How do you afford this sport?

[Grover48]

Where's the mod when you need him. I reported the post this morning.

 

[ruready7]

Just figure out whats more important and spend the money there. As said before once you have the gear...routine expenses are on the low side. I use diving as a way of relaxing so I make time and money. Also like some I drive older truck. Its paid for and gets me from point A to point B.

 

[Miller64]

Now if I could find a poor ,goodlooking female that likes to dive and not have much anything else,,I'd be in high cotton,,oh,,and she lives in florida,,,,,

 

[Venus]

my parents came to England in the 70's with three pounds between them

i grew up with them teaching me the value of money and to get a good education
and, to clean my teeth properly

i now work for the worlds largest business software company as an accountant
drive a sports car, own my own house and go on as many holidays as i can

my Dad says to me "you're going on holiday again?????, how can you afford it"

i remind him of the above and tell him that i don't have a cupboard full of shoes

i always haggle for a reduction on my holidays, using the exchange rate to my advantage

this year a bought a Halcyon wing system and two sets of Poseiden Xstreams and got a reduction on those too

of course i feel for the retailers who's margins i'm reducing, but i expect that they get the best possible discounts off their suppliers

 

[--tom--]

My wife & I looked at our budget & figured we can afford $40 a week for vacation. So there are some easy ways to do that. Did you know that you can ask for an extra amount deducted from your paycheck as taxes? There is a line for in on your W-2. Yes, I know this is a interest free loan to the gov't, but interest rates are minimal right now.

We also have an informal "club" that we travel well with. There are 5 of us. That's $5000 for a trip of five. That will pay for a condo, food, car rentals & most of the site-seeing for a week. We pick a place & go. Last year it was Maui, next Grand Cayman. That seems to be about a 20% stretch of the vacation $$$.

 

[Doubler]

1. Retired from US Military
2. Have a great job
3. Spouse has a great job
4. Kids Gone

We try to do a live-aboard vacation every 9 months or so. We budget and the cost of the trip is payed prior to leaving. Our biggest cost and headache is like TS&M we have "Pasture Art" A spoiled Appaloosa and Arab, and a Schnauzer. We have to come up with a trust worthy and reliable house/horse sitter. This usually cost between $500 and $1000 for the trip.

 

[altaskier]

I served my time as an indentured servant (grad school, postdoc) through age 30, and only started diving at age 43, after reaching full professor at a research university and doing consulting for a startup company. On occasion I bring my dive gear along when I travel to conferences and have dived in Japan, Spain, France, and Austrialia as a result.

 

[dkktsunami]

Old, retired from real estate investment, and,like any addiction, diving eats up a lot of disposable income.

 

[Digger54]

90% of the dives I do are local and cheap. We save up for the occasional treat of a trip. My wife and I have better than average incomes, but I think that the key is we do not carry a lot of debt.

No credit card bills, no car notes or leases. Just a home mortgage. We don't live lavishly. Like to spend our extra money on a nice trip about once a year.

 

[1_T_Submariner]

Choose what you do well and do it exceptionally. The rest will follow.