Financial Journey
(featured column)
Frugal
Hobbies You Can Enjoy on a Budget
by Karen
Kuebler
We all need
stimulation in our lives to keep us from boredom. Often when we are
watching our budgets we start to think there isn't much to do that won't cost a
lot of money. Sometimes I have found myself in that frame of mind.
To make matters worse, if I'm watching my diet, I go into double deprivation
mode; I can't do this because it will cost money and I can't eat this because it
is too fattening! More...
The reality is that there are many things we can do that can be
fun, stimulating, and not cost a lot of money. I will share of few of my
ideas for hobbies that can keep your mind occupied and be very productive
without breaking the bank.
Join a local history club. This is a great way to learn more about
the area you live, while meeting new people. These clubs often organize
local field trips for a nominal cost and bring in local historians to share
colorful stories that provide a personal point of view. You will gain an
appreciation of your hometown and surrounding areas.
Create your own frugal cooking club. Ask some of your like-minded
friends to get together and experiment with frugal cooking. You can
exchange recipes and have an enjoyable time cooking, visiting, and getting to
know different backgrounds and origins of different traditions and recipes.
An additional plus is that you will leave with food to feed your family
afterwards. You might experiment with international recipes, ethnic
cooking, etc.
Join a local
book club. You can often find local book clubs already established
through your public library. When we first moved to our area, we joined a
class at the library. There were about eight of us who were interested in
creating our own book club to share our common interests for years after.
Take local craft classes or develop your own craft club. I have
found many classes through local hobby and craft stores. They usually only
charge a low fee to cover supplies. If you have friends who enjoy certain
crafts such as quilting, beading, making crafts for children, sewing,
needlework, etc., organize crafty social events. I belonged to a group
that met several times to make a variety of crafts for a fundraiser. It
was great because we all learned several new projects to make for gift giving
and had tons of fun together.
Create your own Frugal Circle. What a great way to meet regularly
with friends to exchange your own frugal tips and continue to learn new ways of
doing things. The synergy from this kind of group can really increase your
own creativity and resourcefulness. You can share ideas for cost effective
holiday planning, gift giving, economizing on daily living, etc. This
group would provide an excellent forum for swapping clothes, toys, books,
holiday decorations, tools and appliances. We all outgrow or stop using
many things that are in beautiful condition and could be given new life through
trading! The group could also work simultaneously as a book club, reading
different books on frugality, investing, debt elimination, etc. The ideas
within this kind of group are limitless once you begin to let your imaginations
run wild.
Do you and others you know Home School? Establish a group. This
would be an excellent way to share ideas, educational materials, etc.
Also, it would give you an opportunity to discuss what works well and the
challenges you face, while talking about ideas to overcome obstacles and develop
innovative programs.
Do you enjoy bird watching or have you ever given it a try? I
used to think that you really had to be in the geriatric club to be a bird
watcher. Now that I live on the forest, it has become a hobby. We
have books that help us identify the many different birds that migrate here each
year. We enjoy feeding them and spend many pleasurable moments enjoying
the beauty of nature. Birding binoculars can be purchased on sale for a
reasonable price. Once we got started, we took this hobby on the road while
vacationing in new areas. This is a hobby you can do alone or with others.
Find a local
hiking club. This is a great hobby that has multiple benefits. You
meet new people, it doesn't cost anything, it provides wonderful exercise, and
it provides opportunities to explore nature and new places. Each hike is a
new adventure.
Photography can be a gratifying hobby. This is another hobby that
you can do solo or with others. This particular hobby can be expensive,
but it doesn't have to be. I bought a great digital camera from a friend
that was upgrading his equipment and I have really gotten into photographing a
variety of different things. I make a lot of my gifts from the photographs
I've taken. One of my favorites is making stationary with different themes
and this doesn't cost very much at all. Some of the themes I've used
include assorted wildlife, varieties of flowers, seasonal pictures such as
autumn or winter scenes, and special scenes from our local area. I often
take pictures of our friends and their pets and surprise them with stationary or
framed photographs. When we vacation with family or friends, I take a lot
of photographs and make a photo album to share our memories.
Join some
friends for a weekly movie viewing event. If you are a movie buff and
have friends who enjoy movies, this is a fun and inexpensive hobby to share.
It can be an educational experience as well as just a lot of fun. You can
research history about the movies, the directors, the actors, etc. You can
select different genres to expand your horizons.
Some of these ideas may not fit your interests or might seem a little off the
wall. However, the list could generate some ideas that would fit with your
own personal hobbies. The bottom line is that there is a world of
opportunities to share your hobbies and enjoy learning new ones. You can
meet a lot of new and interesting people along the way, and maybe develop long
lasting friendships.
We hope we've
inspired you to explore new ways of having fun without sacrificing your budget!
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Copyright
© 2006 by Karen Kuebler. All rights reserved.
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