Hobbies/Crafts and MoneySaving ...

alec_eiffel

My experience is the opposite!

Since money has been tighter we've been doing more, things that were once something I might try have been something that is a must do. For example, lots of our furniture has seen better days, I'd always toyed with giving painting furniture a go and now I've started doing it as replacing things is out of the question. I've seen lots of artwork I like, but it's all too expensive (at any time imo, not just when things are tight) so I'm making a wallhanging myself. DH loves artisan bread but it's really expensive so he's jiggled his schedule so he can made it himself. We've started packing a flask and a picnic and going on 10-20 mile walks at the weekend. I've made loads of decorative stuff for the house, bunting, Christmas decorations, greetings cards - got all the instructions from blogs, websites or youtube. All without spending loads of cash and it keeps us away from the tv, shops, magazines and all the other little money drains. We swap books with friends and family which sometimes means we'll end up reading something we would never have read given a free choice but it's been fun. Same with magazines.

All this is stuff we wanted to do but never made it a priority, now it's not a choice there seems to be loads of opportunity.

[Deleted User]

My local library is a favourite place where the books are free for three weeks ,more than long enough for me to get through them,plus they also have DVDs for rent at 50p upwards and even jigsaws that you know have all the pieces.It always annoyed me that CS jigsaws were never checked before sale and there is nothing worse than a jigsaw with a few bits missing.
I knit blankets for The Linus Charity and often find that boot sale home knits are cheap enough to unravel wash and use up.I have just used lots of cream double knit from an unpicked jumper that cost me 10p at a bootsale last year.I make all my own cards both Christmas and birthday and my family save their ones they have sent to them and I 'recycle' them with a pair of scissors and a bit of gluepen.You can buy blank cards and envelopes in the Range or Hobbycraft often for a couple of pounds.My main hobby is genealogy and if I have to buy certificates (not often now) it does become quite expensive but I do a lot of research online which helps.My swimming costs me nothing as I am well over 60 and where I live they have introduced a Medway City card for folk of my age .A walk in the park costs nothing .I loved gardening but can't bend as I used to so that sadly has stopped .But I can grow a few bits in pots on the patio which brightens up the place a bit.

Chloris

Jackie O, I must say I read your posts with such a smile on my face. You are an inspiration!

My hobbies are knitting, cooking, drawing, foraging and walking. My wool shop always has a sale section and I tend to limit myself to that bit. I also am strict and only buy wool for a project I am about to start. When I started cooking I used to buy magazines and choose a recipe I liked, buy and make. I was often shocked at the price of the ingredients. Now I am creative and am learning how to cook rather than how to follow a recipe! I love looking in the fridge and seeing what needs to be used and being inspired by that. Or what is on the reduced shelf. The final three hobbies require very little money.

I agree that charity shops are horribly expensive, in my experience. I too use the library.

lindens

dandy-candy wrote: »

One of the saddest things for me in this recession is that my hobbies and pastimes have pretty much ceased. I used to knit a lot but yarn is so expensive now that I don't bother anymore, and I used to collect books from junk & charity shops for 20p - £2 but yesterday I went to 4 charity shops and they didn't have a single book under £4!

I have started to do a little gardening this year which is relatively cheap considering how many seeds you get in a packet, but I have to admit when it's cold or raining i'll be staying indoors.

Is anyone else's hobbies suffering because of the price rises? Or how about some suggestions for cheap hobbies to take up?

you're going to the wrong charity shops thats all. My local one has so many book s they are turning them away and they are 10 books for £1. go 100 yards down the street and the books are £1 each. go figure.

psso

I`m another library fan. I can borrow up to ten books for a month for free, there`s also DVD`s on offer but you have to pay about £30, I think, for a year`s `membership`.

I knit a lot for charity as well and buy a lot of yarn in Poundstretchers and other discount type stores. Very seldom pay more than about £1.50 for 100g. Car boot sales are another possibility for bargains.

Some charity shops are getting very expensive but others are still quite reasonable, you just have to be choosy about where you spend your cash.

likklegibbon

I'm finding that instead of buying new stuff, I'm digging out hobbies and crafts that I've had fads on in the past.... and actually doing them!

And if my tastes have changed a lot, I'm actually forcing myself to bite the bullet and finally get rid to charity shops, my sister's school or the tip - my hubby is shocked that the house is actually getting emptier (especially since I've drastically cut back on weekly scandal rag mags).

Dandy-candy - have you thought of having a hobby swap with a good friend? - I'm teaching my friend how to cross stitch and she'll teach me how to sew and we can use up spare bits of each others stash.

GreyQueen

When I had a lot of time and absolutely no cash, I used to make patchwork from offcuts of cotton from my stores, cut up old clothes from home and supplemented by jumble sale fabric; full cotton skirts and dresses have lots of fabric.

I have also made handhooked rugs from unravelled jumpers and am yet another advocate of the library. If I shop around I can buy books from certain charity shops for 25p/50p for papers and hards as well as see the £4 jobbies which they can leave alone.

You can also candlemake from old candles and there are lots of part-finished craft porjects at booters and even charity shops.

Lots to do, so little time to do it.

Second info about seeing if your council has a discount card for low-income and pensioners; check their website? HTH.

oldtractor

I stopped knitting years ago. Yarn is ridiculously expensive. I enjoy gardening and have an allotment so take pleasure and exercise in that.

elaine12022

Are there any craft clubs near where you live? There may be people who have spare materials or ideas of how to get some. Have you tried asking on freecycle/freegle for materials?

Birdie85

I know what you mean, I'm a scrapbooker and used to love buying all the (pricey) crafty 'bits' to use on my pages but it's far too expensive now. I'm wading through all of the kits I bought years ago and never used and I'm getting creative with what I have around the house. Old clothes get ribbons and buttons taken off to go in my 'stash', old silky/lacy (clean!) underwear is cut up, any tops/dresses/trousers with those little ribbons that hook onto hangers get cut out, I keep the posh tags off clothes and gift boxes and I've found a few sites that have scrapbooking papers available to download for free. It certainly makes it more of a challenge but it's given me some interesting bits to work with, and all free! I'm actually making a decorated shadowbox frame for my friend for a wedding present using the same concept of 'what have I got lying around that looks nice' and it's looking really nice, thanks to having to think outside the box my friends are getting a really unique gift that I hope they'll treasure but it won't have cost me the world!