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20 Frugal Hobbies (That Might Even Make You Some Money)
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Everyone needs a little down time to relax and unwind. While some choose to spend quite a bit of money on their hobbies and recreational activities (think downhill skiing or boating), your hobbies don’t have to cost a lot. Best of all, some frugal hobbies might even make you money!
Here is a list of 20 frugal hobbies you might enjoy:
Reading: Take advantage of the library and this hobby is free. Bonus, it’s also educational.
Learning a foreign language: Many libraries offer a language program, or you could audit a course at your local college.
Card playing: My grandpa used to play solitaire endlessly. Have more fun by getting a group of friends together to play for an evening.
Computer game playing: There are plenty of free games to play on the Internet.
Volunteering: Many organizations are in need of volunteer help. Know you are doing something good with your spare time.
Gardening: Growing your own vegetables can be relaxing, and save you some money!
Cooking: Experimenting in the kitchen can be a fun past time and can save you money if you stop going out to eat frequently.
Hiking: A hiking trip can be a half or full day excursion. Not only do you get to see beautiful sites, but you also get good exercise.
Couponing: You don’t have to be an extreme couponer to still save yourself quite a bit of money, and some like the “high” of tracking down a good deal.
Walking: Enjoy the scenery and take care of your health at the same time!
Cross stitching: Pattern books can be found for a quarter at garage sales, and a large cross stitch can keep you occupied for hours.
Doing puzzles: Whether you prefer jigsaw puzzles or crossword puzzles or mind benders, the possibilities are endless.
Sewing: This is especially frugal if you recycle old clothes and materials for new projects.
Researching your genealogy: Quite a bit of information can be found for free on the web and at libraries, but you could also get a subscription to a service like ancestry.com. (I can’t wait until my kids are a bit more independent to resume this hobby.)
Hobbies That Could Make You Money
Photographing: Thanks to digital cameras, photography is a relatively inexpensive hobby, and if you are good, you could make some money by selling your photos at stock photo sites or other places.
Blogging: Blogging can be done very cheaply. Get a large audience, and you could actually make money through affiliate sales and your own products.
Writing: You may just write in a diary every day, or you might choose to write for others and make money as a freelance writer.
Entering sweepstakes: Giveaways and sweepstakes abound on the Internet. Enter them as a hobby, and you may find yourself the lucky recipient of some great prizes. I know one couple who won a Caribbean honeymoon by entering a sweepstakes.
Pet sitting: Love animals? Why not pet sit and make money while caring for animals?
Singing: Join a choir or sing at local venues for profit.
There are many hobbies that you may enjoy, and quite a few of them will cost you very little money and may even make you some money!
What is your favorite frugal hobby?
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I’m going to start making my own beer. It also doubles as a great christmas gift!
I’ve been doing this for years and it’s tasty.
I am a hi-fi enthusiast (I choose not to use the word audiophile, because it has a stigma attached to it) and have a good-sized music collection. I now engineer for live performance at small venues, and I DJ at weddings, parties and other celebrations, and I have fun doing it.
Take online surveys. You don’t make a ton but it adds up if you have the time. I make $25 bucks every couple of weeks which I convert to Amazon gift cards. You can make lots more if you participate in live focus groups which pay much.
This is what I do with Swagbucks – I build up enough points to trade in for Amazon gift cards
I definitely enjoy blogging as a cheap hobby. At most it will cost me $130 a year and chances are I can recoup that amount from the blog itself!
I have some hobbies like the above … but honestly, what are the prospects of “profit” from a singing hobby? Is getting paid gigs really easy?
I know folks who play music or write fiction as a hobby and it doesn’t seem to be an easy road.
I take surveys where I am paid $3 per survey – sometimes there are several a month – sometimes just a few but the cash is put in to paypal and I am able to use that to buy gift cards for people like Starbucks (I add on to my sons cards and a friend)
I also receive freebies from these surveys in exchange for my opinion/feedback on the product. My boys were thrilled with the double dipped ice cream bars they rec’d during one of these surveys.