Switch your thoughts to focusing on growth, not beating yourself up for the past. You are wasting money by beating yourself up to the point where you can't get value out of what you already spent. You are also making your education less valuable by dwelling in beating yourself up over this. Actively work to change your mindset on this to get the most value and enjoyment out of your hobby.

Is there any space to teach this hobby or rent out some of the equipment?

Don’t beat yourself up too much. You learned something about budgeting that will serve you well in life and we’re not talking about ruinous amounts of money here. Sell what you can now and regroup. Being down $3K will feel better than being down $6K.

I spent a bunch of money on homebrewing equipment only to lose my taste for beer in general a few months later. I know myself now. I like to pick up new hobbies just to see if I can do them, once I can confidently do the hobby I lose interest almost entirely. My understanding is that I like growing as an individual and am risk averse, I need to channel these qualities into something greater. In my specific case that's real-estate investing and finance. I wish you the best on your journey. Don't hate yourself for wanting to explore and try new things, cut your losses and try another thing to that will help you grow and further your personal and professional goals.

It was Lego, wasn't it?

Everyone has spent big on dumb stuff and later regretted it. If your figuring finances and losses on a spreadsheet while in college, something tells me you’ll be fine. I’d be more concerned with paying off the 40k ASAP and not eventually. The interest saved may get you that 6k back.

Calm down first. You feel like you have no worth in life? That’s not true. Everybody in normal society has something positive to contribute. So go for a walk, relax, and don’t stress.

Hobbies are meant to enrich your life. If we all sat at home our whole lives hoarding our money like a dragon on a pile of gold we’d be miserable.

Did you overspend? Yes. Now don’t let it go to waste by selling it before you’ve even had a chance to enjoy it. Or if this is something you don’t enjoy, sell it for the loss and maybe consider $/hour enjoyment as the “loss”

If you get $10/h of enjoyment out of it you’re doing the same as going to the movies for example.

Hobbies generally cost money, very few do them to save money or make money.

The “hobby” didn’t actually put you in debt? Pack it away. Finish school. Get a job. Deal with it later.

The best thing I did for my relationship with money was form a zero based budget. It let me responsibly decide how much I could spend on frivolity without sacrificing big picture goals. It’s a very useful exercise, i highly recommend it.

There are several software options that can help you set it up - or Excel. I use YNAB4, but they don’t sell it anymore. I highly recommend it if you can find a copy online

There are a few similar systems I haven’t tried

r/actualbudget r/AspireBudgeting r/Budgetwithbuckets r/everydollar

The new r/YNAB is subscription based and IMHO, overpriced. There are threads there about alternatives from time to time

If learning and honing your power of hindsight only costs you $6k then count yourself lucky.

Lots of people spend far far more to never learn the lesson of what it is that money can do for them that does make them happy and fill a void and what they do that is just rote action that they do to do.

Spending your limited money on the things that will give you the best utility is what it's all about and no experience is a total loss unless you fail to learn.

what you've spent is a sunk cost at this point.

if you keep the stuff and enjoy it, you've spent the money

if you sell it and lose money on the resale, you've spent the money

you seem to be in a decent financial position with your savings and with what i presume your education will be able to get you salary wise... IMO keep the stuff, enjoy what you have, and be more mindful about your spending in the future. come up with an acceptable budget amount that you can be comfortable on spending as hobby/entertainment.

A lot of people telling you to move on, it's fine. I disagree. While it really is fine, to feel better you need to take steps to repair the damage and improve going forward.

Do you have a budget yet? Make one. That budget should contain a "discretionary spending" category. Decide on an amount to put there every month. Luxury spends go out from there. When you don't spend, it accumulates.

Now make another category, Hobby debt. Set it to minus 6000 and every month put PART of what you would normally put in discretionary there instead . Don't be too aggressive or punitive here, a small part will do. When it's paid off, delete it and now discretionary takes both incomes

In the future only spend what you have accumulated, or, if you're really certain you can manage it, do it the same way as now

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