Enjoy this post about frugal, space saving hobbies from my amazing staff writer, Jordann. As many of you may know, I've spent the last two years paying off over $38,000 in debt. In order to do that, I saved money on rent by moving into a 400 sq. ft. house and becoming a minimalist.
Now that I'm living the minimalist life, I've had to find ways to keep my possessions in check. I do this mainly by learning to live with less.
I have fewer clothes, a smaller number of cooking utensils, and less furniture. I pair down, declutter, and eliminate unnecessary possessions on a daily basis. No area of my life has been left untouched – including my hobbies.
I've had to give up a few of my more space intensive hobbies, in favour of activities that don't take up so much precious square footage in my tiny home. I've been pleasantly surprised to see that I'm also saving a bit of cash by indulging in hobbies that take up a little less space.
Here's some of them:
Photography
I love taking photos. I love capturing special moments and family events. Fortunately for me, photography doesn't cost much. I use an eight year old DSLR that was given to me after my parents had upgraded their model, and some photo editing software that a friend had lying around.
Sure I'd love to invest a little more money and space into it – I could upgrade my camera, try out some new lenses, and maybe even get a tripod, but for now, my second-hand equipment suits me just fine, and doesn't take up much space.
Blogging
Blogging definitely doesn't take up much space in my little house. All you need to start a blog is a half decently functioning computer, and a half decently functioning brain.
Fortunately I have access to both of those things, and blogging has been on my top three list of hobbies for the past few years. Blogging even helps earn a little income, which is always nice.
Reading
Old fashioned paper backs to take up a ton of space, but throw an eReader into the mix, and you've got the perfect minimalist, frugal hobby. I'm an avid reader, but I hate how much space books take up in my home. Fortunately for me, pretty much every book that's been written is available on my tablet, and bonus: They're cheaper than buying the paperback version. I still love to browse book stores for ideas, but I'll probably never buy a physical book again.
There are ton of hobbies out there that take up a lots of space and money. Think restoring classic cars, having a boat, or scuba diving. All of these hobbies eat up space and money like crazy, and are they really more fun than my frugal, space-saving hobbies?
While I'd really like to have some more expensive hobbies, I have a hard time thinking that they might be more fun than curling up with a good book. Fortunately for me, I don't have to make the distinction, because those hobbies really aren't in the cards for me, in my present financial condition.
Do you have any favourite frugal and space-saving hobbies? I want to know!
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I wouldn’t ever list it on a job application as a hobby, but one of my favorite things to do is people watch. I love to sit and observe. Especially down at the beach. It may not be useful or educational, but it’s relaxing and in some ways heart lifting. Typically you see joggers, families and young couples in love strolling hand in hand. Everyone is always happy at the beach.
I love people watching too! It’s so relaxing and I love making up back stories to go with them. 🙂
I am addicted to making beaded kumihimo jewelry. The primary beads used are seed beads when can be quite inexpensive and take up very little space. The braiding process of kumihimo is very meditative.
That sounds like the perfect frugal, minimalist hobby!
I can’t think of anything besides those but I think those three are the best when it comes to having a hobby that uses less or no space at all. 🙂
Thanks, Mark!
I like to run. Some people buy a lot of gear, but as long as I have a pair of running shoes, I’m ready to go!
I’m one of those people who has a lot of running gear, but I agree – the only real piece of equipment you need is your running shoes.
Some people call it hiking, but I just call it going for walks. Granted, it usually requires some form of transportation to get to the pretty walks, but it takes no living space. Also, being a football watching couch potato takes no space, either. 🙂
Hiking is the best! I can’t go hiking this time of year because it’s hunting season, but it’s one of my favourite outdoor activities.
We spend a lot of time at nearby parks. We can enjoy the outdoors and have plenty of space without paying for it directly in our rent (though you pay for it indirectly with taxes where you live).
That’s a great suggestion for someone living in the city!
Photography is a VERY expensive hobby! You’re super lucky that you had a nice camera handed down to you!
Definitely! I’m very thankful for that, although it’s not considered nice by today’s standards, it’s quite old! I’m still happy to have it though. 🙂
Blogging, or any kind of writing, is a great outlet. Most kind of artistic expression don’t require a lot of space, other than maybe sculpture, or playing the drums.
I totally agree, blogging is a great outlet!
LOVE this post Jordann! I am a huge advocate of low-cost/frugal hobbies. I keep myself busy with my blog, entering giveaways, and learning more about websites/affiliate marketing/etc. If I had more free time I would likely spend it reading more books (I love to read but feel a need to work on side hustles to pay down student and mortgage debt), learning new useful skills, or exercising more. I actually quit golf and snowboarding solely because of the cost involved.
Snowboarding and golf are so expensive! I don’t blame you for quitting those. I used to ride horses in high school, but I definitely don’t now because it’s so expensive.
You covered writing by including blogging, so I would add drawing to the list, too! Sketching with pencils or painting with acrylics is way to plug into your creative side and it certainly fits the bill for being both frugal and space-efficient.
I used to draw and paint as well – they definitely don’t take up much space but they do require their own supplies. Definitely not an expensive hobby though.
My wife bought me a kindle when she decided that it was time to “downsize my belongings”. I like it, but find that I can no longer share the books with my friends – they have to buy them instead of borrowing my old copy
Kindle and e readers are a mixed bag – great from a storage point of view, poor on a lending/sharing point of view.
I dont think they save you that much money either on the paper version, and amazon often “forget” to offer you the used book option when you’re searching for new titles
The Kindle definitely doesn’t offer much in the way of sharing books, but if you can find a source for the “epub” file version of a book, that can be freely shared and is loadable into most readers. Definitely recommend that as a way to share books!
I have a small corner of my apartment that houses my running shoes and a yoga mat. Exercise is my most time consuming hobby, but space wise, it doesn’t take much at all.
Yoga definitely doesn’t take up much space! I love how easily the mat back be put away, out of sight.
I think a lot of core fitness activities doesn’t take up much space, such as running or lifting weights. But if you want to have weights at home, rock climbing or martial arts equipment, that certainly can take up a lot of space.
I like to exercise, craft gifts, do DIY projects and blogging!
Karla Twomey
Kids and Money: Teenagers Guide to Becoming a Millionaire
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I suppose my bicycle is a space saving hobby! I have been bicycling for over 20 years and I love my bike.
It’s also frugal because I bet it saves you a bit on transportation costs. 🙂
I recently started playing tennis and I can’t believe I’ve been missing out all of these free facility they offer at the local park. I believe there are many things like that in America.
Basketball and tennis are great space saving hobbies if you happen to have a free court nearby – but if you don’t paying to play can be a bit expensive.
Yoga and running are two of my favorite hobbies AND they don’t take up much space at all. Even in my small condo, I have space for free yoga using an iPhone app.
Excellent!
It’s been months now since I said that I’ll get back to reading and unfortunately I can’t find the time. I have bought so many books in the past several months – great books, I am sure – that it saddens me to see that I simply can’t read them. Is there a hobby for extra time? :))
I’m the same way – my reading list is so long but I don’t seem to have the time to read anything! The only suggestion I have is to make it a priority and carve out the time.
My boyfriend and I like to keep active so we do a lot of sports in the summer with his friends. Every Tuesday we’ll play ball hockey at a community rink, and on the odd weekend we’ll play a game he bought called Spikeball or softball, football, anything!
We also love board games. He usually gets one every year for Christmas and so has a bunch stocked up and I have a few, as well. There will be a “board game” cafe opening up in our city in the next couple weeks or so where you pay $5 to play unlimited boardgames! Needless to say, we’ve been checking up on it pretty much everyday since we first learned of it back in September.
I love the idea of a board game cafe! That’s brilliant.
Blogging is definitely one of my favorite hobbies right now. I used to be really into crocheting, but all that yarn takes up so much space!
I’m big on not owning books and movies and junk that just sits there. Unless it’s a book or movie I re-read or really love (and am waiting to give it away to the next perfect reader) I just donate them to charity as they never are worth anything. When you have a lot of possessions, you need a lot of storage and need to dust all the time!
I totally agree, if I had my way, I’d get rid of every last DVD in my house. My husband loves his collection, however.
I’d add knitting to the list. Yarn and knitting needles don’t take up that much space (you just need a basket to keep them in) and if you don’t want to keep your knitted items you can give them away to friends and family as inexpensive gifts.
I’ve never tried knitting but I really like the idea of being able to give away the completed projects as gifts!
I do plastic canvas, sewing and knitting. I have a huge stock of yarn and canvas to work with to. It’s pretty inexpensive because of my stock and it takes me an hour to a few days or more to finish a project.