5 Budget-Friendly and Energizing Hobbies for Busy Women  

What you do when you aren’t working can affect your physical, emotional and mental health. Not to mention, the ways in which you unwind after hours could improve your performance at work.  One 2015 behavioral study published in the Annals of Behavioral Medicine found that leisure activities reduced stress and left participants feeling happier, according to participant surveys. The study even documented lower heart rates while participants were enjoying leisure activities. Saliva tests for cortisol (stress hormone) levels indicated lower stress on the body during those activities, too.

Instead of feeling guilty about the time you make to enjoy yourself because <insert excuse here>, try adding a hobby to your “me” time for the week. You’ll reap the health benefits in no time and these five hobbies each costs very little to begin.

Cooking
Choose cooking as a hobby and explore new ways to relax, eat healthier and share your hobby with friends and family. Do you love your grandma’s chicken and dumplings? Ask her for her recipe and prepare it for yourself. You’ll enjoy your dinner and do your part to keep a family tradition alive.

Many working women like to cook on the weekends and freeze meals ahead of time for use during the work week. Another bonus to preparing meals on the weekend is it forces you to plan your menu and purchase ingredients ahead of time, often saving you money in the process. It can also save you calories in the process by keeping you from splurging on fast food on the ride home from work.

Finding new recipes to try has never been easier with the many available websites, Pinterest, and Apps to use right on your phone or tablet. Try 20-minute Meals with Jamie Oliver or Allrecipes Dinner Spinner Pro. Either will help you shake up your repertoire, and both are available for iOS and Android.

Reading
Devouring books, especially non-fiction, expands your mind. Making time for your reading hobby, even 30 minutes a day, can enlighten you in ways you might not have expected. Become inspired by reading about famous women in history. Read a do-it-yourself book to learn how to make chair covers for your dining room. Read a self-help book on how to meet new people, increase your influence or meditate.

Curling up with a good novel calms the soul. You can venture to a foreign land, become a private investigator, or solve murders, all in the span of a few hours. You’ll forget your troubles as you become immersed in the heroine’s plight.

It’s easy to find free or inexpensive reading materials; check out the local library, swap books with friends, family or work colleagues, join a book club and keep watch for free book offerings on sites like Amazon.

Blogging
Do you recall how great it felt to let go of your worries, complain about your brother, and vent about the news of the day? You can do all those things on your own Blog. Let it out! Just don’t make the mistake of complaining about your boss too much. Share your knowledge with other women by blogging about your industry, motherhood or how you’ve managed to succeed when the deck seemed stacked against you.

Channeling your creativity into writing can help you build a following, and, thus, your business, if you do it right. It is especially helpful to engage the creative part of your brain if your career keeps you firmly embedded in facts, figures and technical approaches to problems.

Yoga
Once considered “New Age,” yoga has become a mainstream practice enjoyed by many people for the strength training, relaxation and overall fitness and flexibility yoga provides. You can take up yoga as a hobby in your own home or office using an online resource or follow along with one of the television versions. If you prefer instruction in a class setting, it should be a cinch to find a nearby yoga studio, and some gyms and YMCAs offer classes as well.

Yoga is a wonderful technique to help you cope with work stress, and anecdotal evidence includes people sleeping better after beginning yoga practice. Start-up costs for yoga are minimal, generally requiring only some comfy yoga pants and a decent yoga mat. Even if you abandon the hobby, you’ll still love the yoga pants for lounging about the house.

Jogging/Walking
Jogging (or walking) makes a great, cheap hobby. Yes, you will need a good-fitting pair of running shoes and a supportive sports bra, but that covers the necessary equipment, everything else is gravy.

If you need motivation and fellowship, join a running club. If solitary jogs are more your style, invest in a great pair or wireless headphones and stay pumped with your favorite tunes. Whether you’re a beginning or a seasoned pro, you can track your progress with any one of the helpful Apps to chart your steps, your time, and your calories burned. You can establish your own pace and create your own challenges. When you need a boost, try setting a goal and sign up for a 5K or 10K race.

Next time you chuckle at the woman knitting on the train or coloring in her adult coloring book, think about the health benefits of her hobby. Then, jog over to the craft store to purchase a coloring book, some crayons and yarn.