Views on money (fish/tank purchases vs other purchases)

[Delphinus]

Actually I'm sort of with Michika on this. There was a time I wouldn't have batted an eye at some of things you can buy, now I measure every decision carefully. I still make mistake purchases too (the last $200 of SPS for example ... nicely converted into a collection of calcium reactor media now). And some of the costs of things nowadays compared to 5 years ago. Holy crap. There was a time that $800 gave you a high end skimmer to end all skimmer purchases. Not so anymore. With a family now my household net income is the same as what it's been for the last 8 years but now it's stretched out over 2 adults, 2 kids and the cost of everything during this time has not similarly stayed the same. I find the situation just brutal. Maybe if I didn't have kids I'd feel differently but personally I'm finding myself more and more shut out of the hobby as time goes on.