Finding a cheap hobby
By Jennifer McPhee • Bankrate.com

Michelle Goodison found her ideal hobby when she joined an outdoor soccer league six years ago. Playing the sport costs the Toronto-area teacher less than $60 each season, keeps her active and prevents her from whittling away the hours on her more dangerous pastime -- shopping.

For some, hobbies are just an excuse to spend piles of money on toys. However, not all pleasant diversions lead to declining bank balances; lots of hobbies are relatively inexpensive, or even free.

Why bother?
Hobbies can actually make you healthier and happier, say experts. Regularly focusing on something enjoyable outside of everyday activities causes you to forget your problems and relax. This can improve and possibly even prevent a host of health problems, writes neurologist Miguel Figueroa in the forward to Tina Barseghian's book, "Get a Hobby!"

Hobbies also allow you to revisit that "unconstrained, pleasure-seeking state of mind" that you experienced as a child, writes Barseghian. "As kids, we tried out all sorts of activities, and we got to experience the pleasure of doing something for its own sake; whether the activity was macramé or gerbil-raising, happiness was the main objective."

Barseghian's book includes a hobby personality quiz and describes 101 hobbies, many of which are both quirky and inexpensive, such as gravestone rubbing, dumpster diving and ant farming.

Say goodbye to green fees
If you love the skill, focus, and competitive spirit associated with golf, but don't want to spend thousands of dollars on golf clubs and green fees, you might want to check out golf's cheaper cousin: disc golf.

This sport's rules are similar to regular golf, but players hurl discs, or Frisbees, at baskets instead of hitting balls into holes. There's usually no charge to play because most disc golf courses are located in public parks. You can get started for under $20 because all you need is one disc, says Dean Aelick of Sudbury, Ont. who took up disc golf two years ago.

However, once you're hooked, you'll probably start coveting all the "goodies," says Aelick. "I've probably spent a couple hundred dollars on discs," he says. "But you can spend $2,000 on a set of golf clubs, and you don't have to pay the $50 to $200 green fee."

Canadian amateur disc golf champion Dwayne Bereziuk of Brantford, Ont., says he loves the sport partly because disc golf courses are wilder than hyper-manicured golf courses. "You're out there in the woods," he says.

Of course, the low cost is also a bonus, but only if you keep your craving for the latest and greatest equipment under control. "Mind you, I've probably got $1,000 worth of discs," he says. "I'm out of control."

Geocaches are everywhere
Geocaching, another inexpensive hobby, combines technology with the outdoors. Simply explained, geocachers hide and find things using a Global Positioning System device, or GPS.