Author Topic: What are your favourite free or VERY low cost hobbies?  (Read 29340 times)

NestEggChick (formerly PFgal)

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Re: What are your favourite free or VERY low cost hobbies?
« Reply #50 on: October 31, 2013, 01:48:50 PM »
Write a novel:
http://nanowrimo.org/

National Novel Writing Month starts soon!

Thanks for the reminder, I'm teetering on the edge of wanting to try.  I know it will cost me nothing to try.  I just don't want to lose interest and FAIL to get my 50k words!

Remember, you definitely won't get the 50k words if you don't try ;)

NestEggChick (formerly PFgal)

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Re: What are your favourite free or VERY low cost hobbies?
« Reply #51 on: October 31, 2013, 01:59:15 PM »
I love your initial ideas! A lot of mine where already mentioned here, so I'll just say a couple more:

-- My library has free or discounted museum passes. Maybe yours does too?
-- Many museums have free nights regularly, so call to ask.
-- Others mentioned knit and crochet. I do both so much that I needed to justify the cost of the yarn, so I sell what I make. This way, it works out to be free, and I still get to enjoy one of my favorite hobbies. It has the added bonus that I don't clutter my home with more scarves and gloves than I can possibly wear.
-- Get a part-time job. This is not only free, but it provides income! It could be a formal job, something less formal like teaching piano lessons or tutoring, or something even more casual like Virtual Assistant work online.

Congratulations on getting away from the shopping habit! You're being very smart to find a replacement activity so you're not as tempted.

Osprey

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Re: What are your favourite free or VERY low cost hobbies?
« Reply #52 on: November 01, 2013, 12:12:10 AM »
Write a novel:
http://nanowrimo.org/

National Novel Writing Month starts soon!

Ooh. Thanks for this link, I didn't know about it! Having a word count target is nice for writers who tend to over-edit themselves in the middle of something. I signed up last night. Fun times ahead...

gooki

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Re: What are your favourite free or VERY low cost hobbies?
« Reply #53 on: November 01, 2013, 12:28:56 AM »
Cooking is a great hobby to have. You have to eat so you may as well enjoy it.

Exercise of some sort is also a great distraction. The endorphin rush you get will be stronger than anything you get from shopping.

onehappypanda

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Re: What are your favourite free or VERY low cost hobbies?
« Reply #54 on: November 01, 2013, 06:42:15 AM »
Many of my favorites - cooking, reading, exercising - have been mentioned. So I'll add volunteering - choose something you're good at, volunteer your services to an organization that needs it. Or see if an organization will teach you a skill in exchange for you to volunteer your time. I volunteer as a tutor and a college mentor for local organizations, and find it a really rewarding use of my time. It just costs me a bit of gas money to get around town.

ichangedmyname

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Re: What are your favourite free or VERY low cost hobbies?
« Reply #55 on: November 01, 2013, 08:10:40 AM »
Mystery shopping is one of my hobbies/side hustles.  It takes care of my shopping urges and brings in a few extra bucks, or items for which I am reimbursed (usually items that I wouldn't buy such as bath and body products, chocolates, etc.)  The merch gets gifted, and the money gets stashed.   For me, it's a win-win.

How did you get into that? Most of the listings I saw were bogus. Great hobby!

Rachelocity

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Re: What are your favourite free or VERY low cost hobbies?
« Reply #56 on: November 01, 2013, 08:49:59 AM »
I started in mystery shopping by googling a message board for mystery shoppers.  It led me to Volition, which listed the names of various companies.  Then, I started checking the companies' websites, completing shops and getting on as many mailing lists as possible.  Some shops are awful to me (purchase and return, for example) and some aren't relevant (gas station or car maintenance, since I don't drive).  But I can easily pick up $50.00 a month in cash and/or merchandise.  Not a significant amount of money, but it's fun!

Pylortes

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Re: What are your favourite free or VERY low cost hobbies?
« Reply #57 on: November 01, 2013, 02:01:45 PM »
I like the disc golf idea that has been mentioned elsewhere several times.

I have one that nobody has yet mentioned that I love- Fantasy football, basketball etc.  Obviously this appeals to those of us who are sports fans, but its totally free (unless you want to join a league that has a buy-in, but most don't), you don't even need cable to watch NFL games, and I spend hours working on my rosters and playing GM with several friends.  We trash talk a lot and it gives us something to stay connected.  You can sign up for free at places like ESPN.com or Yahoo! and don't need to know anyone else in the league to get started.

rubybeth

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Re: What are your favourite free or VERY low cost hobbies?
« Reply #58 on: November 01, 2013, 02:14:06 PM »
I thought of one more... I don't think anyone else has mentioned this, but if you like reading/blogging, you might enjoy writing fanfiction. I really enjoy writing Hunger Games fanfiction. You can publish it on a site like http://www.fanfiction.net/ and get feedback. It's really nerdy fun. :)

StarswirlTheMustached

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Re: What are your favourite free or VERY low cost hobbies?
« Reply #59 on: November 01, 2013, 02:55:18 PM »
I thought of one more... I don't think anyone else has mentioned this, but if you like reading/blogging, you might enjoy writing fanfiction. I really enjoy writing Hunger Games fanfiction. You can publish it on a site like http://www.fanfiction.net/ and get feedback. It's really nerdy fun. :)

Great practice, too, if you ever want to write original works. It's very hard to get the quality of feedback you can find in the fanfiction community when you're just starting out with your own stuff. I'm skipping NaNoWriMo this year to write fanfic instead, because I think I'll get more out of it.

ichangedmyname

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Re: What are your favourite free or VERY low cost hobbies?
« Reply #60 on: November 02, 2013, 10:34:19 AM »
I thought of one more... I don't think anyone else has mentioned this, but if you like reading/blogging, you might enjoy writing fanfiction. I really enjoy writing Hunger Games fanfiction. You can publish it on a site like http://www.fanfiction.net/ and get feedback. It's really nerdy fun. :)

I was all over that site in college LOL But most of my fiction was written about real people and the site purged those eventually. But I really enjoyed it. I might get back into that. Wattpad is quite popular too.

apoclater

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Re: What are your favourite free or VERY low cost hobbies?
« Reply #61 on: November 02, 2013, 10:16:13 PM »
Slacklining requires a small initial fee (~$69-99 for the equipment) but after that all you need is two trees and semi-decent weather.  Great exercise, takes some time to master, really fun to show friends and new people.

clarkai

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Re: What are your favourite free or VERY low cost hobbies?
« Reply #62 on: November 02, 2013, 10:48:17 PM »
I walk a lot, and I also garden. I just started mushroom hunting, which is mostly free, since the information can be found in books and through experienced mushroom pickers. There isn't any specialized equipment, so it's basically walking around and observing nature.

lifejoy

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SauseBoss

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Re: What are your favourite free or VERY low cost hobbies?
« Reply #64 on: November 03, 2013, 06:56:03 AM »
Running, learning computer html/CSS/Java, reading magazines I get from the library (The Economist and Business Insider are good enough for me!), and of course saying Hi to strangers!

zinnie

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Re: What are your favourite free or VERY low cost hobbies?
« Reply #65 on: November 03, 2013, 06:57:44 AM »
Most of mine have been mentioned, but the one I didn't see is play an instrument! My husband and I have been both re-learning the instruments we played when we were younger and it has been really fun. We are just starting to be good enough to play duets and I found a woman at work who plays violin (I play viola) to practice with as well. Hours of fun for free (now that we own instruments of course...but they can be cheap to rent if you don't have one.) I am amazed at how much good instruction is on YouTube now, too. I wouldn't need to sign up for lessons ever again!

rubybeth

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Re: What are your favourite free or VERY low cost hobbies?
« Reply #66 on: November 03, 2013, 08:46:37 AM »
Most of mine have been mentioned, but the one I didn't see is play an instrument! My husband and I have been both re-learning the instruments we played when we were younger and it has been really fun. We are just starting to be good enough to play duets and I found a woman at work who plays violin (I play viola) to practice with as well. Hours of fun for free (now that we own instruments of course...but they can be cheap to rent if you don't have one.) I am amazed at how much good instruction is on YouTube now, too. I wouldn't need to sign up for lessons ever again!

Good point. I took classical voice lessons for years and still enjoy singing when I get a chance. Guitar is a fairly easy one to pick up since you can find people willing to lend you a guitar or get a cheap beginner one. Joining a choir would be a related suggestion if you don't have any instrumental talents. :) If you have a partner or friend(s) who also like to sing, learning to sing harmony is super fun (my sister and I like doing this).

imustachemystash

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Re: What are your favourite free or VERY low cost hobbies?
« Reply #67 on: November 03, 2013, 10:10:59 AM »
Karaoke!!! It's so fun and makes me so happy for some reason.  I was joking to my husband that I don't need to drink wine anymore because karaoke makes me so much happier.  I buy the games used for the Xbox and the whole family sings along.  When I get really good, I'll head on over to the Denny's down the street to perform, ha ha.

ichangedmyname

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Re: What are your favourite free or VERY low cost hobbies?
« Reply #68 on: November 03, 2013, 10:15:52 AM »
Karaoke!!! It's so fun and makes me so happy for some reason.  I was joking to my husband that I don't need to drink wine anymore because karaoke makes me so much happier.  I buy the games used for the Xbox and the whole family sings along.  When I get really good, I'll head on over to the Denny's down the street to perform, ha ha.

I have a karaoke in my basement and yes it makes me really happy. I should do it more often. Sometimes I'd go to Applebee's on Saturdays after 9 pm they have karaoke, half off apps and drinks. I was there last night and had a blast. Ok not free because of the apps and drinks BUT karaoke is free since I can do it at home too. But I also love watching other people do karaoke.

mm1970

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Re: What are your favourite free or VERY low cost hobbies?
« Reply #69 on: November 03, 2013, 02:27:24 PM »
Sex
Ha! I would argue that it's not necessarily low-cost, as I have an unexpected 16 month old. ;)

Melody

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Re: What are your favourite free or VERY low cost hobbies?
« Reply #70 on: November 03, 2013, 04:12:31 PM »
Thinking of my weekend:
Playing in a band (or even just jamming with friends). All up I have spent about $650 on my gear (could get more than this back if I sold it, as it was all second hand "great deals" which are a decent enough set up for playing house parties and pubs). Takes up quite a bit of time (jam 1x per week, practice and write songs in your own time) costs only petrol (assuming you have a friend with a garage or similar and are not paying for somewhere to rehearse). Has potential to make a small amount of money.  Our project for the summer is to make a recording (using a computer and gear one of the guys already has)... we will enjoy doing this and expect we can make about $400 off selling the cds at parties that we play at. Not a huge sum, but can be used to offset the petrol cost for some of the parties we want to play over summer that are further away.

I would recommend playing bass instead of guitar (if you don't already have friends who play bass) as then you can play with your guitarist friends :)

C. K.

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Re: What are your favourite free or VERY low cost hobbies?
« Reply #71 on: November 03, 2013, 04:42:26 PM »

amyable

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Re: What are your favourite free or VERY low cost hobbies?
« Reply #72 on: November 03, 2013, 05:33:22 PM »
Here are mine:

-Baking bread
-Reading
-Learning Spanish
-Trail running
-Yoga

tomatoprincess

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Re: What are your favourite free or VERY low cost hobbies?
« Reply #73 on: November 04, 2013, 04:57:50 PM »
If you don't like to exercise in the cold, try exercise videos, I'm working on this one:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZsVp7wRWG7I

basd

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Re: What are your favourite free or VERY low cost hobbies?
« Reply #74 on: November 05, 2013, 12:37:05 AM »
Running, reading (using my library subscription) and learning Italian

cheeselover91

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Re: What are your favourite free or VERY low cost hobbies?
« Reply #75 on: November 07, 2013, 07:11:40 AM »
Oh my goodness, hobbies...
1. Foraging- looking for free wild edibles by the side of the road/in forests. I bought my wild edible book at a library sale for 10 cents.
2. Taking free classes online- Busuu (languages) or Khan Academy (math/science).
3. Sewing- buy a cheap machine, or a used one on Craigslist. Find used tools (seam ripper, etc) at garage sales. I hardly ever buy new fabric- this makes sewing EXPENSIVE so I wait until I can find free fabric. Sometimes I get free clothing from my sister or other people. "Part out" the clothes and save zippers, buttons, and other reusables. Not only do you get free zippers, but you learn how the clothes are put together and how the pattern pieces should look. A sleeve or pant leg looks WAY different layed out flat than it does on a pair of pants. This leads to pattern design and fitting skills... extremely valuable.
4. Selling stuff on Ebay or Amazon.
5. Take stuff apart. Like old computers, pianos, anything free that is just going to end up in the garbage anyway. It's a great way to learn how things are made or how to fix things. I love music so I pick up cheap ones at garage sales with the sole intention of taking them apart and fixing them. You can also mix numbers 4 & 5, parting things out and selling them on Ebay. I took apart a doll (expensive name-brand one) with the intention of fixing it. I never did put it back together, but did sell the parts separately for more than the doll was worth new.
6. Cooking. This, like sewing, can be very costly, but not if you blend it with #1.
7. Writing/blogging. I've learned a ton about internet and code and all that, just by keeping a free blog.

Learning is the best free hobby I think. You become somewhat of an expert in many areas, and get the opportunity to help a lot of people, for free or paid work.

aj_yooper

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Re: What are your favourite free or VERY low cost hobbies?
« Reply #76 on: November 07, 2013, 08:05:27 AM »
Oh my goodness, hobbies...
1. Foraging- looking for free wild edibles by the side of the road/in forests. I bought my wild edible book at a library sale for 10 cents.
2. Taking free classes online- Busuu (languages) or Khan Academy (math/science).
3. Sewing- buy a cheap machine, or a used one on Craigslist. Find used tools (seam ripper, etc) at garage sales. I hardly ever buy new fabric- this makes sewing EXPENSIVE so I wait until I can find free fabric. Sometimes I get free clothing from my sister or other people. "Part out" the clothes and save zippers, buttons, and other reusables. Not only do you get free zippers, but you learn how the clothes are put together and how the pattern pieces should look. A sleeve or pant leg looks WAY different layed out flat than it does on a pair of pants. This leads to pattern design and fitting skills... extremely valuable.
4. Selling stuff on Ebay or Amazon.
5. Take stuff apart. Like old computers, pianos, anything free that is just going to end up in the garbage anyway. It's a great way to learn how things are made or how to fix things. I love music so I pick up cheap ones at garage sales with the sole intention of taking them apart and fixing them. You can also mix numbers 4 & 5, parting things out and selling them on Ebay. I took apart a doll (expensive name-brand one) with the intention of fixing it. I never did put it back together, but did sell the parts separately for more than the doll was worth new.
6. Cooking. This, like sewing, can be very costly, but not if you blend it with #1.
7. Writing/blogging. I've learned a ton about internet and code and all that, just by keeping a free blog.

Learning is the best free hobby I think. You become somewhat of an expert in many areas, and get the opportunity to help a lot of people, for free or paid work.

+1 Great post!

 

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