# Please Help Me Find A Hobby, Preferably A Cheap And Productive One **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 13, 2019, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-me-find-a-hobby-preferably-a-cheap-and-productive-one/833913 "2019-05-13T18:09:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2019, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-me-find-a-hobby-preferably-a-cheap-and-productive-one/833913/1 "2019-05-13T18:09:15Z")
I desperately need a hobby. All I do is work, do household chores, watch TV and smoke pot. This is not living my best life. I’d like something that won’t require much up-front investment (or indeed ongoing investment), and I’d prefer something that has a tangible result. Playing video games is a hobby, but after eight hours of playing video games… I’ve played video games for eight hours. Whereas if I took up, say, painting, after eight hours of painting I’d have a (partially- or fully-) completed work – or a “tangible result,” as I describe it in my thread title. Learning an instrument is out; don’t have the money to buy the instrument or pay for lessons. Gardening is out, too; my thumb is painfully brown. I also have no talent for art (painting, drawing, etc.) at all. And no modeling; tried it once as a teenager and after a few hours I was ready to throw the damn plane through the window. One thing I’ve thought of is calligraphy. A starter kit, complete with a book, can be had for about $15. Another thing I’ve thought about is perhaps building an oven out of scrounged bricks (I know where I can find hundreds) and maybe trying to make wood-fired breads. Any other suggestions? ---
**Author:** ![Living\_Well\_Is\_Best\_Revenge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/6bbea6/32.png) [@Living\_Well\_Is\_Best\_Revenge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Living_Well_Is_Best_Revenge)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2019, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-me-find-a-hobby-preferably-a-cheap-and-productive-one/833913/2 "2019-05-13T18:28:08Z")
Are you interested in sports at all? Or maybe take up jogging or riding bikes? There are groups that meet to do that. ---
**Author:** ![Barkis\_is\_Willin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a183cd/32.png) [@Barkis\_is\_Willin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barkis_is_Willin)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2019, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-me-find-a-hobby-preferably-a-cheap-and-productive-one/833913/3 "2019-05-13T18:36:52Z")
A friend of mine was saying he recently took up cooking for pretty much this reason. He wanted something to occupy his time that would produce a tangible result. It ain’t for me, but hey you’re going to eat every day. Or, maybe crochet. ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2019, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-me-find-a-hobby-preferably-a-cheap-and-productive-one/833913/4 "2019-05-13T18:38:01Z")
Do you have a smart phone? You can work on your photography skills, that’s exactly what I’m doing. YouTube has endless tutorials on how to make better photos and videos. ---
**Author:** ![iamthewalrus\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/258eb7/32.png) [@iamthewalrus\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamthewalrus_3)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2019, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-me-find-a-hobby-preferably-a-cheap-and-productive-one/833913/5 "2019-05-13T18:51:35Z")
Don’t build an oven out of random bricks. They can explode when they get too hot. You need special fire bricks that are heat-resistant. Aside from that, bread making sounds like it might be a good hobby. There are endless variations, you can cook bread in a normal oven (do you have an oven?), and if you eat bread the cost is less than zero: bread you make is going to be cheaper than the bread you’d buy instead. A few other productive hobbies that take little to no starting capital: writing, whittling, cooking, fixing stuff (if you like to take things apart and fix them, you can find broken machines of all sorts for free, fix them, then donate them?) You could volunteer? It doesn’t _make_ something, but it still can be quite productive. ---
**Author:** ![Treppenwitz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treppenwitz/32/3445_2.png) [@Treppenwitz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Treppenwitz)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2019, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-me-find-a-hobby-preferably-a-cheap-and-productive-one/833913/6 "2019-05-13T20:11:25Z")
> [@iamthewalrus\_3](#): > > … bread making sounds like it might be a good hobby. There are endless variations, you can cook bread in a normal oven (do you have an oven?), and if you eat bread the cost is less than zero: bread you make is going to be cheaper than the bread you’d buy instead… Exactly what I was going to suggest. I make my own sourdough, Mrs Trep makes soda bread. Cut food costs and show off to your friends. j ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2019, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-me-find-a-hobby-preferably-a-cheap-and-productive-one/833913/7 "2019-05-13T21:19:10Z")
If you have room, you might start a garden. Not very expensive, and you get great food as a result. I have some links to paper modeling, which might be more fun than plastic modeling, if you are interested. The plans are free on line and all you need is paper and a printer. It looks easier than model kids. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2019, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-me-find-a-hobby-preferably-a-cheap-and-productive-one/833913/8 "2019-05-13T21:22:18Z")
Is there something like a [Men’s Shed](http://usmenssheds.org/home-page/) near you? That specific organisation doesn’t appear to have any branches in Missouri but maybe their list is out of date or there’s a similar organisation near you. ---
**Author:** ![jaycat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jaycat/32/3015_2.png) [@jaycat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jaycat)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2019, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-me-find-a-hobby-preferably-a-cheap-and-productive-one/833913/9 "2019-05-13T21:29:15Z")
Don’t start baking homemade bread unless you are prepared to gain some weight. Been there done that. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2019, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-me-find-a-hobby-preferably-a-cheap-and-productive-one/833913/10 "2019-05-13T21:31:30Z")
Dumpster Diving. Fun adrenaline rush. Free. Find cool stuff that doesn’t need to be in a dumpster. Recycle, reduce, reuse. Fun for all! Make sure there are no ‘no trespassing signs’ or city ordinance banning trash picking. It’s addictive, beware. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2019, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-me-find-a-hobby-preferably-a-cheap-and-productive-one/833913/11 "2019-05-13T21:37:58Z")
> [@dalej42](#): > > Do you have a smart phone? You can work on your photography skills, that’s exactly what I’m doing. YouTube has endless tutorials on how to make better photos and videos. ^This. Once you have a digital camera, even one on a smart phone, all you need is time – both to find subjects to shoot, and to develop your ‘eye’. I’ve decided to dig out my 35mm SLR collection and shoot with all of the cameras. I’ll start a thread on it sometime. Shooting on film is more expensive than using the digital camera on your phone, but it’s not _that_ expensive. Since everyone shoots digitally now, you can get 35mm SLRs _cheap_. Like $40 to $80 for a Nikon FE that figures the exposure for you, while allowing you a manual mode so you can take pictures old-school. Or you can start out manual on a Pentax K1000 or an Olympus OM-1. (The Pentax is cheaper, the Olympus is better.) > [@HeyHomie](#): > > Learning an instrument is out; don’t have the money to buy the instrument or pay for lessons. Harmonicas are cheap, and you can pick out tunes pretty much immediately. I desperately want to learn to play well, but my time is limited. Nevertheless, I’ll sometimes play on my long commutes. You can get a [Hohner Blues Band](https://smile.amazon.com/Hohner-1501BX-Blues-Band-Harmonica/dp/B007IE5QP0/) for seven bucks. I have several of them. (I keep them in the cars, just in case; and I have others elsewhere.) I’ve found that while the Blues Band leaks (as do all of the Chinese-made Hohners), it’s actually playable. If you think you might want to keep playing though, I’d recommend a German-made [Hohner Special 20](https://smile.amazon.com/Hohner-Special-20-Harmonica-Major/dp/B007J49GPK/). It’s $32 in the link, but it’s a much better instrument (and easier to play than the Blues Band). $32 is pretty cheap for a hobby, and you can take it with you anywhere. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2019, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-me-find-a-hobby-preferably-a-cheap-and-productive-one/833913/12 "2019-05-13T21:56:37Z")
If, as your location says, you’re in Viburnum, you’re in the middle of a national forest. Is there a volunteer group that goes out and cleans up the recreational areas or repairs trails & such? There might be some level of restoration work somebody with a brown thumb could do. ---
**Author:** ![Hopeful\_Crow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/da6949/32.png) [@Hopeful\_Crow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hopeful_Crow)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2019, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-me-find-a-hobby-preferably-a-cheap-and-productive-one/833913/13 "2019-05-13T23:03:50Z")
I’m just starting to get into paracord knotting. You can make bracelets and keyrings and more practical items for camping and such. There’s tons of tutorials online for some cool looking knots. Resources for cord and accessories abound, too. And I just discovered that the Dollar Trees in our area have about ten colors of paracord in stock. It’s in 25 foot lengths (for a buck!) and I figure it’s plenty good enough to practice with. If this interests you and you don’t have a Dollar Tree in your area or they don’t carry it, give me a PM and I’ll pick some up for you. Thread crocheting is pretty inexpensive, too. In my opinion, it’s easier to learn than knitting and I find patterns with charts are easier to work from than written instructions. YMMV. When my eyesight was better, I made plenty of doilies and even a tablecloth. I also belonged to a group that made hats for chemo patients with donated yarn. Crocheting with yarn is fun but can get pretty expensive if you’re making clothing or something large like an afghan. > [@Ethilrist](#): > > If, as your location says, you’re in Viburnum, you’re in the middle of a national forest. Is there a volunteer group that goes out and cleans up the recreational areas or repairs trails & such? There might be some level of restoration work somebody with a brown thumb could do. Or look for a foraging group in your area. There’s more than just mushrooms to be had, as folks in such a group can show you (and be willing to tell you what to _not_ gather, too.) Also, it’s possible to make money selling your goods to restaurants and such. You may have to purchase a forager’s license. I have no idea what that would cost but they would. ---
**Author:** ![MichaelEmouse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/michaelemouse/32/101_2.png) [@MichaelEmouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MichaelEmouse)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2019, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-me-find-a-hobby-preferably-a-cheap-and-productive-one/833913/14 "2019-05-13T23:13:38Z")
Exercise can be pretty cheap. Running shoes and adjustable weight dumbbells are a good start. I’m finding out that you might not even need shoes to run. You might think it’s foolish to call exercise a hobby but once you’re over the mini-trauma of shaking your body loose from its shell, it will lift your mood, energy and focus. Meditation can also be overall pleasant once you’ve mindfully practiced for some hours over a few months. ---
**Author:** ![begbert2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/begbert2/32/3357_2.png) [@begbert2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/begbert2)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2019, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-me-find-a-hobby-preferably-a-cheap-and-productive-one/833913/15 "2019-05-13T23:16:06Z")
I write fiction. This is not something that everybody can do well - though from what I hear about fanfiction a person doesn’t have to do it well to enjoy doing it. And it’s as cheap as pretty much anything. If you already have a computer with a word processor it’s _completely free_. ---
**Author:** ![ekedolphin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ekedolphin/32/10003_2.png) [@ekedolphin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ekedolphin)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2019, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-me-find-a-hobby-preferably-a-cheap-and-productive-one/833913/16 "2019-05-13T23:18:48Z")
My hobby is writing. I do written internet roleplays that take place in a fantasy world on IRC’s SorceryNet. The tangible result is expanding the world for everyone else, and having a great many logs to look back upon with fondness. ---
**Author:** ![Anita\_Dayoff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Anita\_Dayoff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anita_Dayoff)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2019, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-me-find-a-hobby-preferably-a-cheap-and-productive-one/833913/17 "2019-05-13T23:23:15Z")
A family member recently got started with [cambly.com](http://cambly.com) People from around the world pay to practice their english skills on a Skype like video platform. He has found it to be tremendously rewarding talking to professionals and the pay starts at around $10 US/hour. Supposedly their support and pay practices are excellent. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2019, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-me-find-a-hobby-preferably-a-cheap-and-productive-one/833913/18 "2019-05-13T23:23:19Z")
Jigsaw puzzles. I’ve seen them in thrift stores, certainly at garage sales. If you want something permanent you can take a picture or [even glue it down](https://www.springbok-puzzles.com/how-to-glue-puzzle-article-s/2024.htm). ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2019, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-me-find-a-hobby-preferably-a-cheap-and-productive-one/833913/19 "2019-05-13T23:58:04Z")
> [@kunilou](#): > > Jigsaw puzzles. I’ve seen them in thrift stores, certainly at garage sales. If you want something permanent you can take a picture or [even glue it down](https://www.springbok-puzzles.com/how-to-glue-puzzle-article-s/2024.htm). I thought about that as a possibility, but if I glued the puzzles I do down I’d be out of wall space. I know of thrift stores where you can get them for a buck or two. But crossword puzzles and sudokus might be better mental exercise. ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2019, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-me-find-a-hobby-preferably-a-cheap-and-productive-one/833913/20 "2019-05-14T00:01:28Z")
If you want to write, you can write about anything. The financial markets, medieval history, or just what’s going on with your life. One of my friends graduated from college and isn’t exactly loving his job. He started writing a blog which was a more constructive use of his time than getting drunk every night. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-me-find-a-hobby-preferably-a-cheap-and-productive-one/833913.md?page=2)