Bowling Shoes = Great Investment

Last night Tag and I had dinner and went bowling with my family. We had a huge group of about 20 people at the bowling alley, so we paid for 40 games of bowling (two each) and 19 pairs of bowling shoes.

I know what you’re thinking:

But Kevin, why did you only get 19 pairs of bowling shoes if you had 20 bowlers? Did you wear tennis shoes and bowl from the carpeted area?

Actually, I brought my own bowling shoes. Look at these beauties!

Bowling is probably the second greatest sport in the world after football, so I realized a long time ago that it makes a lot of sense to have my own bowling shoes. Check out the benefits:

• The shoes cost $30. If an average shoe rental is $3, it only takes 10 trips to the bowling alley to recoup your initial investment. Then every subsequent trip to the bowling alley is an additional 10% ROI
• The luxury of knowing that no one else’s feet have been in your shoes (I don’t trust that spray stuff for one minute)
• They actually fit and adhere to standard shoe sizes. You don’t have to go back up to the counter and say, “I asked for an 11, but your sizes are a little off. How about a 4?”
• Let’s be honest; chicks dig guys with bowling shoes

I basically bought bowling shoes a long time ago to enhance my bowling experience, save some money in the long run, and pick up chicks. It has been successful on at least two of those counts.

Oh, and in case you were wondering; I bowled a 209 in the first game. I started with a Big Four in the first frame and missed it, then closed out the rest of my frames, including a four-bagger in the 9th and 10th.

That’s bowling talk for “I did pretty well.”

Here’s my challenge for you today. Think about some of your hobbies, and try to come up with an “investment” that would make that hobby cheaper in the long run.

Kevin McKee

Kevin McKee is an entrepreneur, IT guru, and personal finance leader. In addition to his writing, Kevin is the head of IT at Buildingstars, Co-Founder of Padmission, and organizer of Laravel STL. He is also the creator of www.contributetoopensource.com. When he’s not working, Kevin enjoys podcasting about movies and spending time with his wife and four children.