What are some free-to-do hobbies that are fun too?
A counter question to the guy who posted a similar question few hours ago, cause most of the answers weren't helpful for someone like me, who doesn't have much money😅.
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I love going on hikes or nature walks. Some great free apps are Merlin (for identifying bird calls) and Seek (for identifying plants and animals). All completely free aside from getting to to trail, but even in city parks it can be pretty fun. A good pair of binoculars is a great addition if you have the $$.
I see binoculars at thrift shops all the time for the price of a semi-fancy coffee. Just make sure the lenses are clear and they focus correctly (sometimes the optics are messed up).
Definitely. Also, lots of local birdwatching groups or chapters of the Audubon Society that host pretty frequent outings. Most are free or pretty cheap. Then you have lots of experienced people to ask questions and make friends. Check Facebook or your local photography store flyer posts.
Shoplifting can be both fun and profitable
Posetive money hobby
Learn about birds
+1. Birds are flipping awesome. When you get into your 40s, looking at birds hits different. I now get up at 330 in the morning on my days off to look at birds.
Running costs a pair of shoes every now and then and extra laundry detergent but otherwise free. Like any other hobby you absolutely can spend tons of money on it but it's not required.
Runkeeper is a free app where you can log down your runs but a casio watch with stopwatch is good enough if you know the distance.
Also, contrary to what a lot of people think you don't have to push yourself, you can just be easy running (chill jogging) and still make massive gains in endurance, speed, physical health and mental health. Depending on your starting point brisk walking can be sufficient to get started and then transition to "let me just jog a bit" when you feel like it and still have massive gains.
You can even combine it with other hobbies like audiobooks, music and/or podcasts.
Running feels to me like "cleaning the pipes" of the body that's relaxing and makes the remainder of the day a bit more enjoyable.
I would have started running a lot sooner if someone just told me that it's actually fun to go slow. Now my slow is my old fast.
Yeah, a lot of people don't realise that if running is not enjoyable then they're putting way more effort than necessary.
Birding! Cornell's "Merlin" app is free and an excellent identification/logging tool.
Research the shit out of something you are interested in. Go down all the rabbit holes you can find. Compile it into a simpler, better understood synthesis. Convert it into a YouTube vid and deploy. I'd watch anything if well researched.
Do you have a working laptop or desktop? Learn to code. Actually code none of that vibe code bullshit. Making games is fun and rewarding and has an amazing community.
Roleplaying games. Download a free ruleset and a dice app for your phone and you're good to go.
Juggling.
Geocaching
And while you're out geocaching, check out Street Complete
OpenStreetMap surveying is an excellent hobby. I've been doing it for years.
Its free (somewhat), but the commercialization of it by the geocaching.com assholes has made me sour on it.
I'm a premium member and I find it worth it because I hike a lot. But for people who don't have expendable income, you can just install the open source geocaching app c:geo, you'll get a lot more caches than the official app and it will give plenty to find. Additionally, you can email geocaching and they give you a week or 2 weeks of premium, with that time, you can download as many caches offline as you want.
Yeah I know about c:geo, I have it on my phone.
I pretty much just gave up. Geocaching.com ruined it for me. It should just be a wiki and open. But nice to know the tip of two weeks to download.
I remember when it truly was a free hobby. It also was a lot more fun before GPS was on everyone's phone and you used a separate GPS device.
Well, geocaching here, where I live, may be a completely different or separate thing then, we have our own geocaching repository with mostly small and interesting hides (or virtual caches or multi caches) or educating about your environment. Fully community driven and maintained, free of charge.
That is pretty neat. I always have to use one to 3 sites depending on where I am in the world.
I remember when we used to do CD, DVD, foreign coins and kids toy caches. Those were fun. Now it seems like everytime I check its just a log book at best, or a "scenic" cache.
Yeah, it's mostly really just a log book or even a code you can check online. But there's still a chance to find some small kincks-knacks in a Kinder Surprise shell thingy.
Im a big fan of calligraphy. It can be free using just a pencil and paper that you have. But it is more fun if you spend the $35 on marker paper and a calligraphy marker.
Hiking, walking and swimming are all free for me.
Kicking the football around with a friend at the local park (need a football).
We also have a free to use tennis court and have cheap tennis racquets and a cheap pickle ball set we use there.
local library, i read extensively and have a gazillion ebooks but i like to browse the library shelves for gems.
check with your local authorities, maybe something there as well,? eg local community groups you can help eg here in Australia there's places like Landcare where you go help rehabilitate nature with like minded folks.
You could learn to sew. Make your own stuff and repair the stuff you already have.
Keep an eye on local marketplaces for vintage Singer sewing machines. They’re heavy and a lot of people are looking to get rid of them. Forget the people who think they have a gold mine because it’s an antique. Bide your time and research the strengths of different machines (two solid performers are the Model 15 and Model 66).
The vintage Singers and Whites are built like tanks. If they still move (no rusty barn finds), they can be calibrated. It usually just takes a little sewing machine oil. Familiarising yourself with how they work and what to look for will do wonders. Sewing is a great skill to have.
I have spent most of my life partner dancing. Almost every organized dance I've gone to has been volunteer run. So while it's not technically free, it's pretty easy to get in for free if you ask nicely and trade an hour of your time.
Recreational Public Masturbation and it’s almost essential sister-hobby of Eluding Law Enforcement While Maintaining an Erection.
It is pretty hard. The hobby, I mean.
As for expenses, have you seen what a decent trench coat coats these days?!
Find a dogging site to meet people into similar activities
It’s the guy on the plane
disc golf. There is a small cost to entry, but you can buy some used discs for a basic starter pack to get going. From there just find a local course and start playing! However if you enjoy it (like I did) I cannot guarantee that it will stay a cheap hobby.
Just be like me, and use the same katana for ten years straight.
You get really good at technical putts with a katana.
Damn I suck at throwing anything over a 9 speed. I've only been playing for about a year and a half, though. I'm this close to getting most of my drives nose-down. But better putting has been the real game changer for my scores.
Nothing you'd probably like?
Conlanging - the art of creating tongues. https://library.conlang.org/about/conlanger.html
Collecting seeds
I like knitting and crochet, if you go on car boot sales you can often find a lot of balls of yarn almost free, and there are so much things you can do, for you or as gifts!
macramé was mentioned but I want to mention that if you see it you will think maybe it is hard but its literally doing the knot where you take two strings and loop them around each other so pulling the string just makes it tigheter. Also you can make a sling from it sized to fit something like a tennis ball or any other ball you have around and then you can take it to a tennis court (parks around me tend to have them) and then practice slinging it. Big plus to do with a dog.
I’ve been really enjoying getting into penpaling. Stamps are pretty much the only expense. I really enjoy disconnecting from technology and focusing on the letter only.
Hiking can be nearly free especially on beginner trails that don’t require special equipment
Writing is something I hated in school but as I’ve gotten older it can be fun to kinda play god with peoples lives.
Cooking isn’t free but could actually save you money if you eat out a lot.
Cooking is actually a really good shout for people who have very limited culinary skills, you don't need to become a master chef but learning the basics so that you can at some point just look in you'd fridge at a bunch of nearly expired produce and then make something of it.
You will save yourself bigtime cash cooking for yourself if that's not something you do already fairly routinely
Being able to make a palatable meal with random ingredients that are going to go bad soon is a real skill and super useful. My wife is a master at it and I’ve been trying to get better at it too. I’ve found it pretty easy if it’s all produce but other ingredients absolutely can work too, most ingredients can work together in some capacity if you use them right. Vegetables are just the easiest for me, personally.
Writing fiction is so much fun.
When you start writing, you're in control, but about 1/3 of the way through a longer story, the characters start taking over and leading the way, to the point that if you're not careful, they'll lead you astray from the story you want to write, and they'll start writing their own story--which may or may not be a better story. If you've never experienced this, it's surprising the first time it happens.
If you have a computer, you can learn to write code. The market for programming is in shambles, but that doesn't mean it can't be fun. You can do all sorts of things like make a game, build a personal website, make a custom app, make art, and more
For anyone considering this, Harvard University's cs50 course is free and invaluable to anyone who wants to pursue these interests.
Speaking of free courses, Nand2Tetris is excellent for learning how CPUs work.
Invaluable means valuable? What a country!
:P
Invaluable means the value can not be determined, not that it has little value.
yeah lol. I was just quoting the simpsons. "Inflammable means flammable? What a country!"
That's my career 😭. I honestly wish to change careers and do programming just as a hobby, but right now, it's already what I do.
Foraging. It costs almost nothing to learn about the plants that grow around you and what you can do with them. I've been doing it for about 5 years now, and spent maybe $80 on a good hori hori and $40 on a good mortar and pestle when I wanted to get serious. Neither of those are necessary to forage. A good field guide is something you can order at your local library. The main cost is time studying at home and on the field.
Here's some amazing pesto I made with wild mustard garlic greens.
And the before picture
I can not recommend the hobby enough. I'm happy to try and answer any questions you might have.
This does sound very compelling, but how did you start?
When I go outside in a place that has plants I try to ID at least one that I don't know. When I get a positive ID on it, I'll look it up and sometimes it will have edible or medicinal properties.
Fell mouth first into a blueberry bush while hiking
Hehe, I don't know much but I know those very well. There's lots of them in Franconia!
Did you know that wolves prefer blueberries to meat?
Oh man I got to enjoy a chicken of the woods mushroom for the first time last year and it was amazing. We enjoyed sumac tea all summer and have a bounty of hickory nuts this fall. I made wild riverbank grape jelly from grapes harvested from my mom's backyard. Definitely need to be careful with ID'ing and never picking something you're not 100% sure of but it's liberating and satisfying.
I unfortunately live too deep inside the city to try that😅. There's very little vegetation around.
I’m not sure where you are exactly but you’d be shocked. When I was last in New York I actually took an “Urban Foraging Tour”. They showed us these wild weeds that grow on stoops that apparently make a great tea.
I don’t forage as a hobby so obviously this is all just experience from one two hour tour I took like five years ago but still!
You would be surprised. Dandelion for example is a plant that thrives in cities, is entirely edible, and you can roast it's taproot into a delicious coffee substitute.
I started out with dandelion actually. I made a whole plant tea out of it heat dried. It entirely transformed the plant into something that smelled delicious, almost this floral toasted honey smell.
Just don't take from places where a lot of pets get walked, right next to roads, or sprayed. Wash everything and anything you take home throughly, and research research research before you start picking.
Garlic mustard can be great, but you have to get it at the right time. It becomes bitter when the plant starts to mature.
While experimenting with it one time I did something resembling Palak Chaat with some tender young leaves. They fried up beautifully and ended up translucent - like green stained glass - and wonderfully crispy.
Drawing. A pencil, pen, eraser and paper are the type of stuff you could even steal from an office and people wouldn't bother. Drawing for fun is mostly about just doing whatever or doing caricatures, the latter are great because if it sucks then it's actually better 😆
Writing. Stories, reviews, fanfics, whatever. You posted here, so you already have everything needed. Literally any working computer will suffice if you prefer a bigger keyboard.
Going out and walking or jogging. Not to any specific place, just literally walking around the place you live, get to visually know the neighborhood. Not fun when it's too hot outside. Related to walking, bodyweight exercises. Not really fun, but you don't have to pay anything to workout. Some people make hobbies out of physical exercise, so ymmv.
To add: if pen and paper aren't your thing you can create computer art with free programs like Blender. Or you can use something like FreeCAD to design objects that are easier bring into the real world via 3D printing or other machines available at most makerspaces (though those are materials and makerspaces will cost something).
To add: Krita and Inkscape are both excellent free programs for making 2D digital art.
That's assuming the computer even runs those programs, plenty of budget choices don't even support OpenGL3.
To add to the last point, you can find a humongous amount of instruction videos for any kind of bodyweight exercise on Youtube. Just start clicking around until you find something that works for you. Yoga or calisthenics might be a good place to start.
Chess. You can try Lichess, a free (and open source) website/app to play chess. There's countless of videos and tutorials on the internet about chess.
Thanks, as a person who has never learned how to play chess, Lichess seems like a good start
Chess.com also has a lot of good stuff in the free tier, like lessons and daily puzzles.
Just FYI lichess has infinite puzzles, I love doing them.
And then if you pay money, you can have the full lichess experience!
That website (hereafter referred to as the green pawn website) is very scummy and has ties to gambling. The green pawn website also uses their hoard of played games for their own private analysis, but doesn't let anyone else do it. Lichess, on the other hand, allows anyone to use the dataset and this has allowed some very interesting things, such as "what is the rarest move" statistics, to be featured in blog posts or YouTube videos.
No hate if you use it, but don't encourage new players to use the green pawn website. Lichess is leagues better.
reading.
Yes! Libraries are free, and awesome. Unless you don't have one near you. Even then, used books can be had pretty cheap, and you can often find ebooks given out free or cheap. Plus stuff like Gutenburg and Standard Ebooks for older texts. Doesn't take long to build up a stack of books you have no hope to finish reading!
I have a very weird relationship with reading. I either am not reading one, or I'm obsessively reading one. I've completed not so small books in 2 days, like project hail Mary. I completed animal farm in a day.
Great suggestion, but I need better time management while reading books.
There you need to buy books unless you go to thenlibrary
Project Gutenberg has thousands of free books (out of copyright) in any format you prefer.
So just go to the library. Lol. Or a second hand and get them super cheap
There are a lot of Little Free Libraries in most towns these days, too. Take a walk, find a book, read the book, trade the book.
Or just pir... "Buy" epub files and read them on your phone.
I always forgot library because it open only in weekdays.
or go to anna's archive!!
You can pirate books.
Geocaching
Being in a city, there could be lots of caches near you.
the geocaching website requires a subscription now...
I recommend you check out the open source c:geo app. It's by far the best geocaching app and unlocks more of the caches the official app doesn't, it also indexes opencaching caches as well
https://www.cgeo.org/
You only have to pay for Premium.
is it not free?? That's so lame if not.
Check out OpenCaching. It's still budding, despite existing for a long time, but it's a direct response to the commercial leanings of geocaching.com.
There's instances of it for many different countries.
Sure about that? Seems still to be working for me as always (all caches accessible accept the "Premium" ones)
With the official app, you're limited to difficulty 2.5 and below. This is why I recommend using c:geo
Really? Ok, that sucks.
I never used the app (which didn't even exist when I started), but mainly website + downloads to my Garmin.
Nowadays only occasional casual caching using c:geo.
C:geo also has a lot of neat tools built in so it's superior in every aspect. I have my state map downloaded on there, upload my hiking trail gpx, and download all the caches so I can cache with no cell reception
i mean those are still accessible as long as you find them, you just don't get directions
That's basically correct if they didn't change their api/link behaviour.
During my more active GC time, I even made them into my personal D5s for a while, trying to find them by deduction and (the also accessible) previous finder comments alone.
Check what physical goods your local library lets you check out. Some have tool libraries, creative spaces with access to artistic tools and supplies, kits to do citizen science, etc.
If you're low income you might also qualify for free or low cost recreation programs through your county or city's parks and recreation centers
masturbation
OP asked for free things that are fun. I don't see how masturbation is "fun".
☺️ At least 1 who understood it was a joke 😘
You again Cousin?
I haven't seen Cooking, Baking and even Gardening on the list.
These are hobbies that saved you serious amount of $$.
Making food from scratch is always cheaper and healthier.
If you don't have much space you can have a tiny vertical garden (pallet) or just a few spiceso n your counter.
And technically growing weed to smoke is gardening and also saves money (tho I don't know first hand, I don't partake).
Edit: forgot about: hand sewing and hand embroidery, crochet and knitting. You can fix up clothes so they last longer - and you can spruce up existing clothes also.
Gardening only started to cost me money when I wanted to expand and do more things after trying it for free.
My free starting point: take a cutting of rosemary, I see several growing around town so I just took a few of them. Root them in cups of water and then plant. Let it grow larger and you now have a free supply of rosemary to have with roast potatoes.
Take more cuttings to propagate further. I have quite a few now because I really like roast potatoes and make my own herb salt. Currently go with 1:1 dried herbs to salt by volume, using rosemary and sage.
If you like suffering like me: you can buy dollarstore seeds and to grow them from scratch.
Every spring they have everything you need to start: pots, crappy soil, seeds and watering can.
Then you can learn the skillz.
I'm honestly struggling growing sorrel from seeds. (Those were more expensive seeds) After it gets to about 4 leaves it just dies.
Cuttings from stuff you can find growing around is free, for pots/soil you can just dig it up somewhere if you want, use an empty bottle as a pot if necessary. Pretty much everything I am growing currently is perennial too.
Got an allotment now which is around 125m³ and costs like £40/year. Spent a bit on getting a bunch of different things to try to see what goes well and so far the things that are growing well are kale, walking onions and rhubarb. It would cost well over £100 to buy enough of those to cover the plot I have, or I can propagate them to get more over time for the much lower initial cost of buying just a few of each plant. Of course it will take a bit longer to get a high amount of productivity from it, that said the kale seems to be growing pretty fast now and I could probably multiply it by 4 in just a few months. Rhubarb and onions probably going to take a bit longer, rhubarb is a popular plant so I might be able to get some from other people around me for cheap/free. Could offer some walking onions, don't see many people growing those so its something more unique.
Gardening can be so expensive! I have a big fruit orchard and a vegetable/herb garden, I have a well and don't pay for water, and I have my own compost system, and I chop and drop and prune my fruit trees to maintain keep them within reach. I get a free load of wood chips annually that I use for mulch, and it takes me 3 days of backbreaking work to install it all.
I still spend hundreds annually just on soil to top off the vegetable/herb gardens. Then there's fertilizers, pest control, lady bugs to control aphids, mesh bags to cover my grapes and figs so birds don't eat them all (they still get most of my berries). I don't account for mowing and weed whacking as charging them barely makes a dent in my electric bill, but trimmer line and sharpening/replacing blades is another cost. Weed barrier, shade fabric, trellises, I'm sure I'm forgetting a lot of other things.
If you have a couple small raised beds you use for herbs and maybe a small tomato plant, it can be relatively cheap, but the average person will not save on grocery bills by gardening.
The exception is herbs! Don't buy that $7 bunch of mint from the grocery store, just cut a small stem and throw in the bottom of your shopping cart and pretend you don't notice it, when you get home throw it in a water cup and give it a few days to root, move it to soil and now you have free mint for life. Same with most herbs. Save your green onion bottoms and do the same with those, don't but a bunch every time you need a few leaves.
But that's not much of a hobby on its own, as soon as you start gardening for a hobby, it starts getting expensive.
soil in a pot. don't plant mint in the ground unless you enjoy pranks on yourself.
Ha! It's true, it's a hardy spreader that refuses to die, use a pot unless you know what you're doing.
But it's also very easy to cut back or pull out in huge sections if you let it overgrow. Or just weed wack it every now and then.
I don't care for lawns, so I let it grow as ground cover in a bunch of spots, it looks and smells great!
I even plant it under some trees I have in raised beds (dry loving trees in really wet soil), it uses the excess water, and it acts like a living mulch.
But yes, you should be careful where it's planted, it's pretty invasive and can overwhelm some of your other plants if you let it go wild.
i used to have these arguments with my dad about clover. i love clover. he loves grass.
my favorite park growing up was not a fancy park. it was up in oregon near my grandparents' house. the "grass" was clover and that's part of why i love it so much.
Mint is eternal.
i boil a large handful of lemon balm (it's a type of mint) each week (i like stink pots okay). i have tried to kill our lemon balm through overuse. I'm pretty sure that patch of plant will outlive me.
I did the mint idea once.... The spider mites came with it killed my basil. You can call it karma. :D
yeah even with the increase cost in groceries if you buy the elements for cooking and baking the material stretches way further than ready made food. and you can learn as you go.
All great suggestions! They definitely will have a huge learning curve in practicing their new skills but the time to skill ratio pays off eventually, and you are investing in yourself which is a priceless
I love baking biscuits but is a good gateway to moving to baking bread... and space cake.
gooning
( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
That's great and all but what else do you do with the 23 hours and 55 minutes left for the rest of the day?
Edging
Check out your local library! They have books of course, which can open up all sorts of new hobbies, but modern libraries also can have computers, free classes, workshop and maker spaces, tool borrowing, and sometimes even video games and the like. My local one even has free tickets to museums and the zoo!
If you want something free/cheap as hell, take up drawing. You don't need fancy art supplies, just a pencil and paper. Look up proper drawing classes and books and get awesome at sketches!
Ours has some board games too, including some fun ones that can be played with others or solo.
From a similar post recently:
Inexpensive, and little setup, with no steep learning curve?
Off the top of my head:
This list is gold. But you're missing one thing:
Commenting lists of free hobbies on Lemmy
is this just using your imagination or something more specific?
Listening to binaural beats or enclosing yourself in an entirely lightless space.
As others have said, yes, it's a thing, but for more info, Douglas Rushkoff put out a book on it a few years back.
Depends on the for it takes really you have some breathing exersizes or you can do some half sleep methode or manipulate the "white noice" you get in dark rooms or try to keep an after image of something bright and the modify it into something new all of these require a lil training but it is fun :)
There a number of breathing practices that claim to be a "DMT release." Like you have free drugs inside you already, might as well, right?
My wife has been crocheting up a storm this past week. You do need yard and hooks, but as far as hobbies go, it's pretty cheap.
I have a lot of friends who knit. Some of them get wool from other friends or bargain bins while others will buy lots of nice wool, which can get rather expensive. Though I still think as a hobby its sound and fair to peend some money, especially since you usually get something usable out of it.
I've been crocheting too! Making a huge granny square blanket. Easy, can zone out or watch/listen to stuff while I do it. It's kind of cathartic.
Hiking, i just have to be there, the rest is free.
Hiking definitely is a simple hobby with a lot of exploring and experiencing fresh air. They only qualm I have is with accessibility, in the sense that you are required to own a car to drive out to parks and trails. Cars are a huge money pit and break down constantly, I wish I could get a bus from downtown to a state park and it would take less than 45 minutes.
Depending on where you live, interesting places could be pretty close. When I was new in my city, I sometimes took a tram or bus to the most remote stop, and just picked a direction to walk from there. Obviously exercise some common sense, and it won't be the "scenic" route for the bs social media pictures, but it can be a pretty rewarding adventure.
Definitely an idea! There's so many parks in my city but in different neighborhoods. I should ebike to them and park it and walk, bird watch, vibe (I just bought my first shrooms to try, so excited to do on my day off on Friday)
I'm assuming that you have done the recommended reading, if not, do it, seriously. Could be the difference between best and worst day ever.
NYC parks site boasts they have several hundred miles of hiking. The first link I clicked was https://www.nycgovparks.org/park-features/hiking/pelham-bay-park which has a direct subway stop.
Yeah that's the caveat, you just have to be there but the "being there" part is most likely an expensive one. And the best trail with great view is usually very much in the middle of nowhere, so very unlikely there will be a public transport going there. Still, there's no reason for no public transport going to the green space within the city.
Though, proper hiking shoes do make a big difference and are expensive.
But you can definitely start walking in nature for free. Just be warned that you will enjoy it and want to do more challenging trails, which will require at the very least proper shoes.
Hiking with some geocaching is great
If you have a computer, music production (using free DAWs like Zrythm and free VSTs like Vital, sample packs, etc.), writing, coding.
If you don't mind sailing the high seas or if you have access to a public library, discovering new video games, movies, music, and books can all be life changing. Many people will be more than willing to give you recommendations, or you can look up some "best-of" lists, either in specific genres/categories, or more generalized.
If you want to do things away from a screen, take a physical map, get a compass, and draw a circle from your residence of a radius that is how far you think you can walk round trip, then pick a random point and walk to it. Taking friends with you on the adventure is a great way to make things more fun if your schedules align.
Maybe not completely free but ukuleles are really cheap, easy and fun.
Singing is completely free, I'm sure you can find tutorials online.
In many places you have free outdoor gyms that let you practice calisthenics, 0 equipment needed.
If you have a smartphone photography, filming or stop motion animation can be done for free with open source software.
Last but no least, if you find some thread you can make a balearic slingshot and practice outside (or inside with ping pong balls). There are competitions and everything. Making them is fun in itself.
This is how you make one and how you use it. You can look for other videos on how to make one. Different materials can be used. It takes a bit of practice but it's a fun, manual work. I can make one in about 2h.
On this note, 3d printed ukes are available. Pair that with a library that may have a printer. $10 for strings and pegs and you've a cool uke.
Bird watching and sketching.
Yes I know that binoculars can be expensive, but you don't actually need them for casual birdwatching.
Look into Merlin or BirdNET Live. They're free apps that you can use to identify bird songs.
And you can get a sketchbook at the dollar store!
Origami, lots of videos and diagrams for free online, paper is cheap and if you want to go even cheaper you can specialise on scrap paper.
I started learning the drums before I got My drums. You can learn the theory and practice beats on the objects around you. That's the cool thing about drumming: everything in the universe is technically a drum!
Everyone else will hate you, but you ‘ll be happy 1000% guaranteed
https://youtu.be/Q2T7oLbmvx4?is=uRc3C_mvOyQEmwEe
Did you know my bum is a drum?
Ooo baby don’t tease
Stargazing. Binoculars can let you see more but not necessary to start
A hidden cost of stargazing is the ability to see the stars.
Depending on climate, urban environment, light-pollution regulations in their area, access to transportation outside of a city, etc, they might not have free access to the stars
That shit is fucked. We need to reduce light in cities. Seeing the stars should be a basic right.
Hiking/going for walks, sketching, reading (public domain books are free at project gutenberg, libraries are free), watching shows/movies (again, libraries offer access to this locally and through apps like Hoopla, Kanopy, etc. and there's free streaming off Pluto.tv, Shout.tv, Tubi, etc), music (again, libraries or free streaming), body weight exercises and cardio don't require a gym.
Might add more later...
Free
Low cost (some equipment required)
Many forms of exercise can be done for free: calisthenics, running, (depending where you live) swimming, hiking, (if you have a bike) cycling.
Creative processes like writing, drawing, there are free programs where you can make music (LMMS has a competition section where you can listen to songs people have made with it).
There are free introductory courses and tutorials for learning things like coding or language learning.
Technically not free, but already need to cook, so there are new recipes you can try on a budget.
Reading is of course free too.
Pottery. Clay is free. Water comes from the sky. If you have like a bucket or something, you're set. You can fire it in an oven you make yourself. Out of clay. For free. Clay is great. Highly recommended. Ask your physician if clay is right for you.
Also, be careful where you source your clay from. You don't want to get Lynks disease.
I did this! The clay in my area is usually used for bricks which might explain why working it was a little difficult, cracked fairly easily. But I did manage to make a pinch pot.
Dig hole, get dirt. Mix with water and anything that settles on the bottom within a few seconds or floats on the surface isn't clay. Pour the liquid off the sediment on the bottom and skim off any floating bits. Remove the water, can dig a shallow pit and pour it there, the water drains away leaving the clay behind. Repeat with multiple loads of clay water and then you can scoop it out. To fire the pottery I used piled up charcoal in a BBQ. Worked fairly well.
I think it probably would be better if the clay in my area was a bit more elastic, the slightest pull and it starts to tear which made working it pretty difficult. I think the best option would be forcing it into a mould or pressing against something. A possible idea to try is to put leaves over something so it doesn't stick and then use that as a form to work from. Could even use previously fired ceramics. Such as making a tiny pot, then leaves over the base and form a larger pot around its base. Repeat to make larger pots.
If the clay was more elastic it would probably help. But so hard to work it as the slightest movement results in tears when its free standing and still wet.
I studied the alchemical process of Abu Bakr al-Razi to make my local clay more workable.
Also, improving the refining process does wonders. It could be that your local soil is rich in clay but that clay isn't very good. You can refine it further once you get enough of it, until you get a quality that is very close to store-bought clay.
How do you further refine it? I went with letting the sand/silt/stones settle out and then poured the clay slurry off and then over time remove the water.
If that can be improved I still have a bucket of it somewhere so I could try further refining it. The quantity I have is fairly large compared to what you would need to make a small pot.
Ah, so you wish for me to divulge the ancient alchemical process to you? Very well. I shall share this esoteric knowledge.
So, here's what you do.
Step One: Boil some rice. Ideally without salt. Boil the crap out of it, until the water turns white. You don't need a lot of rice. Half a cup is plenty for making a pot. Then, strain the rice, and KEEP THE WATER.
Step Two: Boil down the rice water. How much? Until it's nice and good. You'll figure it out. Just don't burn it. Once it's thicker than regular water, you're good.
Step Three: Get a haricut. Not for aesthetic reasons. You will need hair for this process. How much hair? I think you already knwo. Enough to be enough. Chop it up real fine. Around one to two milimeters in length.
Step Four: Get some vinegar. You'll need it for this recipe. It slightly helps with plasticity, and prevents the clay (which will have rice water in it) from growing mold while it dries (probably).
Step Five: Grind your refined clay into a fine powder. You can use a mortar and pestle that you have previously crafted out of clay. IF you don't have one, just use whatever to get the clay at least as fine as aquarium sand. It's gotta be easy to mix.
Step Six: You just kind of mix all those things together. Start with the dry ingredients of clay and hair, mix them good. Then add the rice water and vinegar to hydrate the clay powder.
In the end, the clay will be much more plastic and hold together easier until it is fired. Although this process is mostly for upgrading lower quality clay. You should focus on repeatedly refining your clay by decanting. You first get rid of silt, sand and any debree, and once you got what is mostly clay, you refine that the same way. The finer the clay particles, the better the clay, so you will lose A LOT of clay during the repeated refining process if you are starting with a low quality source.
If you did al-Razi's method correctly, your finished piece should be hairy like a kiwi fruit once it is dried (but before it is fired, all the hair and other non-ceramic stuffs burn away during firing).
Edit: IMPORTANT!!! Once you make your alchemist clay, use it right away. It WILL start to rot and mold if you leave it wet for too long. It has rice water in it, of course it will rot. DO NOT make my mistake and leave it in a bucket covered in foil. That's how you get a funky fungus that ruins your entire batch.
Thanks! That could be worth trying and experiment with. Along with also trying to further refine the clay.
Ideally could do with making an area of the garden for refining clay really. Perhaps I should dig for some more at some point and refine in larger quantities.
Years ago had friends talking about wanting to make some pottery, I suggested let's do it I'll go get some clay. Now I have the crumbly clay and they don't have any interest in touching it. They don't even know its crumbly because they don't want to bother trying when the opportunity is presented.
One idea I had was pressing the clay into tiles and carving into them, lacking plasticity shouldn't be such a problem if it is being pushed into a form.
One more thing, young mystic.
After you make your clay as pure as can be, you should add some silt and sand back in. In a controlled way. It minimizes cracking, because silt and sand don't expand as much as clay (or at all) when hydrated. From my experience, a tablespoon of dry silt should be enough grog for a single bowl. You can also use other kinds of grog, depending on what qualities you want the fired ceramics to have. If you want porous, you add used coffee ground (it pyrolizes during firing and leaves pores). You can also add various metals to change color and qualities of the ceramic.
And the process I described does work. Tried it myself. Seen it done by others. It does make the clay more workable. If you fire it right, it makes a perfectly functional ceramic (something that usually wouldn't be possible without this process).
Leisure walking, either urban or through nature. Though it destroys shoes
Just go barefoot! 😅
I like pottery and making things with clay, it cost $17 for 10 kilos of clay and if you buy the right one you can literally just put it in a backyard fire pit and you don't even need a kiln
Mr moneybags over here with the backyard.
Doesn't have to be yours. Stick it on the beach or a park could also work.
Geocaching is free. You mentioned you are in a city so chances are that there are lots of them nearby.
On android look for c:geo, on iOS you might be restricted to free ones only unless you have a friend with Android you can explore with
Libraries have lots of other fun stuff, such as books and games
[email protected]
[email protected]
You can also contribute to openstreetmaps while walking between geocaches. I recommend StreetComplete to start
Also check out OpenCaching!
TTRPGs like GURPS or OpenD6 for free group activities. All you need are pencil/paper/notes app and 3 6-sided dice, and you can roll them with an app or on plenty of webapps (dddice.com is a good one for shared gaming). A lot more to learn than playing cards or board games, but much more fun than a typical game night, something the group can talk about all week between sessions.
There are a phenomenal number of options for free TTRPGs - this list has a bunch of stuff ranging from completely free to enough rules to run a game are free, and only covers fairly big systems, not the myriad of small releases across the internet. Once you learn the basic resolution mechanic of a couple of systems it's generally very easy to pick up more.
I looove to do Geocaching. You combine hiking with Geocaching and it's a game changer
As long as you have a computer you can code, write, or digitally create nearly anything you want.
Earlier today I saw a post about a lady who received the "Minas Tirith" LotR LEGO set for her birthday. It looked huge, and costs ~US$650.
Now, I like LEGO just fine, as you can observe in my posting history, but I was thinking... instead of her spending countless hours laboriously following what must be a telephone-sized instruction book, only to get something in the end that's noticeably different-looking from the scale models... why not build it (or something else) out of paper & cardboard, instead? It's cheap as heck, a creative craft, can look really good as a finished, painted piece, and can even be sale-worthy.
Not all of these are masterpieces, but:
https://www.google.com/search?q=impressive+homemade+paper+and+cardboard+models&udm=2
A bit of clay too even..
Obligation to say: Try out the competition. Q'man, BlueBrixx, Cada, Cobi. They are sooo much better than lego. And for a better price
Hmm, how so?
Less colour vomit, the sets have greater detail and dont break easily. Another thing is that LEGO has a high colour variety on the bricks. Eventhough they should all ne of the same colour. On largly mono colour sets you can see all shades of one colour eventhough it should be only one consistent colour. Price/Quality is greater. Look at it yourself: 1k in lego gets you the death
starfrisby. 1k with bluebrixx gets you a gigantic modular and highly detailed castle: Castle Blaustein/BluestoneThe LEGO Company has also turned into a company using the good old "Use as many lawyers as possible against competition and critique to keep up a monopoly"
This question has shown up a few times already, here's my answer with a lot of free or near-free hobbies to try =)
Running? Maybe not free, but shoes are a pretty reasonable price for admission. Great way to get out and see more of your city, trails, or even while you're traveling. Healthy and feel good endorphins are a bonus.
Photography? Yes a proper camera helps, but your phone has one. Third party camera apps can help make it more manual and learn the exposure basics before committing to an actual camera. Used ones can be had pretty cheap if you decide to pursue further. This can be a rabbit hole hobby costing thousands but doesn't have to be.
There are some athletic activities that are free or only the cost of a ball (soccer, basketball, etc. though a court/field can help). Running, walking, etc.
Sneezing.