Are your hobbies breaking the bank? 5 frugal alternatives.
Since its the beginning of a New Year and many people have made resolutions to change spending habits; one area ripe for change is in their hobbies.
It might even entail giving up on one or two… although I don’t think that’s really feasible except in the short term… after all if you didn’t really enjoy it you wouldn’t purposely be doing it in your spare time, now would you?
After a while you begin to feel deprived and eventually backslide most probably into a spending binge on whatever it is that the hobby requires in the way of supplies. (Been there, done that so don’t tell me it doesn’t happen!)
Rarely do people have only one hobby… and some of us have too many that interest us. Anything can be a hobby if it’s not something you need to do to survive or make a living from and do it “just because.”
The best part though is that a LOT of satisfying hobbies don’t require a large expenditure of funds… at least once the initial equipment is purchased… and maybe not even then… a lot of hobbies are actually very cheap to get into. So if you’ve made a resolution to cut your spending it might be a good idea to possibly look at changing hobbies, not just scaling back.
Here are a couple of inexpensive but satisfying ones:
Gardening. Yes, you can spend a fortune on tools but if you buy quality ones then you’re only buying seeds and starts every year… and how nice is it to make your own bouquet for the dining table instead of shelling out $35 on one at the florist?
Knitting. Fifty bucks should get you just about all the different sizes of knitting needles you need and a good book or two on learning to knit. Check out “Knitting With Balls: A Hands-On Guide to Knitting for the Modern Man” at Amazon about learning to knit. Its real easy to make a scarf so don’t let it scare you guys. (And a handmade gift for your significant other to boot!)
Reading is another and one of my favorites… even if I paid full price for a book (which I rarely do) the cost is usually less than $.50 an hour of reading time and if I get one of my Hamilton Books specials it might be only a dime.
Writing. Some good paper and a good pen (OK I’m busted… I lay out $20 a ream on good paper and you can spend a $1000 on a good fountain pen but the paper is the only recurring expense other than the occasional $20 bottle of ink… sue me.)
Watercolor Painting. Watercolors are cheap compared to oil paints and the only real recurring expense is the paper and occasional refills of the pans. Another one that’s only about $75-$100 to get into.
Does anyone notice the pattern here?
These inexpensive hobbies all share two traits… they are usually something you do by yourself… although there are others you can do in group like say bird watching… and you are making/doing something that will usually take several hours or days to complete using a minimum amount of supplies/materials.
So what other cheap hobbies can you think of or do you engage in?
Photo credit: stock.xchng.
Roland: If you like sports as hobbies, there certainly are economic advantages of the free ones vs. those that require a fee or membership. For example, pick tennis over golf. Hiking or running outdoors over a monthly gym membership. Other sports like biking require an investment upfront, but then the cost per use decreases if you bike often and buy a good one that will last several years.
Reading for me gets to be expensive.
Being on the internet, blogging and/or reading other blogs is a lot cheaper.. and more fun. 🙂
My other frugal hobby is cleaning out my room/life and purging all my stuff.
Fabulously Broke in the City
Just a girl trying to find a balance between being a Shopaholic and a Saver…
I love to embroider and do quilt projects.
Embroidery floss is frequently 5/$1 and I get PUH-lenty of muslin and fabrics from my uncle in law for free (2 carloads a year is shared by me, my mother in law and my mother with the excess going to our local high schools home ec class and theater costume programs).
My cost is very minimal- but the time I spend is my quality time with my creative side.
The knitters I know are constantly trying to talk themselves out of spending fortunes at the yarn store, and often failing, because they love the yarn. It’s a cheap hobby to start, but I haven’t gotten the sense that it’s a cheap hobby to continue with.
I wanted to weigh in about knitting, quilting, and crafty hobbies in general. I’m an avid crafter, and my experience is that these are NOT cheap hobbies. If you’re satisfied with inexpensive acrylic yarn from Michael’s Crafts or Joann Fabrics, knitting can indeed be cheap. But, those yarns aren’t cozy, or nice to the touch, and probably are not something you want to wear. I started knitting with the cheap stuff, but it didn’t take long before I was done with the cheap materials. If you’re going to go to the trouble of making something stitch by stitch, you usually want it to be nice. Good yarn ain’t cheap, although there are some less expensive options like the website knitpicks.com. Same for quilting, and pretty much anything that requires textiles, yarn, or other fibers. One skein of yarn, or one yard of fabric, might not be too expensive, but most projects require more than one… and when you do that multiplication, it’s not cheap anymore!
I also play music. My acoustic guitar cost around $350. I bet that I’ve spent at least $350 on yarn, fabric, and other craft supplies in the 3-4 years I’ve had my guitar. But, my guitar will last for quite a long time, and other than replacing strings every now and then, it’s turned out to be a pretty cheap hobby when all is said and done. (Of course, if you’re a beginner and have to invest in lessons, that’s going to change your financial outlay…)
So — beware of the creative and crafty hobbies. They’re lovely and very gratifying, but not necessarily cheap. 🙂
Nina: Sports are also good hobbies as well as good for you…it should be mentioned that if you like Golf their are many Public Courses where you can play without being a member. If you walk instead of renting a cart it can be pretty cheap (and good exercise) to play a round.
FabulouslyBroke: Unless you have to have the current New York Times Bestseller look at places like http://www.hamiltonbooks.com and http://www.bookfinder.com At Hamilton I can get a dozen books..mostly hardbacks..for $50. Just send a check don’t use the credit card on the website…you pay $3.95 and $1 a book for shipping if you use a credit card but a Flat $3.50 if you send a check or money order. Bookfinder is great for Out Of Print and Antiquarian offerings.
DivaJean: Embroidery, Crewel, Needlepoint, Cross Stitch..all good and inexpensive once you get past the begining phase..you’ve GOT to get all the colors of Floss, Right?? }:~D
cq: Music is also an inexpensive hobby once you get past the “start up costs”..but only if you don’t have a Tin Ear like I do..LOL. As for Knitting and other crafts it all depends on where your get your yarns as to what you’ll spend on them. I agree that the cheap acrylics lose their appeal very quickly but even if you do pay $75 to buy enough silk yarn to make a sweater its the idea that when you factor in the TIME it takes to make the item the cost is extremely small on a per hour basis.
Karen: Like anything else it requires some self-control. If you’re an avid yarn fanatic you can have a fortune tied up in it before you know it. One good way to limit it is to work on no more than maybe two or three projects at a time and/or have a basket where you keep your yarn and when its full you can’t buy anymore until you’ve used up enough to create the space for more.
Books, movies, games – all of these can be had at your local library. All books should be free, frequently they also offer their movies and DVDs for free as well.
Horseback Riding – if you’re experienced but out of shape, look on or advertise on Craigslist. The folks that are holding on to their horses in these bad economic times usually need help with things. I’m currently able to ride as much as I’d like, for free – she’s not even asking me to muck stalls!
Game nights – my friends and I play a lot of board and card games (so much so that we made the local news)
FrugalZen- I tend to stick to redwork– so its basically one color of embroidery floss for me!
Though I do have a few projects with multiple colors, these are far and few between, and planned out to correspond to free fabrics I have received.
Hi Roland, I know a lot of other readers have already mentioned the cost of knitting/crocheting, but I just wanted to chime in here. My partner is an avid crocheter and unless the yarn is on sale or it’s been gifted from someone else, it’s a very expensive habit to maintain. Same for beading and scrapbooking.
I agree with you about gardening, though. I just spent $10 on seeds for my Spring and Summer garden. It’s so much more economical to start your own seeds, rather than buying established plants at the nursery. In the end, your plants are less stressed because they haven’t been moved around from one micro-climate to the next, so you’re going to have happier, healthier plants. Which means you’re more likely to get a lot of fruit from each plant. It’s a lot more bang for your gardening buck.
Scrapbooking is not that bad- unless you go crazy for all the doodads in the scrapbooking section of the craft store.
I do not buy any stickers, die cuts, any ANYTHING other than nice pens, and some decent paper. AND not by the sheet paper either, like some craft stores have- I buy big packs of acid free on sale. I can craft my own “shapes” and lettering styles- its what makes my scrapping personal. I also like to cut out pictures from free travel brochures, events attended, etc to add to my pages.
The big problem with scrapbooking costs is that someone discovered people would pay money for precrafted items– and it caught on. If you can avoid this factor, it’s a fairly cheap hobby- just paper, pens, pictures, and albums.
Diva Jean – I totally agree. Since I bought my Mac, I can do all kinds of cool scrapbook pages right on my computer and then print them out. It’s awesome!
My favorite hobby is cooking. (That and activism). Even if you like to try cooking new things and you end up buying mangoes or strawberries or other luxury items, I think that most people who cook as a hobby also eat out less and end up saving.