Katharina Buczek
This 36-year-old guy has been married to his wife, who is also 36, for about seven years.
But, before he tied the knot, he was a huge hobbyist interested in things such as archery, hunting, diving, spearfishing, bicycling, and more.
Then, after they got married, his hobbies went through a transition period. First of all, his wife did not like how much time and money he spent on his hobbies. Plus, since they had a child, he was forced to switch some of his hobbies to activities that he could participate in close to home.
Still, he does not really feel like he gets to fulfill his desire for personal activities that much anymore.
“My hobbies take up a lot of my mental time, but given my parenting and household duties, I honestly don’t get much time to actually participate in them,” he said.
And since he cannot physically participate as much as he once could, he now “participates” in hobbies financially. In other words, he just buys items that are related to his favorite activities and collects them. For instance, new bows for archery or new optics, dive gear, and bicycle equipment.
He calls these hobby shopping sprees “gear binges.”
However, he knew that his wife would never approve of such purchases. That’s why he started hiding his investments in his hobbies by setting up an entirely separate bank account and depositing cash payments that he received from his clients.
Whenever his wife noticed that a new item arrived at their home, he would just claim to have traded or sold a different item already in his collection. And this was not always a lie.
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