“But the cost is your life”: cultivate less-expensive tastes and hobbies, and live a great life while saving up for when the silly tech money stops rolling in (

“But the cost is your life”: cultivate less-expensive tastes and hobbies, and live a great life while saving up for when the silly tech money stops rolling in (by your choice or not). In fact, I’ll be so bold as to say that the more mind-expanding ways to spend free time involve spending less money than their competitors. Want to fly? Join a gliding/sailplane club instead of getting a powered flight license and buying a Cessna. Love good food? Learn how to cook new dishes instead of finding exciting new restaurants. Into high-performance luxury cars? Rent a different one for a long weekend a couple times a year instead of leasing the same one to sit in traffic for your boring commute. Like to regularly update the look of your living space? Learn how to lay tile and do upholstery instead of shopping for more crap. My husband chose the first one (gliding vs. powered flight), and I’ve fallen into the second one. Both have significant financial benefits, but also health - gliding club involves a lot of scurrying around the field to help the other pilots, and just about anything I cook at home is healthier than a similar dish from a restaurant. I still have one stupid money-sink hobby, downhill skiing, but have found less expensive ways to enjoy it — day or weekend trips by train to an ok ski area instead of a week at higher-end resorts.