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Logo design credit goes to: tubbadu
Hiking can be nearly free especially on beginner trails that donβt require special equipment
Writing is something I hated in school but as Iβve gotten older it can be fun to kinda play god with peoples lives.
Cooking isnβt free but could actually save you money if you eat out a lot.
Cooking is actually a really good shout for people who have very limited culinary skills, you don't need to become a master chef but learning the basics so that you can at some point just look in you'd fridge at a bunch of nearly expired produce and then make something of it.
You will save yourself bigtime cash cooking for yourself if that's not something you do already fairly routinely
If you have a computer, you can learn to write code. The market for programming is in shambles, but that doesn't mean it can't be fun. You can do all sorts of things like make a game, build a personal website, make a custom app, make art, and more
For anyone considering this, Harvard University's cs50 course is free and invaluable to anyone who wants to pursue these interests.
Invaluable means valuable? What a country!
:P
Invaluable means the value can not be determined, not that it has little value.
yeah lol. I was just quoting the simpsons. "Inflammable means flammable? What a country!"
That's my career π. I honestly wish to change careers and do programming just as a hobby, but right now, it's already what I do.
Foraging. It costs almost nothing to learn about the plants that grow around you and what you can do with them. I've been doing it for about 5 years now, and spent maybe $80 on a good hori hori and $40 on a good mortar and pestle when I wanted to get serious. Neither of those are necessary to forage. A good field guide is something you can order at your local library. The main cost is time studying at home and on the field.
Here's some amazing pesto I made with wild mustard garlic greens.
And the before picture
I can not recommend the hobby enough. I'm happy to try and answer any questions you might have.
Drawing. A pencil, pen, eraser and paper are the type of stuff you could even steal from an office and people wouldn't bother. Drawing for fun is mostly about just doing whatever or doing caricatures, the latter are great because if it sucks then it's actually better π
Writing. Stories, reviews, fanfics, whatever. You posted here, so you already have everything needed. Literally any working computer will suffice if you prefer a bigger keyboard.
Going out and walking or jogging. Not to any specific place, just literally walking around the place you live, get to visually know the neighborhood. Not fun when it's too hot outside. Related to walking, bodyweight exercises. Not really fun, but you don't have to pay anything to workout. Some people make hobbies out of physical exercise, so ymmv.
Chess. You can try Lichess, a free (and open source) website/app to play chess. There's countless of videos and tutorials on the internet about chess.
reading.
Yes! Libraries are free, and awesome. Unless you don't have one near you. Even then, used books can be had pretty cheap, and you can often find ebooks given out free or cheap. Plus stuff like Gutenburg and Standard Ebooks for older texts. Doesn't take long to build up a stack of books you have no hope to finish reading!
Check what physical goods your local library lets you check out. Some have tool libraries, creative spaces with access to artistic tools and supplies, kits to do citizen science, etc.
If you're low income you might also qualify for free or low cost recreation programs through your county or city's parks and recreation centers
I haven't seen Cooking, Baking and even Gardening on the list.
These are hobbies that saved you serious amount of $$.
Making food from scratch is always cheaper and healthier.
If you don't have much space you can have a tiny vertical garden (pallet) or just a few spiceso n your counter.
And technically growing weed to smoke is gardening and also saves money (tho I don't know first hand, I don't partake).
Edit: forgot about: hand sewing and hand embroidery, crochet and knitting. You can fix up clothes so they last longer - and you can spruce up existing clothes also.
Gardening can be so expensive! I have a big fruit orchard and a vegetable/herb garden, I have a well and don't pay for water, and I have my own compost system, and I chop and drop and prune my fruit trees to maintain keep them within reach. I get a free load of wood chips annually that I use for mulch, and it takes me 3 days of backbreaking work to install it all.
I still spend hundreds annually just on soil to top off the vegetable/herb gardens. Then there's fertilizers, pest control, lady bugs to control aphids, mesh bags to cover my grapes and figs so birds don't eat them all (they still get most of my berries). I don't account for mowing and weed whacking as charging them barely makes a dent in my electric bill, but trimmer line and sharpening/replacing blades is another cost. Weed barrier, shade fabric, trellises, I'm sure I'm forgetting a lot of other things.
If you have a couple small raised beds you use for herbs and maybe a small tomato plant, it can be relatively cheap, but the average person will not save on grocery bills by gardening.
The exception is herbs! Don't buy that $7 bunch of mint from the grocery store, just cut a small stem and throw in the bottom of your shopping cart and pretend you don't notice it, when you get home throw it in a water cup and give it a few days to root, move it to soil and now you have free mint for life. Same with most herbs. Save your green onion bottoms and do the same with those, don't but a bunch every time you need a few leaves.
But that's not much of a hobby on its own, as soon as you start gardening for a hobby, it starts getting expensive.
I love going on hikes or nature walks. Some great free apps are Merlin (for identifying bird calls) and Seek (for identifying plants and animals). All completely free aside from getting to to trail, but even in city parks it can be pretty fun. A good pair of binoculars is a great addition if you have the $$.
Running costs a pair of shoes every now and then and extra laundry detergent but otherwise free. Like any other hobby you absolutely can spend tons of money on it but it's not required.
Runkeeper is a free app where you can log down your runs but a casio watch with stopwatch is good enough if you know the distance.
Also, contrary to what a lot of people think you don't have to push yourself, you can just be easy running (chill jogging) and still make massive gains in endurance, speed, physical health and mental health. Depending on your starting point brisk walking can be sufficient to get started and then transition to "let me just jog a bit" when you feel like it and still have massive gains.
You can even combine it with other hobbies like audiobooks, music and/or podcasts.
Running feels to me like "cleaning the pipes" of the body that's relaxing and makes the remainder of the day a bit more enjoyable.
I would have started running a lot sooner if someone just told me that it's actually fun to go slow. Now my slow is my old fast.
Check out your local library! They have books of course, which can open up all sorts of new hobbies, but modern libraries also can have computers, free classes, workshop and maker spaces, tool borrowing, and sometimes even video games and the like. My local one even has free tickets to museums and the zoo!
If you want something free/cheap as hell, take up drawing. You don't need fancy art supplies, just a pencil and paper. Look up proper drawing classes and books and get awesome at sketches!
My wife has been crocheting up a storm this past week. You do need yard and hooks, but as far as hobbies go, it's pretty cheap.
From a similar post recently:
Inexpensive, and little setup, with no steep learning curve?
Off the top of my head:
If you have a computer, music production (using free DAWs like Zrythm and free VSTs like Vital, sample packs, etc.), writing, coding.
If you don't mind sailing the high seas or if you have access to a public library, discovering new video games, movies, music, and books can all be life changing. Many people will be more than willing to give you recommendations, or you can look up some "best-of" lists, either in specific genres/categories, or more generalized.
If you want to do things away from a screen, take a physical map, get a compass, and draw a circle from your residence of a radius that is how far you think you can walk round trip, then pick a random point and walk to it. Taking friends with you on the adventure is a great way to make things more fun if your schedules align.
Bird watching and sketching.
Yes I know that binoculars can be expensive, but you don't actually need them for casual birdwatching.
Look into Merlin or BirdNET Live. They're free apps that you can use to identify bird songs.
Maybe not completely free but ukuleles are really cheap, easy and fun.
Singing is completely free, I'm sure you can find tutorials online.
In many places you have free outdoor gyms that let you practice calisthenics, 0 equipment needed.
If you have a smartphone photography, filming or stop motion animation can be done for free with open source software.
Last but no least, if you find some thread you can make a balearic slingshot and practice outside (or inside with ping pong balls). There are competitions and everything. Making them is fun in itself.
This is how you make one and how you use it. You can look for other videos on how to make one. Different materials can be used. It takes a bit of practice but it's a fun, manual work. I can make one in about 2h.
Origami, lots of videos and diagrams for free online, paper is cheap and if you want to go even cheaper you can specialise on scrap paper.
I started learning the drums before I got My drums. You can learn the theory and practice beats on the objects around you. That's the cool thing about drumming: everything in the universe is technically a drum!
Do you have a working laptop or desktop? Learn to code. Actually code none of that vibe code bullshit. Making games is fun and rewarding and has an amazing community.
Stargazing. Binoculars can let you see more but not necessary to start
Free
Low cost (some equipment required)
Hiking/going for walks, sketching, reading (public domain books are free at project gutenberg, libraries are free), watching shows/movies (again, libraries offer access to this locally and through apps like Hoopla, Kanopy, etc. and there's free streaming off Pluto.tv, Shout.tv, Tubi, etc), music (again, libraries or free streaming), body weight exercises and cardio don't require a gym.
Might add more later...
Research the shit out of something you are interested in. Go down all the rabbit holes you can find. Compile it into a simpler, better understood synthesis. Convert it into a YouTube vid and deploy. I'd watch anything if well researched.
Birding! Cornell's "Merlin" app is free and an excellent identification/logging tool.
Pottery. Clay is free. Water comes from the sky. If you have like a bucket or something, you're set. You can fire it in an oven you make yourself. Out of clay. For free. Clay is great. Highly recommended. Ask your physician if clay is right for you.
Also, be careful where you source your clay from. You don't want to get Lynks disease.
