How to Find a Hobby

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 Introduction

In your quest for a balanced life, have you neglected your

hobbies? As children, we are experts at finding hobbies. We
play sports, take dance and music lessons, collect action
figures and spend our days learning everything from
languages to wood shop. But somewhere on the path to
adulthood, we stop trying new things and spend less time on
our non-career interests. It’s not too late. Use this guide to get
inspired, spark your interests and follow your passion toward
a new hobby.
Clearly, hobbies can make a serious impact on your quality of
life. But they can also improve your work performance.
According to licensed professional counselor Rebecca Weiler,
when you’re engaged and fulfilled in your life outside of work
(like you are when you’re pursuing meaningful hobbies), that
happiness spills over. It can make you more focused and
enthusiastic when you’re on the job.

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 Table of Content

Hobbies are Good For you………………………..4

How to Make Time for a Hobby………………….7

Choosing the Right Hobby……………………….13

Organizing your Hobby…………………………..20

10 Fun, Quarantine-Friendly Hobbies to Try Right

Now………………………………………………...23

List of Hobbies for Everyone…………………….20

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 Hobbies are Good For You

Let’s start with some science. A large body of research suggests

that how you spend leisure time matters to your health, and that
your hobbies are good for you in many ways.
In 2010, a team of researchers from universities in Kansas,
Pittsburgh and Texas published the results of four large studies
with a total of 1,399 participants, including men and women
with various health problems, such as upper respiratory illness,
arthritis and breast cancer. The researchers developed a scale
called the Pittsburgh Enjoyable Activities Test to measure the
effect of hobbies and leisure pursuits on overall health. Here’s
what they found:

Better physical health

 People who scored higher on the enjoyable activities test had
lower body mass index, smaller waists, lower blood pressure,
lower stress  hormones and better overall physical function.
While it’s possible that people who start out healthy are more
likely to engage in hobbies, the findings are consistent with
other research showing that having hobbies and other leisure
pursuits is associated with a variety of benefits, including less
severe disease and greater longevity.

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More sleep
 While you may think that a hobby will take up too much of
your leisure time or cut into your sleep, the Pittsburgh study
showed that people who spent more time on their hobbies
actually got better sleep.

Lower stress
 A large body of research shows that leisure activities can help
reduce stress. The Pittsburgh study showed that people who
took part in a lot of enjoyable activities dealt better with
stressful life events. People who scored high on the enjoyable
activities test showed lower levels of negative moods and
depression, and higher positive attitudes than their low-scoring
counterparts. 

Happiness
 People who said they participated often in enjoyable activities
also had greater life satisfaction and felt their lives had a greater
sense of purpose and meaning.

More friends
 Notably, spending more time on hobbies and leisure pursuits
was associated with having a larger and more diverse social
network. And we know that a strong social network is a key
factor in healthy aging.
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And there’s one additional benefit to having a hobby that may
surprise you.

Improved work performance

 A study at San Francisco State University found that
employees who had creative outlets outside of the office were
better at creative problem-solving on the job. The findings were
based on studies of 430 workers and military personnel that
found that having a hobby gave workers a chance to recover
from the demands of their jobs, increased their sense of control
and in some cases challenged them to learn new skills that were
transferable to work. 
A word to the wise: Don’t pick a hobby because it will help you
at work. Pick a hobby that makes you happy, and any
improvement in your work will just be a bonus!

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 How To Make Time for a Hobby

Most of us have been taught that when it comes to time,

productivity is what matters most. As a result, we’ve structured
our lives around work rather than play. But with a little thought,
you should be able to find more time in your schedule to do the
things you love. 

Most of us have free time, we just don’t spend it

wisely
The American Time Use Survey measures the amount of time
people spend doing various activities, such as paid work, child
care, volunteering and socializing. This chart shows how much
time full-time employed people spend on various activities
during the work week.
Average Hours Per Work Day on Various Activities (Among
people who work full time)
 Household chores*: 0.96 hours
 Eating and drinking: 1.11 hours
 Leisure and sports**: 3.04 hours
 Sleeping and personal care: 8.64 hours
 Caregiving (for both children and parents): 0.53 hours
 Shopping: 0.43 hours
 Working: 8.80 hours

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*It’s worth noting that the 0.96 hours (58 minutes) spent on
household chores is an average. Men spend 49 minutes a day on
chores, compared to 80 minutes for women. 

**Leisure and sports is another category with a gender

difference. Men spend 3.5 hours on leisure and sports, while
women spend 2.3 hours.

But those are averages! That’s not me. I’m really

busy!
Yes, I believe you! But looking at your time a little differently
may help you find that free time you crave.
Think in Weeks, Not Days
Laura Vanderkam, a writer and speaker on work-life balance,
recommends thinking of time in weeks rather than days to learn
where some extra time might be hiding in your schedule. A
week “is really the cycle of life as people actually live it,” she
said. Each week is made up of 168 hours. If you work 40 hours
and sleep eight hours each night, that still leaves 72 hours.
“Maybe you can carve out a few hours of really fun, cool stuff
per week. That will make the other 165 hours that are in a week
feel a lot more doable,” she explained.
To do that, Ms. Vanderkam recommends tracking a week of
your life. You  can write down everything you do in half-hour
blocks or use these apps recommended by Wirecutter, the New
York Times company that reviews products. 

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Or you can try this simple calculator to take a look at how you
are spending your time. It was created by Erik Rood, a Bay
Area analyst and founder of a data science service called Data
Interview Qs.
Being a data guy, Mr. Rood was using spreadsheets every few
months to evaluate how he was spending his time. After talking
with friends and co-workers who were also thinking about how
they spent their time, he created a simple tool to track hours
spent on various activities, including sleeping, working,
commuting, gym, chores, grooming and parenting. He has
shared the tool on various forums and with friends. Most
people, he says, are fascinated. But after playing with the tool,
he says, they sometimes get a bit frustrated about the results,
because they don’t think they have as much free time as it
suggests.

Try it: Calculate Your Free Time 

Whatever your results, the calculator typically will show that
there is some free time in your day, and that if you adjust a few
factors, more free time can be found. “There's a ton of 'busy'
time, no matter how most people cut it,” says Mr. Rood. “But
small changes can have huge impacts on overall free time when
extrapolated out through one's life.”

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Are You Mindful of Your Downtime?
One of the reasons our calculations of free time don’t match our
reality is that we can lose time doing mindless things like
checking email and social media, and clicking around the
internet. And sometimes, we just do nothing. 
In the book “What the Most Successful People Do Before
Breakfast,” Ms. Vanderkam says one problem is that people
often are not mindful about how they are spending free time.
Sometimes we come home and “crash” and do nothing after a
busy day or week, but Ms. Vanderkam says that’s a mistake.
But we shouldn’t spend all of our “free time” catching up on
work either.
"Other kinds of work — be it exercise, a creative hobby, hands-
on parenting or volunteering — will do more to preserve your
zest for Monday's challenges than complete vegetation or
working through the weekend," she writes.
And Don’t Let Screens Become Your Hobby
We all know the internet, social media and emails can be a big
time-suck. And at the end of a busy week, crashing in front of
the television or the laptop might feel like relaxation, but often
it’s not. The Journal of Sleep Medicine recently reported that
binge watchers get poorer sleep. And screens can be
physiologically and psychologically stimulating, whether it’s
action sequences on the television or the artificial blue
light emitted by our devices. Another negative of screen time: It
tends to be a solo pursuit that keeps us from engaging with our
loved ones.

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Finding time for hobbies in your day means being more
thoughtful about how you spend the time you have. When you
do have downtime, do you crash and do nothing? Or do you use
that time for things you love?
Free Time vs. Too Much Free Time
Here’s some good news. The fact that you don’t have much free
time to devote to a hobby is O.K. A recent study found that
having too much idle time makes us just as unhappy as not
having enough free time. The research, based on two large
datasets of 35,375 Americans, examined the relationship
between our overall life happiness and the amount of
discretionary time we have (defined as awake hours spent doing
whatever we want to do). For people who have jobs, the sweet
spot of discretionary time is 2.5 hours a day. For people who are
retired or not working, the right amount of free time for peak
happiness is 4.75 hours a day.
Schedule Your Free Time (But Don’t Overschedule
It)
In her book on successful people, Ms. Vanderkam found that
the people she profiled all planned their weekends in advance.
They didn’t schedule every minute, but they did schedule
“anchor events.” One key to making time for a hobby is to
schedule time during your week and weekends for it, the same
way you would schedule work appointments or social
engagements. 
Now a caveat: While it’s important to make time for your
hobbies, you don’t want to be too rigid in how you schedule
them. Research suggests that too much scheduling of leisure
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time makes it feel more like work and less like fun. In a series
of studies reported by Ohio State University, researchers found
that when people scheduled specific times and dates for fun
activities (like a movie or a coffee break), they enjoyed them
less. That doesn’t mean you can’t plan. The same research
showed that “rough” scheduling of a leisure activity didn’t steal
the pleasure from it. For instance, students who were given a
specific time for a coffee and cookie break during finals
enjoyed it less than students who were given a two-hour
window to stop by and enjoy free coffee and cookies.

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 Choosing the Right Hobby
What exactly is a hobby? That may seem
obvious, but the lines between hobbies,
outside interests and career pursuits
can get blurred.

Hobbies vs. Interests

When you are thinking about choosing a hobby, it’s important
that you don’t confuse having an “interest” with having a
“hobby.”

Interests: Interests typically are the desire to learn about

something. An interest can spawn from natural curiosity,
professional goals or family experiences. For instance, you may
have an interest in learning more about hockey or volleyball
because your children are involved in those sports. Or you may
love reading books on behavior to help you achieve career
goals. But unlike hobbies, an interest requires only intellectual
action (to learn about something) and doesn’t require physical
action. 

Hobby: A hobby is usually defined as any enjoyable leisure

activity that we engage in voluntarily and consistently when we
are free from the demands of work or other responsibilities. A

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hobby may be inspired by an interest, but it typically requires
more commitment and involves taking action, like learning a
new skill, or collecting, building or creating something. Hobbies
are essentially the active pursuit of a personal interest.
Finding Inspiration to Pick Your Hobby
How do you decide on a hobby? Here are some ways to figure
out what hobby is best suited to you.

What is that thing you’ve always wanted to do?

 Finding a hobby can mean taking the first step to actively
pursue that thing you’ve always thought about doing. Have you
ever started a sentence with the words “I’ve always wanted
to...”? A friend of mine had always been intrigued by power
tools, so at the age of 52 she finally walked into the local senior
center’s wood shop. (She was carded to make sure she was over
50.) There she found a retired carpenter who was willing to
teach her about wood shop safety and mentor her on some
projects. She has built a chair, a bench, a stool and beautiful
boxes and given them away to friends.

Look at your childhood

 One of the first places to look for inspiration in the search for a
hobby is to explore the hobbies of your childhood. Think about
what pursuits made you happy as a child. Did you take lessons
in dance, music, ice skating or art? Did you play a sport? Did
you love to draw, paint, take part in theater or write poems? All
of these childhood pursuits can be turned into adult hobbies.

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How do you like to spend your time?
 Conduct your own personal time-use survey to take a closer
look at your interests. Do you spend a lot of time reading
books? Cooking? Spending time outdoors? Shopping for
clothes? Watching old movies? Playing with your dog? All of
these activities hold clues for potential hobbies.

Go on a quest for inspiration

Sometimes it takes a few extra steps (literally) to discover a
potential hobby. Just walking around a craft store amid the
chalk, paints, scrapbooks and bric-a-brac might remind you of
an old passion or a fun craft you always wanted to try.
Sometimes just enjoying new experiences can spark interest in a
hobby. Visiting an art gallery or museum might remind you that
you always wanted to paint or learn how to throw ceramics.
Going to a concert might spark your interest in learning the
cello. 

Take a class or a lesson

 If something piqued your interest in the past, look for a class to
learn more about it. A cooking class, a computer-design class, a
painting outing with friends, a make-your-own ceramics store, a
belly-dancing class — they can help you learn where your
passions reside.
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Consider Everyday Activities as Potential Hobbies
Sometimes we take part in activities every day that could
become hobbies with a small change in awareness and attitude.
The key is to take a favorite passive interest, or an activity that
is required of us (but that we like to do anyway), and find a way
to turn it into an active hobby. Consider these options.

Cooking
 If you spend a lot of time cooking for your family, perhaps you
should reframe your interest in cooking and food as a hobby.
Consider devoting some free time to the fun parts of cooking.
Perhaps you love collecting dishes or unusual cooking gadgets.
Take some cooking classes. Have you always loved to bake?
Consider a cake-decorating course. Looking for volunteer
work? How about taking your cooking talent to a soup kitchen
or other organization that feeds people in need? Some parents
have even turned the drudgery of making school lunch into a
fun Instagram competition.

The Family Pet

 We spend a lot of time with our pets, so why not turn to them
for hobby inspiration? Train your dog as a therapy dog and
spend your free time taking the dog to visit people in hospitals.
Or take obedience classes and discover the world of dog agility
training and competition.

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Home Decoration
 Do you spend a lot of time thinking about your home? Turn
your passion for home furnishing into a hobby. Offer to help
friends decorate their homes, or go room by room in your own
home and think about the projects you’d love to complete.

Reading
 If you love reading, words and story telling, there are a number
of hobbies that could build on that passion. You might decide to
collect rare books or make it a point to explore independent
bookstores. You can take a writing course, attend story slam
events or start a blog. 

Shuttling Your Kids to Activities

 Sometimes our children’s interests can lead us to our own adult
hobbies. I was spending so much time taking my daughter to
and from volleyball practice that I offered to volunteer for her
club. I helped create a new website, came up with fun ideas for
programs and even designed T-shirts for events. If you’re
spending a lot of time supporting your child’s extracurricular
interests, think about ways you might use that time to create a
hobby for yourself.

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Organization
 If a big part of your life is keeping your family organized,
consider turning that skill into a hobby. People find a lot of
pleasure in creating scrapbooks, tracking family history, taking
photos and creating video memories of family events.

Can Exercise Be a Hobby?

Yes! One of the best (and healthiest) ways to start a hobby is to
focus on exercise. One  way to make exercise feel more like a
hobby is to actively set goals and attend events related to it. 

Running
 Running is a great hobby, and many runners join running
groups and attend road races, where they interact with a
community of runners, collect medals and race T-shirts, and
discover fun alternate races like mud runs, color runs and
destination races in far-flung places. 

Yoga
Yoga is a great hobby for many people. Not only do they
regularly attend yoga classes, but they also have a passion for
yoga clothes and gear, and enjoy attending yoga retreats and
learning about group yoga events. Many yoga studios take part
in social activism, which is another avenue to pursue as a
hobby.
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Strength training
 Working out and toning your body is a big commitment and
certainly counts as a hobby. Some people turn their interest in
weight lifting into other pursuits, like obstacle course contests
and weight and fitness competitions. One middle-aged mother
of two I know spent so much time in the gym she decided to
take part in a body-building contest for women.

Meditation
 Meditation is exercise for the mind, and an active pursuit of it
can turn into a relaxing and fulfilling hobby. Learn to meditate
using an app to start, or read our meditation guides. Sign up for
some classes and learn about meditation groups and retreats. A
whole world of books, experts and meditation experiences will
open up to you.

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 Organizing Your Hobby
Hobbies by definition tend to involve “stuff” — like supplies,
special clothes or gear and equipment. And then there is also the
stuff you accumulate as a result of doing the hobby — quilts,
paintings, ceramic pots, race medals, T-shirts, scrapbooks.
Having a plan to organize your hobby is an essential part of
sticking to it. You won’t enjoy it or take part in it if you can’t
find the stuff you need to do it. Here are some tips.

Create a dedicated hobby space

 If you’re lucky enough to have an extra room, spend some time
creating a hobby room. (Just Google hobby room and you’ll be
amazed by all the options.) If space is at a premium in your
home, then try to find a closet, cabinet, trunk, shelf, desk or
drawer that you can devote exclusively to your hobby. 

Contain your hobby

 Once you’ve declared a room, shelf or cabinet for your hobby,
keep it organized. Spend some time in hobby shops or
organization stores and invest in baskets, jars, easels, plastic
bins or whatever you need to stay organized. Containers keep
your hobby from spreading around the house. Many hobbyists
love a good label maker to keep track of their supplies. If you
need inspiration, there are numerous websites, YouTube videos
and Pinterest pages devoted to hobby organization, particularly
hobbies that involve crafts and creating things.

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Make it easy to reach
 If exercise is your thing, keep a basket or athletic bag near the
door with shoes, a yoga mat, workout clothes, a lock, hair ties
or whatever you need to do the workout. Dr. Pam Peake, a
fitness and health advocate, once told me about the importance
of keeping an organized home to support fitness goals. “You
won’t leave the house to exercise if you can’t find your shoes,”
she said. 

Don’t get sentimental about your creations

 After I signed up for a ceramics class, I was pretty excited
when I made my first pot. But looking at it, I realized that it was
going to be the first of many pots. And while it was a good start
to my hobby, it wasn’t a particularly good pot. I decided to take
a picture to share on social media, and then I tossed the unfired
pot back in the clay barrel to be recycled. I never missed it. If
you decide to pursue a creative hobby, have a plan for what to
do with your many creations. Keep all of them in your
memories by documenting each creation with a photo. Then
pick the best projects to keep or give away to friends, and
recycle the rest.

Be selective
 If your hobby involves collecting things, make sure each item
has meaning and value to you. When my mother passed away, I
inherited her expansive vase collection. It became more of a
burden than a pleasure. I decided to set aside the vases that
really meant something to me or my mom, and I gave away the
smaller, less meaningful items. I enjoy the collection much
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more than before because every item in it is special. When it
doubt, channel your inner Marie Kondo. Ask yourself, “Does
this item spark joy?” If the answer is “no,” donate or recycle it
as best you can. 

Cull your supplies

 Arts and crafts supplies can really pile up as we discover fun
new items to support our hobbies. Every few months, check
your supplies and notice the items that you rarely use, and get
rid of them. Here’s a tip: Find a local art teacher and donate
unneeded craft supplies to him or her. Art teachers rarely have a
budget for supplies, and they are incredibly grateful for extras,
even a half-used jar of glitter or a mishmash of scrapbook
paper.

Pick a minimalist hobby

 If space is an issue, pick a hobby that doesn’t require extra
space. Running, language lessons, book readings and theater are
some examples of minimalist hobbies. Or just keep your hobby
out of the house. Often, art classes allow you to store your
supplies and creations in the classroom, and athletic facilities
will let you store your gear. 

Limit your hobbies

 It’s better to just have one hobby, or two at the most, rather
than take on multiple hobbies. Hobbies, by definition, are that
special thing you do for yourself just for fun. While you may
want to try several new things early on, winnow them down to
just one or two you can pursue with passion.

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 10 Fun, Quarantine-Friendly
Hobbies to Try Right Now
1. Knit or crochet
If you have some yarn on hand, let YouTube videos (or a family
member who already knows how) teach you to knit or crochet.
2. Try watercolor painting
If you have an old set of watercolors hiding in a craft bin or
storage box somewhere in your house, it's time to break it out.
The process of painting can be very soothing, even if the
finished result isn't a masterpiece.
To turn painting into a social event, host a "paint and sip" night,
either with your immediate family or roommates, or with friends
near and far over Zoom or Google Hangouts.

3. Pick up calligraphy or hand-lettering

Whether you already own a calligraphy pen, or just some felt-tip
pens or gel pens, you can still try your hand at calligraphy or
hand-lettering. YouTube has tons of hand-lettering tutorials to
choose from, no matter if you're using a brush marker or some
colored pencils borrowed from your kids.

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4. Practice yoga
Unroll that yoga mat that's been collecting dust in the corner of
your room. Because yoga combines mindful movement with
breathwork and meditation, it's the ultimate de-stressing hobby.
If you're a beginner, start out slow and don't overdo it. Check
out the popular YouTube channel Yoga with Adriene, and try
yoga for complete beginners or yoga for anxiety. And if you
don't have the most ergonomic work-from-home setup, you'll be
thankful for the yoga for back pain video.
5. Learn a new dance
Trying to convince your family (and yourself) to get up off the
couch? Put on some music for motivation. Join all of TikTok in
attempting the Renegade dance, or brush up on the cha-cha,
tango, or waltz. You'll be ready to hit the dance floor once all of
those postponed weddings are rescheduled.
6. Start a garden
Whether you have an entire backyard to dedicate to a vegetable
garden, or a small windowsill to cultivate an herb garden,
digging in dirt and growing something can be very therapeutic.
7. Learn a magic trick or two
As long as you have a pack of cards or a quarter (bonus points
for a scarf or a flock of doves), you can learn some simple magic
tricks. Follow along with video tutorials on YouTube, or there's
even a MasterClass you can take on the art of magic. 

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8. Build your own sourdough starter
On my last venture out to the grocery store, I was disappointed
to see that dry active yeast was completely out of stock. I
thought my bread-making plans were foiled, until I realized you
can make your own sourdough starter using just flour and water.
The process takes about a week, but hey, we have the time,
right? Follow the directions online at King Arthur Flour.
Sourdough starter is a fun science experiment as much as it is a
baking challenge, so if you have kids at home, it's a great project
to get them involved with.
9. Make a family scrapbook
If you're spending quarantine going through old family
photos anyway, why not turn them into a family scrapbook,
complete with detailed captions and decorative borders? You'll
be glad you did when you get to look back on your creation
years from now.
10. Embroider something
Grab an old T-shirt or tablecloth and give it a hand-embroidered
upgrade. If you have embroidery floss and a needle, you have
everything you'll need for this project. Start by learning the
basics—running stitch, satin stitch, and French knot—then
repeat those stitches again and again to create your work of art.

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 List of Hobbies For Everyone
Hobbies That Sharpen the Mind
Some hobbies are better than others at making you problem-
solve and think through tough scenarios. This can be especially
important as you age. Here are some pastimes that can help to
keep your brain in shape:

 Play jigsaw puzzles, crossword puzzles, and brain teasers

 Play card games: solitaire, canasta, gin rummy, bridge
 Learn to draw or paint
 Play chess
 Learn how to play an instrument
 Master a new language
 Participate in trivia contests

Hobbies for Kids and Families

Here are some great ideas for families. These activities are all
kid-friendly!

 Model trains, airplanes, and automobiles

 Scenic travel by train
 Remote-controlled toys for all ages
 Building with Legos
 Magic tricks
 Kite-flying
 Zoos
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 Cruising the seas
 Puppetry
 Juggling
 Collecting (see section below)

Hobbies for Physically Active Adventure-Seekers

These are for people who love to get the blood pumping and
their heart rate up. Here are some great activities for the
physically active:

 Fishing
 Noodling
 Biking
 Boating
 Scuba diving and snorkeling
 Hot air ballooning, flying, and gliding
 Baseball or softball
 Volleyball
 Walking
 Hiking
 Running marathons
 Mountain climbing
 Camping
 RVing
 Spelunking (caving)
 Tennis
 Golf
 Horseback riding
 Skiing or snowboarding
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 Dancing
 Swimming
 Football
 Riding roller coasters
 Traveling
 Soccer
 Bungee jumping
 Basketball
 Doing triathlons
 Geo-caching
 Surfing and windsurfing

Hobbies for Science and Nature-Lovers

Did you enjoy science in school? Do you like to explore and
observe? If so, here are some hobby options for you:

 Learn about astronomy

 Build model rockets
 Discover microscopy
 Go bird watching
 Start an aquarium

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 Hobbies for the History Buff
Do you enjoy history and learning about our past? If so, here are
some options for you:

 Study the Titanic

 Collect Americana memorabilia
 Become a Civil War buff
 Have battle reenactments
 Visit museums
 Attend Renaissance fairs
 Research and create a family tree

Hobbies for Men

Although titled "Hobbies for Men," these are hobbies that all
can enjoy. Perfect for a man-cave, game room, and activities to
do with friends.

 Poker
 Pool
 Darts
 Ping-pong
 Woodworking
 Sports coaching, officiating, reporting, and refereeing
 Fantasy sports
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 Gadgets and gizmos
 Home brewing
 Hunting
 Taxidermy

Hobbies That Can Earn Money

Everyone could use a little extra dough. Some activities have the
potential to help you earn some extra money on the side. Here
are some options:

 Freelance writing and blogging

 Crafting (to sell online or at fairs)
 Cake decorating
 Garage sales and auctions (find bargains and antiques for resale)
 Freelance photography (weddings, babies, events)
 Carpentry
 Graphic design

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 Hobbies for the Collector
Collecting things can be a lifelong passion that can help to
stimulate memories and remember and preserve the past. People
who collect often pay strong attention to detail and have an urge
for completeness. Here are some good ideas of things to collect:

 Beer cans
 Books
 Coins
 Pins
 Toys (unique or vintage)
 Cars (for larger budgets)
 Art
 Spoons
 Sports cards and memorabilia
 Autographs
 Antiques
 Rocks and gems

Hobbies for the Homebody, Crafter, Artist, and Nester

Are you expecting or have you recently had children? Do you
love crafting and art? Are you unable to leave the house for any
reason? Do you just enjoy being at home? Whatever your
reason, here are some great hobby ideas for the homebody and
nester:
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 Home projects
 Jewelry-making
 Baking
 Painting
 Pottery
 Drawing
 Candle-making
 Reading
 Soap-making
 Cross stitch
 Journaling
 Digital art
 Cooking
 Cooking contests
 Making gingerbread houses
 Doll-making
 Building a dollhouse
 Scrap-booking
 Knitting
 Sewing
 Crocheting
 Quilting
 Gardening
 Movie watching and critiquing
 Feng shui
 Interior design
 Writing (short stories, poems, novels)
 Needlepoint

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 Hobbies for the Social
Are you a people-person? Do you enjoy meeting new people?
Do you like activities that involve others? If you answered "yes"
to any of the above, here are some ideas for you:

 Wine tasting
 Flea markets
 Board games and trivia
 Bingo
 Bowling
 Team and club sports
 Book club
 Acting/improv/theatre
 Frisbee golf

Hobbies for the Music Lover

Music is a fundamental part of life. Here are some great options
for music lover and the musically talented:

 Playing an instrument: guitar, piano, drums, clarinet, harmonica

 Singing and choir
 Going to concerts
 Music history or theory studies
 Produce music
 Band promotion
 Teaching music
 Music collecting (records, 8-tracks, 45s)

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 Hobbies for Stress Relief
We could all use a little less stress and a little more fun! Here
are some hobbies for stress relief:

 Yoga
 Meditation
 Weight lifting

Seasonal Hobbies
Some activities can only be done at certain times of the year.
Here are some that are good for various seasons:

Spring

 Home and garden shows

 Springtime floral shows
 Gardening

Summer

 Sailing
 Going to the beach

Fall

 Haunted houses and hotels

 Ghost towns
 Autumn bike tours

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 Seeing the fall foliage
 Apple picking
 Grape harvest
 Pumpkin patch

Winter

 Christmas holiday lights

 Holiday home tours
 Ice skating or snow sports

Inexpensive Hobbies for All

Spend time, not money! Here are some activities you can do,
even if you don't feel like spending a lot of cash. These are the
things that give you the most "bang for your buck."

 Reading (especially through your local library).

 Writing and drawing (all you need is pen and paper).
 Meditation.
 Attend free community events: Subscribe to community
websites to keep track of all the free events scheduled near you.
 Learn a language, learn to cook, or learn to dance (there are so
many free lessons and resources on the Internet).
 Anything online: play online games, watch documentaries, or
join an online group.
 DIY beauty: By watching clips on YouTube, you can learn to do
everything from cutting your own hair to sewing your own
clothes. These are hobbies and money-savers rolled into one.

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 Take up an inexpensive sport: running, swimming, hiking,
frisbee, basketball... (require almost nothing but the clothes
you're wearing and a decent pair of shoes).
 Plan walking tours of nearby areas: Get exercise while you learn
about the place where you live. You can even expand your local
knowledge by taking out books of local history or local flora and
fauna from the library and learning to identify the historical sites
and plants, birds, and creatures you find along the way. Bring
your digital camera to make it a photo safari.
 Thrift shopping, coupon-cutting, or going to garage sales: Fun
ways to spend time and save money!

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 Hobbies That Help Others: Save the World in Your
Spare Time
Maybe the best way to spend your time is to spend it helping
other people. If you want your time to make a difference,
consider the following options.

 Volunteer: Find a local community that needs help. Maybe the

folks at the retirement home would like a visit. A local animal
rescue center may need spare hands and the homeless shelter
may need help serving food to the homeless.
 Be a mentor: You may have a skill that could make a difference
in someone else's life. Many children need role models and
adults need tutoring, skill-building, or advice.
 Be an activist: Instead of complaining about the way things are,
do something. Invest your free time in the future by lobbying the
politicians for change, working to educate people about
situations, or collecting signatures or donations for a cause you
believe in.
 Work to save the environment: Organize a neighborhood clean-
up, become a community watchdog for environmental hazards,
or volunteer at an environmental organization you believe in.
 Get active in your community: Attend city council meetings and
let your voice be heard.

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