Minimum amount of money to be a happy astronomer?

Hi all...

This is thread related to the a recent previous thread where the basic
question was more along the lines of the absolute minimum size scope you'd
tolerate or even bother with....

And the recent $tellafane thread got me thinking as well....

Whats the minimum amount of money you could spend for ALL your astro gear
(excluding perhaps magazine subscriptions, event fees, internet access, gas for
travel, film, batteries, minor equipment repair - things of that nature) and
generally be content astronomy wise for many years to come?

Or in other words what size wad of cash would it take to buy all your gear up
front and be content? And what gear would that be?

And lets put in a few rules here.......

A slight discount on used gear is okay.....but lets be realistic.....no $5
naglers or $20 40 inch mirror blanks.....or $100 300 gigapixel CCDs........the
prices must be what you could find on ebay/astromart etc within a few weeks of
bargain hunting, no once in a lifetime finds....

Your current observing/living situation cannot drastically change.....ie you
cant now be living just outside a big town and then all of a sudden say "if I
lived in mag 7 skies, a 6 inch dob and $200 worth of plossls would be all I
would ever desire"....

Where you do most of your observing now is where you'd be doing most of your
observing in this scenario.....if 2 weekends a month you drive to jet black
skies 4 hours from your house with your current equipment....you are still
"allowed" to go the same number of times with your new equipment....if most
nights you just drive a half hour to the edge of town, thats STILL what you get
to do.....

But, lets not be tooo restrictive here.....say with your current equipment you
never head for the truelly "dark country".....we will now allow a handful of
such expeditons a year (but still make it something you'd actually be likely to
do in reality....ie not Mauna Laua (sp?) in Hawai 4 times a year when in
reality you have 2 kids to support and flip burgers for a living....or a 600
mile one way drive to middle of nowhere USA when you havent taken a single
vacation drive that long in 20 years....

And we will even allow you to attend a handfull of starparties (either the big
ones, or just local ones) where you get to play with other peoples bigger and
better toys for a few nights a year....but again, keep it realistic and what
you'd likely actually do.....ie you dont show up at the Texas Star Party and
get to use some guys 40 incher all by yourself all night every night for a
week.....

And you are allowed to make your own equipment....but again within reason...ie
material costs are realistic and any construction is realistically based on
your current skills....ie you are allow to grind a high performance 10 f8
mirror "on the cheap" IFFF you've done a few smaller and faster mirrors...but
your not allowed to grind a 18 inch F4 mirror to "save" a few thousand $$$ if
you have never ground a mirror period....

Oh....another rule....say you need a range of eyepiece focal lengths....but you
figure you'd just have to HAVE one nagler, but your currently not SURE which
focal length you'd want/use most of the time....you would be allowed to
buy/sell down the line to eventually arrive at the optimum choice as long as
your total investment didnt significantly change....and the same for say
filters, or barlows, or star charts, flashlights etc etc...

What would you spend? What would you get? And would you hit the dark
skies/stargazes anymore than you currently do (within the limits of the rules
above) or just get what you consider "enough" and keep pretty much the same
observing routine? And what do you currently have and how do you use it?

take care

Blll