Comments on: Top 10 Ways To Save Money – Number 9 – Give Up Hobbies

By: Saver

Saver — Sat, 06 Nov 2010 14:31:13 +0000

I’ll have to give up my Faberge egg habit.

By: karla (threadbndr)

karla (threadbndr) — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 14:35:39 +0000

Back in the ‘spend, spend’ days, I bought a LOT of supplies for needlework and knitting. Since I got on the budget, I have only bought a few things (buttons, floss) to finish off completed projects and mostly ‘shopped the stash’. I can still enjoy my hobbies, just without breaking the budget any more.

I’ve also sold supplies/patterns that I impulse bought in order to buy projects that I will actually complete. In any kind of crafting hobby, it’s easy to go overboard. A ‘craft diet’ will actually make you look at your old supplies in a fresh new way as you figure out new uses for them. Just look at the wonderful quilts and needlework that came out of the Great Depression!

By: Rhea

Rhea — Sat, 25 Oct 2008 13:11:17 +0000

Or start a hobby that is no- or low-cost to get into but could pay big dividends. Coin collecting can work that way.

By: Kristy

Kristy — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 16:51:02 +0000

I agree with you NCN. It’s not like you completely gave up golf forever, just until you were out of debt. I think its awesome and shows dedication to paying off debt. Most people will not do that because they think they deserve to do what they want. Great job quitting golf for a year!

There are many hobbies that you can do cheaply, like going to the library for books and movies. Buying puzzles at yard sales and putting them together. Running is a great hobby and is mostly free if you run outside. The key is to find something else to do (cheaply) while getting out of debt. I consider golf a pretty expensive hobby.

By: Aya @ Thrive

Aya @ Thrive — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 19:10:53 +0000

It seems like the consensus is that giving up hobbies completely is not the most attractive decision people are willing to make – and I agree. Although it might seem like it is the easiest thing to do, since we don’t have much power over things like bills, but is it really “easy,” considering that hobbies are part of enjoying life or having something to get through the week. Even though moderation can be tough to stay on top of at first, if you set a reasonable and followable budget it shouldn’t be so hard to keep while still enjoying hobbies. Or, make trade-offs when budgeting hobbies – choose one hobby to stick with for a short period of time and lay off the others. It might be harder and bad for you psychologically to try to go cold turkey anyway.