We all have at least a hobby and some of us have many hobbies. We collect items like stamps, coins, key chains or we make items like cards, origami or we engage in activities like gaming, horse riding, scuba diving, gardening and the list goes on.
Hobbies are something we enjoy doing. Not only that we’re willing to do it for free, we actually spend money to enjoy our hobbies. There are hobbies that don’t cost a lot but most of it cost us money and in the long term when it comes to the point of realization where we spend too much money and time in our hobbies, we stop enjoying them altogether.
What if there’s a way for you to sustain your hobby regardless of how expensive it can be? There are so many ways! If you do it well, you probably don’t even have to spend a single cent in your hobbies anymore and the best thing is that you could very well make money out of it.
Here are 2 ways you can sustain your hobby without costing you too much of money and time and another 2 ways you can monetize your hobby:
DIY, Recycling and Upcycling
If you’re into making arts or crafting, you just need to innovate a little to save some material costs. Instead of buying new materials all the time, are there ways you can potentially still do what you love by finding inexpensive alternatives such as using recycled materials?
Take for example, Kimekomi, which is a Japanese craft that involved tucking fabrics to make dolls or ornaments. You don’t need to get new fabrics. The cheaper alternative is to buy scraps or collect your own scraps lying around your house.
There are quite a number of artists who solely make their sculptures through upcycling old items.
Exchange or Trade Your Collectibles
If you love collecting items, you can always find others with similar interests and exchange the additional items you have. If you have two similar key chains, stamps or coins, you can trade it with a different one.
Your hobby is a way for you to get in touch with your inner child. It’s a great way for you to escape and experience joy in doing what you’re most passionate about. It’s sad to let it go because you have no time or can’t afford to sustain it. Don’t let it happen to you. If you have any more ideas that can help one sustain their hobby, please feel free to share it here.
Sell Your Items or Offer Services
If your hobby involves creating something, sell them so that others can enjoy your creation. Trust me, if money is not an issue here, you still need to think about where you’re going to store all the dolls you make or how are you going to consume all the cupcakes you bake?
My partner loves Amigurumi, a Japanese art of crocheting stuffed dolls. She enjoys making different dolls. The question is, where is she going to store all these dolls when it gets to hundreds or thousands of them? What good will it do? It will do a lot of good if she shares them with others. That’s when she founded Babe’s Creation and started selling it as gifts. Not only that she makes some money to cover the cost of the raw materials, she found the satisfaction in seeing how happy people are when they receive their Amigurumi dolls.
Another example is my scuba diving instructor. He has stopped scuba diving but when he used to do it often, the smartest thing he did was to start offering people scuba diving lessons. Money aside, I think his greatest satisfaction was to share his love for diving with many others.
Create Online Content
This is my favourite way to monetize what you enjoy doing. You can choose to make tutorial videos to teach others on your hobby or simply create related content about your hobby as a way to share the joy with others who enjoy the same interests.
As an avid gamer, I constantly put my gameplays and favourite gaming cutscenes on my YouTube channel. I don’t monetize it but it’s sort of my gaming journal. However, if you want to monetize it, you can do so as long as you fulfill certain requirements of YouTube. I do monetize my gaming blog through Google Adsense. I make enough to sustain my hobby in gaming but there are so many content creators that make a living out of it.
I hope the suggestions above can help you get some ideas to sustain your hobbies. Please don’t give up on something that bring you joy just because you think it’s too hard to sustain. You just need to be a little creative and innovate ways of doing things.
Feel free to share with me what you enjoy doing and if you’re using any of the suggested ways above to keep you going. Remember this! Your hobbies don’t have to drain your wallet.
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