How to Reduce the Costs of Your Hobbies--And Maybe Even Profit By Them

For most people, retirement is a time of more time and less money.  Now that you finally have time to engage in all those hobbies you put off over the years, you have less money to spend on them  Hopefully this post will give you ideas to support your hobbies.

Let Friends and Family Buy Your Materials

If your hobby produces things people enjoy having, let friends and family know that you are willing to "work" for materials.  If your hobby is needlework, perhaps a friend who is expecting a grandchild would love for you to stitch a piece for the nursery, and would consider the cost of the materials to be a bargain.  If gourmet cooking is your thing, give someone a shopping list, and prepare a meal at their house, or invite them to yours--a win-win.

Sell the Fruits of Your Labor

Many people with gardens end up with far more produce than they can use at some point, and many give it away.  Ask the recipients of your largess to help pay for your expenses.  If crafting is your thing, look into getting a booth at a craft fair periodically.  The trick is to take on only as much as you can handle without it becoming work.  

Give Lessons

Is knitting your thing?  Would your local craft shop pay you to teach once a week?  Think about what you like to do and think about where you could give lessons.  Perhaps your local community education program is looking for teachers, or the local store that sells supplies for your hobby.  Can you trade golf lessons for green fees?

Write About It, or Make Youtube Videos

I know this is going to shock you, but most bloggers do not get rich from it.  However, depending on your hobby, a blog could do a lot to support it.  Book bloggers gain access to Advanced Reader Copies, which can be either physical books or digital.  NetGalley and Edelweiss keep my Kindle full, and all I have to do is post reviews on my book blog, This That and the Other Thing.  I get monthly mailings from Litfuse which offer me physical books.  Catholic Word and Pauline Media send me pretty much any book they sell that I request.  Most experienced book bloggers find themselves with daily offers of free books in return for a review.  While Advanced Reader Copies are not supposed to be resold, and digital copies cannot be resold, it is easy for a book blogger to end up with piles of books which can be resold if desired. Check out It's Monday What Are You Reading, Mailbox Monday or The Sunday Post to become familiar with book blogs and the wide variety of review copies bloggers obtain.   While other niches may not have the steady supply of review material that book blogs do, blogs that attract a readership can sell ad space, write sponsored posts, host giveaways and make money from AdSense or other advertising programs.  

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As far as blogging goes, my advice is different from what most people writing "how to blog" posts say.  If you are blogging about your hobby (as opposed to blogging as a hobby) hoping to attract enough readership to get review copies and make a few dollars via affiliate links or Adsense, I suggest starting with a free Blogger blog.  It will mark you as a not-professional blogger, but it won't cost you anything.  WordPress may be more powerful (and it has tons more things you can spend money on) and your own domain name makes some people take you more seriously (or so I've heard) and is better for Search Engine Optimization, but self-hosting costs a few dollars every month and unless you attract a substantial following, you aren't going to earn that much--and you aren't going to get the following unless you really work at your blog.   If your goal is to be a blogger, follow the blogger's advice on how to be a great one; if your goal is community and review copies, a free blog will work just fine. 

If your hobby lends itself to demonstrations, demonstrate on camera and upload the video to YouTube.  If you develop a following your videos can earn you money from the ads that play before the video, or you may be asked to use and advertise certain products.  

I get about 4,000 pageviews a month on my book blog and about 2,000 pageviews a month here, and I earn about $4.00 per month from AdSense.  I have more books than I can read, I secured a freelance writing customer and I've gotten some freebies like a nice set of mixing bowls, an Exergen thermometer, a dog toy and a grill brush.  I'm a very small player in a very big world, but my blog supports my reading habit.  

Enter Giveaways

Find blogs about your hobby and chances are good that you will find giveaways offering supplies.  You can even find giveaway link-ups.  Many of them are run via Rafflecopter and can offer dozens of entries if you have the patience to look at everything they want to you examine but you can find smaller giveaways with better odds of winning, though the prizes usually have a lower value as well.  I've won books, holiday decor and even an electronic prayer book.  

Don't Forget about the Library

Yes, it is easy for a reader to obtain free (or shall we say paid for by taxes) books at the local library,  but today's public library also offers videos, and access to a variety of databases.  Instead of buying cross-stitch patterns, check books out from the library.  If you want to build something, a book from the library may be able to tell you how.  The library has cookbooks galore and magazines on many different topics.  Instead of subscribing to Ancestry.com, go to the library and use their subscription.

Check Out Garage Sales and Secondhand Stores 

Whatever you enjoy, chances are that other people do too, and that still others have tried it and found it wanting.  As people de-clutter, all sorts of things make their way to the garage sale or to Goodwill. I know someone for whom the hunt for quilting fabrics is almost as much fun as quilting.  

While most of our hobbies will never be truly free, a little creativity can make them much less expensive.  What are ways you have found to save money (or maybe even make money) on your hobby?

Kickfurther Merchant of the Week: Active 10

This week my Kickfurther merchant of the week is Active 10, which makes a topical analgesic cream. Darren Cohen, one of the company founders was kind enough to answer a few questions for me.  Darrin has played tennis since he was five years old. In all junior age divisions Darrin was ranked in the top five in Northern California and top 30 nationally. At the University of Virginia he competed as a top six player on the varsity men’s tennis team for four years, achieving an NCAA singles ranking of #36, and a doubles ranking of #10. When he graduated from UVa he competed on the ATP Professional men’s tennis tour. After one year on the tour Darrin achieved a singles ranking of #1100 and a doubles ranking of #740.

Q:  Can you tell me a little about Active 10?  What is the story behind the name?

A:  My partner and I founded Active Formulations in 2013. I was a professional tennis player ranked 750 in the world and had my career stop short due to nagging tennis elbow. My business partner and I were on the court one day and she was telling me about a few supplements that she manufactured and I suggested that she and I develop a tennis elbow cream. Over the course of the next year and half we worked with a chemist and manufacturer in Florida developing Active 10. The name is derived from the number of active ingredients we use to treat localized pain. We have since added one, but have stuck with the original name.

Q:  I see on Amazon that you have four different products. What are they, and what are the similarities and differences? How do I decide which one to order for my problem?

A:  We really only have one product at the moment. We sell Active 10 in a 2oz jar, a 3oz roll on container, and a 4oz tube. We also market our product to tennis pro shops and country clubs and call it Tennis Elbow Grease. Nearly half of all tennis players at some point will have tennis elbow so we are trying to appeal to that niche segment. As far as ordering, typically our customers start with a 2oz jar and once they figure out that what we are selling is a really high quality formulation that actually works will reorder our larger sizes.

Q:  For someone applying daily, how long does one package of your product generally last?

A:  The 2oz jar will last approximately 1 month with daily use.


Q:  I see on your website that Active 10 is sold at tennis clubs and chiropractors' offices. Do you have any requirements for those who carry your product or will you allow any retail outlet to do so?

A:  We wholesale our product to verified vendors. We like to research our accounts to make sure we are partnering with organizations that will represent our brand as a first class product.

Q:  How did you first hear about Kickfurther and why did you decide to use it?

A:  They approached us a few months back after they had heard about our product on social media. We were right in the middle of a major production run and figured we could use the help in funding half of the order.

Q:  You are in the payback phase of your first Kickfurther offer.   From a merchant's point of view, what are the advantages and disadvantages of Kickfurther financing vs conventional financing?

A:  The advantage to using Kickfurther is it was very little paperwork or background checks, and an extremely fast turnaround time. Essentially they just use the inventory as collateral. The disadvantages are obviously the really steep interest rates. We were sold a pitch about how the investors would help us to sell product, but that didn't actually happen.

Q:  Well, I'm trying.  Would you recommend Kickfurther to other businesses? Why or why not?

A.  I think its a really easy way to secure a little bit of money to help with production runs but in the long run its not really a viable business option. Margins are too thin to be paying 20% apr on money borrowed. So to answer the question, its a great way to get started but companies will need different sources of money at much cheaper rates to survive long term.

Q:    Have you tried Kickfuther as an investor? Why or why not? Would your recommend that friends invest via Kickfurther?

A:  I have used the site as an investor and feel its a really great way to earn excellent returns. I have recommended it to my friends as well. Returns are so high, I've seen the site crash because investors are clamoring to lend money at insanely high interest rates.

Q: Yes, I was on that day too,  I have notice though that especially with second offers that rates seem to be trending downward.  Of course the reason for the high interest rate on Kickfurther offers, or on loans from other sources is to cover the losses from companies that default.

Is there anything else you'd like to tell us?

A:  Active 10 is the topical pain relief solution of choice of the Dallas Cowboys and Kansas State University athletic training rooms. We also have verbal commitments from Safeway and Lucky Grocery store to carry Active 10 in 2016.

I'd like to thank Darren for visiting with us here today.  The product photos above are all Amazon links; I get a small commission if you use those links to purchase Active 10.  I am also a backer of Active 10 on Kickfurther so when they sell, I get paid.

Active 10 is a link to an Amazon page showing all their different packages.  Active 10's website is here. 

If you would like to get in on the high returns Darren spoke about, you can use my referral link, and I get credit.  You get $5.00 toward your first investment.  If you have a business that needs help financing inventory, you can use this link and I get a finder's fee.     

My Financial Goals for 2016

As we get ready to begin a new year, it is time to look at where we have been and to where we want to go.  It will take a few weeks to get all the information I need to report on where I've been, though I have a pretty good idea now.  However, I want to share these financial goals with you.

1.  Continue my Loyal3 Lunch portfolio, adding an average of $20 per week, or $1000 over the year.  More would be better, but a lady has to live a little, right?

2.  Devise a budget and work with my husband to stick with it.  We've never done this in a formal sense and despite the fact that we have limited some of our large expenditures, it seems that money is slipping through our fingers rather than going to meet long-term goals.  

3.  Unless we end up needing to buy a car this year; do not take any money from savings; live on current income.  We were able to do that this year, except for tuition.  However, we expect to be paying about the same amount for tuition from now until we retire.  When my college girl graduates, her sister will start Catholic high school (unless something unlikely happens).  She will graduate from high school (and start college) about the time my husband retires.  In short, tuition needs to be a regular feature in my budget, not an extraordinary expense drawn from savings.  

4.  Add $300/month to our Prosper or Lending Club accounts as savings for another car.  We have enough money in the bank for our next car and should we need to use it, we will stop investing in these accounts to replenish our savings. 

5.  Continue our 401K savings at the current level.  Maybe next year we can increase them, but right now, holding steady is about the best we can hope for.

6  Add $100 per month to each of our Roth IRA's.  This will be a challenge.  

7.  Renovate my den.  I'm expecting about another $1500 from my dad's estate.  I want to pull out some paneling, put up sheet rock, and paint.  If there is enough money, I want new flooring.  

8.  A second honeymoon for me and my husband.  My youngest is going on a Girl Scout trip this summer, and since she won't be home, we'd like to leave the big ones and go off on our own for a week.  

9.  Earn at least $50 per month from freelance writing.  I currently have a client and I'm going to try to pick up some more work.

What are your financial goals for the next year?