Cheap or free ways to stay occupied

66Mustang

I, and I am sure there are others, are looking for suggestions for hobbies or just activities to do to stay occupied that either don't cost money or cost very little...

I have asked this question before but I thought it would be a good topic for this new section of the forum. Any ideas are welcome whether they are new ideas or refreshing our memory of suggestions from the past.

A few of mine:

Cooking - can actually SAVE you money not buying ready meals or takeaways
Going for a walk - free but I accept many can't do this
Video games - not free but a one-off payment for hundreds of hours of entertainment

As you can see I do need some help in finding better suggestions.

Hopefully this topic is non-controversial enough that people remain civil.

Over to you.

easy

I like to do WASGIJ JIGSAWs. They can be quite challenging as you do not know the picture until you have done it.

Hannah_Alumni

This can cost, but also can be free. I research my family history.

The costs can vary, dependent on if you want to subscribe to an ancestry service, need to purchase any records or if you need to make copies of them at your local archives.

The free part was partly where I started. I asked family members and family friends. Then as I learnt more, I went round local free tours in my city and neighboring towns where they grew up. 

It's one of those hobbies that doesn't end, and you can keep coming back too  

leeCal

Learn a musical instrument. Keyboards can be quite cheap if they’re basic ...and fun too. 

seabreeze

Hobbies and interests free or cheap

Book exchange for bookworms

Crafter's could swap ideas and products

Colouring...print up colouring pages online to save spending

Take up knitting or crochet and get wool from charity shop or qd, or wool swap with friends

For me I do gem kits...friend orders abroad as it's alot cheaper! I also like to draw and I wait for sales to get what I need...paint as well...

Tori_Scope

Crafting can be quite cheap, depending on the craft!

Reading.

Wandering around charity shops, and looking at the bric a brac.

Doodling.

Puzzles.

leeCal

I used to doodle in class at school but the teachers didn’t like it, except perhaps the art teacher.

learn a new language, Finnish is supposed to be the hardest.

Tori_Scope

Listening to music and doing free online courses are two others I've thought of  

I used to doodle in class at school but the teachers didn’t like it

Me too @leeCal!

iza

Hi, my ideas are:
- creating collages using  old magazines,
- creating a memorable notebook with inches squares,
- writing a story of your own life, 
- creating poems ebook on canvas,
- sign up for short courses within local community hub/place (sometimes they are funded so come at very low costs)

ways to save money:
Sainsbury 
- buy imperfect tasty products ( they are cheaper)
- download nectar card app, download smart shop app and link with nectar digital card ( you will receive very good offer with discounted product you regularly buy) 
- use your digital nectar app to shop online within big retailers through the nectar app  ( New Look, H&M, Argos, eBay 100 other partners ) you will be awarded extra points for shopping this way
- register with free cycle to share unwanted staff and request what you need 
- register with next door platform, you may be able do the same as above 
- Olio app similar as it is also sharing platform. 
- To good to go app ( discounted food) 

pjscho

Cooking,  already mentioned but beyond saving money on take aways and going out, it's great to learn,  very satisfying and thousands of free recipes online. 
I also grow my own herbs from seeds. Pennies to buy, free to grow indoors all year round and only equipment required is plant pots

Alex_Alumni

Playing cards, there are a number of games you can learn to play which are for one person, and plenty for two or more  

RetroRemix

Old games that can be bought cheaply from sites such as GOG.com or Steam are a good way to pass the time, and a lot of these games can be modded in many ways, stretching their enjoyment even further!

If anyone is into the older Tomb Raider games there is also trle.net, a site where you can download many levels of the game people have uploaded to make their own stories... many hours of enjoyment can be found on that site and all the TRLE custom levels are free too!

Also the same for Half Life 1 and 2 games, they still have a very active modding scene with people making their own models and levels and stories for those games. A lot of fun can also be had in Gmod, which is like a sandbox game that uses the same models and physics that were used in HL2. But Gmod itself is not free though.

IF anyone is into the PF Magic Catz and Dogz series of games (Talking of very old pre Ubisoft 1990s versions of the games), there is also an active modding scene for that too, where people have created their own virtual Petz for others to download and enjoy in their games.

Populous: The Beginning also still has an active multiplayer community even today, with matches being played everyday.

Also there are a lot of older DOS games from the 80s and 90s that still can be freely downloaded and enjoyed via an emulator on modern computers such as DOSBox.

So If you ever get bored of other types of games, there will always be plenty to do with a computer instead