20 inexpensive hobbies that are easy to pick up

With just a box of crayons and a piece of paper, you can start coloring as a hobby. There are endless ways to take this hobby, whether you use templates, markers, or different colors of paper. It’s an easy, relaxing, mindless way to use your hands that doesn’t involve technology. 

If you prefer to run outside, purchasing shoes and clothing is the most expensive part of running. Otherwise, it's a completely free activity with loads of health benefits. If you're willing to spend a little extra cash, you can purchase a program that guides you as a beginner to the sport. 

Get some soil, seeds, and a pot, and you've got yourself a garden. Gardening can get expensive if you want to expand, but you'll save on groceries with all the fresh produce you can eat. Gardening is also great for your mental and physical health, making it a great hobby for all ages. 

Writing is a great way to get creative and release your thoughts. Whether you want to start on the Great American Novel or just put pen to paper, it's a cheap and easy hobby that anyone can do. Even if your writing isn't great, it's a beneficial hobby. 

Myriad puzzles are cheap and easy to pick up as hobbies. Jigsaw, crossword, Sudoku, word searches, cryptograms, Rubik's Cubes, and more are all simple to get started with. They might take a while to finish, but that's the beauty of them. 

Everyone has access to a camera with their phone. Use this accessibility to get into photography as a hobby. Your work might not get published in Vogue or National Geographic, but you can learn the basics of the art and improve enough to become everybody's go-to amateur photographer, which is a skill worth having these days. 

Leaf collecting is as cheap and easy as looking for leaves outside. Depending on where you live, this hobby might not be possible year-round, but when it is available, it's a great way to get outside and learn more about nature. 

There are tons of free yoga videos online, and with just a little SEO work, you can find classes for beginners. Yoga improves your strength and flexibility. It's great for your mental health. It's a practice just about anybody can do, and you'll be glad you did it. 

Calligraphy is much less intimidating than it seems when you take the time to learn a bit about it. Instructional books can be purchased, or you can watch tutorials online. Either way, you’ll see that calligraphy, especially in its modern form, is an accessible art form that’s relaxing and satisfying. 

To be an excellent bird watcher, you've got to be patient and observant. But to be a novice bird watcher, you've just got to go outside and look for birds. Bird watching is a great excuse to get into nature, and you just might learn a thing or two about our feathered friends along the way. 

Improv used to only be accessible to people in big cities with cash to spare for classes. But thanks to the internet, anybody can take a free online class. If you want to flex your creative muscles or you're just curious about how all those Saturday Night Live actors got their start, try improv. 

Creating a playlist might seem like a futile task considering the amount available on music platforms already, but someone has to come up with those playlists, and it might as well be you. It's a relaxing hobby that's easy and only costs as much as you're already paying for your streaming subscription. 

With a deck of cards and the internet, you can become a master magician … or at least a master at doing card tricks. And who knows? Your interest in card tricks could lead to the mastery of all illusions. It's a unique hobby that comes with the bonus of a great icebreaker. 

If you have a predilection for painting, take your skills to a smaller canvas by learning nail art. There are extra tools and materials you can purchase as your skill improves, but to start, all it takes is some polish and a detail brush. Work on your own hand or offer to give a free manicure to a friend. 

With a kite and some wind, you can pick up kite flying. Large kites can get pricey, but basic ones are inexpensive and fun for the whole family. If you all want to kill an afternoon in the spring, find an area away from trees where you can all fly your kites. 

Like many other hobbies, origami is relatively expensive, and learning it can be done online. Much of it is just attention to detail, so as long as you’re willing to pay attention to the steps and fold in the correct order, you can become quite successful at it. 

Dancing can be an expensive hobby, but it doesn't have to be. Find a free dance class online if you want to do it at home. If you want to go out without spending too much cash, spend the evening at a dance club with a partner.  

As with many aforementioned hobbies, coding can be learned online for free. You might not become a master at building websites, but you also might become a master at building websites. Either way, it's a very marketable skill, so even if you don't want to keep up with it, you can benefit professionally from knowing the basics of coding. 

After you buy rollerblades (and maybe a helmet and kneepads), rollerblading is a very cheap hobby, especially if you do it exclusively outside. It’s not an easy skill for everyone, but most people with a bit of coordination can pick it up with no problem. 

Singing might be the cheapest hobby ever. All it takes is opening your mouth and singing. If you want to improve without spending too much money, you can read online articles with tips to sound better or sing along to karaoke versions of songs.