OK...questions have been raised. To make it easier...take all expenses connected to the hobby...purchases...conventions...railfanning...gas to the hobby store....etc etc. Anything to do with the hobby. Add it all up and divide by 12...which should give you a pretty close monthly average...thnxs I consider myself an "Average Modeler"
Well, it depends upon which month we are averaging. Too many months, the budget averages at the BIG Zero. Right now I have a few dollars, as my race boat, parts & supplies and even some tools were sold. When that is exhausted, back to zero? Hmmm......
For the U.S., if you look at median income and a common rule of thumb (average) number of 5% of net income for hobbies, that number comes out to around $1800. That of course assumes you only have one hobby, etc. I tend to fall in the second category, mostly on the low side of it so I guess I'm pretty close to that average. If it were me, I would split the 100-500 category into 100-250 and 250-500. Probably would yield better info. The difference between someone who--all other things being equal--can spend $1200/year versus $6000/year is pretty big. Working backward and using that 5% hobby guideline, that's a difference in gross income from $37,000/year to $185,000/year.
Doug... I believe from reading what guys say they buy in threads on here...the choices look to be valid
OK, I see. So you're not actually trying to gain knowledge, just another "everyone is ruining the hobby" thread. Gotcha.
Model railroading does take a certain level of income, which presupposes that all other financial obligations can be met, such as housing, transportation, food, 401K, medicine, etc. I've had months where I haven't spent a penny on my hobby, but also months where I've spent over $1,000 on rolling stock. Are we also including travel expenses to conventions and such? If flying out of town to go to the NSE convention, for example, or railfanning at your favorite mountain pass, you can easily top $2,000 in airfare and hotel alone, not to mention what you spend on room sales.
Well, the actual question asks me to say what I think an "average modeler" spends, not what I spend. Like a lot of folks here, my own spending varies a lot. If you count the last 12 months, on average, I've spent over $100/month. This last month, I've spent less than $100. Sometime soon, I will place an order for track and switches to begin a new layout, and will probably spend over $500 on that one order, and then may not buy anything for several months. The other thing that drives buying is availability. I can go a long while without spending a dime, and then all of a sudden, 5 or 6 things come to market that fit my modeling interests, and I am buying all of them at once. Or, something on eBay catches my eye. Remember when computing from average household income that the average household is 2 adults and 2 kids (probably 1.7 adults and 1.8 kids, but you get my point) and, unless you are single, the household hobby budget is being split 2 or 3 or 5 ways, unless everyone in the household has the same hobby, and only 1, and not 2 or 3 as many folks do.
There have been a few lean years where I spent less than $100 on anything other than food, gas, and bills the whole year... then sometimes things go well and I splurge like crazy all year long. This has been a pretty good year, despite moving again... I'd say I've spent around $200 per month (mostly in the last three months) so far. Last year was not a very good year, and the handful of things I bought in the Fall (cough K4s cough) represented almost my whole hobby budget for the year- probably worked out to ~$50 per month or so. The year before that was really good, to the tune of multiple brass locomotives. It's all about the ups and downs with freelance work. I also tend to bounce around between tinkering and collecting... I fiddle more when I have less money to throw around at shiny things. As for what's average for the rest of the world... I can only guess. I don't really have a network of folks in the hobby that I know on a personal basis, so my experience is based on a sample size of me.
Based on myself and my circle of friends (not average) there is a fair amount of money spent. Modeling takes money. I spend a fair amount, but I also make a fair amount modeling too. Should I count that? I know modelers that spend $100 a year and I know modelers that spend $12,000 a year. What is the average, hard to say. I don't really get into others finances. You say including railfanning. My railfanning trips average $400 (I use frequent flyer miles, so tickets are free, but there is car rental, hotel, food). If I count a single piece of camera equipment the numbers are skewed again. The way the question is phrased is speculative and presumptuous. If you wanted to gain a good data item you would only ask us for our $. That is the only one each of us can really give accurately. Otherwise what we have is merely an opinion and is worth nothing for the sake of discussion.
I used ti spend quite a lot per month on locomotives and decoders. Those days are over now because I have too much of everything. So I am in the 0-$100 a month club after years of being in the $1,000.00+ club. I am using the funds from sales on the swap meet to pay for decoders for the units I will be keeping.
I'd guess it's over the $100 a month point on average for someone who is a pretty serious modeler. Even silly supplies add up in a hurry.
I had no way to reasonably compare any fellow modelers for budgeting, so just used my own experiences.
I think it's all relative. If you're starting out on a layout project, you're going to be spending lots of money to get your layout built. After your layout has been more or less established, you're probably going to just buy the occasional loco or rolling stock. and not spend so much that often.
