How Much Do You Spend

[+Ohiosiouxfan]

What do you suppose is the average amount of money spent annually by a typical geocacher? As with any hobby (sport?) I know some folks spend more than others, and also spend more time and effort than others. Thus, the "average" question.

 

The easy part is adding up a premium membership ($30) and maybe an Iphone app ($10 initial cost). But then you have general supplies (whatever you might have in your "swag bag," as I call it), owner caches, local group memberships, travel, clothes(?), and I'm sure the list goes on. Taking all that into consideration, I'm guessing the average might be in the area of $500 on up - maybe....

 

I'm wondering what the financial impact of geocachers in a local or regional level. I could see that being useful to areas looking at tourism marketing and even community development and planning (maybe a stretch there).

 

So, that's the question of this post. What's a good guess at the average cost range of a geocacher. Maybe there's a different levels we could use to make for better answers. For instance, a premium member class, a non-premium member class, and perhaps "power cachers." Maybe that's 30%, 60%, and 10% of geocachers respectively?

[+Keelmann And Cici]

For me, that's way high. I own 5 caches, approaching 200 finds, been caching about a year. I drop swag in every cache big enough, and I'm at maybe 300 total I'd say. Never bought clothes for geocaching. Bought some for hiking, but generally not cache rich areas.

 

Edit: whoops, didn't count the GPS, add 60, got a good eBay deal.

Edited April 25, 2012 by Keelmann And Cici

[+the4dirtydogs]

I just did a real quick fuel cost for our caching at $50 a week and that came out to $2600. I think I'll stop right there.

[+ocklawahaboy]

Fuel, trackables both for collecting and releasing, containers, swag, gas, campsites at events, extra food, membership and that's just a partial list. I'm just going to guess about 10% of my salary.

 

Edit to add that if I wasn't spending my time and money caching, I'd be spending it fishing or woodworking more and those can be just as expensive.

Edited April 26, 2012 by ocklawahaboy

[jholly]

I've just added up my geocaching expenses and it is clear it is putting a serious dent in the Wine, Women and Song budget. One or the other is going to have to go.

Edited April 26, 2012 by jholly

[+zack_black]

I use geocaching as something to do with the physically and mentally challenged young adults I work with. I get paid to work with them so geocaching doesn't cost me money - it makes me money.

Edited April 26, 2012 by zack_black

[+The_Incredibles_]

More than $500/year, possibly $1000 if I took a really good hard look. Most of that would be gas, cache containers, spray paint and swag. I have done quite a bit of caching with our gas-guzzling minivan, I'd hate to add the cost of gas for that all up.

 

But it's worth it.

 

Edited to add: forgot to add the hiking gear, OK, definately over $1000

Edited April 26, 2012 by The_Incredibles_

[+KyleYankan]

$30 for PM

$150 for the GPS

$10 for the app

$20 for my first set of TB's

$20 for LnL's (12 piece set!)

$5 for ducttape/spray paint

and Swag is homemade, maybe $10 so far

 

So.... $250ish, and I have the makings for 12 Caches ready to be set free ($25), and $160 was one-time expenses.

 

I don't count gas, because I don't drive to caches. I drive to hiking trails, or areas I want to explore, and cache along the way. So, really caching just helps me find new locations to explore. Which is why my smiley-number is so low. But each one was a unique experience that I enjoyed.

[+Ohiosiouxfan]

Oh, I forgot to add that this forum is a "safe place" and all your answers are completely confidential. No spouses, parents or guardians will be notified...

Edited April 26, 2012 by Ohiosiouxfan

[+GFandZ]

$10 iphone app

$20 Premium Membership

$11 for 2 caches hidden

$25 Trackables

$15 Signature Swag

=====

$81

 

Not going to count gas !!

[+ohmelli]

I use geocaching as something to do with the physically and mentally challenged young adults I work with. I get paid to work with them so geocaching doesn't cost me money - it makes me money.

Zack Black - I LOVE that! What a win/win situation for all of you!

[+GeePa]

$10 iphone app

$20 Premium Membership

$11 for 2 caches hidden

$25 Trackables

$15 Signature Swag

Geocaching memories... Priceless

[+GFandZ]

$10 iphone app

$20 Premium Membership

$11 for 2 caches hidden

$25 Trackables

$15 Signature Swag

Geocaching memories... Priceless

 

Yep !!

[+Roman!]

I'm approaching 1 year now:

 

App: $10

Membership $60 (just renewed)

GPS: First $400, sold for $200, second $300 = $500.00

4 Caches I have put out: $200.00

Hiking clothes/gear/back pack/etc.: $700.00

At a rate of $2.00 gas/cache (conservative): $3600.00

GCs: $50.00

Camera for caching: $200.00

Bike (I'm buying it tomorrow for caching): $480.00

 

TOTAL: $5,700 in year 1

[+6NoisyHikers]

We don't often drive to go caching - it's more like we cache wherever we have to drive to anyway, so I would estimate about $100 in caching gas in the last year.

An assortment of swag: $200

Two caches out and a third on the way: $100

Eight travel bug tags: $45

Caching Backpack: $50

GPS: $200

Bribe Doughnuts for Kids who Come Caching: $500

 

So that is about $1200. Divide that by 234 caches equals... $5.13 per cache.

Still cheaper than renting a movie

[+Entracte]

I would say maybe $7-800 during my first year of geocaching. Divided something like this:

 

$10 - The app for iPhone

$50 - Tools and equipment especially for geocaching

$70 - Travelbugs/coins

$100 - Food, drinks and other overhead costs for being out in the field or attending events instead of cooking at home

$250 - Cache containers, lables and stuff (20 owned caches atm)

$300 - Gas for the "nothing but geocaching" trips. Gas is very expensive in Sweden

 

Worth every penny - I don't want to take back any of the trips I made the past geocaching year. I think I will be spending a little less money this season than the past, since I won't put up as many caches.

[+The_Incredibles_]

I'm approaching 1 year now:

 

App: $10

Membership $60 (just renewed)

GPS: First $400, sold for $200, second $300 = $500.00

4 Caches I have put out: $200.00

Hiking clothes/gear/back pack/etc.: $700.00

At a rate of $2.00 gas/cache (conservative): $3600.00

GCs: $50.00

Camera for caching: $200.00

Bike (I'm buying it tomorrow for caching): $480.00

 

TOTAL: $5,700 in year 1

 

Finally, some honesty.

 

One thing you forgot is depreciation on your vehicle and extra maintenance due to all the driving you're doing.

[+BBWolf+3Pigs]

Do you want me to include the cost of replacing a muffler and a rear hatch on my van when I backed into things when leaving parking areas?

[+Ike 13]

GPS: $200

Cache Placement: Average $5 per hide = $200

Gear (clothes, backpack, flashlights, etc) : $350

Trackables: $100 (Most were gifts)

Tathpags: $200

Gas: Probably around $3000 in the 3 years.

Hotel rooms: This is more recent: $350

Bike: $100

 

That's $4500 and that may be a conservative estimate, but hey that's been 3 years of awesome fun and I'm past 4,000 finds so that's less than $1.50 per cache find!

[+Nomesquad]

I spend whatever it takes to have a good time, to enjoy the time out of the house with my family. You can't put monetary value on that, but do I feel like I get my money's worth? Heck yeah!

 

I do like to try to make each cache of an appropriate size a little better than what we found it, and the few caches I've placed have had a ton of thought and planning that went into them.

 

Every penny well spent in my eyes!

[+Ohiosiouxfan]

So that is about $1200. Divide that by 234 caches equals... $5.13 per cache.

Still cheaper than renting a movie

 

Hadn't thought about it in terms of per cache...good idea!

 

And I'll echo the comments on priceless....

[+Semper Questio]

In our case, the cost of caching is minimal beyond the operational outlays (GPSr, GC.com membership, GSAK, Cachemate, etc.) as we generally roll caching into whatever else we are doing. Sure there is a bit of additional fuel cost for going a bit more off course than we normally would, but even that is tempered in that we would be wandering off to look at countryside anyway. The only significant exception is the relatively rare occasion when we specifically head out just to cache. But over the course of a little over 8 years and counting, those operational and exceptional circumstance costs get averaged out to a pretty darn small expense added to our budget.

[+Harry Dolphin]

For standard caching. we go out on Saturday and Sunday, burn $10-$20 of gas, and have a great time!

For "Let's go on a geocaching trip and color in states/provinces", that's a different story. Lost the figures for the last trip. Probably $500-$1000 each for three, for a week's trip to color in Ontario, Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota and Iowa. Had a great time. Enjoyed the midwest. Saw some beautiful places. But it was a geocaching trip; wouldn't have gone otherwise.

This year's trip is to Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland. (Already cached in New Brunswick). Expensive part will be the plane trip from Halifax to St. John's. About $300 ea. Then off to do the Little Rhody Challenge! (But we've been to Rhode Island already.) Four cachers. Not counting getting to my sister'splace in Maine, probably about $1000 ea for the week. And having lots of fun!

Did I mention stopping in Rock Forest/Sherbrooke, Quebec last year on our way home from my niece's wedding in Maine? Three extra days, but had a blast!

[+T.D.M.22]

Let's see. This year so far.

 

$30-premium membership

$170-New GPSr

$15-2 trackables

$10-couple micro's/shipping

$30?-not yet but some firetacks for a nite cache.

 

I seem to get lucky, got 2 ammo cans and a couple micro's fro free and certain people give me some decent containers, and I found/won an ammo can and trackables.

[+Fuzzywhip]

For standard caching. we go out on Saturday and Sunday, burn $10-$20 of gas, and have a great time!

For "Let's go on a geocaching trip and color in states/provinces", that's a different story. Lost the figures for the last trip. Probably $500-$1000 each for three, for a week's trip to color in Ontario, Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota and Iowa. Had a great time. Enjoyed the midwest. Saw some beautiful places. But it was a geocaching trip; wouldn't have gone otherwise.

This year's trip is to Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland. (Already cached in New Brunswick). Expensive part will be the plane trip from Halifax to St. John's. About $300 ea. Then off to do the Little Rhody Challenge! (But we've been to Rhode Island already.) Four cachers. Not counting getting to my sister'splace in Maine, probably about $1000 ea for the week. And having lots of fun!

Did I mention stopping in Rock Forest/Sherbrooke, Quebec last year on our way home from my niece's wedding in Maine? Three extra days, but had a blast!

 

Yup! Yup! Yup! Sounds like my trips!

 

In fact, all my holiday trips are now "geo-vacations", where caching is the primary reason for the trip, and everything else is bonus.

 

Last month I drove to Twin Falls, ID ... Why? ... Because I hadn't cached there before! 1700 miles in 4 days for 160 caches. Still, I would do it again tomorrow.

 

When finishing the Washington State Delorme Challenge, it must of cost a thousand$ or more, as I had to drive places I normally wouldn't think of going to. Saw a lot of the state that I never would have seen if not for geocaching.

 

Combine that with the addiction, and even I'm thinking of a "fly-drive" caching trip so I can color in more states.

Edited April 26, 2012 by Fuzzywhip

[+Ohiosiouxfan]

"geo-vacations"

 

Word of the day for me!

[knowschad]

The easy part is adding up a premium membership ($30) and maybe an Iphone app ($10 initial cost). But then you have general supplies (whatever you might have in your "swag bag," as I call it), owner caches, local group memberships, travel, clothes(?)

You put a question mark after "clothes"?

[+Sol seaker]

The easy part is adding up a premium membership ($30) and maybe an Iphone app ($10 initial cost). But then you have general supplies (whatever you might have in your "swag bag," as I call it), owner caches, local group memberships, travel, clothes(?)

You put a question mark after "clothes"?

 

Hey, there are a lot of people who don't bother.

Say "Nudecacher" and he always shows up here. See if he does this time.

 

I've put about 20.00 into my caches, 150. GPS (ebay), I've bought a little swag, but usually just use what I find when I declutter. I've placed some good stuff.

Gas, well I would have gone there for those hikes anyway, so I don't really count that. Yes I've used more but I can't even guess. On a weekly basis I travel around a lot so I tend to grab caches where I go. I try to plan my caching around other trips.

 

Overall, I really spend very little for a hobby I enjoy so much. I used to be into sports that were really expensive. I put around $20,000.00 into gear for one of them. Skiing was expensive too. I'm glad they don't sell 50.00 per day lift tickets for caching. Or are they more now?

[knowschad]

The easy part is adding up a premium membership ($30) and maybe an Iphone app ($10 initial cost). But then you have general supplies (whatever you might have in your "swag bag," as I call it), owner caches, local group memberships, travel, clothes(?)

You put a question mark after "clothes"?

 

Hey, there are a lot of people who don't bother.

Say "Nudecacher" and he always shows up here. See if he does this time.

 

I'm not so sure I'd say "a lot", but yes, there are an (in)famous few. And yes, Nudecacher somehow always seems to know when his name is mentioned... almost uncannily so. You don't suppose a mod.... naw... nevermind. Impossible.

[+Ohiosiouxfan]

The easy part is adding up a premium membership ($30) and maybe an Iphone app ($10 initial cost). But then you have general supplies (whatever you might have in your "swag bag," as I call it), owner caches, local group memberships, travel, clothes(?)

You put a question mark after "clothes"?

 

Heh, I guess one could get the wrong impression here. LOL. I don't know I'd like to be au naturel while trotting through the brush. Do we really buy specific clothes for geocaching? Sure, they have cool shirts in the geocaching.com store. I actually just bought some new Merrell light hiking shoes for geocaching, so that's the kind of thing I was thinking about.

[+StarBrand]

Wow...lets see.

 

11 years of Charter membership - $330

Personalized golf pencils - 2100 of them - $145

150 physical cache containers $4 avg each - $600

40 replacement containers - $160

14 Cito and Event caches - around $1000

Swag for hides - minimum $2000

Swag for finds - minimum $1500

misc camo supplies - minimum $500

Cache hats, clothing, bags, backpack, misc - minimum $500

9 GPS units - around $2000

misc software, gadgets - around $400

Gas - easily $8,000 over 10+ years for geocaching only trips (not counting caching while doing other things)

 

Bare minimum - over $17,000 and counting - $1700 per year - $140 a month - $4.67 a day - 19.4 cents and hour - about a third of cent per minute.

 

I don't count wear and tear or maintenance on vehicles. Extra food, snacks. Medical. More I am sure.

 

Fun with family = Priceless!!

[+BAMBOOZLE]

Once you grab the local stuff you'll be hitting the road.....fine with us because we love traveling. If you're hitting a power trail or dense area you can grab plenty but on average a 30-40 cache day is very good. With gas and hotel expenses ( you have to eat anyway ) you can figure $5 + per cache as a baseline figure. If I find 1000 caches in a year I know my cost would be over $5000.

Even day trips around home I'll spend $75+ for gas and 30 caches or so is a good day....thats $2.50 per cache.

If you live in an area of the country where caches are really dense your costs would be less.

[+jellis]

I try not to think too much about it.

It's still cheaper then some other sports/hobbies out there like Golf.

The places I go to and people I meet, well it's all worth it.

This flight last weekend to meet some great people was also worth it.

Edited April 27, 2012 by jellis

[stldenise]

I'm adding $20 bucks for the new leash I had to buy my dog yesterday. I tied him to a tree using his retractable lead so I could walk through some underbrush we were getting tangled in (which apparently smelled like filet mignon the way he was acting). I got too far from him and he snapped the line to keep next to me. Dumb dog.

[tdheot]

New guy here... what's taking all the money? All I imagine is taking it up is gas, but I have a bike and a backpack... what else do I need?

[+zack_black]

New guy here... what's taking all the money? All I imagine is taking it up is gas, but I have a bike and a backpack... what else do I need?

 

Nothing

[+T.D.M.22]

New guy here... what's taking all the money? All I imagine is taking it up is gas, but I have a bike and a backpack... what else do I need?

Ummm....GPS-$0 for a free phone app-$800 for high end unit. Premium membership=$30 Trackables=$5-$20 each. Gas=easily $10-$20 for a full day caching.

Ammo cans-up to $20, maybe more. Other containers-$5-$10 each. Something personalized-geocaching shirt, TB decal for the car, pencils with geoname on them-$20-$150.

Some people have their own trackable numbers minimum $75. Custom Icon-Minimum of $75 PLUS $150 so $225. Then you have to add the price of the coins/shirts whatever. If you really get into it you can spend a LOT of $$$.

[vagabond]

The month of March 3 nights motel 4 tanks of gas

And almost the same in Feb. :blink:

Edited April 28, 2012 by vagabond

[tdheot]

New guy here... what's taking all the money? All I imagine is taking it up is gas, but I have a bike and a backpack... what else do I need?

Ummm....GPS-$0 for a free phone app-$800 for high end unit. Premium membership=$30 Trackables=$5-$20 each. Gas=easily $10-$20 for a full day caching.

Ammo cans-up to $20, maybe more. Other containers-$5-$10 each. Something personalized-geocaching shirt, TB decal for the car, pencils with geoname on them-$20-$150.

Some people have their own trackable numbers minimum $75. Custom Icon-Minimum of $75 PLUS $150 so $225. Then you have to add the price of the coins/shirts whatever. If you really get into it you can spend a LOT of $$$.

 

what are trackables? and ammo? And what's up with Custom Icons?

[+BBWolf+3Pigs]

Other containers-$5-$10 each.

 

JCPenney has lock&locks (the real ones, not the knock-offs) for about $2 a piece when you buy sets of 8-10! The set of round ones has a nice mix of small and regulars.

[+Ohiosiouxfan]

New guy here... what's taking all the money? All I imagine is taking it up is gas, but I have a bike and a backpack... what else do I need?

 

Need? I agree that there isn't much "need" for the expenses. But like any other hobby, people will usually spend more than they need to either because they like it, want more conveniences, and frankly the list goes on. My intent of the thread was to get a sounding of the kind of money people spend on this past time. I'm pretty new to GC, and so I've been talking to a lot of my friends about it, and thought it would be nice to be able to let them know how popular it is and how much of a positive economic impact on a community that might sponsor geocaching activities or even tourism. I live on near the intersection of main North and South interstate highways. What a great opportunity the local geocachers here have to mix with others who are traveling through the heartland. If an area has a well-done rails to trails, for example, with interesting caches, wouldn't it make sense that geocachers might hop off the tollway to hit a stretch of caches?

 

And the other reason for the thread was just some personal curiosity and wanting to know what to expect in pursuing this great hobby.

[+TeamTwoStar]

Lots of startup costs...same as what other people have stated.

 

But I notice over the last 4 months that we have basically been doing nothing but caching we have saved money in other ways....We havent been shopping, bowling, renting movies, to the movies, spending money on our house or video games, eating at restaurants much, or cooking fancy dinners at home...so it seems to balance itself out.

 

Our gas costs have been huge. At least an extra 50$ per week like someone else said..some weeks more....But if we tried we could cut down on that by picking up more of the local ones. Problem is after awhile you exhaust the local ones and we have to drive on average 70miles/day round trip, to get to an area with lots of caches.

If you do that 5-7 days per week..like us..you are hitting 420 extra miles per week on your car...(plus 100-200 for commute to work). You could easily cut this cost in half just by taking 3 all day caching trips instead of 6 half day trips per week.

 

To me 24000 miles/year is a whole lot of miles when you consider the average person drives more like 12000-15000 per year. So I feel you have to take into consideration the additional cost of oil changes and wear and tear you are putting on your car if you cache as much as we do.

 

You could save some of these costs by finding local geofriends to carpool with a couple times per week.

[+TeamTwoStar]

To the OP...unfortunately, I have no good data for you about positive impact

(economical), but I have to imagine it is a pretty good draw. For us personally, we have been to SO many places, just in our local area that we never knew existed...and along the way we visit their hotels sometimes, resturants, quick stops, ect.

 

In fact, in the State of Delaware, the Governor created the "Delaware Geocaching Commission" which is group that plans ways to draw cachers to the state for 'geotourism', We went to a speed trail yesterday along the C and D canal that has 140+ caches, and was designed so that you can grab them all in a few hours. We got them all.

 

They are planning more trails in that state. It has to be along a road so you can drive between them.

 

Other such trails exist in the midwest with over 800caches.

 

But I have to imagine that it is a very cheap way to draw visitors (donated pill bottles and film canisters, paper and man power, it all it really takes. I was impressed that Even the Govt. in some places is trying to promote in for economic reasons.

[+jellis]

New guy here... what's taking all the money? All I imagine is taking it up is gas, but I have a bike and a backpack... what else do I need?

Ummm....GPS-$0 for a free phone app-$800 for high end unit. Premium membership=$30 Trackables=$5-$20 each. Gas=easily $10-$20 for a full day caching.

Ammo cans-up to $20, maybe more. Other containers-$5-$10 each. Something personalized-geocaching shirt, TB decal for the car, pencils with geoname on them-$20-$150.

Some people have their own trackable numbers minimum $75. Custom Icon-Minimum of $75 PLUS $150 so $225. Then you have to add the price of the coins/shirts whatever. If you really get into it you can spend a LOT of $$$.

 

what are trackables? and ammo? And what's up with Custom Icons?

Trackables are items that have ID numbers on them so cachers can track them when they get moved from cache to cache. Example Geocoins and Travel Bugs. Custom Icon is for the Travelers (Geocoin) to just look cool on the Trackables page and show up on cachers profile if they move them. It is totally optional if you have the Geocoins made unless you want to make them like cool.

 

Ammo cans are just as they say. Military boxes used to carry ammo. But cachers use them as a container mostly in the woods because they hold up longer then most other container. They should be clearly marked as a GEOCACHE.

Edited April 28, 2012 by jellis

[+2McDs]

We think about geocaching and how much we spend and I was thinking of the two GPS units, swag, gas, and food. Then I remembered that last fall my husband was going for a geocache in the rain and rolled down the hill. He had to go to the back doctor. He's OK now and we are still climbing into areas that might be questionable.

 

I like to think about how much money it saves me. I'm not shopping, going to movies, or carousing. We must admit we still like to carouse but sometimes we do a night cache instead.

[+briansnat]

Just placing caches alone I've probably shelled out close to four thousand dollars between containers, swag, notebooks, camo, pencils,pens, laminated inserts, etc. I've owned 9 hand held GPS units and purchased all but two of them. That's probably about $1,800 bucks give or take. Travel to events away from home, with hotel rooms, campsites, gas, food etc., probably another $2,500 bucks or so. Probably $100 bucks or so of travel bugs and another couple hundred bucks worth of geocaching.com hats, T-shirts, decals, etc. Then there are gas, food on the road (more expensive than eating home)and other incidentals. I bet I'm well over the $10,000 mark all told.

[+6NoisyHikers]

Technically, you could cache with no investment whatsoever. For example:

 

• 
   
  
• The basic membership is free and you could access the website at a friend's house or at the library.
  
• Write down (using borrowed pen and paper) the key information to finding a easy nearby cache, the type that has a hint that says "It's under the rock next to the picnic table".
  
• Steal one of those little pencils from the library. Walk to the cache, sign log. Walk back to library, log online (give back pencil).
  

 

Voila! Caching without cost!

[+hikerT]

Oh boy... well, I estimate that I drive about 70,000km per year. That's just under 50,000km for work, the rest is for caching. I was into the car dealership for new brakes in March, at which time I was informed that I had driven 96,000km since the previous March, which was the previous brake job.

 

That translates to a conservative estimate of $3600 for gas in one year. In the past 6 months I've spent about $700 on hotels, who knows how much on food, maybe $100 on cache containers, and about $500 on clothes and shoes/boots. I won't even mention how much I've spent on maintenance/repairs on my car.

 

That's over $5000 per year, and this is my 6th year of caching. I think the last 3 years have been pretty average at this pace, so that's at least $15,000... I'm going to go vomit now.

[+WoollySMASH]

Not very far into this but I see it becoming something I'm going to need to watch.

 

My Start up costs when I got serious were:

 

- 30$ premium

- Roughly 180$ for my first GPS

 

Travel costs weren't really a factor to me because I take annual trips to the USA, and frequently take day or longer trips to other provinces in my country... for the heck of it. Being able to cache these locations now is just a bonus. I save quite a bit, so these missions don't hit me too hard financially.

 

Where I'm running into trouble is seeing swag, and things I must have. I'm on vacation currently but quickly see myself buying up some essentials for the future:

 

- Hiking boots

- general cache repair gear

- personalized tokens (not essential but I really want them)

- Multitool

- some other misc hiking gear

- and some trade swag as well as fun swag like the car window travel bug...

 

I started thinking this hobby would be cheap, not that I was looking for cheap, but I'm becoming very addicted now and these extras seem essential to me.. so I can see myself spending some more mad money just on these before the year is out. A quick guesstimate would be around 300$ bucks IF I'm lucky and catch some deals.

[+lamoracke]

very hard to know. In the last year I have bought a $250+ raincoat (hopefully longer than a year), another pair of hiking shoes, probably about $100 in geocoins, maybe $100-150 in cache containers, way more ferry tickets, $30 discover pass, about 5-6 forest passes, a few national park passes, more hotel stays than normal, and way way more gas otherwise that I do not even want to count.