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Hobbies on a Budget

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Gardening

I love to garden. There's nothing quite like the taste of a home-grown tomato or the feeling of serving your family cucumbers, squash or corn from your own garden. But growing a garden doesn't have to cost alot of money.

Here's some ways to save money on your garden:

Think Freecyle. When we needed tomato cages the first year of our garden, we didn't want to buy the cages. So I just posted on our local freecycle group that I needed them. I ended up getting 30 free from a freecycle member who was no longer planning to use them. Cost? FREE

Get free seeds. Red Robin is giving away free tomato seeds here for a limited time.

Swap for tilling. In the early years of gardening, we didn't own a tiller but we needed the garden tilled so we could plant. We arranged for a family member to come till the garden in exchange for supper. Find a local friend who has a garden and see if you can barter for the service. Most gardeners love to spread the love for gardening and would be willing to make an arrangement. Maybe you could babysit their kids one night or "pay" them with your excess toothpaste and shampoo products?

Order a seed catalog...or 2 or 3 I rarely order seeds from catalogs, but sometimes these catalogs come with great coupons the first time you request it.
Free Gardeners Idea Book
Burpee Seed Catalog
Here’s a link with 45 different seed catalogs links.

Start small If you have never had a vegetable garden, don't plan a huge one. Instead, feel free to start with a couple of tomato plants and 1 or 2 other plants.

Participate in a Community/Neighborhood Garden Don't have a community garden in your area? Just find a local neighbor who already has an established garden and ask them if you can be the helper. This is a great way to 'apprentice' yourself to an expert. You will get to enjoy all the benefits and responsibilities but will not have to shoulder it all by yourself the first year. (Of course, you would have to work out the details with the gardener. You would need to do the weeding, planting and maintenance in order to earn the privilige of sharing in the harvest.)

What about you? Do you have ideas on how to save money while growing a vegetable garden? I'd love to hear!

Tips - Yahoo Groups

Here's a great hobby tip from Melonie - Yahoo Groups!

One of the biggest savings for me is to go out to yahoo groups and find groups that have similar interests as myself. For instance, I am a member of a kids clothing group….and they buy/sell clothing within the group which saves me $$ from posting my items on eBay and also I can find EXACTLY what I want for a cheaper price from a fellow group member.

Another example, is that I have a embroidery machine. I found several groups that I was able to join. The benefit to me is that being a member of the group allowed me to read what other people were doing when they had a problem, ideas for projects, and a wealth of information for newbies like myself. Best part is it was all FREE!

So how do you find a yahoo group that matches your interest/hobby?

Click here to go to Yahoo Groups.
Type your hobby interest in the search box.
You will get the results of matching groups.
If you find one that looks interesting, just click on 'join this group'.
***You will need a Yahoo login (free of course)

I have belonged to several different Yahoo groups over the past 8 years. Great resource!

Thanks Melonie!

Tips - Find a Blog

Do you have a hobby that you are passionate about? Chances are that there are at least 100 people out there blogging on that subject. One great way to stay 'in the loop' about your hobby is to read about others who are out there pursuing the same passion. This involves absolutely no money and only as much time as you give it.

I tried it. I just googled the words "I love sailing blog" to see what came up. There were tons of blogs about people who love to sail.

You can find a blog for almost any hobby or pursuit.

Most blogs give you the option of signing up for a daily or weekly e-newsletter. That way you don't even have to take the time to go to the blog. You will just get an email anytime they post an update.

Have you found any blogs that focus on your hobby? I'd love to hear how you found them!

Writing

Are you an aspiring writer.... but don't have the money or time to really pursue your passion? Here's a few ways to pursue this hobby without spending money.

Why not enter a free, low-entry, essay contest? I just googled for free essay contest and got tons of results.

Find a blog that is writing about something you are passionate about and volunteer to write a guest post. You can google your subject with the word blog. You will probably get hundreds of results. Take a look at several of the blogs then just volunteer. Most bloggers would love to work with guest writers. This would give you an outlet for writing and start to build name recognition.

Buy a journal and a pen. This doesn't have to cost alot of money. Just go to the Dollar Tree or Big Lots and buy a notebook for a couple dollars and an ink pen or pencil that you enjoy writing with. I have talked to several budding writers who insist that they only 'get inspired' when they sit down with a brand new sharpened pencil or particular kind of pen.

Consider blogging There are personal blogs about everything from grandkids, cooking, travel, exercise, family....... You can build a blog in less than 20 minutes and just start writing. Wordpress and Blogger offer blogs for FREE of course. This would be a great place to just start writing.

Whatever you do... just get started writing!

Stamp Collecting

Stamp Collecting is a hobby that many people have participated in at some point in their life.  Many kids find this to be a great first collection.  Here's a few tips to pursuing this hobby while not spending alot of money.

Save all your stamps.  Anytime you get a letter in the mail, check to see what the stamp is  There are so many cool US stamps now that you will be able to have quite a collection just by saving the envelopes.

Ask friends and family to save their stamps. (Use Facebook - If you have facebook friends that live overseas, ask them to save their stamps for you!)

Make friends with a local church secretary.  Many churches correspond regularly with missionaries around the world.  Many missionaries even send regular prayer letters to the churches.  This is a great way to collect foreign stamps!

Buy lots on Ebay  - I just did a search and found quite a few lots of 1000 US stamps that sold for less than $10.00  That's alot of stamps!  Make it even better by shopping through Mr Rebates or use money earned from swagbucks.

Try one (or more) of these free offers:  (I have not ordered stamps from any of these vendors since I don't personally collect stamps.)

• To receive a free packet of stamps send a self addressed stamped envelope to:
  
  The Midnight Soaker
  
  PO Box 51
  
  Old Greenwich, CT 06870
  
  United States Of America
• Free stamps for Youngsters - just send a self addressed stamped envelope - no membership
• Arpin Stamp Company  This company will send you free stamps plus extra that you either have to return or pay for.  I have done offers like this before but not with this company.  Just make sure you read carefully to make sure you don't end up having to pay for extras!

Do you collect stamps? What are some other ways to build your collection while sticking to a tight budget? I'd love to hear!

Tips - Yahoo Groups

Here's a great hobby tip from Melonie - Yahoo Groups!

One of the biggest savings for me is to go out to yahoo groups and find groups that have similar interests as myself. For instance, I am a member of a kids clothing group….and they buy/sell clothing within the group which saves me $$ from posting my items on eBay and also I can find EXACTLY what I want for a cheaper price from a fellow group member.

Another example, is that I have a embroidery machine. I found several groups that I was able to join. The benefit to me is that being a member of the group allowed me to read what other people were doing when they had a problem, ideas for projects, and a wealth of information for newbies like myself. Best part is it was all FREE!

So how do you find a yahoo group that matches your interest/hobby?

Click here to go to Yahoo Groups.
Type your hobby interest in the search box.
You will get the results of matching groups.
If you find one that looks interesting, just click on 'join this group'.
***You will need a Yahoo login (free of course)

I have belonged to several different Yahoo groups over the past 8 years. Great resource!

Thanks Melonie!

Flower Gardening

When we moved into our house 6 years ago, there were absolutely no flowers in the backyard - none at all!  Now I have a huge butterfly bush, azaleas, coneflowers, lilies of all varieties, columbine, hostas, hibiscus, hydrangeas, the list could go on and on.  Have I spent alot of money on my gardens?  Of course not!  You know me!  So how have I been able to grow such a huge variety of beautiful flowers?

Here's some ways to get your flowers gardens going without spending money:

Start talking to your friends. You probably know at least one person who is passionate about their flowers.  Spend some time looking at their gardens.  Odds are that they would love to share some seeds, bulbs or small starts.  (I've even been known to stop at a yard sale, talk to the person who lives there and walk away with a handful of seeds that they just gave me.  People who love their flowers love to share seeds!!! 

Start digging.  You don't have to plan your first garden.  Just start digging.  You can always change it next year.

Use the soil you have! When we first started flower gardening, people told me that I needed to buy mulch or potting soil.  Big problem with that!  That cost money and couldn't be a first priority.  So we just used the dirt we had when we started digging.  Was it the best soil?  Of course not.  But it was a great place to start.

Don't bother buying edging stone, black landscape cloth or weed kill.  A neighbor told us we could have as many rocks as we wanted from where he was doing some building. These made really unique flower garden edgers.  We just pulled weeds by hand.

Bottom line...... Flower gardening is a joy!  But it doesn't have to require lots of money! 

What about you? How do you save money in your flower gardens? I'd love to hear!

Audio Books

We love to listen to audio books when we travel!  We have listened to everything from Dr. Seuss and Little Golden Books to Harry Potter, Chronicles of Narnia, Bear Snores On, A to Z Mysteries and Louis Lamour.  Our kids enjoy watching the miles pass by while we all enjoy a good book together.

Audiobooks are great for people who love to read books but find themselves on the go more often than they find themselves in a chair on the beach. Unfortunately, audiobooks tend to be quite pricy. Good thing there are tons of options for frugal audio books!

Where do we find audiobooks?
The best place to find audiobooks is your local library.  The Boyle County Library has tons of audiobooks in the kids and adult section.  We always check out several before we make a road trip.  Most libraries let you check these audiobooks out for 14 days (some libraries have different check out days - so check first).

Cracker Barrel has a 'rental' programhere. (FREE of course)You purchase the audiobook in one Cracker Barrel location at full price (usually prices range from $10 up to $49 -  Rather steep initial out of pocket)  BUT you can return the audiobook at another Cracker Barrel location and get a refund of your full purchase price minus $3.49.  So basically you rent the audiobook for $3.49 for up to 1 week. (Thanks Mahala & Mom!)


Lit2Go - a free online collection of stories and poems in Mp3 (audiobook) format; Read details


Books Should Be Free100s of free downloadable audiobooks; Click here for details.

Are there other ways to enjoy listening to a good book without spending alot of money? I'd love to hear!

Video Games

If you have video game lovers in your family, you know how expensive new games can be. But there are ways to play video games without breaking your budget.

#1 Tip: Be patient! When a new game is released, that is the most expensive time to buy. We never buy a game at the release date. If you can wait a few months to play the newest game, you will save alot of money. You will also have time to read the reviews from the people who did buy it and be able to see if it is a game worth playing.

Check out GameFly Gamefly works just like Netflix. You join for about $8.00 a month. Gamefly will send you one game at a time. You play as long as you want it. Then mail it back (postage paid by Gamefly). They will send you another game you can try out.

Sell an old game system or games When we wanted to get a Wii for the family, we sold our old Playstation system with controllers and a few games on Ebay. Then we used that money to go toward the Wii. A few years later, we sold our Wii and turned that money into an Xbox. Some people choose to keep a collection of game systems on their shelf. But if you are willing to sell the older system, you will be able to greatly reduce the price of the new system.

Sell your old games We have sold games on Amazon, Ebay, at used book and game stores (McKays), Game Stop etc. At game stores, you will get more value if you trade them for another game rather than sell for cash.

Trade with friends You may be able to find a friend who is willing to swap a game with you. Let's face it, video games get old after a while. But you may not want to sell the game in case you want to play it later. So loan it to a friend and borrow a game for a little while. Both people get to play a new game and it doesn't cost a thing for either. (Just make sure you work out the details of the loan.)

Buy used on Amazon Example: I just did a quick search. Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 is $41.88 new on Amazon, but only about $16.00 used. True, it's not the latest edition, but it is less than half of the cost. Remember you can use Swagbucks to get free money to spend on Amazon!

Are you a gamer? What are some other ways you save money on video games? I'd love to hear!