DH's numerous "hobbies"

[BrickCat]

DH has hobbies. Good for him, so do I. The problem is that they're all incredibly short-lived, space-consuming, and frankly a waste of money.

When DH sets his sights on a hobby, he feels like he MUST get the top-of-the-line (or close to it) stuff for that hobby as this is going to be the one that he's going to stick with. Yesterday he gleefully came in with £400 rollerblades.

Just in January, he decided that long-distance long-boarding (it's like a skateboard but made for distance rather than tricks; sort of like the difference between a BMX bike and a road bike) was going to be his "thing". Cue 3?!? different boards all costing between £300-£500 each!

Last year, it was wakeboarding, golf, and mountain biking (he bought 2 bikes).

The house is now littered with all his one-and-done purchases and he has no intention of ever selling them because he "might get back into it someday" (only happened with 2 of his hobbies).

AIBU to think that enough is enough? Every few months a new hobby, more junk in the house, more money gone down the drain and more wastage as one of his mountain bikes, for instance, looks basically brand new.

Yeah, like others have said.

Adhd.

My dad was exactly the same except with less money.

My mum made him sell stuff after a while.

Yes - this is sensible.

Could his new hobby be building a shed to store all the unused equipment in?

Just here to say it does sound like impulse buying which is a classic ADHD trait!

If he’s wasting his own money then unfortunately you can’t really say much about that, but I would absolutely refuse to have the crap filling the house. He needs to sell it or store it somewhere else, at his own expense. I would give him a month to sort that out, then it would all go in ebay.

Mine has only one hobby, but he keeps buying expensive shit he doesn't need for it. Shitloads of pricey junk. All while stuff around the house needs fixing.

No way to fix this. All i can do is indulge in my own shopping guilt free.

I wish! We were doing a mini cleanup today which sparked this whole post. So many things that cannot be sold/thrown away yet piling up in every corner taking up space. 2 mountain bikes, 3 longboards, various spare wheels, wakeboarding equipment, 2 quad skates, 1 new inline skate, golf clubs, boxes and boxes of model airplanes/ships, boxes and boxes of Warhammer stuff, various fishing equipment (some never used), various PC parts, boxes and boxes of keyboards and keycaps. Feels like hoarding-lite to an extent.

I’m a bit like this… I have (diagnosed) ADHD. My dad is a bit like this, I’m in no doubt he also has ADHD. My sister isn’t like it at all, and she also has (undiagnosed) ADHD. I’m fairly certain your DH would have it, it’s such a strong trait!

Gosh OP I'd find it hard to live with all that chunky stuff cluttering up my home. 2 mountain bikes in the house? I couldn't deal with that, never mind the rest of it.

I think it's ultimatum time. He can continue to buy all this expensive shit (if finances allow) BUT he has to rent storage space for it, otherwise you'll list it for sale.

Put a timeframe on it (14 days from today?) and if it's not in storage by then, it's going.

It will be Harley Davidsons next mark my words. I always think men look so daft on roller blades. Buy him an orange lycra all in one to go with it 😄

Sorry but what kind of grown man goes rollerblading or skateboarding!

Tell him to grow up!

I'm exactly the same. It's the research into the 'best thing/equipment' that I get sucked into. Two strategies:

1. Ideally borrow equipment first/buy 'the worst' version if not possible to borrow. If hobby is still of interest 6 months later (lol, never going to happen), upgrade to most expensive thing.

1. Be conscious of the fact that it's the searching that is the actual hobby. Pick a totally random new niche item/thing to obsessively research. Save findings into a folder. Rinse and repeat.

I have a colleague with the same problem, and we are both doing 2 now.

OP my DH is similar, he's 74 yo and it's always been expensive tools and machines....
No joke. 😩