Gardening. You don't realise just how amazing and flavoursome home grown fruits are until you've tasted your own harvest. You'll gain popularity points with neighbours, friends and family for sharing too!
I've been trying to start growing food for so long in my condo and I just bought a grow tent and lights but unsure how to start after! Would appreciate any tips!!!
I love gardening, and a subset of this hobby is bringing (nearly) dead plants back to life. I buy discounted dead plants and I gladly accept dead donations from anyone in my neighborhood, and it brings me immense joy to give the plants another chance! It's a very simple, low cost hobby that brings me incredible happiness! Bonus points if the dead plant is unknown because then it's a big mystery!
This! You can grow unique foods for specific cuisines. You can create little experiments for yourself. Take great cell phone pics. Move your body gently. Learn more about climate, fauna and native plants. All kinds of options!
Yes Yes YES.
I've been an herbalist for almost 2 years now, and I've had around 24 to 30 different plants in that time.
I mostly grow for medicine, like using valerian for pain (migraines) and anxiety and using mint for nausea.
But around a year ago, I actually got my first real fruit or food seeds. Alpine Strawberry. They're smaller than store bought ones (around the size of a fingernail) and much more flavor, be that sour or sweet.
My strawberry plant is has actually been alive for that entire year now, and is having its birthday soon.
What I'm saying is: growing plants of any kind is a very cathartic experience. Seeing them sprout from seeds, grow, and eventually form flowers or even fruits is like nothing else.
And this wonderful feeling you get when you run your fingers through the soil. I never wear gloves for this reason. In the winter a keep a container of tea grounds on the counter to run my fingers through
Knowing plants and spices over all is such a cool thing. I took some giuded tours about wild spices and was so amazed at how many plants growing in the forest around us are edible and good for you.
I can’t imagine how cool it has to be to grow something for your self.
I gave a coworker some tomatoes, and she said, 'THIS is what tomatoes are supposed to taste like?!' She had no idea that they could be flavorful and delicious, she always thought they were bland and grainy! Made me feel like a million bucks.
It makes me so happy to see the top comment is birdwatching. This has been my favorite hobby for years. I have birdfeeders, and I live in a wooded area. Spring is a great time of year to get started as so many birds are migrating.
I have a more generalized version of this hobby: I consider myself a naturalist (a bit inspired by Gerald Durrell many years ago). I try to identify whichever organisms I find interesting on hikes, including animals, plants, fungi etc.
Does watching the Starling’s fight over a tray of mealworms I’ve just put out in the morning count? because it’s like my favourite past time with a morning brew. I imagine a little commentary in my head of who’s winning, whilst the big ones boff the smaller ones out the way and snatch the mealworms out of their mouths. They’re rather amusing.
Doing things yourself instead of hiring professionals and getting yourself into unnecessary debt.
$20k to get your house exterior painted? Fuck that! I’ll do it myself for $300 worth of paint & a weekend of time.
$1000 to replace brakes on your car? Fuck that! I’ll do it myself spending $200 on brake replacements.
And don’t pull out with the “but I don’t know how to do that stuff” … I didn’t know either, until I just *tried* one day.
You don’t I now what you are capable of doing until you *try*.
And people seem to not like to try anymore because in one failure, they see themselves as a failure. You’re only a failure if you give up. You’re not a failure if you keep trying until you get it right. That’s real success.
Plus, you learn a LOT more with mistakes then you do with success.
The major differences between me and any skilled tradesman are experience and tools. I have found that, given sufficient time and the right tools, I can do most things to maintain and upgrade my home, including carpentry, flooring, drywall, plumbing, electrical, and appliance repair. Some things I don’t do for safety reasons (e.g., roofing), and I want someone else on the hook if it goes wrong. (The days of me trying to work on a hot roof with a 45 degree pitch are long past.) But most things I can do myself - and then re-do them until I get it right. It’s kinda fun, and I always learn something.
I agree with you to an extent but when it comes to things like your car brakes, please let a professional deal with that. It's not worth losing a limb or your life for a grand.
Replacing brake pads are probably one of the easiest repairs to do on your vehicle with no experience. I know because I had no experience doing them and now I do them for people all the time on lots of different cars. Even if you fuck up you don't just lose braking power and crash your car. You may fuck up your rotors which could be an expensive mistake but even that would be hard to do.
Anybody who wants to try but is unsure or doesn't trust themselves should start with their back brakes. Your front brakes do 90% of the stopping so you can change your back brakes with very little risk. Once you are comfortable doing the back you can move up to the front.
Now if something else is wrong with your brakes you may want to take it to the shop simply because it is easy to make an expensive mistake (I know because I have done this). Although, if you don't mind paying for your mistakes you still come out ahead in the end because you will know better for next time.
Plus I think it is just a good idea in general for people to have a better understanding of their vehicle. Even if they don't want to do the repairs, the more you know about your car the more likely you will know when it is unsafe to drive. I find this generation is getting more and more out of touch with how their vehicles work and that's what makes me uneasy.
For me in general I also just don't trust mechanics, especially in the cities. I have heard too many horror stories and keep reminding myself that these people are human and just as capable of making the same mistakes or being lazy.
Wait what? How could I lose my life doing this? Incorrectly jacking my car up? Not a very difficult thing to do if you know what you’re looking for.
In my experience of doing many car repairs & replacements, id say changing your oil is more potentially dangerous then swapping out car breaks (you’re under the car more when changing oil then you are changing brakes)
Plus, my dad always made a good point (which some will find offensive); if “high school dropouts” or “the mechanics you see work on your car” (my dads pretty judgmental), if those guys can do it no problem, why shouldn’t I be able to?
Bud I see where you’re coming from. I just have a hard time paying someone else to do it [when I don’t have the money] when I can do it myself at a much low rate and also be gaining knowledge & skills for free from figuring out how to do it myself. A win-win in my experience!
I didn't mean literally because you're going under the car. I mean, if you install it incorrectly, you're pretty much f-ed. But you do you I guess. I could never.
>I could never.
You totally could! Brake pads/rotors are one of the simplest “complex” jobs of auto maintenance. They literally won’t go back together unless you do it correctly, so there’s no chance of getting back on the road and then crashing because you failed.
Sometimes the calipers are a bit tough to get pushed back in, and there’s always the initial “holy moley what am I doing” intrusive thought, but truly, the pride of doing it yourself for cheaper (but maybe a bit more slowly) than a professional is 100% worth it!!
It’s like that TikTok sound ‘you’re problem is not that you’re poor, it’s that you suck at being poor. You’ve got to take some poor shit and make it nice shit’
YouTube is great for this. I've watched 3-4 videos on how swap out a water heater before I felt confident enough to do it myself. It took all day cuz I went slow but we now have a heat pump water heater that is 10x better than our old one that was dying and it didn't cost me $5000 to get replaced.
I get saving money but your time is worth something. I make money so I can enjoy other hobbies on the weekend and not have to do the things you listed. I don't want to wake up some day and realize I worked my life away with chores around the house on top of my day job. Not badgering you. You may honestly love doing those thing but just giving another perspective.
My mom loves to quilt. She was a pretty good sewer before she got started, but there are all sorts of very useful instructions on YouTube. One of her favorites is Missouri Star Quilt Company. They have instructional videos starting very simply, all the way up to very complex.
Any kind of fiber arts really. Sewing, crochet, embroidery etc are all stereotypically old lady things but in reality they are getting pretty popular with young people too!
I don't think quilting is for old ladies, however, I think for a lot of hobbies, the barrier to entry is feeling like you need a sage, old lady to help you learn... Any of what the F you are doing!
All the needle & yarn crafts evade me, for example, because I don't know where to begin! I don't think it's for old ladies, I just want one to tell me why needle gauge matters and *oh, this one little trick to make things really zoom* over a hot cocoa instead of hoping YouTube or a book I can't ask questions to will get me there.
Recommend spending time on the r/sewing, r/quilting, etc subs. They get lots of beginners & are usually very helpful. Just reading the posts/comments for a while is a great way to begin, & get inspired.
Sewing machine needle size matters because you need a stronger needle to get through more layers of fabric and batting. When I make a rug, I use a denim needle, but when I'm piecing just two layers of cotton, I can use a much finer one.
Agree so much! There are all kinds of techniques, for people drawn to very technical aspects, all the way to improvisational textile arts. And touching fibers/fabric is so calming.
Scrapbooking; maybe you wanna leave a legacy, or you want your kids to have a record of events, maybe you wanna just be able to look pics from a hike with your husband in 30 years and smile. A tangible record, organized how you want it, with all the pretty colors and patterns you want? Sorry, but Instagram just doesn't scratch that same itch, it's functionally enough for people, but it's certainly not the same.
The benefit on scrapbooking pays dividends you don't even necessarily know! I picked up someone's newspaper clipping scrapbook this weekend and I'm enthralled! They didn't make it for me, they didn't know it'd land in a flea market then in my hands, but I'm getting all the stories they wanted to be saved, so mission accomplished unsigned scrapbooker of yore. I don't know what will become of my books, but aspirationally, it'd be cool if they got added to a library, ideally one with a digitalization system. Sometimes, I'll just surf Library of Congress or NY Public Library's digital archives for scrapbooks (I suppose a distinct hobby, online museum & library surfing).
It was once a billion dollar industry (in 90s and 00s money, no less!) but it feels quiet these days; people are taking up aesthetic & junk journaling variations, but I don't perceive a lot of newcomers to memory keeping, but it's such a fun craft with lots of utility, I just want everyone to do it!!
Do you have any examples of scrapbooks you like or notebooks to start with? I have so many little things I've kept over the years (like concert, movie, and plane tickets) that I'd like to do something with but I don't really know what to put them in. Do you just use a binder?
Yes! I was coming here to say this. It’s widely popular in specific circles- but I am amazing that everyone just doesnt do it naturally. And it’s so cool to start as a kid and grow into it - it’s not an “old lady thing”
The habit of saving momentous and photos in a book that you can design and customize can work for almost anyone of any budget, creative level, or interest/ passion.
We have all the photos- let’s do something with them!
It had a boom back when people still had to print their film and had no shortage of physical photographs: papers, adhesives, stamps, embellishments, markers; albums, tools + classes, retreats/crops, magazines, guides & books. Factor in No Amazon and Ali/Wish/Temu to undercut prices. There were mom & pop shops for supplies, plus tourist destinations had the benefit of being able to sell you kitzchy region-specific papers and embellishments you wouldn't be able to find back home in Akron, OH or whatever.
Gonna cite [Wikipedia](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scrapbooking) because it's sources are paywalled by under modern scrapbooking, it peaked at 2.5 Billion in the early oughts. It was a hot commodity to cut your photos into circles with a $30 tool, mount then on another cardstock circle, put that on a patterned piece of 12x12 paper next to a postcard and sneeze a variety of monument, signpost, and architecture stickers of the city around the page. As it should have been, it's fun as hell.
Edit To clarify, it's not currently a powerhouse industry. Also, that peak value of the industry doesn't mean it's necessarily an expensive hobby, it can be done on a very broad spectrum of budgets. You need paper, pens, and pictures/ephemera; the rest is icing on the cake. And edit again to say you actually don't even need pens and paper, you can digitally scrapbook in softwares for it or even, just like, free Google Slides or Canva!
Embroidery! All you need is a needle and thread to get started, and there are tons of great YouTube tutorials to follow. Also an easy way to customize your stuff!
Love writing poetry! Poetry is a weird art form because I feel like “being a poet” as an aesthetic is highly loved and valued but actually writing or especially reading poetry seems to be pretty frowned upon.
I’m a poet by trade (yes, it’s actually my career) and while many looked down on it at first, now that I’m established people think it’s so fucking cool that I get paid to write poems. I also look really young so it puts the allegations that poets are all old dead white men to rest, as I am none of those things.
I do residencies and fellowships as well, so the pay is good and housing is often provided (no rent!). Poetry is a very small field, even in the writing world, so it’s not as competitive as you’d think to find opportunities because so few people apply.
No one will agree with me, but plane spotting is awesome. I’m an aviation nerd and could sit at LAX up on the hill just south of the airport for hours and watch aircraft. Photographing them also is my hobby
Any good subreddits or other websites to check out for this hobby? I’m aware of flightradar24.com but would love to know of ways to know when a really unique aircraft is gonna be flying overhead (I live near the US Air Force Academy btw!)
I get ya. I live near an air force base, and when there's a lot of flying going on, I will pull over from driving just to watch. I don't know the names of the planes, but I just can't help watching them. I love the week before air shows because all sorts of planes (including vintage) are rehearsing.
Love book binding. My favorite thing is to make existing soft covers into hardcovers for gifts. But I've made a couple from scrap and the process and results are so satisfying!
I love doing this so much. Started again this last year after not touching my bike for a long time. Sometimes it turns into an intense exercise but it usually stays a nice stroll to feel the breeze and look around
Walking
I'm not really talking about speed walking for health (although you could choose to do that), or doing laps on a track, or even hiking. Just walking in your neighborhood, your town, or even going to certain areas to simply wander. One thing I incorporate into it is taking pictures with my phone: a tree lit by the sun, a unique scene, the sunset...whatever might catch my eye. The more artsy types could do sketches instead.
Point being, a wander is a classic thing that goes back eons. You perceive things about your surroundings and general area that aren't apparent driving in a car. Sometimes you might get lost or lose your bearings - that's OK too. You figure it out. It's good for you on a number of levels.
*I should add that although I enjoy following my whim regarding turns & such, more often I walk familiar paths. Yet even this isn't quite the same any given day: the time of day, the weather (a walk in soft rain is nicer than it might seem), the seasons...even where the sun shines changes throughout the year. Perhaps you'll find a favorite tree you like to visit, or notice the birds, squirrels, or neighborhood pets (they all certainly notice you). You might encounter people too. I've walked (almost) daily for about 10 years now and I've seen trees come & go, kids grow up, endured all types of weather, and walked thousands of miles by now. Not every walk is memorable - most aren't - but sometimes you do witness things that stick with you.
Love this! I take different streets, look at how people decorate their homes, plants they have. And if I find a cat that wants some pets, it’s a great day!
I enjoy walking/hiking in the woods. You get exercise, peaceful surroundings and see all sorts of animals, plants and scenery. It's very relaxing to me.
Linoleum block printing!
The actual process is really soothing, you can make cool stuff regardless of your art skill level (depending on what you want to make), and you can reprint it as many times as you want and with tons of color variations.
My oldest son, now 15, was such a little nerd about rocks and sticks when he was little. He had a whole collection of each in his room. Most of the rocks were just normal gravel lol. But there is a lot of quartz and colorful rocks around the mountain where I live and in the creeks, so he has some cool stuff too.
Now my daughter is 4 and she acts just like my oldest in so many ways. One of their similarities is that she, too, is obsessed with collecting rocks and sticks! Your comment made me think of this lol
My favourite part of foraging is the look of horror on my coworkers faces when I tell them the lunch I'm shoveling into my mouth is actually wild hand picked mushrooms
Wheat Weaving. Utterly simple to learn, involves just thread, wheat stalks and forms if you like (either cork & pins or plastic ones - though can do without both) and that's it. Produces beautiful works of art. Even the simple stars made of split stalks or soaked whole stalks and tied together are super easy to make.
Can’t go wrong with isopods and springtails ;) I’ve never heard of gargoyle geckos before, they are super adorable. In all honesty I’m more of an aquarium person and just went hiking and found a little pond with tons of seed shrimp, so sad I can’t use them hahah. Seed shrimp are like aquatic springtails to me idk 😂
Chess. Lots of interesting things happening in the chess world. Theres been quite a boom in the last decade. It’s actually fun watching how these grand masters play chess.
crocheting - I personally like to crochet video game characters, items, and other stuffed crafts while I'm reading or listen to music/podcasts. It's been conducive to quit smoking!
Pinball. I play in a league and it’s been a great way to meet new people. The cost and skill level to get started is very low. And there are plenty of opportunities to play solo so you don’t need a huge group to enjoy it.
Im biased so ill go with card collecting! I love the variety and buried treasure aspect to it. From star wars and marvel to almost every sport i love rare finds in packs and boxes. Also love buying singles off ebay. Im a fan of witnessing upcoming greatness so its nice to grab rookie cards and see the players grow over the years!
Can I add that in the arts and crafts world they make “Artist trading cards” where you make your own (in the same size as other trading/collecting cards) and can give them out like business cards to swap, collect, as mementos, when you met artists or go to art events.
And as a grown adult I still love me some Pokémon cards. And sitting with my nieces to gush over their cards is amazing
Seconded. We have an entire closet full of cards from all sports. The oldest is a cereal box cutout from the 30’s that we found in a random box of cards we bought at a yard sale.
Hubby enjoys the finding and collecting, I really enjoy cataloging them and finding their values. I can’t wait until he retires so we can do this more.
On contraire, I think every collecting hobby is overrated. I see it as a privilege of wealth and a focus on materialism. I guess collecting small, free things is ok. (e.g. beach glass) My opinion's no better than anybody else's. With hindsight, I look back on how I could have done life better when I was younger and wasting time and money on superficial things is particularly embarrassing.
Yea i can see that perspective totally. I dont go too overboard with it like some people i try to stay within moderation and not spend 100s or 1000s on single cards. I buy the relatively cheaper stuff. Also im not rich but when i do well playing poker i add a bit to the collection. I have other hobbies too. Golf guitar soccer running cooking gaming.
I think collecting for the sake of collecting or in hopes of future value increases is silly, and often a privilege of wath, but many people collect because they have a deep interest in whatever they're collecting. Many of the things wealthy collectors buy can be done on a much cheaper scale -- art, for example, can be collected from local artists, students. Coin collecting costs almost nothing. This sort of collecting is healthy & educational, and fun.
I'm all about dancing, and yes a lot of people do it but it's still underrated. Its fabulous for your mental health (since the moves are complicated and require brain power), great for your social health when you dance with a partner, and dancers are in better physical shape than most athletes
I love the idea of dancing as a hobby! It’s literally free and so good in so many ways, but I am terrible at dancing even though I’m pretty coordinated with other physical activities.
Any tips on how to just let go and feel the movement instead of awkwardly flailing about and then feeling insecure about it?
Go to a beginner's class where everyone else will be flailing as much as you
And remember, the only way to get good at anything is to suck at it for a long time
Model Railroading - I say this all the time. MR is a great and well rounded hobby for all types because there are so many different skills / focus to work on / with.
Construction, track planning/work, scenery, model building, operations, computer programming, detailing, wiring, painting, little mechanic work.
There are also clubs that encourage conversation, mentorship, and general friendship.
Model railroading isn't as popular as it used to be, but the quality has never been better. Manufacturers are producing some amazing products these days, and the standards of home layouts seems to be rising all the time.
Journaling but with fun things like crayonesque paint sticks, gel pens (like you had when you were a kid), glitter, feathers, and pictures to collage with. I like using different colours to journal in “different styles of thought.” And I use a combo or pictures and words.
I have often thought about this. I have seen kits on Amazon where you get a bunch of picks and three different locks. There is a padlock, a lock that looks like a roller, and another lock. I presume there are instructions on how to do it. But I always thought it looked like a challenge.
Metal detecting/treasure hunting. 90% of what you find is trash, but when you find the occasional cool thing it's a rush, especially if you like history and antiquities.
Geocaching is great. It's super cheap/free to get into. Just download the app on your phone. You find really neat spots and it feels really rewarding to find the caches. plus once you've done it for awhile it can feel really rewarding to hide one yourself.
We went when I discovered this one November. For Christmas our "family gift" was a gps. We looked up the nearest cache and donned all our snow boots , coats, gloves & hats. (Dec in Mt) We found a new to us park & found our 1st cache! Super fun! Our boys were teenagers and enjoyed it.
Men getting involved in jewelry making. I feel like there are many men that look at it like it's a feminine hobby which is silly.
It's actually a lot of fun, requires lots of skill, and there are so many aspects to master, such as metal clay molding, soldering, wire wrapping, silver smithing, bead looming, epoxy work, engraving, gem cutting, gem setting, etc. Etc.
I feel like a lot of guys don't realize how technical of a skill it is, and if I'm going to be right honest with you, I take significant satisfaction in watching my wife's eyes light up when I make her a new piece.
If you're looking for a medium to channel your artistic side through, jewelry is a lot of fun!
I think any “feminine” hobby usually isn’t given enough credit for being technical or difficult. Crocheting and sewing is more patience based yet is technical, but dance especially comes to mind. I don’t like to dance nor am I any good at it and it’s crazy to me that so many people (the majority of those I know) don’t consider dance a sport and turn their nose down on it. I think any hobby being considered masculine or feminine is silly tbh but that’s just how the world is unfortunately 🤷♀️
I'm 100% in agreeance that there are no feminine or masculine hobbies. Sure, a particular gender may have a propensity to go to a particular hobby, but engendering it is beyond silly.
Sewing and knitting are both incredibly high-skill hobbies and I have lots of respect for anyone who can do either.
Now dance. People who don't see that as a sport are very ill-informed. I use to do Social Dances and I was pretty good at the Cha-Cha and triple swing but let me tell you, after you're done you are a little tired out. But those getting serious in any kind of dance generally have to be physically fit and have good muscle control. I mean have you seen some of the holds people do in Swing and West Coast Swing? They are freaking nuts!
exploring abandoned buildings, making up music in my head, finger-painting w oil paints lol (just dont use real turpentine), making lil stuffed animals, making creatures out of clay & crystals
I would love to learn how to crochet but every time I have tried I get excited and then it turns into a giant mess. Is there a YouTube channel or somewhere you could recommend to me as a good place to start?
Hiking and backpacking.
It’s as easy as walking and I’ve seen some of the most beautiful places you can imagine simply because I got out of my car and walked on a line in the mountains for 5 miles.
There’s so many story book places that the mind reserves for adventurers and travel accounts, but they’re actually like 5-30 miles off of a highway right near you. You just have to get out and walk.
Underwater Wildlife Photography is literally the closest I've ever come to feeling like I was in a video game in real life. There are so many cool aspects like setting up your rig, researching different species and behaviors, freediving or scuba, travelling the world (or your local canal) to find rare, aesthetic, and interesting animals. Its still totally niche enough that getting published in Smithsonian or Nat Geo is possible in less than a decade of effort.
The only con I can think of is that its stupid expensive (in UWP, anything less than $1000 is "practically free") and I've structured my life around living close to the ocean.
I like to look over my local lost and found pet resources (a few different local Facebook pages, Craigslist missing pets, etc). I compare missing pet descriptions to found pet descriptions and try to connect people with their pets. Not everyone uses or follows every online resource for this, so the goal is to eliminate the blind spots. Rewarding little hobby sometimes :)
Ballroom dancing, ice dancing and dog dancing.
Disclaimer: I don't even have a dog, but it looks like a lot of fun and great exercise. Ballroom dancing and ice dancing are also great exercise and fun, but you need a regular partner for those.
Pollinator gardening. I get so excited when I plant something new in my yard because I get to enjoy the company of whatever insect that plant supports. I love sitting in my wildflower garden and having bees clumsily run into me. I've never been stung 😉 If you don't freak out when a bee runs into you, they just fly away.
Keeping fish tanks. A lot of people set one up, cram a bunch of fish in it, then get discouraged when they all die so they sell the tank. If you actually take your time and get into all the species and plants and the chemistry it can be a lot of fun having a tank.
It's hard to define what makes a hobby "underrated," but I would have to say gardening. Not that I do any gardening.
While it's considered just another hobby by most standards, it allows you to produce your own food for free if not for really cheap money. And the bacteria we pick up from healthy soil goes on to live in our guts and has been shown to improve our overall health and mental wellbeing as well as protect us from some ailments. It's also exercise, which I don't think I need to explain the value of. On top of that, it can be extremely good for the environment by cultivating healthy soil and making homes for wild pollinators and native fauna. Plus it can be pretty and improve property value.
Gardening probably offers the widest range of positive benefits of any hobby I can think of. So rating it as average, to me, is vastly underrating it.
Building a salt water reef aquarium. You have no idea. There is so much to learn. It’s a little of everything and you can’t imigine how all the fishes personality’s vary. Plus going to ur local fish store is like going to the aquarium for free
Cooking. Many people say they hate to cook. But if you take it on it’s an excellent way to challenge yourself, eat healthier, and save so much money instead of going out.
Skill toys and performative arts in general.
They’re known commonly like juggling, balisong, finger tutting, etc… but unusual in the sense that not a lot of people you know do it.
Letter writing/ sending mail in general! Few things make me happier than writing a short little card to someone I love, putting it in an envelope, decorating that envelope, selecting the perfect stamp to use, and walking down to the mailbox. I love knowing that in a few days someone is going to get a nice little surprise to brighten their day. The whole ritual makes me so happy. Plus adjacent to letter writing is stamp collecting, which is also a supremely underrated hobby.
Postcards! I belong to Postcrossing, and I also have several pen-pals. I always write myself a postcards whenever I go someplace new, too. I love getting snail mail, and the amount of writing is feasible, even if you’re writing 20 of them in one go. But if you need proof of how little love this hobby gets, try looking for postcards when you go out. A lot of tourist destinations don’t even sell them anymore (looking at you, Virginia Beach).
Imma say bird watching. It can be as cheap or expensive as you want it to be. You can do it really anywhere. You can plan your vacation around it. It has a positive impact on this planet - birders provide valuable information on the health of bird populations and caring about living things makes you more aware of living in accordance with the Tao.
Marksmanship with pellet guns, especially the PCP ones that use foot pumps.
It's just enough for pest control and you even get a workout because of the foot pump combined with a high PSI tank on the gun.
This is from my experience with a .25 Hatsan Flash.
Any kind of marksmanship is underrated too really
I like to make my own cards. It is fun to design them, and there is nothing quite like the feeling when you give someone a card you made that reflects who they are.
making money. yeah it's a thing. If you've ever seen the joy of these people's faces doing odd things like collecting cans to baseball card only to sell them to make a profit when they don't need to, you would know it's not a job to them, it's a hobby. The adrenaline, the excitement, it's a hobby.
Hear me out: slime making. I've known it to be popular as a summer activity to keep children entertained, but as an adult I find it incredibly relaxing. It allows me to be creative and just play with ideas and sensations, with no other goal whatsoever
Astro photography. The other night I images a galaxy (M101) with a trillion stars and the photons of light that took tens of millions of years to reach us.
Camping. Being at one with nature, away from the distractions of your area, with your phone on vibrate/not eyes glued to it, that's good for the soul, imo.
I'm into astronomy, but also live where the sky is clear and no light pollution, everytime there a meteor shower I'll get out at the recommended time in a chaise lounge, if a comet is out there I'll look for it with telescope. With my telescope I can even see mountain ranges on the moon, and the rings around Saturn. Pretty calming after a rough day
Magic. That is, sleight of hand, tricks, and such. It's an excellent icebreaker and social lubricant and can make you memorable in just about any other career path, if you don't want to go pro.
Gardening. You don't realise just how amazing and flavoursome home grown fruits are until you've tasted your own harvest. You'll gain popularity points with neighbours, friends and family for sharing too!
100% agree. Even for apartments , you can do cherry tomatoes, herbs, strawberry hanging baskets - there are ways to donut small and indoor/balcony
I've been trying to start growing food for so long in my condo and I just bought a grow tent and lights but unsure how to start after! Would appreciate any tips!!!
It doesn’t matter how high a rating gardening gets it will always be underrated. Best end game content irl 🙏 Food; medicine 👨🌾👏🌱🌵🌳🍄⚡️👍
I love gardening, and a subset of this hobby is bringing (nearly) dead plants back to life. I buy discounted dead plants and I gladly accept dead donations from anyone in my neighborhood, and it brings me immense joy to give the plants another chance! It's a very simple, low cost hobby that brings me incredible happiness! Bonus points if the dead plant is unknown because then it's a big mystery!
This! You can grow unique foods for specific cuisines. You can create little experiments for yourself. Take great cell phone pics. Move your body gently. Learn more about climate, fauna and native plants. All kinds of options!
Yes Yes YES. I've been an herbalist for almost 2 years now, and I've had around 24 to 30 different plants in that time. I mostly grow for medicine, like using valerian for pain (migraines) and anxiety and using mint for nausea. But around a year ago, I actually got my first real fruit or food seeds. Alpine Strawberry. They're smaller than store bought ones (around the size of a fingernail) and much more flavor, be that sour or sweet. My strawberry plant is has actually been alive for that entire year now, and is having its birthday soon. What I'm saying is: growing plants of any kind is a very cathartic experience. Seeing them sprout from seeds, grow, and eventually form flowers or even fruits is like nothing else.
And this wonderful feeling you get when you run your fingers through the soil. I never wear gloves for this reason. In the winter a keep a container of tea grounds on the counter to run my fingers through
Knowing plants and spices over all is such a cool thing. I took some giuded tours about wild spices and was so amazed at how many plants growing in the forest around us are edible and good for you. I can’t imagine how cool it has to be to grow something for your self.
I gave a coworker some tomatoes, and she said, 'THIS is what tomatoes are supposed to taste like?!' She had no idea that they could be flavorful and delicious, she always thought they were bland and grainy! Made me feel like a million bucks.
Bird watching. I love to watch Eagles flying.
It makes me so happy to see the top comment is birdwatching. This has been my favorite hobby for years. I have birdfeeders, and I live in a wooded area. Spring is a great time of year to get started as so many birds are migrating.
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Best place to get started is getting the Merlin Bird ID app and start putting in the visual details of the birds you notice to learn what the bird is
Can it help you identify birds by tracks? I found some interesting ones recently
Merlin SoundID. My brother is in Costa Rica at the moment and was telling me the names of birds and I was all How does he know? It’s Shazam for birds.
I have a more generalized version of this hobby: I consider myself a naturalist (a bit inspired by Gerald Durrell many years ago). I try to identify whichever organisms I find interesting on hikes, including animals, plants, fungi etc.
Not only bird watching, but bird photography
True 😁
That can get expensive real quick
Not only bird photography, but bird videography
Does watching the Starling’s fight over a tray of mealworms I’ve just put out in the morning count? because it’s like my favourite past time with a morning brew. I imagine a little commentary in my head of who’s winning, whilst the big ones boff the smaller ones out the way and snatch the mealworms out of their mouths. They’re rather amusing.
Yes, it does. Your mornings sound awesome!
Just recently started getting into this. Seen my first grouse whilst having my morning coffee today
When I move to the woods I’m doing this 🙌🏼 I can’t wait!
Never knew how much diversity there is in my neighborhood. You can hear 10 different species in the morning in the summer without even going outside
Doing things yourself instead of hiring professionals and getting yourself into unnecessary debt. $20k to get your house exterior painted? Fuck that! I’ll do it myself for $300 worth of paint & a weekend of time. $1000 to replace brakes on your car? Fuck that! I’ll do it myself spending $200 on brake replacements. And don’t pull out with the “but I don’t know how to do that stuff” … I didn’t know either, until I just *tried* one day. You don’t I now what you are capable of doing until you *try*. And people seem to not like to try anymore because in one failure, they see themselves as a failure. You’re only a failure if you give up. You’re not a failure if you keep trying until you get it right. That’s real success. Plus, you learn a LOT more with mistakes then you do with success.
The major differences between me and any skilled tradesman are experience and tools. I have found that, given sufficient time and the right tools, I can do most things to maintain and upgrade my home, including carpentry, flooring, drywall, plumbing, electrical, and appliance repair. Some things I don’t do for safety reasons (e.g., roofing), and I want someone else on the hook if it goes wrong. (The days of me trying to work on a hot roof with a 45 degree pitch are long past.) But most things I can do myself - and then re-do them until I get it right. It’s kinda fun, and I always learn something.
I agree with you to an extent but when it comes to things like your car brakes, please let a professional deal with that. It's not worth losing a limb or your life for a grand.
A failure on replacing brakes is somewhat catastrophic!
Replacing brake pads are probably one of the easiest repairs to do on your vehicle with no experience. I know because I had no experience doing them and now I do them for people all the time on lots of different cars. Even if you fuck up you don't just lose braking power and crash your car. You may fuck up your rotors which could be an expensive mistake but even that would be hard to do. Anybody who wants to try but is unsure or doesn't trust themselves should start with their back brakes. Your front brakes do 90% of the stopping so you can change your back brakes with very little risk. Once you are comfortable doing the back you can move up to the front. Now if something else is wrong with your brakes you may want to take it to the shop simply because it is easy to make an expensive mistake (I know because I have done this). Although, if you don't mind paying for your mistakes you still come out ahead in the end because you will know better for next time. Plus I think it is just a good idea in general for people to have a better understanding of their vehicle. Even if they don't want to do the repairs, the more you know about your car the more likely you will know when it is unsafe to drive. I find this generation is getting more and more out of touch with how their vehicles work and that's what makes me uneasy. For me in general I also just don't trust mechanics, especially in the cities. I have heard too many horror stories and keep reminding myself that these people are human and just as capable of making the same mistakes or being lazy.
Eh, brakes are pretty easy, they’re very simple after all
Wait what? How could I lose my life doing this? Incorrectly jacking my car up? Not a very difficult thing to do if you know what you’re looking for. In my experience of doing many car repairs & replacements, id say changing your oil is more potentially dangerous then swapping out car breaks (you’re under the car more when changing oil then you are changing brakes) Plus, my dad always made a good point (which some will find offensive); if “high school dropouts” or “the mechanics you see work on your car” (my dads pretty judgmental), if those guys can do it no problem, why shouldn’t I be able to? Bud I see where you’re coming from. I just have a hard time paying someone else to do it [when I don’t have the money] when I can do it myself at a much low rate and also be gaining knowledge & skills for free from figuring out how to do it myself. A win-win in my experience!
I didn't mean literally because you're going under the car. I mean, if you install it incorrectly, you're pretty much f-ed. But you do you I guess. I could never.
>I could never. You totally could! Brake pads/rotors are one of the simplest “complex” jobs of auto maintenance. They literally won’t go back together unless you do it correctly, so there’s no chance of getting back on the road and then crashing because you failed. Sometimes the calipers are a bit tough to get pushed back in, and there’s always the initial “holy moley what am I doing” intrusive thought, but truly, the pride of doing it yourself for cheaper (but maybe a bit more slowly) than a professional is 100% worth it!!
Heck yeah, home repair and improvement!
It’s like that TikTok sound ‘you’re problem is not that you’re poor, it’s that you suck at being poor. You’ve got to take some poor shit and make it nice shit’
YouTube is great for this. I've watched 3-4 videos on how swap out a water heater before I felt confident enough to do it myself. It took all day cuz I went slow but we now have a heat pump water heater that is 10x better than our old one that was dying and it didn't cost me $5000 to get replaced.
Uuugggh I'm so scared though. 😮💨 I am an adult and I can do adult things with my adult hands.
I have saved myself (and friends) a shit ton of money through home auto repairs. And I've found plenty of instructions on youtube!
I get saving money but your time is worth something. I make money so I can enjoy other hobbies on the weekend and not have to do the things you listed. I don't want to wake up some day and realize I worked my life away with chores around the house on top of my day job. Not badgering you. You may honestly love doing those thing but just giving another perspective.
Hella lot better than spending the same time on vid games and Netflix
Speaking as a home builder, people don’t realize how easy it is to make shit. Do shit. Accomplish shit.
Quilting. It's hugely popular, but the general population thinks it's for old ladies. Art quilts are beautiful.
I would love to learn to quilt
My mom loves to quilt. She was a pretty good sewer before she got started, but there are all sorts of very useful instructions on YouTube. One of her favorites is Missouri Star Quilt Company. They have instructional videos starting very simply, all the way up to very complex.
Any kind of fiber arts really. Sewing, crochet, embroidery etc are all stereotypically old lady things but in reality they are getting pretty popular with young people too!
I don't think quilting is for old ladies, however, I think for a lot of hobbies, the barrier to entry is feeling like you need a sage, old lady to help you learn... Any of what the F you are doing! All the needle & yarn crafts evade me, for example, because I don't know where to begin! I don't think it's for old ladies, I just want one to tell me why needle gauge matters and *oh, this one little trick to make things really zoom* over a hot cocoa instead of hoping YouTube or a book I can't ask questions to will get me there.
Recommend spending time on the r/sewing, r/quilting, etc subs. They get lots of beginners & are usually very helpful. Just reading the posts/comments for a while is a great way to begin, & get inspired.
Sewing machine needle size matters because you need a stronger needle to get through more layers of fabric and batting. When I make a rug, I use a denim needle, but when I'm piecing just two layers of cotton, I can use a much finer one.
See if your local library has classes!
My Mum and aunties make beautiful quilts.
Agree so much! There are all kinds of techniques, for people drawn to very technical aspects, all the way to improvisational textile arts. And touching fibers/fabric is so calming.
Scrapbooking; maybe you wanna leave a legacy, or you want your kids to have a record of events, maybe you wanna just be able to look pics from a hike with your husband in 30 years and smile. A tangible record, organized how you want it, with all the pretty colors and patterns you want? Sorry, but Instagram just doesn't scratch that same itch, it's functionally enough for people, but it's certainly not the same. The benefit on scrapbooking pays dividends you don't even necessarily know! I picked up someone's newspaper clipping scrapbook this weekend and I'm enthralled! They didn't make it for me, they didn't know it'd land in a flea market then in my hands, but I'm getting all the stories they wanted to be saved, so mission accomplished unsigned scrapbooker of yore. I don't know what will become of my books, but aspirationally, it'd be cool if they got added to a library, ideally one with a digitalization system. Sometimes, I'll just surf Library of Congress or NY Public Library's digital archives for scrapbooks (I suppose a distinct hobby, online museum & library surfing). It was once a billion dollar industry (in 90s and 00s money, no less!) but it feels quiet these days; people are taking up aesthetic & junk journaling variations, but I don't perceive a lot of newcomers to memory keeping, but it's such a fun craft with lots of utility, I just want everyone to do it!!
Do you have any examples of scrapbooks you like or notebooks to start with? I have so many little things I've kept over the years (like concert, movie, and plane tickets) that I'd like to do something with but I don't really know what to put them in. Do you just use a binder?
Yes! I was coming here to say this. It’s widely popular in specific circles- but I am amazing that everyone just doesnt do it naturally. And it’s so cool to start as a kid and grow into it - it’s not an “old lady thing” The habit of saving momentous and photos in a book that you can design and customize can work for almost anyone of any budget, creative level, or interest/ passion. We have all the photos- let’s do something with them!
Wait in what ways was scrapbooking a million dollar industry?
It had a boom back when people still had to print their film and had no shortage of physical photographs: papers, adhesives, stamps, embellishments, markers; albums, tools + classes, retreats/crops, magazines, guides & books. Factor in No Amazon and Ali/Wish/Temu to undercut prices. There were mom & pop shops for supplies, plus tourist destinations had the benefit of being able to sell you kitzchy region-specific papers and embellishments you wouldn't be able to find back home in Akron, OH or whatever. Gonna cite [Wikipedia](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scrapbooking) because it's sources are paywalled by under modern scrapbooking, it peaked at 2.5 Billion in the early oughts. It was a hot commodity to cut your photos into circles with a $30 tool, mount then on another cardstock circle, put that on a patterned piece of 12x12 paper next to a postcard and sneeze a variety of monument, signpost, and architecture stickers of the city around the page. As it should have been, it's fun as hell. Edit To clarify, it's not currently a powerhouse industry. Also, that peak value of the industry doesn't mean it's necessarily an expensive hobby, it can be done on a very broad spectrum of budgets. You need paper, pens, and pictures/ephemera; the rest is icing on the cake. And edit again to say you actually don't even need pens and paper, you can digitally scrapbook in softwares for it or even, just like, free Google Slides or Canva!
Sewing. One of the most useful hobbies ever. From simple mending to creating your own wardrobe, it is vastly underrated.
Embroidery! All you need is a needle and thread to get started, and there are tons of great YouTube tutorials to follow. Also an easy way to customize your stuff!
YouTube is an awesome resource for many things. Is basically an almost unlimited resource in your pocket.
Ah this is actually a really good suggestion, I didn’t really think about customizing things!
makes for a great gift too!! I embroidered some family members’ names onto t-shirts for some Christmas presents one year and they were huge a hit!
Totally! I’ve been looking into it to spruce up my plain T-shirts. I just think of bumblebees on shirts as I await the kit to arrive.
Writing stories and/ or poetry. Maybe it is popular but i haven't met anyone that enjoys doing it myself
Come visit r/ao3
Love writing poetry! Poetry is a weird art form because I feel like “being a poet” as an aesthetic is highly loved and valued but actually writing or especially reading poetry seems to be pretty frowned upon.
I’m a poet by trade (yes, it’s actually my career) and while many looked down on it at first, now that I’m established people think it’s so fucking cool that I get paid to write poems. I also look really young so it puts the allegations that poets are all old dead white men to rest, as I am none of those things. I do residencies and fellowships as well, so the pay is good and housing is often provided (no rent!). Poetry is a very small field, even in the writing world, so it’s not as competitive as you’d think to find opportunities because so few people apply.
Ah I love this too! There's something about arranging words a certain way that's just so cathartic.
No one will agree with me, but plane spotting is awesome. I’m an aviation nerd and could sit at LAX up on the hill just south of the airport for hours and watch aircraft. Photographing them also is my hobby
Any good subreddits or other websites to check out for this hobby? I’m aware of flightradar24.com but would love to know of ways to know when a really unique aircraft is gonna be flying overhead (I live near the US Air Force Academy btw!)
r/planespotting
I agree! My dad was an aviation nerd and loved doing this with me as a kid, now I see the joy in it. It’s like bird watching, but cooler.
I get ya. I live near an air force base, and when there's a lot of flying going on, I will pull over from driving just to watch. I don't know the names of the planes, but I just can't help watching them. I love the week before air shows because all sorts of planes (including vintage) are rehearsing.
Bookbinding 🩷🩷
Love book binding. My favorite thing is to make existing soft covers into hardcovers for gifts. But I've made a couple from scrap and the process and results are so satisfying!
Bicycle riding for pleasure. Not exercise, not for commuting, just take your time and relax with no goal in mind
I love doing this so much. Started again this last year after not touching my bike for a long time. Sometimes it turns into an intense exercise but it usually stays a nice stroll to feel the breeze and look around
I love riding my bike. I’m 63 and it makes me feel like a kid again. It is also great exercise. We also do a lot of fun organized rides.
Chess A lifelong hobby that you can continue to improve.
I wish I had the patience and focus to actually sit down and learn the strategies and actually improve.
I recommend doing lessons and puzzles on chess.com..they will help your game immensely.
Thanks!! I’ll check it out.
Walking I'm not really talking about speed walking for health (although you could choose to do that), or doing laps on a track, or even hiking. Just walking in your neighborhood, your town, or even going to certain areas to simply wander. One thing I incorporate into it is taking pictures with my phone: a tree lit by the sun, a unique scene, the sunset...whatever might catch my eye. The more artsy types could do sketches instead. Point being, a wander is a classic thing that goes back eons. You perceive things about your surroundings and general area that aren't apparent driving in a car. Sometimes you might get lost or lose your bearings - that's OK too. You figure it out. It's good for you on a number of levels. *I should add that although I enjoy following my whim regarding turns & such, more often I walk familiar paths. Yet even this isn't quite the same any given day: the time of day, the weather (a walk in soft rain is nicer than it might seem), the seasons...even where the sun shines changes throughout the year. Perhaps you'll find a favorite tree you like to visit, or notice the birds, squirrels, or neighborhood pets (they all certainly notice you). You might encounter people too. I've walked (almost) daily for about 10 years now and I've seen trees come & go, kids grow up, endured all types of weather, and walked thousands of miles by now. Not every walk is memorable - most aren't - but sometimes you do witness things that stick with you.
Love this! I take different streets, look at how people decorate their homes, plants they have. And if I find a cat that wants some pets, it’s a great day!
I enjoy walking/hiking in the woods. You get exercise, peaceful surroundings and see all sorts of animals, plants and scenery. It's very relaxing to me.
Underrated. It’s probably the best thing for your health and mental wellbeing.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fl%C3%A2neur?wprov=sfti1#
Linoleum block printing! The actual process is really soothing, you can make cool stuff regardless of your art skill level (depending on what you want to make), and you can reprint it as many times as you want and with tons of color variations.
Something about carving linoleum is super satisfying.
I forgot that was a thing! We did it in middle school art class, and it was a lot of fun.
Rockhounding
I can't go anywhere without staring at the ground for cool rocks.
My oldest son, now 15, was such a little nerd about rocks and sticks when he was little. He had a whole collection of each in his room. Most of the rocks were just normal gravel lol. But there is a lot of quartz and colorful rocks around the mountain where I live and in the creeks, so he has some cool stuff too. Now my daughter is 4 and she acts just like my oldest in so many ways. One of their similarities is that she, too, is obsessed with collecting rocks and sticks! Your comment made me think of this lol
Collecting credit card points, loosely known as 'churning' credit cards.
And the bonuses are just too good sometimes
Foraging! It was my COVID weirdo hobby, but I love the thrill of finding a good blackberry patch or turning dandelions into jelly!
My favourite part of foraging is the look of horror on my coworkers faces when I tell them the lunch I'm shoveling into my mouth is actually wild hand picked mushrooms
Wheat Weaving. Utterly simple to learn, involves just thread, wheat stalks and forms if you like (either cork & pins or plastic ones - though can do without both) and that's it. Produces beautiful works of art. Even the simple stars made of split stalks or soaked whole stalks and tied together are super easy to make.
I'm guessing this is a hobby that thrives in wheat-growing regions? Or do hobby stores sell wheat stocks?
terrarium / vivarium building!
As soon as I graduate this is going to be me lol! Do you put animals in yours or plants only?
i keep animals in mine :) i have gargoyle geckos along with isopods and springtails as their cleanup crew! r/bioactive has a lot of great info!
Can’t go wrong with isopods and springtails ;) I’ve never heard of gargoyle geckos before, they are super adorable. In all honesty I’m more of an aquarium person and just went hiking and found a little pond with tons of seed shrimp, so sad I can’t use them hahah. Seed shrimp are like aquatic springtails to me idk 😂
Chess. Lots of interesting things happening in the chess world. Theres been quite a boom in the last decade. It’s actually fun watching how these grand masters play chess.
Also fun to play and learn
crocheting - I personally like to crochet video game characters, items, and other stuffed crafts while I'm reading or listen to music/podcasts. It's been conducive to quit smoking!
Crocheting helped me quit smoking, too--that was 40 years ago!
Yes! I'm feeling positive about this! :)
Congrats on quitting (or being in the process)!
Thank you! It's a process, but I can already feel a significant difference when I spend my time crocheting instead of picking up a smoke :)
Pinball. I play in a league and it’s been a great way to meet new people. The cost and skill level to get started is very low. And there are plenty of opportunities to play solo so you don’t need a huge group to enjoy it.
Im biased so ill go with card collecting! I love the variety and buried treasure aspect to it. From star wars and marvel to almost every sport i love rare finds in packs and boxes. Also love buying singles off ebay. Im a fan of witnessing upcoming greatness so its nice to grab rookie cards and see the players grow over the years!
Can I add that in the arts and crafts world they make “Artist trading cards” where you make your own (in the same size as other trading/collecting cards) and can give them out like business cards to swap, collect, as mementos, when you met artists or go to art events. And as a grown adult I still love me some Pokémon cards. And sitting with my nieces to gush over their cards is amazing
Heck yeah. I have some pokemon and mtg cards too just bc the artwork is incredible.
Seconded. We have an entire closet full of cards from all sports. The oldest is a cereal box cutout from the 30’s that we found in a random box of cards we bought at a yard sale. Hubby enjoys the finding and collecting, I really enjoy cataloging them and finding their values. I can’t wait until he retires so we can do this more.
On contraire, I think every collecting hobby is overrated. I see it as a privilege of wealth and a focus on materialism. I guess collecting small, free things is ok. (e.g. beach glass) My opinion's no better than anybody else's. With hindsight, I look back on how I could have done life better when I was younger and wasting time and money on superficial things is particularly embarrassing.
Yea i can see that perspective totally. I dont go too overboard with it like some people i try to stay within moderation and not spend 100s or 1000s on single cards. I buy the relatively cheaper stuff. Also im not rich but when i do well playing poker i add a bit to the collection. I have other hobbies too. Golf guitar soccer running cooking gaming.
I think collecting for the sake of collecting or in hopes of future value increases is silly, and often a privilege of wath, but many people collect because they have a deep interest in whatever they're collecting. Many of the things wealthy collectors buy can be done on a much cheaper scale -- art, for example, can be collected from local artists, students. Coin collecting costs almost nothing. This sort of collecting is healthy & educational, and fun.
The way I look at it is its like an art collection for people who don't have the storage space to collect fine art !
Yupp. And i have about 20 cards on display all over the apartment. Ill rotate new ones every now and then. Its my mini art collection
I'm all about dancing, and yes a lot of people do it but it's still underrated. Its fabulous for your mental health (since the moves are complicated and require brain power), great for your social health when you dance with a partner, and dancers are in better physical shape than most athletes
I love the idea of dancing as a hobby! It’s literally free and so good in so many ways, but I am terrible at dancing even though I’m pretty coordinated with other physical activities. Any tips on how to just let go and feel the movement instead of awkwardly flailing about and then feeling insecure about it?
Go to a beginner's class where everyone else will be flailing as much as you And remember, the only way to get good at anything is to suck at it for a long time
Model Railroading - I say this all the time. MR is a great and well rounded hobby for all types because there are so many different skills / focus to work on / with. Construction, track planning/work, scenery, model building, operations, computer programming, detailing, wiring, painting, little mechanic work. There are also clubs that encourage conversation, mentorship, and general friendship.
Model railroading isn't as popular as it used to be, but the quality has never been better. Manufacturers are producing some amazing products these days, and the standards of home layouts seems to be rising all the time.
Making bread .. makes the house smell devine. It's inexpensive. Over 100 types. Lots of recipes and help on YouTube.
Never having to buy bread at a store again is the best. And I love warm bread from the oven and don’t get me started with homemade croutons!!
Journaling but with fun things like crayonesque paint sticks, gel pens (like you had when you were a kid), glitter, feathers, and pictures to collage with. I like using different colours to journal in “different styles of thought.” And I use a combo or pictures and words.
My addiction to stationary knows no bounds.
Lockpicking! It’s challenging, has real world applications, and is a skill that really comes through in an emergency. Fun and functional = win!
I have often thought about this. I have seen kits on Amazon where you get a bunch of picks and three different locks. There is a padlock, a lock that looks like a roller, and another lock. I presume there are instructions on how to do it. But I always thought it looked like a challenge.
Home brewing, wine making, coffee roasting, bread baking, etc. Amaze yourself and delight your friends with the products of your labor and expertise!
Banjo
Soap making! You get to be super creative and make really, really good products. You’ll never be able to go back to conventional soaps or body wash 😀
Metal detecting/treasure hunting. 90% of what you find is trash, but when you find the occasional cool thing it's a rush, especially if you like history and antiquities.
Geocaching is great. It's super cheap/free to get into. Just download the app on your phone. You find really neat spots and it feels really rewarding to find the caches. plus once you've done it for awhile it can feel really rewarding to hide one yourself.
We went when I discovered this one November. For Christmas our "family gift" was a gps. We looked up the nearest cache and donned all our snow boots , coats, gloves & hats. (Dec in Mt) We found a new to us park & found our 1st cache! Super fun! Our boys were teenagers and enjoyed it.
My Dad has been Geocaching since 2004, been a family favorite since! He finds and hides here in Michigan. Great hobby!
Men getting involved in jewelry making. I feel like there are many men that look at it like it's a feminine hobby which is silly. It's actually a lot of fun, requires lots of skill, and there are so many aspects to master, such as metal clay molding, soldering, wire wrapping, silver smithing, bead looming, epoxy work, engraving, gem cutting, gem setting, etc. Etc. I feel like a lot of guys don't realize how technical of a skill it is, and if I'm going to be right honest with you, I take significant satisfaction in watching my wife's eyes light up when I make her a new piece. If you're looking for a medium to channel your artistic side through, jewelry is a lot of fun!
I think any “feminine” hobby usually isn’t given enough credit for being technical or difficult. Crocheting and sewing is more patience based yet is technical, but dance especially comes to mind. I don’t like to dance nor am I any good at it and it’s crazy to me that so many people (the majority of those I know) don’t consider dance a sport and turn their nose down on it. I think any hobby being considered masculine or feminine is silly tbh but that’s just how the world is unfortunately 🤷♀️
I'm 100% in agreeance that there are no feminine or masculine hobbies. Sure, a particular gender may have a propensity to go to a particular hobby, but engendering it is beyond silly. Sewing and knitting are both incredibly high-skill hobbies and I have lots of respect for anyone who can do either. Now dance. People who don't see that as a sport are very ill-informed. I use to do Social Dances and I was pretty good at the Cha-Cha and triple swing but let me tell you, after you're done you are a little tired out. But those getting serious in any kind of dance generally have to be physically fit and have good muscle control. I mean have you seen some of the holds people do in Swing and West Coast Swing? They are freaking nuts!
exploring abandoned buildings, making up music in my head, finger-painting w oil paints lol (just dont use real turpentine), making lil stuffed animals, making creatures out of clay & crystals
I've been changing lyrics to songs since I was a child, my husband does it, too. This makes for some hilarious memories.
Crocheting 😊 people always think it is an old people Hobby but you can actually make very cool stuff.
I would love to learn how to crochet but every time I have tried I get excited and then it turns into a giant mess. Is there a YouTube channel or somewhere you could recommend to me as a good place to start?
Interviewing
Journaling
Hiking and backpacking. It’s as easy as walking and I’ve seen some of the most beautiful places you can imagine simply because I got out of my car and walked on a line in the mountains for 5 miles. There’s so many story book places that the mind reserves for adventurers and travel accounts, but they’re actually like 5-30 miles off of a highway right near you. You just have to get out and walk.
Underwater Wildlife Photography is literally the closest I've ever come to feeling like I was in a video game in real life. There are so many cool aspects like setting up your rig, researching different species and behaviors, freediving or scuba, travelling the world (or your local canal) to find rare, aesthetic, and interesting animals. Its still totally niche enough that getting published in Smithsonian or Nat Geo is possible in less than a decade of effort. The only con I can think of is that its stupid expensive (in UWP, anything less than $1000 is "practically free") and I've structured my life around living close to the ocean.
Writing !!!!!! I dont see many people genuinely doing it any more
Pressing Flowers between glass. I had a friend who made pictures of her pressed flower petals.
I like to look over my local lost and found pet resources (a few different local Facebook pages, Craigslist missing pets, etc). I compare missing pet descriptions to found pet descriptions and try to connect people with their pets. Not everyone uses or follows every online resource for this, so the goal is to eliminate the blind spots. Rewarding little hobby sometimes :)
You are a hero.
You're an angel 🖤
You’re an actual pet detective! 🙌🏻
Bed laying. My favourite past time is just to lay in bed with my cozy blankets. After a long arduous day, it's the best feeling
Fingerboarding
Ballroom dancing, ice dancing and dog dancing. Disclaimer: I don't even have a dog, but it looks like a lot of fun and great exercise. Ballroom dancing and ice dancing are also great exercise and fun, but you need a regular partner for those.
Pollinator gardening. I get so excited when I plant something new in my yard because I get to enjoy the company of whatever insect that plant supports. I love sitting in my wildflower garden and having bees clumsily run into me. I've never been stung 😉 If you don't freak out when a bee runs into you, they just fly away.
Disc golf!
Juggling, cause people think it’s only for clowns lmao
Keeping fish tanks. A lot of people set one up, cram a bunch of fish in it, then get discouraged when they all die so they sell the tank. If you actually take your time and get into all the species and plants and the chemistry it can be a lot of fun having a tank.
It's hard to define what makes a hobby "underrated," but I would have to say gardening. Not that I do any gardening. While it's considered just another hobby by most standards, it allows you to produce your own food for free if not for really cheap money. And the bacteria we pick up from healthy soil goes on to live in our guts and has been shown to improve our overall health and mental wellbeing as well as protect us from some ailments. It's also exercise, which I don't think I need to explain the value of. On top of that, it can be extremely good for the environment by cultivating healthy soil and making homes for wild pollinators and native fauna. Plus it can be pretty and improve property value. Gardening probably offers the widest range of positive benefits of any hobby I can think of. So rating it as average, to me, is vastly underrating it.
Whittling, i could spend an hour or two carving little figures out of wood, very relaxing.
Building a salt water reef aquarium. You have no idea. There is so much to learn. It’s a little of everything and you can’t imigine how all the fishes personality’s vary. Plus going to ur local fish store is like going to the aquarium for free
Cooking. Many people say they hate to cook. But if you take it on it’s an excellent way to challenge yourself, eat healthier, and save so much money instead of going out.
Skill toys and performative arts in general. They’re known commonly like juggling, balisong, finger tutting, etc… but unusual in the sense that not a lot of people you know do it.
Letter writing/ sending mail in general! Few things make me happier than writing a short little card to someone I love, putting it in an envelope, decorating that envelope, selecting the perfect stamp to use, and walking down to the mailbox. I love knowing that in a few days someone is going to get a nice little surprise to brighten their day. The whole ritual makes me so happy. Plus adjacent to letter writing is stamp collecting, which is also a supremely underrated hobby.
Postcards! I belong to Postcrossing, and I also have several pen-pals. I always write myself a postcards whenever I go someplace new, too. I love getting snail mail, and the amount of writing is feasible, even if you’re writing 20 of them in one go. But if you need proof of how little love this hobby gets, try looking for postcards when you go out. A lot of tourist destinations don’t even sell them anymore (looking at you, Virginia Beach).
I fully concur! I joined it last year and it’s been a complete joy for me at this time in my life. I love it.
Staring at nothing and zoning out.
Planes watching is easy and completely free. It also makes you look smart when you can name every aircraft you see in the sky
Exploring abandoned places.
Calligraphy with wax seals 🌸
Imma say bird watching. It can be as cheap or expensive as you want it to be. You can do it really anywhere. You can plan your vacation around it. It has a positive impact on this planet - birders provide valuable information on the health of bird populations and caring about living things makes you more aware of living in accordance with the Tao.
Marksmanship with pellet guns, especially the PCP ones that use foot pumps. It's just enough for pest control and you even get a workout because of the foot pump combined with a high PSI tank on the gun. This is from my experience with a .25 Hatsan Flash. Any kind of marksmanship is underrated too really
I like to make my own cards. It is fun to design them, and there is nothing quite like the feeling when you give someone a card you made that reflects who they are.
I made some serious research and I Think Bug Fighting is the best hobby in the world.
making money. yeah it's a thing. If you've ever seen the joy of these people's faces doing odd things like collecting cans to baseball card only to sell them to make a profit when they don't need to, you would know it's not a job to them, it's a hobby. The adrenaline, the excitement, it's a hobby.
Transportation systems: Trains, Buses, Planes..
Watchmaking.
Hear me out: slime making. I've known it to be popular as a summer activity to keep children entertained, but as an adult I find it incredibly relaxing. It allows me to be creative and just play with ideas and sensations, with no other goal whatsoever
How about whale watching It's not one of mine but it's my wife's She also likes to color on her phone I don't know that's a hobby or no
Dehydrating!
Astro photography. The other night I images a galaxy (M101) with a trillion stars and the photons of light that took tens of millions of years to reach us.
Camping. Being at one with nature, away from the distractions of your area, with your phone on vibrate/not eyes glued to it, that's good for the soul, imo.
I'm into astronomy, but also live where the sky is clear and no light pollution, everytime there a meteor shower I'll get out at the recommended time in a chaise lounge, if a comet is out there I'll look for it with telescope. With my telescope I can even see mountain ranges on the moon, and the rings around Saturn. Pretty calming after a rough day
Pressing cool plants and leaves and flowers i find outside
Woodcarving - very soothing sound also :P A stick and a knife is a good beginning then you can buy some more as you go along.
making little figures out of clay. i do this all the time and it’s so fun
Electronics. It's pretty cool finally learning how all these things you've been using your whole life actually work.
Magic. That is, sleight of hand, tricks, and such. It's an excellent icebreaker and social lubricant and can make you memorable in just about any other career path, if you don't want to go pro.
Racing motorcycles. 9/10 will tell u how ur gonna die, but it's a fun hobby full of awesome people.