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Need A New Hobby? Here Are Some You Can Start That Won’t Break The Bank.

By Samantha L.
January 19, 2018
Shutterstock / Ekaterina Vidyasova

You slave away at work eight hours a day, for five days a week, and for what? To save money. You budget your spending, but let’s face it you’d have to be a penny pincher in order to save any cash. Life was meant for living, and you deserve to have fun.

Here are 35 affordable hobbies for those on a budget.


1. Learn A New Language

If you have Spotify, they have audiobooks and even “Learn Spanish” and other languages under word section.

darlingdior

2. Heading To The Mat

Yoga. Free lessons on youtube, and the mat is really a suggestion.

ArcaneInsane

3. The Great Outdoors

Definitely Geocaching. It’s a treasure hunt. People hide “caches” then post the GPS coordinates. Totally free if you have a smart phone, fun, challenging, and will get you outside.

donk6075

4. Name Your Price

I’ve done a lot of hiking – it can be as expensive or as cheap as you want it to be. Throw on a pair of running shoes you already own and look up the nearest trail, you’re golden. A lot of parks don’t even have an entry fee unless you’re staying the night. Once you get into backpacking, it can start to get expensive, but good quality equipment can take you a long way. I’ve had the same pair of boots and the same backpack for over 5 years I think and they still treat me well. Spending more on a good set of equipment is worth it.

Senorferrrree

5. Kicking It Old School

Ham Radio is pretty fun.

Sounds expensive, but I started out with a $25 radio that could pick up local stations and transmit to repeaters. If all else fails, you have a fancy walkie talkie that scans frequencies and has terrific battery life.

From there I got a $15 antenna and a $5 cord and drastically improved my radio’s coverage and usability. I recently bought an RTL-SDR for $25, which is like the radio I had but for your computer – you can begin viewing what radio signals actually look like. And the antenna sucked so I bought an adapter cable ($5) and a new antenna($15). I could use the antenna off my other radio to read signals also now. As far as antennas go, they can be expensive (for home use, you could see them up to $500-1000+) or essentially free (build them from household items like coat hangers and cardboard).

What’s the value in it? Well it’s person to person and area to area. If you’re into computers you can read data from random signals in the air, which is neat. Retrieve photos from weather balloons, track airplanes in the sky, hear about emergencies in your area, get the weather from NOAA, find numbers stations, the list goes on. It’s one of those things where the more you play, the more you want to try out. Most of it is just exploratory – that is you won’t typically get a whole lot of benefit from it. But if you’re curious, ham radio is a bottomless pit of interesting stuff.

SUCK_MY_DICTIONARY

6. I Like To Burn Things

Pyrography. Basically drawing, but on wood with a soldering-iron-like-thing. Just bought a kit for pretty cheap on amazon to try something new.

AlgebraExe

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7. Roll The Dice

Dungeons and Dragons is really cheap now that all the manuals etc can be found for free online. All you really need are dice, and you can borrow those until you decide to make the $6 or so jump into buying your own set.

khalfrodo34

8. Skip the Starter Kits

Calligraphy. It’s easier to get into if you already have nice handwriting.

Basically, do not get those starter kits. When I began, I bought the following:

  1. General’s cork holder
  2. a variety of cheap nibs (Nikko G, Zebra G, Tachikawa G, Hiro 41, Hunt 99, Hunt 101)
  3. Koh-i-noor drawing ink (because india ink was super expensive here)
  4. Canson watercolor paper. However, I found this too expensive to practise on so I tried a variety of typewriting paper until I found a 100 gsm one that was smooth and didn’t bleed.

Also, I practiced with Dr. Vitolo’s Script in the Copperplate Style guide. It’s one of the best free comprehensive guides online.

PM_ME_HOT_FOREARMS

9. Let It Grow

Gardening. Buy some plants or seeds, get some fertilizer if necessary and away ya go.

prolapsingpotato

10. Look In A Book

Reading! I’ve never liked reading fiction, wasn’t my thing. But everyone I know gets so excited about it, I decided to give it another try (at age 61). Eyes suck and reading print in books is just too hard and frustrating. Bought the cheapest Kindle (on sale for $35 around the holidays) and borrowing books like crazy from the library. Nice big print with high contrast screen – I suddenly have a new, cheap hobby and love it!!

nothiding

11. Building Small Metal Models

The kits I build are about $6 a sheet (1-3 sheets models) and some can be purchased for less depending on what is on sale and coupon.

Traviscat

12. Disc Golf.

A starter set of discs is around $30 and most courses are free to play.

Desktitute

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13. Knitting

I was living in a hotel 3 days a week for work ,I ended up doing this for 18months After a few weeks of crappy hotel TV and internet I was read to crack.

I bought some cheap needles and yarn at Michaels and learned to Cast on and knit. Over the 3 years I’ve gotten quite good. Because of the hobby I was able to connect with people in the town I was working and made some friends I still talk to years later.

You can get started for less then $20 then the sky’s the limit. High end yarn and carbon fiber or aircraft aluminum needles… It’s like most hobbies you can get pretty far down the rabbit hole.

rcreveli

14. Endless Possibilities

Three of my favorites are sitting in on college/graduate level classes, volunteering teaching IT/refurbing electronics, and writing. All of them are near if not entirely free.

techniforus

15. Yo Yo

One of my favorite yoyo’s of all time is only 45 bucks (most high end competition yoyo’s are anywhere from 80 – 300)

It’s called the YoYoFactory Shutter and it was used to win the world championship a year or two ago. If your looking for a hobby you can do anywhere and sink as much time as you want into, check it out!

[deleted]

16. Running

Chances are, you already have a decent pair of shoes to get you started. I would venture to guess that you are able to walk. Start slowly by placing one foot in front of the other and then repeating at a progressively faster tempo until you find a nice steady pace that you can maintain for an extended period of time.

kpw1179

17. Brewing

It can be an expensive hobby, but it doesn’t have to be. Keep your projects simple and your equipment basic and you can do it for next to nothing.

Cider is a good place to start. They basically make themselves; all you need is cider, yeast, and something to store it in.

tgjer

18. Make Some Music

You can buy a decent ukulele for under $50 and watch all the free YouTube lessons to learn a really cool instrument!

shlongstar

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19. Find Your Inner Peace

Meditation. It’s like turning your self into a centrifuge that flings off everything that isn’t essential to it. As free as breathing.

aka_zkra

20. Get Crafty

Crocheting! You can pick up some yarn, needles and how to books for around $30 at a craft store. It’s a great cheap hobby plus the stuff you make can double as Christmas/b-day gifts! I still wear a hat that my sister made me a couple Christmas’ back.

azkbaninmate

21. Get Your Bake On

Bread baking. Grow a sourdough starter to bake all kinds of bread and pretzels and such. All that’s required is flour and water and a little salt, which are inexpensive, plus time and practice, which is what makes it a hobby.

Skojar

22. Draw Me Like One Of Your French Girls

Drawing. All you really need is a decent set of pencils, a kneaded eraser and a pad of paper. You can expand your arsenal of tools over time and libraries are loaded with books that will teach you things properly like line, shape, form, etc.. How to draw kids books are the best because they’re loaded with cars, spaceships, cartoon characters and more-Mostly stuff anyone first getting into drawing wants to learn.

[deleted]

23. Bored Games…

Boardgames. You can get two great games for around 50 $ and open a awesome new world.

Fatboykim

24. Bird Catcher

If you can catch a falcon, Falconry.

grachuss

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25. Gotta Make ‘Em All

I just got into making pvc bows and small steel knives. The bows cost about $4 each, and the only investment was a heat gun for $20. The only investment for the knives was a small bench grinder that I picked up for $30. I’ll be making most of the knives from repurposed metal objects like old lawnmower blades or files, so it’s a relatively cheap hobby.

I_WIPE

26. Find A Friend

Backgammon, if you’re in a situation where you can find other people to play with.

mann-y

27. Open A Can Of Worms

Vermicomposting! (Composting with worms.) It costs about 20 bucks to buy enough composting worms to get started, and from there, all you really need is a Rubbermaid style bin and some organic trash. I recommend using European nightcrawlers, because they double as great fishing bait. It’s the most environmentally friendly way to get rid of old fruits and vegetables, and the compost makes for really excellent garden fertilizer. There aren’t any hidden costs or anything after getting started, and the worms will reproduce on their own, so a good worm farm will be sustainable pretty much indefinitely. It’s more fun than it sounds, it’s educational, and it’s green. If you’re interested in gardening or fishing at all (or both!) it’s a logical next step.

theshrooponodon

28. The Colors Of The Rainbow

Coloring. Get yourself some markers and some pencils from the dollar store. A good coloring book will run about $8 at a bookstore.

octobertwins

29. The Best Exercise

Swimming. All the fat burning and muscle building qualities of running, but you’ll have a shield for a back and less impact injuries.

Thatguywhoplaysgames

30. In A Galaxy Not So far Away…

Buy an older pair of binoculars.

Get a decent 7×35, something japanese made from the 60’s. (Wide angle are very fun, try one if you can)

Everything outside gets instantly awesomer. Birds, squirrels, bugs, trees, geography, clouds, sunsets, more birds, even people.

And then…. It gets dark. The night sky turns into the trippiest shit you have ever seen. Right now Orion is up high nice and early in the evening. Take your binos to the back yard at night and look at the Orion Nebula. You will flip your lid.

You can also see the Andromeda galaxy hurtle toward us, early evenings. One day it will collide with the Milky Way. And yet, not a single star would likely touch another. That is the scale of what you are watching at 7x magnification for under $50. With your own eyes.

Binoculars. Not for the feint of heart.

Extra-wide angle is “nice” but it’s not a must-have

Also, 7×50 will not be an improvement over 7×35 for the night sky UNLESS you are in an area which is NOT heavily light polluted. 7×50 in metropolitan areas are not good for the night sky. You need dark skies to reap the benefits.

BookEight

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31. Origami.

I bring paper with me for long flights and every time I master a new model and practice it a few times, I’ll download a couple of new ones to practice (from any one of the many origami community reference sites).

w00gle

32. One With Nature

If you enjoy nature, bird watching! A feeder and some seed, an ID guide (several apps), and perhaps binoculars.

Anneof1000days

33. The Gold Rush

Get into gold panning if your in need of quick cash. get a spoon (free) a bent screw driver (free) and a gold pan ($30)

Google around your local area for gold bearing streams and read up on local regulations, usually theres a local panning group nearby which will take you in and show you where to dig. I found around 21 ounces so far from digging on a friends claim in northern bc.

infinus5

34. Creating A Masterpiece

Sculpting, what you need:

  1. Sculpture wire (about 12 bucks for a couple feet)
  2. Super Sculpey (10 bucks x 1 lb, get 3 blocks to start playing around)
  3. Carving tools (about 8 bucks a set on amazon)

Total: 50 bucks

Add time and imagination and you have HOURS of fun ahead ot you.

I find it super relaxing and super useful for my anxiety to listen to music while working on something, plus you will have to read and watch videos on some materials, proportions and anatomy which is super fun to kill dead time during your commute.

Algebrax

35. Feed Me

Cooking. We need to eat anyway, so it’s something you have to spend money on. Spending a little more money on cooking will seriously increase the quality of the food you’re eating, and cooking more saves money from eating out.

Inanna26

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