Car repairs, especially by simple means. I'm always inspired how the guys in developing countries keep things going . "Oh you need a soldering iron to fix an alternator... no problem take a charcoal BBQ and a screw-driver". I recently redid my fuel lines out of refrigeration pipe on my old Merc ( http://survivalengineer.blogspot.com/20 ... -line.html ). This hobby keeps the costs down.
Investing: Yes I'm still working myself up the food-chain to be ERE some day. This hobby increases the yield.
Lots of physical exercise in martial arts. This ensures that I can still enjoy my savings when I'm finally ERE .
@bigato: Goju Ryu Karate and Tai Chi (Chen Style). I also used to do Kendo but put it on ice for the past few months because of an internship (and a lack of local clubs in the area). We also do some Kobudo in the university club and I take a little bit of pleasure scaring/impressing the neighbors practicing by Sai- and Nunchuk Katas in the morning, but I'm still at the very early stage.
I only stared 2.5 years ago. I got incredibly bored by gym exercise and other forms of solo sports. After trying out the Karate crowd, I really got into it. I wish I started earlier . It really helped me build confidence and improve my physical fitness along the way. I can highly recommend Karate and Tai Chi because you need close to no equipment to practice. However, once you start practicing Kendo & Kobudo seriously, you really start to accumulate stuff, before long your cupboard looks like a medieval Japanese armory. Many Kendo clubs lend you the equipment initially, but expect you to get your own before long.
Computer programming! You can get free compiler and free tutorial on the internet.
I just started learning C and doing problems on ProjectEuler. It's so rewarding, addictive and challenging as the problem become harder and harder. I find it's more entertaining than video games. Sometimes video games produce anger and frustration which I don't find from solving math problems using computer.
I was getting numb sitting on the office pushing papers.It prevent me from getting bored and keep my brain functioning well. It's a great hobby to do it for fun.
Yeah recreational programming is a good hobby. It's free and flexes your creative problem solving muscles.
I find I have the most fun programming in functional languages such as Scheme or Haskell. You might want to check those out. There are free compilers/interpreters for those as well.
My passion is fishing, and both it and gardening have slight returns in the form of lower food cost.
I also consider investing a hobby. I own three rental properties, and I actually enjoy researching investment stategies, second guessing the the economy, and generally budgeting/ setting and achieving financial goals.
I just started blogging, and am really excited about the passive income potential.
Learning to tie knots. There are many different kinds of knots for different uses. You can just use some old rope and learn to tie knots, with your eyes closed, behind your back, as quick as possible, backwards and forwards, one handed, or you can build stuff using knots. Some rope and sticks can be made into many things. Lash stuff together. Lift heavy weights.
Search the torrents for Ashley Book of Knots to get started.
I garden. I do spend a lot of money on it but it produces far more food than what we spend on it. This will continue till we get the entire property fully developed and enough soil building systems in place that I don't need to buy compost anymore.
Bee Keeping. My husband and I do this together and we keep a couple of hives for the garden. We sell a bunch of the honey to cover costs. On the list of hobbies to start is making mead since we have so much honey which will make us everyone's favorite come Christmas.
My husband and I also mentor an FIRST FRC Robotics team. It is a high school aged team that build 100+ pound robots to play a game with 5 other robots. My husband loves robots and it is cheap way for him to get involved. I get to teach art, design, costume construction and have fun with creative teenagers. It is a lot of fun and the kids learn so much. We are currently in the middle of build season and the competitions start in month. Here is a video on this year's challenge. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HZbdwYiCY74
I also sew including a few paying projects like curtains and alterations. I make a lot of presents and I used to make a lot of clothing but finding fabric cheap enough to make it worth the time is hard. I have been getting into quilting lately and many of them will be presents. Luckily there are good thrift stores near me and a great discount fabric store near my in laws. The big project this year will be insulated roman shades for the whole house. I finally found a fabric I like for a price I was willing to pay.
I also make jewelry and have been doing it as a side hustle since I was a teenager. I want to do more of this and sell it online this year. I used to be a jeweler and gemologist so I love finding beads, stones, and other parts at thrift stores, yard sales, and flea markets.
Sewing is a great hobby because you can start cheap/free and build your skills until you can save money with DIY and repairs, and later even make money from custom jobs. For supplies I would always go to goodwill: they often clear out dead peoples homes and every old granny has lots of sewing supplies that end up there. Sad but useful.
Mushroom collecting and cultivation My partner gathers mushrooms and dries them to sell custom wild mushroom blends. This is seasonal, so now he's also setting up a culture in our cellar. Let's see how it goes.
Beekeeping was done by my grandfather. He was thrifty about sourching the materials and made good money. Not only delicious honey, but if you have fruit trees around your house it will increase crop. He also "rented" bee boxes to local apple farmers by placing them in their orchard for the season.
Plant cultivation is also neat: learn to grow house plants from cuttings, make nice arrangements and sell those. Succulents and cacti are popular, also plants that need little light (like Epipremnum), or kitchen herbs. My partner gets old military boots from a local cobbler and plants them with Aloe, lavender or cacti, and they sell extremely well!
Robotics: My DW started FLL robotics with her fifth grade last year. They won the regional championship and are gone for the state tournament today. I'm so happy what they have accomplished and have volunteered on numerous occasions. A large part of my 25 year career was robotics in semiconductor and food manufacturing. This type of hands on technology training is huge for our youth. I am frequently astounded by the techniques employed and sophistication in the lessons.
Metals. I have always loved creating new tools, modifications, or repairs to machines. I started very early learning with wood. Funny thing about that is I don't like the same kind of work; creating from wood. Metal is so much more worthwhile. It is enduring, so you can take the extra time to do things just right. My latest project was a hay spear. On a farm, there's plenty of other mechanic opportunity for that creative passion.
Cars. I was afflicted with a love for muscle cars in my teens. I had fantasy of rebuilding a classic with my boy, but to my chagrin, he had zero interest. Second chance, I am covertly at work to brainwash my daughter, but that's not going well either.
Hunting. I've talked a little bit about that subject on animals thread. It's mostly just hiking with an unused weapon. Unless if you're talking game birds. I've grown patient for those to skip the year or two of population decline to hunt when they are abundant. There's a deep connection to nature when you participate in the life cycle as a responsible hunter.
FLL has really exploded around here. My DW managed to bring it into their public school curriculum since they had nothing budgeted for advancing students. Every side expense was being spent on disadvantaged, the higher achievers were "being left behind". Education budgeting was like a farmer spending all his money on pesticides and zero on fertilizer.
It's been an excellent way to promote science, technology, engineering and mathematics. The rest of the world has been surpassing us in those disciplined studies.
The press likes to make a story of the robotics take over. Every one is going to be unemployed. There's a sliver of truth to that if we have to outsource technical employees from those countries that are already excelling at STEM.
. "Oh you need a soldering iron to fix an alternator... no problem take a charcoal BBQ and a screw-driver". I recently redid my fuel lines out of refrigeration pipe on my old Merc ( http://survivalengineer.blogspot.com/20 ... -line.html ). This hobby keeps the costs down.