You work so hard and lately, it seems that you don’t know what to do with yourself in the free time that you do have. Maybe you’re in a place in your life where you feel a need to make some changes to increase the amount of fun or leisure you enjoy. Maybe you’re just bored with sudoku and crosswords. Regardless of your reason behind it, you’re looking for a new or more fulfilling hobby and you don’t want it to break your budget. So here is an expanded list of five low or no-cost ideas that anyone can enjoy as a hobby starting today. The categories are diverse and each has a few unique and fun hobbies and descriptions
1. Upcycling Second Hand or Discounted Items
It’s absolutely amazing what a little sandpaper and some paint or some glue and a few paper cutouts can do to a raggedy-looking wooden table. How about a few strategically places scissor snips in an old t-shirt for an edgy and chic new addition to your wardrobe. Making subtle alterations or even just cleaning up second-hand items and pairing each one perfectly with things you already have is a creative hobby with satisfaction guaranteed. From tiny changes like new handles on a simple wooden dresser to full-out renovations such as also painting that dresser white and adding huge floral vinyl stickers on it after lining the drawers with faux crushed velvet, the potential of upcycles is without limits. Some of the best places to find items for this kind of creative work include local thrift and second-hand stores, yard sales or garage sales, online marketplaces such as Facebook Marketplace, discount and bargain shops, or even on the side of the road. Try these and other techniques to redo cheap items you find and see what fits your style:
- Add painted detail
- Paint them a different color
- Add ribbons or jeweled embellishments
- Reupholster furniture with a hand stapler or flat thumbtacks
2. Lifelong Learning
Making the investment into your present life and your future doesn’t always require taking on new financial burdens. There are lots of free courses, classes, web-based seminars, and tutorials with easily understood step-by-step instructions and/or pictures to show you what to do. You can learn career skills to add to your CV or resume, learn a new language for future travel, learn a trade and level up your side hustle or learn to do card tricks and impress your friends. Here are a few suggestions for fun and productive things to learn:
- A new language: French, Spanish, Russian, etc.
- Career skills: coding, transcription, time management
- Minor household repair, maintenance or installation
- Emergency preparedness and first aid such a CPR
- Non-verbal communication skills like Morse code, braille or sign language
3. Traditional Mail
There’s just something special about getting a card or even better a letter in your mailbox, especially if it’s from a friend or family member. You can even find online communities dedicated to matching up pen pals in a safety-dedicated digital environment. You could also send a letter to your mom or sister, an old friend from high school, your kindergarten school teacher, a sentimental bestie, your neighbor, a lover, or even to yourself! Of course, sending traditional, “snail mail,” takes time for your correspondent to receive, and also for your own return mail from them to arrive. However there are so many beautiful creative ways to create memorable keepsakes with a few inexpensive items:
- Hand-drawn typography art designs
- Pages from adult (or not) coloring books with letters written on the back
- Card Making
- Sending postcards
4. Treasure Collecting
Treasures come in a huge variety of shapes, sizes, colors, and currencies. Some collections of treasures are a certain theme of glass or ceramic figurines, angels or owls maybe or porcelain dolls. Other treasure chests are filled with vintage depression-era colored glassware like single stem cobalt blue vases or white milk glass candy dishes. Still, others make a treasure chest out of a coin folder as they collect pennies dated from years with special memories or quarters that are each stamped with a representative image for one of the 50 states in the US. Whatever it is that you treasure, there are plenty of places to find new collection pieces that you may never have thought of:
- Parking lots
- Flea markets
- Thrift shops
- Playgrounds and parks
- Online classifieds (FB Marketplace and Craigslist)
- Online sales platforms (eBay and Amazon)
- Yard sales
5. Self-Discovery
Finding out what you do or don’t like whether it be foods, activities, music, movies, or anything really, is a hobby and an adventure all on its own. Getting out and trying new and different things is so much fun whether you’re with a bestie, a group of friends, or on a solo excursion. Learning what your own limitations and inhibitions are by trying things to test them is both daring and intrepid and maybe even a bit crazy sometimes. Be that as it may, pushing your own limits is arguably the best way to expand those limits further. Finding out who you are as a hobby is one of the most satisfying and exhilarating series of experiences you can have. The best part about this hobby is that it’s all about you. Start by asking yourself questions about who you really are at your core. Then find several ways to honestly answer each one of your questions. Finally, think of ways you can test and validate or challenge each of your answers. Make sure you keep a record or journal of the whole ordeal as best you can, should you have a struggling time later that causes you to question yourself again or further.
No matter who you are, where you’re from, or what you’ve done in the past for fun and entertainment, there are still infinite interests across the known universe that are accompanied by a variety of hobbies that anyone can enjoy.
Categories: Interesting Stuff
