40 Hobbies That Won't Break The Bank
Some people spend hundreds and thousands of dollars on their hobbies—photography is one of those hobbies, ask me how I know. And that's great, if that expenditure is continuously affordable for your budget. But sometimes things change and we need to look for new ways to enjoy life that won't come at such a big expense to our bank accounts. Here are 40 hobbies that won't break the bank, but are enjoyable all the same.
Getting Out For A Hike
If you have a local hiking trail (or network) to explore, then your costs are going to be close to zero to begin hiking with a few friends or by yourself on the weekends. Even if you have to travel a bit, the rest of the hobby enjoyment phase is free! And, exercise is good for you, as is getting out in nature.
Going Camping
Take the kids or some friends, snacks, and drinks and do some camping. While your expenses are going to be gas and food, it's an easier financial pill to swallow for the quality time you'll have. A tip just in case you don't live near the woods or accessible campground: Go camping in your backyard and make a big deal out of it!
Knitting & Crocheting
Knitting isn't only an inexpensive hobby for the elderly—if you enjoy it and are good at it, you can make a bit of money, or at the very least not stress about gifts come Christmas time. Knitting and crocheting can also be very therapeutic.
Play Board Games
Do you remember your favorite board game as a child? Chances are you can find it at your local second-hand store or on Ebay for a few dollars—or you can find out which board games your friends would be interested in playing and make it a weekly/bi-weekly/monthly occurrence. Bring some drinks and order a pizza. Some classics are Monopoly (choose your favorite variation), chess, checkers, or Scrabble.
Play Card Games
A couple of packs of playing cards can be found for a dollar or so at your local dollar store. There are literally hundreds of different card games that you can learn how you play. Applying the same principle as board games, you can turn your new hobby into a small social event.
Ron Maijen, CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons
Take Up Scrapbooking
If you have a million different printed photographs from your family, present or past, but aren't sure what to do with them, you could take up scrapbooking and organize them into a fun, readable scrapbook. Very 90s, I know, but nevertheless, you can pick up various scrapbooking materials for a few dollars and have some fun with it. Scrapbooks also make great Christmas conversation pieces.
Jota Buyinch Photo, Shutterstock
Experiment With New Recipes
If you're a reasonably good cook and aren't afraid to try something new, use your free time to craft some interesting takes on classic recipes. While you'll have to spend some money on any new ingredients, the experimentation of learning new cooking skills is all part of the fun.
Take Up Baking
Whether you're used to making a mean stir fry, or can whip up the best curry in the neighborhood, baking is a whole other ball game. Whether you want to start baking your own bread or bake a cake for a significant other's birthday or Christmas, baking can be a fun outlet for your creativity. Kneading bread is also very satisfying.
Draw Something
In a similar vein to scrapbooking, drawing can be a fantastic creative outlet. Regardless of whether or not you think you're a talented artist, drawing can be a great tool for self-expression. Art is all about interpretation and learning to draw can be therapeutic, too.
Attend Free Community Events
Unless you live in the middle of nowhere, it's highly likely that there are some free (or low-cost) community events that happen from time to time. Whether that's local music, a guest speaker or a book reading, these are typically low-cost events that you can get tickets to easily.
Learn A New Language
While I wouldn't call language-learning a "hobby", I am not a polyglot. But, for those who have the gift of being able to pick up languages relatively easily, one fun hobby might be to learn a new language using free or low-cost phone apps like DuoLingo, or challenge a friend who speaks the language to only speak to you in that language, forcing you to learn.
Volunteer At Community Events
Rather than just attending these free community events, you can start to volunteer at them. Whether it's a soup kitchen, tending the bar at a benefit dance, or any other community event, volunteering is a great way to fill your free time—and there's often free food or other incentives for volunteers.
Do Yoga
Most yoga mats can be found for less than $30 on Amazon and yoga is a great way to get into shape without leaving your home. You can find yoga workouts on YouTube or other online resources and stretch away! Alternatively, you can find a local community yoga group that does have a bit of a cost associated with it, but it's also a chance to be social.
Start Writing
Whether you're considering writing a memoir, poetry, or have had a fiction novel idea in your head for the last decade, writing is a great method of self-expression. If you own a computer, Google Docs is a free writing platform, along with Open Office or even Windows' own Notepad.
Learn To Dance
You don't necessarily need a pair of dancing shoes to do the tango! Learning to dance can be a fun thing you do on your own via YouTube videos, or get your partner into the "swing" of things, as it were, and dance together. You can also find a local dancing club that specializes in the style you like and socialize there for an evening.
Read More Books
If you've consistently made a New Year's Resolution to read more books, but have never quite managed it—now is your time. Libraries are fantastic resources for bookworms (or bookworms-to-be) and offer hundreds of selections without costing you a fortune to buy brand new.
Learn Some Magic
No, not the Dark Arts—but something altogether more tame, yet no less fun. You can find books on magic or online video tutorials on how to perform various tricks. If nothing else, it'll give you a fun thing to pull out (from the hat, of course) whenever your kids or grandkids are visiting. If you enjoy it and become good at it, you can even use it as a side hustle to make some extra money.
Learn Origami Art
Origami can be a beautiful art form that can easily double as decorations for your home. You just need some brightly colored paper and a pair of scissors to learn origami—oh, and patience. Lots of patience.
Love History? Visit Your Local Museum
If you have a love of history, or are deeply attached to your local area, chances are that the local museum has at least one free-entry day on its calendar. Spend a few hours wandering around your local museum, maybe take a friend who's visiting the area and impress them with your historical knowledge.
Visit Your Local Park Or Flower Gardens
If there's a large local park, arboretum, or flower gardens in your postal code, take an afternoon and go for a stroll around it. Walking seems like such a simple hobby to undertake, but in 2023, only 114 million Americans participated in daily walking for fitness.
Start Blogging
If you're already writing and you feel like you're ready to put those words out there into the Internet, set up a blog through a free blogging website and start putting your finished writing online. You can blog about anything under a pseudonym, or attach your real name to your pieces.
Taking Photographs
While photography can become an expensive hobby, it certainly doesn't have to be. With phone camera technology these days, your phone will take high-quality images without needing to invest in an expensive camera. If you find yourself yearning to take photographs of moments of your day, but not doing so because you don't have a camera, just take the picture with your phone. You can either share these with friends online, or just keep them to yourself.
Take Up Cycling
The good news is that you don't need a $2,000 bike to take up cycling—purchasing a used one for $100, or digging out your old mountain or road bike is all that's needed. You don't even have to go very far, but cycling is a great form of exercise that gets you around town. Use the bike to run errands instead of walking or taking the car.
Join A Local Sports Team
If you enjoy (or did once enjoy) playing a particular sport, there's probably a recreational league that you can join. Whether that's basketball, ice hockey, soccer, or almost any other popular American sport, chances are you can find a local team and begin to play again.
Take Up Stargazing
If you've always been a bit enamored with the night's sky, maybe it's time to take up stargazing—buy a cheap, second-hand telescope and begin your journey to stars. Set it up somewhere outside on a clear night and wile away the evening imagining what's out there.
Start Movie Or TV Show Watch Parties
If you and your friends enjoy the same shows, you can start a watch party at your house—bring your own snacks and beverages and have a dedicated movie night. Marathoning your favorite TV or movie series with your best friends? It doesn't get much better than that—and all for the low price of a Netflix subscription.
Go Geocaching
Geocaching is a great way to get outside, explore your local digs, and do something fun, all at the same time. Use geocache locating apps on your phone or on your GPS to locate geocaches near you. Geocaches are small trinkets left inside tiny objects that can be located and are often replaced with something you've brought to put in them.
Learn A Musical Instrument
You don't yet have to spend a pile of money on a new guitar or trumpet or piano to learn a musical instrument. Pick up a second-hand one at your local thrift store and get on YouTube to pick up some free tutorials. If learning an instrument is always something you've wanted to do, then it's a hobby that you can do relatively inexpensively.
Try Your Hands At Pottery
See if your town or city has a maker-space and whether there's any pottery classes being offered. While not exactly free, you might find the relatively minimal fee satisfactory after coming away with a unique piece of art that you made with your own two hands.
Diamond Painting
While some may think of diamond painting/diamond art as tacky, it can be a therapeutic method of expression for some. You can purchase diamond painting sets for as little as $10 online and buy a cheap frame from the local thrift store or Walmart and enjoy hours of (admittedly painstaking) diamond-based creativity.
Play Frisbee Golf
Frisbee golf may not be something you've heard of before, but it's a growing sport that involves tossing frisbees around a golf-like course, with "buckets" that you aim for. Scoring is similar to golf. It's a great way to get outside and there's likely a course near you. Frisbees are dirt cheap and that's all you need.
Learn To Play Pickleball
Pickleball's popularity has skyrocketed recently and it's no wonder—many free courts are popping up everywhere and the sport is similar to tennis. Two teams of two or four players hit a hollow ball using paddles over a 34-inch high net. You don't even have to be any good, it's just an exciting "spin" on tennis that you should try.
TheVillagesFL, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons
Collecting Seashells
If you live near the beach, this might be a good excuse to use that access more often. She sells seashells by the seashore, right? Well, you don't have to sell your seashells, but collecting them can be a fun individual or family outing that blends exercise with light-hearted competition. And, spending more time at the beach is never a bad thing.
Bird Watching
If you live near a nature reserve, or in a migratory bird hotspot, invest a little money in a good pair of binoculars and go bird watching. There tend to be a few local birding groups where you can meet fellow birders—you can blend this with photography, but wildlife zoom lenses are expensive.
Roller Skating
If the 70s or 80s were your era, then you're likely familiar with roller derbies and the like—well, they've made something of a resurgence lately and are now popping up everywhere. Pick yourself a pair of roller skates at your local thrift store and get back on the disco floor/race track.
Go Canoeing/Kayaking
While this may be a more expensive hobby than others, consider the expenditure an investment for years to come. You can find great second-hand canoes and kayaks online, without needing to pay a huge amount for a brand new one. Some will even come with oars and personal flotation devices. If you live near the water, using them is a no-brainer.
Try Stand-Up Paddleboarding
If a low center of gravity on the water isn't your thing, then SUP'ing, or stand-up paddle-boarding, might be. Stand-up paddleboards can be had for about $100 brand-new from Amazon, or much less used from Facebook Marketplace.
Crosswords
Whether you use an app on a tablet, or prefer a crossword puzzle book, crosswords are a fun way to keep your brain engaged—you can wile away the hours without even realizing it!
Giona LoRe, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons
Graphic Design
If you're looking to take your art skills to a digital level, then graphic design software that's free to use is a great option. Explore free options like Canva, or upgrade to Photoshop and create fun graphics for your favorite sports teams or even local community events, or for your kid's school projects.
Home Workouts
YouTube has a plethora of exercise routines that are free for you to try! Find one that suits what you want to do and start doing some workouts at home without the need for an expensive gym membership. You can also find cheap second-hand weight sets if strength training is what you're looking for.
What hobbies have you recently picked up to pass the time? Are any of these low- to no-cost hobbies among your new favorite pastimes? Let us know your favorite hobbies in the comments below.
