Most people are under the impression that hobby's cost a lot of money - and in a lot of cases they do - but that does not have to be the case. There are several hobbys that can actually save you a lot of money if done right. Here are some frugal hobby ideas:
1. Gardening: This is obviously a summer hobby, however you can save a lot of money on produce and herbs by mainintaining a garden. Not to mention you know exactly where your food is coming from! I have friends that pay very little for seeds or starter plants and they end up with enought lettuce, tomatoes, zucchini and more to feed an army! Not to mention this makes for very healthy food in the summer!
2. Biking/Running: Biking to work can save so much money on transportation/gas! Running can save you from your gym membership. If you live close to work the biking option is really easy in our local climate! There is also so much outdoor recreation here that if you decide to walk, run, or hike instead of paying for a gym membership you can! The climate is so great here that you can run year round and with very little rain.
3. Cooking: As a newlywed I just decided I was going to start cooking. I did not like cooking, but I wanted to be able to cook a variety of foods and hated paying for the convenience (and preservatives) of convenience foods. Over the course of time I have grown to LOVE cooking. We eat well in this house, and more healthy than if we had been eating out of boxes and cans all the time. Also when you learn to love cooking the regular take out nights are less and less frequent. Learning to love to cook may be a huge step in major food savings!
4. DIYing: Do-it-Yourselfing can be a great money saving option, but beware - this can also become a very costly option if you really aren't qualified to DIY certain projects, or if you don't price check. A small DIY project obviously won't break water pipes, but sometimes it really is cheaper to buy something than make something. If you are going to DIY to save money just double check prices. I was thinking to DIY baby bedding would be cheaper but in reality to get the great patterns I wanted on fabric it was just going to be way more expensive. But DIYing shelves out of pallettes is way cheaper than buying similiar ones. Also you most definately don't want to DIY a kitchen remodel if you are going to ruin things... that will end up costing WAY more in the end.
5. Couponing: Couponing is a huge way to save money. There are many site that can give you the ins and out of how to coupon and get by on tiny grocery budgets. I took up this hobby over a year ago and have seen great savings from it, and I'm not even into "Extreme Couponing." Couponing takes time, energy, and some education that can be found on the internet so it's not for everyone. But I can say that once you have the system down the time investment is much less. Later in this series I will highlight on some couponing techniques!
What are some of your money saving hobbies??
Don't want to miss a post? Subscribe via e-mail or facebook on the left sidebar!
No comments:
Post a Comment