calcuation of cost

[P5se Camelback]

Jim ...

I have never figured the total cost of any of my projects up front for the particular reason of the avoidance of shock! hock: Knowing, for instance, that to build a model railroad is an expensive project all by itself ... the lumber for benchwork ... the sheets of 1/2" plywood and Homosote for roadbed/subroadbed ... plus track-laying supplies, structure kits, scenery materials and this time - a DCC system and a bunch of decoders ... I prefer to make the purchases as I need them and refrain from looking at the "overall big picture" because this is my hobby ... I rejoined this hobby after a long absense to in order to find the "calm" inside in the evening after having spent the day being creative-on-demand and debating with mechanical engineers about the perceived value imparted to a product by the use of thoughtful industrial design and how the few extra dollars spent up front in tooling and materials would pay off in the end with increased sales over the life of the product. 8-)

So ... I don't worry about the total cash outlay for the project in my basement (or now, as a retired guy on a very fixed income, starting a new layout in one half of his living room) but instead, I've adopted a pay-as-I-go approach and I'm striving to eliminate the risk of stroke or heart attack when I look at the final dollar figure.