It’s been a while since I checked in on my saving money goals/ series. I’ve been putting a lot of thought into where my money is going and what are unnecessary expenses that I can easily cut out. Something that can end up costing a lot is our hobbies. We need supplies, memberships, books, anything that could make our hobbies more enjoyable for us. It’s something that’s easy to overspend and easy to feel guiltless about spending because these are things we use and enjoy. If you think about most hobbies, there are ways to bring down the cost even a little bit. I’m going to use a few of my hobbies as examples but use these to help you brainstorm ways to make your hobbies more affordable!
Reading is one hobby that can so easy cost a lot with buying new books in bulk or just as often as you finish one up. The classic way to save here is “borrow from the library” but I’m not the type of person that always finishes a book in 2 weeks (or even 1 like some libraries do). I prefer the comfort of buying a book and having it show up at my house ready to read. The easiest way to bring down your cost of reading is to buy used books on Amazon! The “good”, “very good” and “like new” conditions on Amazon can bring down the cost significantly on books and usually just come with minimal wear like that bend in the pages that happens when reading paperbacks with very good and like new conditions. I found this when I had to buy a lot of books for literature classes and it helped minimize the expense so much! This is also an eco-friendly way to read paper books, by buying used books you aren’t getting a fresh book of new paper. Another insanely inexpensive way of getting new books is to trade books you won’t read again (but enjoyed) with friends that also love reading!
Beauty blogging is clearly one of my hobbies and can get to be so so expensive if we keep up with every new release and give in to all the recommendations from other bloggers that seem so so good. An amazing way that beauty bloggers can differentiate their content from many others and keep the expense down is to blog about Project Pans, empties, drugstore products, shopping your stash, rediscovering old favorites, and ways you’re using old products in new ways. Blog about making the most of a small beauty collection (capsule beauty wardrobe?), drugstore beauty, and using what you have! In a world of excessive consumerism, I find these blog topics much more appealing and interesting than a new product review every single day.
Exercise is something I’ve been putting a lot more effort into lately and I’m finding ways to make it convenient, effective, and free. There are tons of apps that offer all the tools and structure you need to do at home workouts (8Fit is my favorite) and running and biking outdoors is completely free. If a gym membership is important to you, try to share it with a friend or family member that can cut down on the monthly cost.
These are just 3 categories of hobbies that can get expensive quickly but I hope it sparked some ideas in your mind of more ways you can save money and still do what you love!