Hobbies

I find my hobbies somewhat costly. For my mental health, I decided to start having hobbies. Although I enjoy looking at Instagram or browsing through Pinterest and watching many Youtube videos, I don't think those things count as hobbies, simply because I don't get much out of it and don't feel accomplished. So I decided to get creative and start my blog, draw, paint, and read. But once I started doing these things, I realized that my hobbies can be expensive and that I need to find a balance between reaching my financial goals while enjoying my hobbies. So here are a few things I do to keep both my wallet and my sanity happy.

1. Drawing: use my pens, pencils, and a blank notebook. There is no need to buy expensive art pens or pencils or nice sketch books. Yes, it would be nice if I had those fancy pens with a fine point, but realistically, am I gonna use it everyday? Nope. Luckily, my friend gave me a nice drawing notebook for my birthday. So I have that going for me. But unless I become a professional drawer?? (haha) or unless I draw every day, I don't think I will purchase anything expensive for this hobby.

2. Painting: unfortunately, this is something I have been longing to do but was not able to make any progress on. Painting is expensive. I need an easel (I mean I could go without it but it would be annoying to move my painting around every time I have to use my desk for studying), canvas or nicer papers to paint, brushes, and actual paint. I would really really really love to paint and create a piece of art for my apartment but I have to delay this since I don't want to buy paint and make it go to waste after using it once or twice.

3. Blogging: this does not have any additional costs so I am happy with this hobby.

4. Reading: I already have so many books that I bought and never finished reading so I am not worrying about buying new books at the moment. But what I try to do is to compare the prices for paper books vs. kindle versions and go with the one that is a bit cheaper.

When I first started posting on this blog actively (last month), I felt a bit sad that I was avoiding doing certain things because it was costing me too much money. For example, going out with my friends or grabbing food with them. And the same thing happened when it came to my hobbies. To be honest, I never had the time to enjoy my hobbies but now that I have some off time, I am enjoying doing the things I like to do. So what do you guys enjoy doing in your free time? What are you doing to find a balance between your hobbies and your finances? Please let me know and cheers to having a balanced life!