Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion The Water Cooler Wives and our HT obsession .....

Sounds like you have a bit of paintball gear that probably doesn't get as much usage. Maybe clear out some of your older/less-utilized gear and sell it off. Use that to fund some of your new HT gear.

That's what I've done to fund my tube gear for the most part.

BTW, good comments all around. The easiest way to think about it is "How can it add to the family?" If you can fit decisions into that flow, you may end up finding solutions that satisfy everyone.

When my first kid was young, I had taken out most of my active pursuits. I then started to ride (road biking) when possible. I convinced the wife that we could buy a nice, high end bike/jog stroller. My wife likes to run and I like to ride. She was able to jog w/ the kids and I can pull the kids on the trailer. 5 years later we're on a 2nd trailer for both kids and it gets used almost daily.

It really is a plus when the whole family enjoys it. To be honest, my wife is just as happy watching movies upstairs in the family room, and the quality of the sound is really not that important to her. But, she knows how important it is to me, and we can afford a nice theater.

The extra added benefit though is that both of my little boys enjoy it almost (if not more) than I do! They can't wait to come downstairs and listen to music and dance together. So far, our theater has built many memories that my wife and I will remember forever. I hope my kids will be able to think back at our times together too!

I agree. We have a tube stereo setup in the living room. It's connected to my XM Radio. When the kids listen to Radio Disney, they have their own little dance party when any of the High School Musical songs come on. Watching your 6 yr old and 3 yr old jumping around, dancing and laughing is worth the cost of the gear, no question.

Yeah i actually sold off about 1/3 of my collection to pay off debt, and just have my essential collection left. I table top wargame and paint as well. I 'geek' it up as she puts it. It beats going out to bars and wasting money on beer and booze. I left those days behind me with the Army.

Thats what im talking about!! The memories that they'll have.

Really good stuff so far and a great topic.

So back when my wife and I got married in 94 she was well aware of my addiction to this hobby. That was when we had a small house, both were working, and no kids, I wouldn't think about dropping a grand on a piece of audio equipment.

Now, I make more than three times as much money but hum and haw about spending $300 on my hobby. The difference is Kids (and that fact that working for a living is highly over-rated and I would like to retire someday). It's not that kid's cost a lot, they do, it's the added pressure on me to ensure they have a good standard of living and ensure they have some type of future.

So this is how I justify this hobby to my wife. I don't own a motorcycle, snowmobile, scuba gear, skydive, hang glider, boat, RV, red convertible sports car (although that is on the list), bar hop or chase skirts. Hell, I don't even fly an airplane anymore. So when I am watching a movie in my dedicated HT room, she knows where I am (home), I am safe, and I am reachable.

For her, these are key. There alot of other hobbies that I could be into that don't offer these things. So she figures, it could be a lot worse.

Ofcoarse the fact that she is a huge NASCAR fan and loves to watch the races on a 130" screen in HD doesn't hurt either.

paul

I justify my hobbies in a similar way to Wofarza - my two biggest hobbies (please try to appreciate the dichotomy here) are Bird Watching and Turkey Hunting. Both have one time purchases to get the gear and then the resto of the hobby is free - if you don't put a cost on "time spent".

I, too, used to drop cash on items without hesitation until the kids got older and we were conciously saving for retirement and college. Now, those $300 decisions are much more debated than ever before......

But I bet they'd still be dancing and laughing if they were listening to a portable boom box with one speaker out of commission that you picked up off Freecycle.

Not really (at least my kids). They show little interest in music when it is playing over the tv speakers. The oldest one actually asks to go down to the theater to dance.

Wow, I just read my own post and it sounds like I do nothing but work, eat, and watch movies all day (maybe that's not so bad, LOL).

I would have to say my biggest hobby and most rewarding are my kids. Next to work, they take up most of my time. And I don't mind a bit.

I really enjoy the time my son and I spend watching movies, he is 5 now and his attention span is starting to get to the point when we can watch some pretty cool movies like Jurasic Park, Star Wars, Men In Black, instead of Cars, or Monsters Inc, or Lion King. Don't get me wrong, those are great movies too, I am just sick of them, LOL!

paul