How to Pick a Hobby that Won’t Break the Bank

Editor's note: Please welcome guest contributor Anum Yoon. Anum is a personal finance blogger who's sharing her tips on how you can pick a hobby that won't break the bank this season.

These days, it seems as though anything worth doing costs a lot of money. Whether it’s traveling, sky-diving, horseback riding, or even antique collecting, hobbies can end up busting your budget

While hobbies are a great way to decompress and explore your creativity, calculating their costs prove challenging difficult since your expenses completely dependent on how much you are immersed into your chosen activity.

That’s why it’s important to be active when it comes to making decisions on how to entertain yourself when you have extra time. Choose how you spend your time and money by picking a hobby that allows you to do both wisely.

Keep reading to discover a few hobbies that won’t cost you much of anything at all:

Choose to Play Outdoors

I’m not sure if you’ve noticed, but nature is totally free to be in! Most outdoor activities cost very little to get started with. While costs can climb, the barrier to entry is low.

Take up hiking or something simple like gardening. For gardening, all you need is a few plants or seeds to get started. Then, you can move on to just giving it some tender love and care, sunlight, and water. If you’re picking something else outdoors like hiking, all your really need is the right pair of shoes and a trail. It can be extremely fun to challenge yourself to reach new heights (literally).

Find New DIY Projects

DIY projects are really inexpensive when you don’t go overboard with the materials. You can take anything you have laying around the house and put it to use. If you pick a DIY project that you can build upon over time, it can become a rewarding hobby. Choose to redo your dresser or weave a new rug using old bedsheets, and don’t stop until you’ve used every piece of material you have at your disposal.

Pick a Hobby Requiring Minimal Supplies or Equipment

Speaking of materials, if you don’t have much, pick a hobby that requires very few. An example of this would be learning a new language. You could use a free app on your phone like Duolingo and learn something new every day.

Another example would be to start a blog. Writing is a great way to pass the time while doing something that you can actually share with others. It’s immensely rewarding especially if you’re consistent with it. It’s hard to get tired of blogging when you’re doing it for your own satisfaction. It serves as a creative outlet that you will have complete and total control over.

Become a Perpetual Learner

You can also continue the idea of learning and try a lot of new things and pick up new knowledge with just an Internet connection. Thanks to sites like YouTube, it’s possible for you to take dance lessons, fitness classes and even singing lessons online – at zero cost! And you'll develop new skills and abilities.

You could even try attending a local event every week. There are so many different free activities and events hosted throughout the summer seasons, and why not take the time to explore them and venture out of your comfort zone? A lot of them are free, and it would give you a chance to get to know your area a little bit better.

At the end of the day, you can spend hours feeling bored, scrolling through your phone or watching mindless TV shows, or you could spend it mastering a new skill or perfecting a fun project. Both are better than spending the summer being less than productive.

Spend some time investing in your hobby – without breaking the bank of course. You just have to be willing to get started and keep at it.

Anum Yoon is a personal finance blogger and freelance writer who found her passion for money management through her extensive travels around the world. Since deciding to settle in the US, she has been faced with the task of becoming a responsible consumer with an excellent credit score. You can read her blog at Current on Currency and catch her updates by signing up for her newsletter. You can also connect with Anum on Twitter.