8 Inexpensive Hobbies That Also Teach A Skill

With the busy lives of women today, it can be hard to find hobbies that are fun and relaxing, but also enriching. 

With the tendency to run toward cell phone apps and video games in order to wind down, some of us overlook the relaxation found in simply using and building our creative skills.

So without further ado, here are 8 hobbies you can take up that also promote creativity and teach a useful skill.

1. Hand Embroidery

This is a skill that women have used to fill their time for centuries. It can be quite relaxing, weaving the needle in and out, pulling the thread. It's compact and can be taken with you in your bag to work on it while waiting for appointments or riding the subway. It fosters patience and that patience is rewarded with a beautiful finished product at the end.  There are many ways to use embroidery to jazz up clothes and household items.

It can be quite inexpensive to take up, with starter kits on Amazon as cheap as ten or fifteen dollars. Thread and needles are also very economical. Because it's so inexpensive, this is a skill you can easily teach to children, as long as you trust them with a needle.

2. Tablet Weaving

This is an old skill, as proven by archaeological finds from the 6th century, that can create beautiful trims, belts, and straps. It's a form of weaving that doesn't require bulky and expensive looms but instead uses cards. There are many books available to teach you different patterns and weaves. You can get weaving cards online for less than 20 bucks. Just add thread and a shuttle and off you go.

3. Sketching

Drawing and sketching can be a good way to put down images from your head or to record what you see in the world around you. It's an easy hobby to get your children to do by simply fostering their natural drawing abilities when they are young. This is a hobby that you can do almost anywhere, as long as you have paper and pencil to slip into your bag.

Sketchbooks and pencils can be pricey if you go for high-end, but starting out you can get perfectly good sketchbooks for between five and ten dollars, with artist drawing kits running between $15 and $20 respectively

4. Herb Gardening

A hobby that can practically be done anywhere you have space to set a pot and water to water it with, herb gardening is as easy to take up as it is convenient. Its a great hobby for the culinary-minded individual. Fresh herbs can be a delicious addition to teas, sauce recipes, or roasts, and can be a lovely green addition to an otherwise bland windowsill. Many herbs can be grown in pots or in a small patch of ground in your backyard. 

Packets of seeds can be gotten from almost anywhere there is a garden aisle for a couple of bucks. I've even seen them in roadside convenience stores. Organic and heirloom seeds can cost a little more, but are readily available in most garden centers or online along with soil and gardening tools.

5. Learning to Sing

In the times before the invention of recorded music, many people were skilled in singing and playing musical instruments and family parlors acted as concert venues. Musical skill is sometimes portrayed as something you have to be born with, but that simply isn't true. Learning to sing can be a fun and rewarding hobby and is much cheaper to take up than an instrument. The average beginners electric guitar can cost around 100$, not including the cost of accessories. Singing, on the other hand, only requires your voice.

Inexpensive lesson courses are available on Amazon for around 30$, as well as sheet music. There are even lessons available just for children.

6. Painting Impressionist Landscapes

Most people look at painters and assume they could never create anything like what is being painted. In the last thirty years, several methods have popped up that can teach you to paint in the impressionist style. The author of this article can personally testify to how well these methods work. I've never been able to draw or paint and I didn't take it up until I was 32. I still have my first painting and I'm quite in love with it.

This hobby is a little more expensive than the others on this list, but the cost can be reduced if you paint in acrylics instead of oils. You can get any number of different how-to books on Amazon. The supplies are also readily available online and in most arts and crafts stores.

7. Crocheting & Knitting

This is a hobby that I've had for most of my 30+ years. (I was taught crochet at age 3 by my auntie.) These skills can produce a lot of fun and funky pieces of winterwear or even something as delicate and elegant as tatted lace to trim a wedding gown. It is a very versatile skill that can be done practically anywhere. 

Pro Tip: I personally found crochet easier to learn, because it only requires you hold the tool in one hand, but I wish I had learned knitting first, so as not to try and force my crochet habits onto how I hold the knitting needles and carry the yarn.

Starting this hobby requires simple needles or hooks, which can come in either wood or metal, and yarn or thread, all of which can be acquired for less than ten dollars. There are sets available for both crochet hooks as well as knitting needles. in different sizes. They even have hooks that fold up like a swiss army knife so you can put them in your purse.

8. Floral Arranging

Arranging flowers into something beautiful is a great way to preserve for just a little longer the wonderful blooms that appear in your flower garden. This skill can be used as an inexpensive way to liven up your dinner table centerpiece or a good way to save money for your parties or wedding by providing your own bouquet and table dressings.

If you already have a flower garden, this can be really inexpensive to take up. You'll need a few tools, some ribbon or wire, baskets or vases and whatever accessories you want to add. There are many floral arranging how-to books available for around 20$ to get you started, available online or in craft stores.

Conclusion

There are many things that could have gone on this list and if I missed something that was your favorite, I'm sorry. Any of the things on this list could be used as a way to wind down after a hard day, as a way to enrich your belongings and environment, or could even be turned into a small business or money-making venture. I hope you will try some of these rewarding activities.


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