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What are some free-to-do hobbies that are fun too? (lemmy.world)
submitted 2 days ago by to c/asklemmy@lemmy.world
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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 moneyπŸ˜….

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[–] 21 points 1 day ago* (13 children)

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.

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  • [–] 1 point 8 hours ago (2 children)

    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.

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  • [–] 1 point 6 hours ago (1 child)

    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.

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  • [–] 1 point 16 minutes ago*

    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 125mΒ³ and costs like Β£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 Β£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.

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  • [–] 12 points 1 day ago (6 children)

    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.

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  • [–] 6 points 1 day ago (4 children)

    move it to soil

    soil in a pot. don't plant mint in the ground unless you enjoy pranks on yourself.

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  • [–] 4 points 1 day ago (1 child)

    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.

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  • [–] 3 points 1 day ago

    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.

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  • [–] 2 points 1 day ago

    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

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