ghost hunting budget breakdown: why do we keep buying stuff we don't need

Alright so I just did my accounts for last year (tax season, ugh) and I've apparently spent £847 on paranormal investigation equipment in 12 months. Let me break this down because it's genuinely embarrassing:

- Three different EMF meters (why? nobody knows): £156
- Thermal imaging camera I used twice: £340
- 'Specialist' recording equipment nobody asked for: £180
- Torches, batteries, tripods, random stuff: £171

Result: One (1) alleged EVP that might be a pigeon, two blurry temperature anomalies that were probably the weather, and one genuinely interesting incident that I recorded on my phone, not the £340 camera.

Is this just me or does everyone in this hobby slowly become a paranormal equipment hoarder with a storage locker full of useless kit and a partner asking why we need a fourth torch?

£847? Those are rookie numbers. I genuinely don't want to calculate my spending but I know it's in the thousands. The thermal imaging camera broke after six months. I have FOUR K2 meters because I kept thinking I was buying a different brand. It's a sickness, mate, and we're all just enabling each other.

Is this just me or does everyone in this hobby slowly become a paranormal equipment hoarder

It's like metal detecting or birdwatching - you start with curiosity and end up with a shed full of specialist equipment and a weird spreadsheet tracking it all. The difference is at least birdwatchers see the birds. We get... slightly warm rooms and audio that might be ghosts or might be the microwave.

This is why I recommend new people: start with what you've got. Phone, torch, notebook. If you catch something interesting, *then* invest in better kit. Because honestly 90% of my best 'evidence' came from random phone recordings, not from my £900 setup that I don't even understand.

The thermal imaging camera was worth it though, for science! Sure you only used it twice but those two times were probably the only time you could have used thermal imaging effectively. The rest was just... retail therapy dressed up as investigation.

Laughing because I've definitely done the same thing with recorders. Why do I need six different audio devices? For redundancy, apparently. Two work. One's been in a drawer for three years. The other three are 'backups.' This is just expensive hoarding with a mystical angle, isn't it? At least you're honest about it.