Budgeting for Hobbies

I've got a couple of hobbies, and finding time and money to pursue them is something that takes a lot of effort.  Lifehacker's post on the matter offered some thoughts on how to get your hobby's under control and moving towards completion.  The tips are straight forward, make a list and organize it according to importance, then use that list to budget time and money to them as is appropriate.  It's very ecumenical but also predictable.

I have some vague hobbies, that are explored with whimsy.  Cooking in particular is one that is taken by seasonality of ingredients and sales on equipment so while I have nebulous goals with regards to cooking projects to complete I don't much plan my undertakings of cooking.  The concrete planning and prioritizing doesn't leave room for that so I tend to let money accumulate so that if something comes up I can pounce.  The beer barrel was an instance of this.  I've wanted to do some oak aging, and thought of buying a barrel but the relatively cheap barrel and my having a glut of cash on hand all made this come together.

Another thing that the "always make time everyday" mentality misses is the random association benefit.  Sometimes letting a problem stew in your mind will let you draw inspiration from other things that you encounter while you are not working on your project.  For me, having the Rise of the Meritocracy in the back of my mind for so long really helped me see how the notion has been absorbed en masse by the United States as I read other unrelated articles.  Had I completed the reading and note taking in a week or two I may not have been as mindful of the examples that I encountered during the more drawn out reading.   I also don't know that I would have spent as much time talking about it with people.  By dragging it out I experienced the book from many different mindsets and benefited from the diverse perspectives that I encountered by talking about it with others.

In any event how do you budget time and money for your hobbies?