I started reloading at 12 with a Lee Whack-A-Mole in 20 ga. for me and 12 ga. for my brother a couple years later. My Uncle would buy our components if we'd keep some of the black birds out of his corn fields. I really fell for the ability to create ammo when needed because we were a one car rural family and money was vey tight. I used to wait until Dad wasn't around to use a big wooden mallet to crimp those damned shells as my right palm felt perpetually bruised. Dad was afraid the mallet was going to cause a discharge, never happened.
We couldn't hunt deer with rifles and Mom wouldn't allow a pistol in the house period. Eventually a Mec 600 Jr. showed up. Then I moved out, went to college, got married, turned 21 and started buying forbidden fruit, handguns, and quickly realized the road to financial ruin was paved with factory handgun ammo. Enter a RCBS Jr. a set of Lyman .44 Mag./Special dies, a .429215 mould, etc.
I have never amortized the cost, though many of my friends do. Money is only a medium of exchange of my labor or talents for stuff. Stockpiling my labor in the form of money for the future when I wanted to curtail laboring always made sense, but I also had hobby needs. Fishing, shooting, and hunting ate up a lot of money. Some folks use up their money standing in front of a urinal in some saloon. Some with a drug habit. Some marry women that like horses. To each his or her own.