Good answer! Let’s play!
Get of the couch and go for a walk down to the beach and laugh at the freaks. Free.
Board games. I’ve been playing games with the kids every night recently and we have a blast. Get a few awesome European games like Carcassone and Ticket to Ride - the great part is that you talk a lot. Really brings you together.
Let her watch her crappy dramas while you play games. I recommend World of Warcraft.
(then again, I tend to be more of a loner. If I had to spend every waking weekend moment with a significant other, the relationship would be doomed from the start)
$200? :eek: What kind of models are you talking about. The ones in my local hobby shop are a lot cheaper than that.
As for puzzles, find a thrift store and buy some there. My local store has nice puzzles from 99 cents to $2.99. The most expensive one I ever got there was a 3D puzzle of San Francisco, in its original wrapping, for $20. It sold in catalogs for $60.
Another possibility - restaurant survey. Go to a restaurant with a cuisine beginning with every letter of the alphabet. We started doing this - Afghan, Burmese, Cuban, …
Once you get to Z start over. When I retire I think we might start a project going to every restaurant within walking distance of our house - which is probably about 50. Might not work for you.
Definitely agree with the board game idea. How about gardening? Takes a lot of time, good exercise, cheap, and has rewards.
If you have some big museums near you, join one and really explore it - the way you can’t on a day trip. Memberships are cheap if spread out over many visits. You’ll also get invited to events there, like lectures.
Get a language tape and learn a new language together. Learn to program. Build a web site. Do genealogy.
Actually this sounds good. We have a Wii already, and we can rent games from Blockbuster.
We already do 1 hour of walking per day, 2+ on weekends. That’s one reason we’re so busy.
My wife is a really poor loser, and she also doesn’t like when I tone down my play to let her win. Also, for most competitive games we play together, she just likes to make shiny colored things move around, she doesn’t really concern herself with winning. Cooperative games though are more our bag. In other words, when we play tennis, it’s better if we play on the same team rather than opposing teams.
Gardening is definitely out. 
I inherited a green thumb from my parents, but my wife has the finger of doom. One time, my mother gave us a beautiful plant that had lots of flowers on it. She left it in the car for less than 30 minutes on a hot day and killed it. One time I gave her another plant, and it refused to flower for over 2 years. She tried cacti once, but they literally jumped out of their little pots and killed themselves.
Why do you have to be doing something together? You must be newlyweds. You’ll get over it after the second month of marriage.
make a baby and then you’ll never worry about free time again! 
I only clicked on two categories (people and buildings) and found a castle kit almost $200 on the first page, so it probably depends heavily on the type of models he has in mind.
Superhal, do you plan on having kids? You might take your interest in models and make something that might be cherished by your kids or nieces/nephews one day: a dollhouse or scale garage. Done well they’re time consuming and while often quite lovely to look at they have the practical purpose of entertaining kids too.
We used to do jigsaw puzzles but the last one nearly killed us. Iirc, it was a 10000+ piece puzzle of a dolphin made up of smaller pictures. It took over a month (I was unemployed at the time and working on it full time) and at the end we framed it. We haven’t done another since. I don’t know if we can do a large project like that again.
That’s another reason we’re so busy. 
Miniature painting for fun and profit. There are people who will pay good money for a well painted army. Anything from confederate soldiers to space marines.
ETA: Not to mention elves, dwarves, & dragons.
On our weekends in, my boyfriend and I usually do separate things. He’ll play PS3 or watch sports, I’ll bake cookies or knit or whatever. We still enjoy each other’s company and talk to each other while we’re doing our own thing, but we don’t feel like we have to be engaged in the same activity all the time. We usually do something together in the evenings.
Lately we’ve taken to watching documentaries together on weekday nights. It gives us stuff to talk about afterwards. (I tried making my boyfriend watch Secret Garden with me, but he was horrified by the inanity.)
Do an evening class together
Book club
BDSM
stop-motion animation
pretend the floor is fiery lava
recreational trespassing and/or parkour
bus to anywhere
build a jacob’s ladder
card games
backyard assault course
make a treehouse
goth your home
water rockets
Ran some ideas past her:
Wii games: she said I cheat.
Camping: she thinks the outdoors is too dirty.
Last time I saw my sister & her boyfriend, they introduced me to their new pastime: Bowling. No great jocks, they’d been looking for a non-couch-potato hobby.
I hadn’t bowled since a few games in high school, but I enjoyed tagging along. It’s pretty cheap–especially if you find bargain nights, etc., at a local alley. You could join a league & buy equipment–or just show up as a couple, rent a lane & use the balls provided. Rent some shoes.
If you suck, nobody cares. And the snack bars offer drinks!
Because you already have a baby, or because you’re trying to make one?
I mean no disrespect, Superhal, but it sounds as if your wife is shooting down ideas faster than you can suggest them. Maybe she doesn’t really want to give up her TV shows. At this point it might be best for you to go ahead and pursue a hobby that interests you, and if she doesn’t want to join you she can watch her shows. It’s OK. Really. Having some separate interests isn’t going to tear your marriage apart.
(Sorry for the double-post, but I’d forgotten I wanted to comment on this.)
Do you have a DVR, or even an old VCR? I’m not anti-TV – I watch plenty of it myself – but don’t let it run your life. There’s no reason you have to sacrifice other activities on the altar of Korean dramas. Watch when you want.
My husband and I recently decided to build a bookcase. Neither of us had much experience, but he had his dad’s tools, and we figured we could figure it out.* It turned out to be quite fun! It took us several weeks, and we did make mistakes, but in the end we produced an actual bookcase and it doesn’t look half bad. If you already have some tools on hand, this would fit your budget.
*First lesson: don’t buy the warped board.
Get involved in the arts. Find a local community theatre or choral group and go start volunteering on putting together their shows/concerts. You can usually select your level of commitment and if you just want to show up and paint sets a few weekends a month they’ll be happy to have you, and if you want to do something more, they’ll be happy with that too.
Theatre people are great, if often quirky, and you’ll get more social time as you get to know them better.
Enjoy,
Steven