Luckily I found the SDMB. It’s free, it’s fun, the people are social and intellectual, and I learn something new every few minutes. Before coming to this board I could never motivate myself to post more than 10 posts, in any forum. I’d say I’ve found myself a new hobby…
So, what are some hobbies you have (or know of)? One’s that cost no money, or very little money. Describe it and it’s benefits. We all like trying something new and it doesn’t hurt to have other options.
This running thing keeps surprising me with how cheap it is. All you really need is a good pair of shoes, which run you about a hundred bucks. I buy fancy running clothes because I dig them, not because they’re strictly necessary. It’s very weird, since the last sport I got into was golf, which is almost precisely the opposite.
I crochet and, occasionally, attempt to knit. Both are cheap hobbies if you stick to one or two skein projects. Or, if you like to crochet doilies like I do, a ball of thread will only run you a few bucks and will go a long way. Hooks are only three or four bucks each. There are lots and lots of free patterns online or in books at the library.
I got lucky today and scored dozens of knitting needles someone had given my sister several years ago. She decided she wasn’t ever going to use them and passed them on to me. What a nice (and cheap) way to add to my own meagre collection!
People watching with someone that likes to people watch.
Seriously, give me a park and people and someone to talk to?
Hours of fun.
Don’t forget people-watching at Walmart. Just as much fun.
Drawing. The cost is only pencils and paper. Anything fancier can get costly.
Reading (internet stories/fanfiction anyway, books cost money)
Digital Photography can be cheap.
Antique tractors. Buy one for $900. Put $4000 worth of parts into it, plus endless hours of labor. Sell for $3000. Pure profit. Oh, wait, did you say CHEAP? Nevermind. :smack: 
Once again, a post that baffles me:
Tractor - $900
Parts and Upgrades - $4,000
Sale Price - $3,000
Pure profit!
Writing. Pen and paper.
I used to love interactive writing with people by email, or a Yahoo!group. Get a couple of awesome writers and off you go. Unfortunately since pbem.com shut down, the options are few are far between that I can find. I still write, but damn, I miss writing with someone.
Don’t worry, that was sarcasm.
Besides, I never sell anything. The hobby would almost make sense if I did.
I was going to add (maybe this was sarcasm?) at the end of my post, but I thought that if it wasn’t sarcasm, and I gave you the idea that you could use it as an excuse for the mistake, then I wouldn’t want to give you that idea, and see if you come back saying “this was sarcasm”, which you did to no surprise.
God! I put too much thought into things…
At least it makes for an entertaining night. 
The “Free” section on craigslist. Its like crack! I got more crap than I can store now!
My other addiction is hunting for free firewood. I have a truss company that lets people scavange the discard pile, but its “first come, first served”, so it adds the competition element* to the whole endeavor. I sit around the woodstove in my garage, listening to music *waaaay to loud *, drinking beer all winter long.
*This is my downfall.
Nanowrimo! You already have the computer so you don’t even have those expensive pens and paper to worry about! 
There are links on site to other writing competitions so you could “pen” something new every month. The only cost is your choice of donation.
I’ve just started up an old hobby of mine, building and flying model airplanes.
Not as cheap as it was in my youth but still reasonably priced kits.
Once you have all the essentials, craftknives/corkboards/airplane dope etc it isn’t so bad.
I’ve just started up an old hobby of mine, building and flying model airplanes.
Not as cheap as it was in my youth but still reasonably priced kits.
Once you have all the essentials, craftknives/corkboards/airplane dope etc it isn’t so bad.
I also write for a hobby. I do it on my computer, though, and not with the inexpensive pen and paper method, but I do use OpenOffice, which is free, open source software.
Walking is a nice pastime too, if you’re in a nice area and the weather is tolerable. Not necessarily tramping/rambling/hiking or whatever you call it in your country, just wandering around the local area for a jaunt.
And I used to draw a lot, too, but that has been mostly superseded by 3D graphics, which is not at all a cheap alternative so doesn’t fit in here.
Public Library!
WHEE!
wait, it’s free now?
is it? Because my subscription ran out and I couldn’t afford another year and if it’s free and legal, I’ll post again (as I seem to be able to… as I recall, before I subscribed in the first place, I wasn’t able to see this screen.) but if it’s not, I’ll log out and go back to lurking.
I did look at the user agreement and it did mention subscriptions, but I wasn’t sure if that was outdated, and a lot of people seem to have “guest” under their names who I know are not new, so…
Please don’t ban me forever if this is wrong… I’m not trying to break rules, just trying to clarify whether or not I’ve been following rules that don’t exist anymore.
I write a lot. I don’t think I’m particularly good at it, but I enjoy it. After all these years I finally managed to write one novel that I think might be good enough to publish. We’ll see how that goes.
I also play music. As a new hobby this costs a lot of money, but I bought all of my guitars and keyboards many years ago. I buy new strings occasionally, but that’s about it now. I record everything onto an old computer running some freeware multi-track software.
I’m building a robot out of mostly scrap parts I’ve had laying around here. I’ll probably have a hundred bucks in new parts in him by the time all is said and done, which is cheap for what’s in him.
Another hobby I’ve only recently gotten back into is shooting. I bought a civil war musket (replica) and I’ve been going about once a week to shoot it. It costs me about ten bucks a week, which some people will say isn’t cheap, but it’s a heck of a lot cheaper than Deereman’s tractors. 
I know this is like giving crack to a junkie, but here, if you don’t already know about it: freecycle.org
It’s great. You post stuff, and people (like you) come and haul away all of your junk for free! The trick is you have to give, not take. Yeah, I know, the same trick applies to craigslist.