns, and have considered buying one, but I have not….. pulled the trigger. Still, for some, gun ownership has become an obsession. Hand guns, shot guns, rifles, semi-automatic weapons, and many thousands of dollars worth of ammunition. They live and breathe guns. They are obsessed with guns.
Politics is like that too. I posted a sign in my tax office instructing clients to leave their politics in the hallway. It was hard to talk to a client about their tax return when they wouldn’t shut up about their politics. Allowing politics to steer investing decisions can be a recipe for disaster.
Religion too can be carried to extremes. I know people whose generous gifts to their church is preventing them from saving adequately for their future. (Remember I see both charitable deductions and 401K contributions when I prepare tax returns). I have also read of unscrupulous churches who swindle well intentioned people.
Hobbies and special interests are important to our well being, life would be boring and depressing without them. Still, too much of a good thing can be bad.
Here’s an angle I didn’t consider as I penned this post. In this video from Charlie Munger, he speaks about some people’s frugality taking over their lives, and ruining their retirement as a result. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UuHq_NsUwSE
There was a time when I would buy a t-shirt from a concert, sporting event, microbrewery, etc. that we visited. Then my wife pointed out that new shirts wouldn’t fit in the dresser drawers. So, she imposed a form of salary cap – no new shirt in unless I threw an old one away. Nope. That stopped all future purchases. Now, I just save memories and photos of events instead of swag.
If you have good concert t-shirts, you might want to check eBay. Some of them are worth hundreds of dollars.
I have about 4000 records, but I’m not buying any more at this point.
As for books, I’m thinking of getting rid of some of them. I have some that would sell on eBay, but that’s a lot of work. I suppose I could just donate – that’s probably what will happen when I die.
If anyone thinks you have too many records, point them to this guy – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zero_Freitas
I’ve been collecting books since I was a little kid. When we moved to this house in 2001 I had 84 boxes of books, so think about that plus 25 years’ worth added on!
For the last few years I’ve been making regular visits the attic and boxing up old paperbacks from the ’80s and ’90s for donation to our local library. I’m trying to reduce the volume before we move (if we move).
Looking back, I think the collecting habit formed because of scarcity. As a kid/teen I could visit our local library once a month and read all the new books I was interested in within a few days. I used to reread a lot of books just because I had nothing new to read.
When I moved to the US, I just didn’t realize how good the local libraries were, and I had more money. I used to visit the mall bookstores every Tuesday when the new books arrived, and bought a lot.
Now that we have e-books, I usually only buy limited/special edition physical books, so that’s cut down on the volume a lot.
My e-book folder is currently at 54.8 GB and says it contains 28,068 files. I’d probably need another house if they were all physical books 🙂
I hate to say it, but the market for old books isn’t great. Even libraries don’t want them — except for the annual book sales. I buy most of my reading material at those yearly sales. When I tell the people running the sales, I plan to donate the books back when I’ve read them, the response is “please don’t.”
Our library still wants them. They have a few sales per year, and I guess they must do pretty well for them to keep doing it.
Dan. If you’ve read any of my articles, you’ve probably figured out that I’m seriously into racket sports — tennis, badminton, pickleball, table tennis, padel… if it involves a racket, I’m in. It takes up a fair chunk of my time and a bit of money, but I never let it run the show.
Case in point: I normally play tennis on Wednesday mornings, but this week I skipped it to take Suzie dress shopping in Belfast, she’s looking for her mother of the bride outfit. And today, despite being a regular pickleball day, the weather was too good to waste, so I ditched the court for the garden and spent the morning and afternoon with my chainsaw and loppers instead. No regrets.
That’s kind of my philosophy — being passionate about something is great, brilliant even, but only when it sits comfortably alongside the rest of your life.
I’ll have to make my way to the Dublin area so we can play pickleball !
I do like a game of skinny singles…looser buys the Guinness lol
When I can find someone willing to play singles, we play full court. You can do it – you’re still young ! In fact, I think I am older (63 yo) than you ?
Yep, I’m a youngster — turning 59 next month. I still play singles tennis, sometimes against people thirty years younger than me, which is tough going and leaves me struggling on the stairs the next day! The funny thing is, I can never find anyone in the pickleball world willing to play full-court singles.
Me too. I’ll meet you half way….
Halfway… aquatic pickleball sounds interesting. If nothing else, the brightly coloured balls will be good grave markers after we drown. Unless, that is, you happen to have access to one of those big aircraft carriers the US is well known for… unfortunately, our Prime Minister likes to keep his in reserve. 😉
How can weather be too good to waste on pickleball – play outdoors ! It was 21 C / 71F here in the upper midwest yesterday, so i played my first outdoor games of the year.
I haven’t played pickleball outdoors since last September. During the match, the slightest gust of wind was moving the ball in ways that defied explanation! Mind you, I wish I had played instead of spending the day working in the garden; my back is killing me.
Indeed. When yesterday was sunny, a nice excursion to Clew Bay for a coastal walk took precedence over everything else.
Clew bay, a wonderful part of the country, there’s a great view from Croagh Patrick down onto the islands…I’m jealous, a much better use of a sunny day than trying to wrestle with hawthorn bushes with two inch thorns… I’m cut to pieces!
For this visit we’ll just be looking up at Croagh Patrick. Will save looking down for a future visit with better weather. It is a nice area and I could see semi-settling
I did the same as Dan. Looks amazing!
I had to look up Clew Bay. Looks beautiful!