Economy vs. electronics interest?

[casper.bang]

Sparked by the SWMBO thead especially, I wonder how members of the eevblog community balance their personal economy vs. interest in electronics.

[iloveelectronics]

Does selling DMM's and test leads etc. on eBay count?

[casper.bang]

Does selling DMM's and test leads etc. on eBay count?

I don't see why not, it's definitely related to your interest.

[ElectroIrradiator]

I suspect you would need some special connections, in order to earn a reasonable and dependable side income by repairing broken electronics in this country.

The second hand market here is way too small and limited in scope to allow you to get broken stuff at a low price, and later sell the repaired equipment at a profit. Even shipping repaired items out of the country would heavily cut into the bottom line due to the exorbitant shipping costs.

Your poll seem to be missing an option: Professionals, who run their own home lab separate from their daytime job, whether self employed or otherwise.

[vk3yedotcom]

None of the above really fits.

Time more than money is a limiting factor. 

Build lots of stuff but don't monitor/control hobby expenditure as it's pretty low with heavy use of junked/cheap parts.  A few dollars from YouTube ads but doesn't affect hobby spending.

Unlike many here I'm indifferent towards expensive test gear etc. So I don't even think about money vs hobby.

Another thing, even if your electronics hobby costs $1000 per year, you can be fairly sure that's less than if you used that time for many other pursuits.   Put another way, hobby electronics radio computing is great for chewing up many hours per dollar.

[Tuomas]

I have some delusional dreams of some day making some sort of a kit or prototyping product / tool that could get me a couple of extra bucks, but at the moment the cash flow is very much going in one direction only. And the amount of flow is sometimes a bit more than what it probably should be.

[Oracle]

Well: i'm doing electronic engineering at university so i don't have much time to spend on projects but i really want a good lab so i can test what i learned. Money are not a big issue but i tend to limit my budget on test instruments doing a lot of research on them and comparing prices vs specs, but generally I buy them refurbished (but calibrated and cleaned) because good new gears are really too expansive... ( for now )

[mtdoc]

None of the above really fits.

Time more than money is a limiting factor. 

Build lots of stuff but don't monitor/control hobby expenditure as it's pretty low with heavy use of junked/cheap parts.  A few dollars from YouTube ads but doesn't affect hobby spending.

Unlike many here I'm indifferent towards expensive test gear etc. So I don't even think about money vs hobby.

Another thing, even if your electronics hobby costs $1000 per year, you can be fairly sure that's less than if you used that time for many other pursuits.   Put another way, hobby electronics radio computing is great for chewing up many hours per dollar.

It's the same for me (well except the money from Youtube part!).    I do spend some money on it but time is a more precious commodity to me.  The money I spend is not trivial but it's not a limiting factor for me - I certainly don't keep close track of it....