D&D costs $90 for the hard cover core book set and $0 for the pirated pdfs.
Biking can have a high upfront cost, but I’ve been using the same bike for 20 years with tune-ups and replacements running in the low three figures over that time.
I’m a big fan of podcasts, particularly ones that cover old movies. Criterion collection films are everywhere, they’re dirt cheap, and they’re classics for a reason.
Drawing (we should stop pretending one need expensive material do draw nice things, pencils and erasers are the only requirement, and a good sketch book can be found for less than 15 bucks)
who even says that drawing is expensive? it’s so obviously cheap thing to do. we did it so much as children. if it was expensive no kids would be allowed to draw
I see some influencers bragging about why you’d need quality markers like posca to improve your drawing skills. My bros fell for it and beg me to buy some for them.
It’s like thoses ads telling you you need product to do thing better. Even if it’s quality, it doesn’t work this way.
I bought a $25 set of 8 for them. They used it 2 times then stopped because they couldn’t make what they wanted. They are now asking for a light tablet to “draw better”. They will have to buy it themselves if they really want it. I was fine with the window light when i was their age.
People somehow always find a way to make the simplest thing expensive with half-useless material.
Amen. You have to stay away from that toxic commercialisation. It messes with your brain and stalls your progress in any hobby.
I think one of the best things about arts, crafts, sports, music and the like is that it has a built in resistance to that kind of commercial takeover. Having good pens will not make you better at art, good shoes won’t make you better at soccer, a fancier gym won’t give you bigger muscles. These things come from hard work, perseverance, dedication. You can’t buy skill no matter goes much money you have, I love that.
Just look into anything that professional artists use. I have had the privilege of using my mom’s coloring pencils ever since I was around 5, and the full package (120 pencils) of those is almost 500€. I don’t use fancy drawing papers, but those are expensive as well.
every hobby can be as expensive as you want it to be. the cost ceiling is however much the richest person doing that hobby is willing to spend.
if 2 billionaires want to get into drawing as they are willing to spend a million for a box of fancy cryons, those products will appear in the market. even though they’ll be marginally better than those 500$ onces
but the question was about the cost of entry. and with drawing, the cost is negligible
That’s a lie.
My wife is into knitting and crochet, I’ve seen $300 purchases for yarn only, for just one dress.
Not to mention $50-100 needles or swifts or yarn caking tools
I don’t do anything with yarn, but will sometimes use fabric to make puppets and other toys with my kid.
Even buying the cheapest fabric from the lowest priced outlets (cheaper than even the random alphabet soup brands on amazon) in bulk, it adds up so fast when you’re actually creating things!
IMO piracy and self hosting has great cost benefits.
Sure it costs money to buy a mini computer and a hard drive, but after, you can spend a long time building that library and it won’t cost you a dime.
And the computer and hard drive is more like an asset, you don’t really lose money when you buy it.
And it kind of pays you back, eventually you get a little tired of building your library but then you can use said library and integrate it into your lifestyle while you get a new obsession.
And what’s great about it is that it’s a positive sum game, you being a data dragon only ensures it’s easier for others (seeding and it becoming a trend).
Basic concepts like property or ownership make absolutely no sense in the digital world.
By letting people hoard files like a greedy dragon those files are infinitely more available to everyone, in a decentralized network that is free to use and is superior (in content, efficiency, speed, cost) to every for profit company that streams content.
Ceramics is stupidly cheap to get into. All the tools can be replaced with your hands and a needle, finding workable clay in nature is stupidly easy if you know what to look for and even the garbage clay can be made usable. Most ceramic shops let you rent a shelf on the kiln for like $5. Your first ceramic statue is literally 2 hours of research and $5 away no matter where you are in the world.
like me. i live in two giant river deltas. we have clay for days here. one time, this punk kid brought a pit bull to the neighbors and it attacked my cat. this cat had beaten up a lot of dogs including a retired police german shepherd, so it just stared down the dog. then got shook around like a ragdoll while it removed much of the dog’s face.
worst punishment we could think of was making the kid dig the grave. after two inches you hit clay. we made him go four feet deep. never saw him with a dog again, so between us and his parents something stuck.
So I’m stretching the term “nature” here because when I was posting this I actually completely forgot about real natural clay by rivers. You can also get workable clay from any large amount of sand over dirt that’s gotten wet enough times. The water pulls silica out of the sand and into the earth over time, then you can wash it to get the extra crap out, decant off the water, dry the slip, and boom clay.
Some of the best clay I’ve used came from under an old school playground.
There are plenty of hobbies where you can happily enjoy it and only ever spend little if anything.
On the other hand, I’ve found it’s pretty uncommon to find a hobby where you can’t optionally fall down an expensive rabbit-hole of some kind, usually around any kind of equipment or tools you might need as part of some hobby.
Thankfully for most hobbies that kind of thing is not required to enjoy it. You don’t need a fancy guitar to enjoy playing; you can read books from the library, you don’t need to collect your own; in most big enough cities (in Europe at least) you don’t even need to own a bike to go for a cycle (though regularly using bike rental schemes might be a sign to try and get a bike, doesn’t need to be fancy)
all hobbies have a cost floor for entry and a cost ceiling. one is the actual cost, and the other one is a made up number based on the richest person who does that hobby.
Entirely seriously, learn how to make a game in Godot.
Its literally completely free, only costs you time, and assumes you have at least some kind of existing computer, doesn’t need to be a monster rig.
Alternatively: Find a video game you like.
Make mods for it.
Here’s another one that’s basically free:
Becoming/Staying fit, gaining strength and agility.
Make ‘weights’ out of milk jugs with water in them.
Maybe get a resistance band or two, they’re not that pricey.
You can absolutely do a ton of stretches, calisthenics, and light to modetate muscle group workouts with basically just random shit lying around a typical home or apartment.
You can find basic guides for these excercises often just freely available from reputable medical organizations.
You can literally just go on a 20 minute walk, 3 times a week, and be in better physical shape than something like half of the US adult population.
Back to computer shit:
Blender is free.
Learn 3D modelling, rigging, UV wrapping, how texturing works, how to make animations, etc.
Same with Krita.
Become artist. Draw stuff good.
You can find probably literally millions of free tutorials for how to do basic and intermediate level concepts.
Whsitling/Singing/Voice Acting.
These are developable skills much more so than they are just… things you either can or cannot do, for some reason.
You can teach yourself how to do these, again to a basic or intermediate level, for pretty much free.
Same thing with at least some kinds of dancing.
If you’re feeling more EXTREME: Parkour and/or Urbex.
Lockpicking.
Go find the Lockpicking Lawyer on youtube.
Pretty sure he can recommend you a not too pricey basic starter kit for learning the basics.
… I could go on, but my hands are tired from what I’m going to call ‘autism posting’, one of my totally free, personal hobbies that I often indulge in.
Papercraft is pretty cool. If you have some thick card stock paper, a printer, a knife, and some glue, you can find 3D designs online for almost anything. I made an IL2 Sturmovik.
Yes, ingredients and equipment cost money, but the end result averages out to be cheaper than if you didn’t know how to cook. And even if you take on more expensive ingredients or tools, you’re probably offsetting even more expensive restaurant meals that you would’ve eaten.
Skiing can be cheap if you just happen to be local to where you want to go. Used equipment can be cheap and last a long while and season tickets can be a good bargain on a per day basis at that point. I used to do that when I lived basically on a ski mountain.
But then you catch the bug and then you have to plan out $2000+ trips just to be able to do that once after you move away.
Birdwatching. You can buy a book and binoculars if you like. The app Merlin is somewhat free to ID Birdwatching calls. Birdseed can get expensive or just plant sunflowers.
Wildflower identification. Best in early spring, Phone apps make this a little too easy. Seed collecting and propagation is my next goal. I also pull up invasive plants, mostly garlic mustard.
Gardening. Seeds are cheap but if want to start indoors you’ll need a light and possibly a heat mat. Start outdoors in a makeshift “greenhouse” using a clear plastic jug. Starter plants are cheap
I lived in Aberdeen, Scotland, the birthplace of golf, the barrier to entry was non existent. Practically everyone there golfs. when it is a nice day they just walk to the nearest golf course (there are like 6 in the city itself), and play, stick collection? you just need like 3 to begin and you can get the from charity shops for like £40. No one uses those eclectic golf carts they see them as abominations and ruins the sport (the whole point is to walk about 5 km, if you skip that then it is not a sport, they are allowed in some places for accessibility).
Disc golf can be really cheap so long as you just stick to the basics. Lots of free courses or courses that cost like $5 if they’re nice. Basically spent $50 once and then nothing past that. Found a some free discs too that didn’t have any owner identification on them :)
there has to be a list of hobbies one can try that cost practically nothing:
Solving Rubik cubes (a high quality speedcube is about 20$)
Crocheting/stitching (needles and yarn after cheap)
Writing (free)
programming
… (please expand if you have any ideas)
Not no-cost but cooking, gotta feed yourself anyway might as well have fun with it
Cooking is cost negative relative to eating out. You just need a decent kitchen and plenty of free time
D&D costs $90 for the hard cover core book set and $0 for the pirated pdfs.
Biking can have a high upfront cost, but I’ve been using the same bike for 20 years with tune-ups and replacements running in the low three figures over that time.
I’m a big fan of podcasts, particularly ones that cover old movies. Criterion collection films are everywhere, they’re dirt cheap, and they’re classics for a reason.
There are cheaper and better TTRPGs.
Not much is cheaper than free
All the other ones also have copies floating on the great seas, and some are just plain free
Sure. But those are the ones I’m most inclined to pay for.
Okay but you didn’t lead with free and as someone else pointed out that’s a moot point when you’re pirating.
SJ Games has GURPS Lite, a free version of their 4th edition. It’s very simplified, but easily playable.
Software development is free if you already have a computer
Drawing (we should stop pretending one need expensive material do draw nice things, pencils and erasers are the only requirement, and a good sketch book can be found for less than 15 bucks)
who even says that drawing is expensive? it’s so obviously cheap thing to do. we did it so much as children. if it was expensive no kids would be allowed to draw
I see some influencers bragging about why you’d need quality markers like posca to improve your drawing skills. My bros fell for it and beg me to buy some for them.
It’s like thoses ads telling you you need product to do thing better. Even if it’s quality, it doesn’t work this way.
I bought a $25 set of 8 for them. They used it 2 times then stopped because they couldn’t make what they wanted. They are now asking for a light tablet to “draw better”. They will have to buy it themselves if they really want it. I was fine with the window light when i was their age.
People somehow always find a way to make the simplest thing expensive with half-useless material.
Amen. You have to stay away from that toxic commercialisation. It messes with your brain and stalls your progress in any hobby.
I think one of the best things about arts, crafts, sports, music and the like is that it has a built in resistance to that kind of commercial takeover. Having good pens will not make you better at art, good shoes won’t make you better at soccer, a fancier gym won’t give you bigger muscles. These things come from hard work, perseverance, dedication. You can’t buy skill no matter goes much money you have, I love that.
I do like using nice tools though, although they are overkill for most hobbyist purposes.
I’d probably only buy quality tools if I could afford it, even if I wouldn’t need them necessarily.
That ain’t bragging that’s product placement. they ruin everything they touch.
Just look into anything that professional artists use. I have had the privilege of using my mom’s coloring pencils ever since I was around 5, and the full package (120 pencils) of those is almost 500€. I don’t use fancy drawing papers, but those are expensive as well.
every hobby can be as expensive as you want it to be. the cost ceiling is however much the richest person doing that hobby is willing to spend.
if 2 billionaires want to get into drawing as they are willing to spend a million for a box of fancy cryons, those products will appear in the market. even though they’ll be marginally better than those 500$ onces
but the question was about the cost of entry. and with drawing, the cost is negligible
Hiking? I mean, the world is just out there.
Other outside activities that need minimal equipment come to mind. You ever played discgolf? Or went running? Or geocaching?
But yeah, lots of activities aren’t expensive. Draw something. Paint something. Sing! Or do some sports! Yoga only requires a mat if you do it naked.
although the entry bar is theoretically non existent. practically? not really.
“needles/yarn after cheap”
That’s a lie. My wife is into knitting and crochet, I’ve seen $300 purchases for yarn only, for just one dress. Not to mention $50-100 needles or swifts or yarn caking tools
I got caught up on that too.
I don’t do anything with yarn, but will sometimes use fabric to make puppets and other toys with my kid.
Even buying the cheapest fabric from the lowest priced outlets (cheaper than even the random alphabet soup brands on amazon) in bulk, it adds up so fast when you’re actually creating things!
IMO piracy and self hosting has great cost benefits.
Sure it costs money to buy a mini computer and a hard drive, but after, you can spend a long time building that library and it won’t cost you a dime.
And the computer and hard drive is more like an asset, you don’t really lose money when you buy it.
And it kind of pays you back, eventually you get a little tired of building your library but then you can use said library and integrate it into your lifestyle while you get a new obsession.
also, there’s a high when you hoard data like a dragon
And what’s great about it is that it’s a positive sum game, you being a data dragon only ensures it’s easier for others (seeding and it becoming a trend).
Basic concepts like property or ownership make absolutely no sense in the digital world.
By letting people hoard files like a greedy dragon those files are infinitely more available to everyone, in a decentralized network that is free to use and is superior (in content, efficiency, speed, cost) to every for profit company that streams content.
but that smoking monkey was mine i tells ya mine
music, cooking, public librarying (that’s too complicated for one post)
Ceramics is stupidly cheap to get into. All the tools can be replaced with your hands and a needle, finding workable clay in nature is stupidly easy if you know what to look for and even the garbage clay can be made usable. Most ceramic shops let you rent a shelf on the kiln for like $5. Your first ceramic statue is literally 2 hours of research and $5 away no matter where you are in the world.
Workable clay may be hundreds of kilometers away, depending on where you live.
I mean, I’m in the Netherlands, i literally can’t avoid the stuff, but not everyone lives in a giant river delta.
like me. i live in two giant river deltas. we have clay for days here. one time, this punk kid brought a pit bull to the neighbors and it attacked my cat. this cat had beaten up a lot of dogs including a retired police german shepherd, so it just stared down the dog. then got shook around like a ragdoll while it removed much of the dog’s face.
worst punishment we could think of was making the kid dig the grave. after two inches you hit clay. we made him go four feet deep. never saw him with a dog again, so between us and his parents something stuck.
So I’m stretching the term “nature” here because when I was posting this I actually completely forgot about real natural clay by rivers. You can also get workable clay from any large amount of sand over dirt that’s gotten wet enough times. The water pulls silica out of the sand and into the earth over time, then you can wash it to get the extra crap out, decant off the water, dry the slip, and boom clay.
Some of the best clay I’ve used came from under an old school playground.
There are plenty of hobbies where you can happily enjoy it and only ever spend little if anything.
On the other hand, I’ve found it’s pretty uncommon to find a hobby where you can’t optionally fall down an expensive rabbit-hole of some kind, usually around any kind of equipment or tools you might need as part of some hobby.
Thankfully for most hobbies that kind of thing is not required to enjoy it. You don’t need a fancy guitar to enjoy playing; you can read books from the library, you don’t need to collect your own; in most big enough cities (in Europe at least) you don’t even need to own a bike to go for a cycle (though regularly using bike rental schemes might be a sign to try and get a bike, doesn’t need to be fancy)
all hobbies have a cost floor for entry and a cost ceiling. one is the actual cost, and the other one is a made up number based on the richest person who does that hobby.
Entirely seriously, learn how to make a game in Godot.
Its literally completely free, only costs you time, and assumes you have at least some kind of existing computer, doesn’t need to be a monster rig.
Alternatively: Find a video game you like.
Make mods for it.
Here’s another one that’s basically free:
Becoming/Staying fit, gaining strength and agility.
Make ‘weights’ out of milk jugs with water in them.
Maybe get a resistance band or two, they’re not that pricey.
You can absolutely do a ton of stretches, calisthenics, and light to modetate muscle group workouts with basically just random shit lying around a typical home or apartment.
You can find basic guides for these excercises often just freely available from reputable medical organizations.
You can literally just go on a 20 minute walk, 3 times a week, and be in better physical shape than something like half of the US adult population.
Back to computer shit:
Blender is free.
Learn 3D modelling, rigging, UV wrapping, how texturing works, how to make animations, etc.
Same with Krita.
Become artist. Draw stuff good.
You can find probably literally millions of free tutorials for how to do basic and intermediate level concepts.
Whsitling/Singing/Voice Acting.
These are developable skills much more so than they are just… things you either can or cannot do, for some reason.
You can teach yourself how to do these, again to a basic or intermediate level, for pretty much free.
Same thing with at least some kinds of dancing.
If you’re feeling more EXTREME: Parkour and/or Urbex.
Lockpicking.
Go find the Lockpicking Lawyer on youtube.
Pretty sure he can recommend you a not too pricey basic starter kit for learning the basics.
… I could go on, but my hands are tired from what I’m going to call ‘autism posting’, one of my totally free, personal hobbies that I often indulge in.
Papercraft is pretty cool. If you have some thick card stock paper, a printer, a knife, and some glue, you can find 3D designs online for almost anything. I made an IL2 Sturmovik.
Cooking is basically better than free.
Yes, ingredients and equipment cost money, but the end result averages out to be cheaper than if you didn’t know how to cook. And even if you take on more expensive ingredients or tools, you’re probably offsetting even more expensive restaurant meals that you would’ve eaten.
Any art or craft or sport is pretty much free when you weigh up the hours vs the outlay required.
Except skiing and motorsports. That eats money.
or boating, or equestrianism, or space travel.
Skiing can be cheap if you just happen to be local to where you want to go. Used equipment can be cheap and last a long while and season tickets can be a good bargain on a per day basis at that point. I used to do that when I lived basically on a ski mountain.
But then you catch the bug and then you have to plan out $2000+ trips just to be able to do that once after you move away.
Reading (libraries)
Birdwatching. You can buy a book and binoculars if you like. The app Merlin is somewhat free to ID Birdwatching calls. Birdseed can get expensive or just plant sunflowers.
Wildflower identification. Best in early spring, Phone apps make this a little too easy. Seed collecting and propagation is my next goal. I also pull up invasive plants, mostly garlic mustard.
Gardening. Seeds are cheap but if want to start indoors you’ll need a light and possibly a heat mat. Start outdoors in a makeshift “greenhouse” using a clear plastic jug. Starter plants are cheap
Well, strangling animals, golf and masturbating.
Golf??
I lived in Aberdeen, Scotland, the birthplace of golf, the barrier to entry was non existent. Practically everyone there golfs. when it is a nice day they just walk to the nearest golf course (there are like 6 in the city itself), and play, stick collection? you just need like 3 to begin and you can get the from charity shops for like £40. No one uses those eclectic golf carts they see them as abominations and ruins the sport (the whole point is to walk about 5 km, if you skip that then it is not a sport, they are allowed in some places for accessibility).
In the rest of the world? rich people sport
all of those are non like the others
Choking the chicken? It’s two hobbies in one
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Disc golf can be really cheap so long as you just stick to the basics. Lots of free courses or courses that cost like $5 if they’re nice. Basically spent $50 once and then nothing past that. Found a some free discs too that didn’t have any owner identification on them :)
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