-Reading. I read every night before bed. Through the glory of the internet, free amazon books, etc, this is a free hobby.
-Podcasts. Both of us have long commutes (rotating work sites, paid mileage), so we listed to a lot of podcasts. Tim Ferriss primarily for me, Joe Rogan primarily for him. But then some random ones too- some nutrition folks (rhonda patrick), freakonomics, alton brown, so on. We then talk about the podcasts we listened to with each other.
-Weight lifting. DH and I have a home gym. Gymnastics rings, barbell, squat rack, bumper plates, a DIY kettlebell. Since we just bought a second set of bumper plates (DH's getting too strong, lol), we're back to the cost of both of us being members of a cheap gym, but you can't do oly lifts at most gyms, so it isn't even an apples to apples comparison. Plus, we'll soon be back to beating the price- the power of time. I probably do this 1-3hrs per week, husband 4-6hrs. I have much slower muscular recovery, but then, my "training age" is a year younger.
-Cooking. We cook everything from scratch. Rarely eat out anymore (yay MMM), virtually no processed foods. An expensive way to eat overall (lots of veggies and local meat and some whole grains and dairy), but saves money in many respects.
-Hiking. This one way less since we moved from Portland and bought a house. Used to be once per week or more during the summer, ~once every two weeks through the winter. Hoping to increase this again once DH is done with his masters. Cheap hobby- one $36 trailhead pass every year, and drive DH's 60mpg TDI (for now... thanks VW. Ugh).
-Home improvement projects. These have supplanted hiking recently. Plumbing, lighting, painting, HVAC repair, general maintenance... We've only had the house since August, and the house exploded a bit with problems when we first got it. Getting more under control though. This stuff... saves money over hiring someone, but is a good example of why buying has SO many "hidden" costs vs renting.
-Gardening. Seasonal, obviously. This ends up expensive because we've moved so much over the years, so any soil is a sunk cost to rentals. Cheap mental health therapy though. And it'll be better now that we bought and are staying in one place.
-Volunteering. Lately it's been a community garden for a foodbank. Before that, as a hospital escort. Before that, shelving books in a library. Etc. Garden I do less often, about 4 hrs every 2-3 weeks. Hospital I did 4 hrs every week scheduled. Also did that at the library.
Intermittent:
-Hunting/camping. During hunting season, when we get tags, this takes a lot of time for a couple weeks. This ends up saving us a lot of money- family gear we use, and we get a lot of meat this way. Once we're paying to store/own/maintain/replace more of the gear, it'll become more expensive, but it's important to us. (Plus, I can't imagine a life without elk and venison in my freezer...)
-Visiting family. Once per year, sometimes twice per year, we roadtrip out to see my parents and stay with them about a week. They have sunshine. We don't. They have a pool, and live somewhere very quiet. Especially when we were in a city high rise, it was a very nice (and cheap!) vacation. They'd usually pay half or sometimes all the gas cost since they were excited to see us/we would bring some stuff down from their barn up here where they were storing it to their house, so it saved them shipping/driving/etc.
-TV binge. Once every 3-6 months, we find a show we really like on a streaming service and just binge it for a couple weeks in our free time until we're bored with it. Rarely watch TV otherwise- 1hr, maybe 2 per week, tops.
ETA: oh yeah, and yoga. I do a yoga flow every morning as part of getting ready.
