Inexpensive, and little setup, with no steep learning curve?

Off the top of my head:

• singing
• drawing
• playing a tin whistle
• dorodango
• dexterity games (card flourishes, astrojax, yoyo, pen spinning, etc.)
• reading
• kumihimo
• customising things with paint markers
• yoga
• whetstoning
• writing (prose or poetry)
• journaling/journalism
• cross stitch/embroidery
• jelqing
• rock/object balancing
• meditation
• knife throwing
• macramé (using beading floss)
• playing the spoons
• whittling
• eating
• scrimshaw
• nålbinding
• henna tattooing
• primping
• cloudgazing
• looking at fucking everything through a high mag loupe
• tarot divination
• contact juggling
• kefir making
• key duplication by hand
• sleeping
• hiking
• floccinaucinihilipilification
• origami
• talking to nearby friendly looking strangers
• polishing
• cleaning
• caligraphy
• drugless hallucination
• soapbox public speaking
• zen gardening
• guerilla gardening
• pitch ear training
• ‘easter egg’ hiding
• local botanical/ecological studies
• flint knapping
• home/interior design (as long as you don’t actually buy anything)
• knolling
• marble running
• solo RPGs like ‘Alone Among The Stars’ (okay this one wasn’t technically off the top of my head. I couldn’t remember the name, so I looked it up.)

Zero cost:

• Running
• Yoga
• Bodyweight exercise

Zero cost if you have a library card:

• Reading (fiction)
• Reading (non-fiction)
• Online discussion

Price of pencil and paper:

• Writing (creative)
• Writing (journaling)
• Drawing

Fairly cheap:

• Music (playing)
• Music (listening)
• Painting

Origami. Very cheap to begin with, still cheap when you’re deep into it. Unless you got so deep that you’re travelling the world to go to conventions but that’s another story, the biggest expense is buying books once you decide to have them physically.

Don’t use printer paper, kraft paper is cheap and works perfectly. Only down side is having to cut it.

May I suggest simple crafting, like whittling, ancient/native pottery, wood carving, paper basket weaving, origami, crochet (or the slightly more addictive and expensive knitting), braiding, weaving, macrame, yarn spinning, decorative knotworking, flower pressing, dyemaking, hand dying, flower arrangement, make walking canes, etc?

Or maybe an instrument? Someone mentioned guitar, but why not harmonica, ukulele, bongos, simple percussives, or why not take up singing, there’s typically a choir almost everywhere, or you could try solo, or whistling, or yodeling.

Or maybe take up gardening/growing? In pots, hydroponically, maybe on a growing lot, or someone’s yard?

Or take up community projects, like either sanctioned or guerilla gardening, greening, forestry, litter picking, maintaining communal spaces, volunteer, start a community project (pollination diversity, bee keeping, growing lots, food drive, food forestry)

Or take up a cause? Build community, take affirmative action, demonstrate, protest, coordinate, communicate, with an established org, or on your own?

Maybe the outdoors could entice? Take up walking, ornithology, watch bats, discover new insects, take up chabana/ikebana, learn to forage, learn survival skills, go hiking, stack rocks, track animals, learn trapping, get into scouting, make bark boats, learn to skip rocks, climb trees, jump in puddles, pretend (or practice) animistic rituals, feel rain on naked skin, sleep under a bare sky, pick skulls, horns and bones to craft with.

Perhaps create stories, tell stories, write poetry, learn magic, juggle, poi, take up clowning, go swing/country/folk/traditional/ballroom/social dancing, try Butoh, write sketches, join a theatre, start a business, take up decorating, or just embrace whimsy?

I can also warmly recommend trying a new thing every week/month/period and see what sticks and not.

Geocaching

I just want to point out that any hobby you engage in for entertainment without it feeling like a chore is by definition not boring (to you). Personally I couldn’t see myself in a situation where I’d be collecting stamps, because I would probably find it very boring. But others enjoy it, so it’s a valid un-boring hobby, just not for me.

If you live in a city with a parks and recreation department, check out their website for classes and activities.

If it’s a sport that requires equipment, such as racquets or bats, loaners are usually available from the department or other participants.

You really won’t know what your mind and your body enjoys until you actually try it, so just YOLO random activities, but keep it safe of course. Avoid stuff like highrise roof edge parkour, and you’ll be okay.

Meditation ( Creative Commons guided meditations )

Hiking ( some old OSM hiking trail maps )

Boardgames and cardgames ( Spiel de Jahres - awards 1979-2026 ) - Game of the year list, any winners or nominated games are excellent

What hobbies have you liked in the past or have sounded fun? That helps everyone pick a direction.

Geocaching has been fun for me. Gardening but, I’ve gone full !nolawns@slrpnk.net lol, lately I’ve gotten into retro website building in NeoCities.org relearning HTML, CSS and Java script has been fun.

If you have a PC checking the steam sales for cheap games is nice. I just finished my 3rd round of stardew valley.

You can volunteer. If there’s a habitat for humanity near you you can even learn new skills.

What about fixing things? like clocks or small electronics. Lots of places have small community groups now.

Maybe a worm farm?

How about whittling or crochet?

Reading or chess are pretty cheap.

Mushrooming. Cuts expenses, and extremely rewarding. Start with one safe type, learn the more toxic ones, and build on that. There are probably organisations or people in your community that can help you get started.

It’s not expensive. But there’s a cost.

Perler beads. Spent like $20 for a bunch of colors.

Then made various video game sprites like Mario and Sonic.

Motorcycle pole-vaulting. On ice!

retro handhelds.

u can start with getting an R36S for like 40 bucks + a 20 dollar sd card from a reputable brand, just make sure to consult the handhelds wiki for trusted sellers so you won’t get a clone (almost all of the R36S devices sold are clones that have dogshit hardware and often don’t work with a custom OS) and know how to install the OS on new card

it can run nes, snes, all the gameboys, sega genesis, even some ps1, psp and pc ported games. you’ll have to get roms to play the games though but it’s up to you how you’re going to go about that