Originally Posted by
jester_s1
The other advice I'll give is to look at how this can really fit into your life. Getting the wife's ok is only part of it, as the ladies in our lives are often the sensible ones who focus on the most important things while we fellas often focus on our toys. So work out your space needs, time needs, budget, and make sure that all fits into your lifestyle or that you can give something up to make it fit. Otherwise you'll wind up being another one of these impetuous guys who gets into the hobby on a whim, winds up with an unhappy wife and frustrated that this flying stuff is a lot harder than it looked, and selling off all your stuff at a big loss 6 months later.
Truer words were never written.
When the wife and I got together, we had a sit down conversation on do's and don'ts. It kind of went like this:
- She) NO storing racks of beer in the frig
- Me) Fine, haven't touched a beer in 3 years
- She) NO going out for drinks with coworkers after work
- Me) No problem, I usually only drink on special occasions anyway
- She) NO strip clubs
- Me) No problem, saw enough of them while in the military. Look but don't touch just doesn't make it worth my time, but now it's my turn.
- ME) I get to keep all of my tools
- She) No problem, as long as you know how to and actually use them
- ME) I get to keep and work on my toys as well as spend money on them as needed
- She) ONCE THE BILLS ARE PAID, THERE'S FOOD IN THE KITCHEN AND THE CARS HAVE FULL GAS TANKS
- ME) I can deal with that, just common sense.
That was 22 years ago. At times she regrets it but she's never broke her word and very rarely tells me no to spending money without a good reason. Don't think I could ask any more than that, especially when she never complained about me buying an engine that cost me $1300 for a gas model I'm building.