Hobbies that bring in cash

[guesswho]

I have an idea. How about everyone list their "enjoyable hobbies" that bring in enough income to at least sustain themselves. The best hobbies in my opinion are the ones that cost nothing which I'm sure can only help out in RE.

[Dawg54]

Originally Posted by guesswho

I have an idea. How about everyone list their "enjoyable hobbies" that bring in enough income to at least sustain themselves. The best hobbies in my opinion are the ones that cost nothing which I'm sure can only help out in RE.

My hobby is golf but I would starve to death as a hustler.*

Originally Posted by guesswho

I have an idea. How about everyone list their "enjoyable hobbies" that bring in enough income to at least sustain themselves. The best hobbies in my opinion are the ones that cost nothing which I'm sure can only help out in RE.

If it brings in income it's WORK, not a hobby. A hobby is something that earns no income.

Otherwise, Friends become customers and customers become friends and then the Rat Race is On!

[sailor]

Originally Posted by Cut-Throat

If it brings in income it's WORK, not a hobby. A hobby is something that earns no income.

Otherwise, Friends become customers and customers become friends and then the Rat Race is On!

How about avoids expenses than?
From my experience:
- gardening
- cycling & walking (instead of driving)
- making moonshine (make sure you get a small fuel producer permit to be legal in US)
- making your own electricity - hydro, wind, solar
- solar heating of your hot water or your house
- buying/selling stuff on eBay

[Jeb-NY]

Not sure it counts as a hobby and I have not started yet so I don't know if it will bring enough money to be worth the bother, but....

I plan to start selling off surplus crap from past hobbies that have went in other directions or have been dropped all together, on eBay. I figure I have a few years worth of auctions without adding any new crap. I don't expect it will pay to many bills but it may let me buy some new toys without tapping the savings.

I assume there must be other eBay sellers here, how much work is it. If it goes beyond a couple hours a day I may not bother.

Jeb

[cute fuzzy bunny]

My hobbies are also cost avoiders, not money makers. Do all my own maintenance and repair on cars and homes, and cook all our food.

That saves me more in a year than the average person makes over what I used to pay other people to do it for me before retiring.

[sgeeeee]

I have 15 citrus trees, a peach tree, an almond tree, 3 fig trees and blackberry bushes in my yard. Tending them (irrigation and pruning) is a hobby. The fruit we eat, use to make jam and fruit leathers, and we use it to make gift baskets. No hard cash involved, but it saves us a lot of money.

I review/edit books for a couple of publishers. I usually find a couple of manuscripts a year that I want to read. I enjoy it, but they do pay me $500 per book and give me a copy when it comes out. I would probably do it for a free book, but the cash is nice.

My dominant hobby is archaeology. No saving there.

[renman]

My favorite hobbies include homebrewing (beer) and antiques/historic architecture.* I like foreign travel a LOT, but not sure you could call it a hobby and it sure as hell doesn't pay for itself!

[justin]

Not sure you call it a hobby, but reading books - free/cheap (library, or used from amazon). The per-hour cost of reading if you buy a book at full price is still very low.

PC Games - as long as you aren't constantly buying new games or upgrading your "rig". I'm still working on games I bought a few years ago, so no need to upgrade the computer for a while.

TV/Movies

None of these make money, but they are relatively cheap (as compared to, say, tricking out motorcycles).

[Outtahere]

Hobbies are reading, garden for veggies and flowers,* I go to flea markets and yardsales. then sell that stuff on Ebay, I also have space at two consigment shops. Do I make any money at it, yes and it pays for the other hobbies, maybe if I put a little more effort into it I could pay bills from the income.

As for Ebay, nothing gives me a bigger chuckle than to buy something for a quarter and then sell it on Ebay for $50+.

[HFWR]

I could make a "few" bucks playing music, and maybe a few as a cabinetmaker, but in my experience, it turns an enjoyable past time into "work"...

[jug]

Hobbies, hmmm, let's see.


Drinking cawfee by S. Bucks at their outdoor stand on Beaver Street.and watching the young girls in short skirits walk by. Yummmmy.

[yakers]

Well lets see, I like kayaking. I have several including one I built. I have led a bunch of paddle outings for my church outdoor group.
But the prospect of turning this into a business is just too much. I would have to get an inventory of boats, someplace to store them, a way to transport them. And I would need my wife, son or a paid assistant as it is really necessary to have at least two leaders. Insurance would be a problem. And at that point it may not be fun anymore.

[brewer12345]

Originally Posted by yakers

Well lets see, I like kayaking. I have several including one I built. I have led a bunch of paddle outings for my church outdoor group.
But the prospect of turning this into a business is just too much. I would have to get an inventory of boats, someplace to store them, a way to transport them. And I would need my wife, son or a paid assistant as it is really necessary to have at least two leaders. Insurance would be a problem. And at that point it may not be fun anymore.

Um, don't tell the wife, but I bet you could probably get a job as a guide.

[Michael Moore]

I've had a little motorcycle side business for about 15 years. In very good years it turned a very minor profit, in some good years it roughly broke even, and in other good years it let me write off a bunch of stuff I'd have bought anyway and offset my regular income with a loss.

But one of the two major products I sold went out of production a couple of years ago, and the other major line (very niche market technical books on m/c design and construction) is in the dwindling down phase, as it is just too hard to get the word out about the books as advertising costs are pretty prohibitive. Plus, the next batch of books (generally about 180 at a time, shipped in from England) would require me to shell out about $10K, and having that much tied up in what would probably be a 7 or 8 year supply of books is just not in the cards now that I'm retired and don't have the extra income that allowed me to dabble with the side business.

I've got enough industrial-quality metalworking equipment (machining, welding and fabrication) to qualify as a pretty nice small machine shop if I wanted to do that. I wouldn't mind making the odd bit of pocket money helping someone with some interesting project (interesting projects for pocket money aren't work). But the liability aspects for the types of things that interest me are pretty daunting, so I'm unlikely to be willing to do much for other people, and the things I do will be very carefully qualified.

A friend who is in the small-engine modelmaking hobby thinks my CNC equipment might let us make some batches of stuff that could be sold off to dealers servicing that hobby. That's only at the idle speculation point at this time, and I'd have to see just what he has in mind.

But if it doesn't sound like fun going in, or starts to feel like work once I'm doing it, it will come to a screeching halt. I've got plenty of my own projects that I need to build stuff for and I'm NOT going back to work.

cheers,
Michael

A Rifle, a couple of thousand acres of bush, exploding Deer Population, ducks, geese, no Bear License.

Fresh meat, no check out line.

[haha]

Originally Posted by jug

Hobbies, hmmm, let's see.

Drinking cawfee by S. Bucks at their outdoor stand on Beaver Street.and watching the young girls in short skirits walk by.* Yummmmy.

Damn! Which Beaver Street is this? Are the short skirts out in winter?

Ha

[wabmester]

I know a guy who collects old computers as a hobby, and he's figured out how to get about half-a-dozen income streams out it. Two of the coolest streams come from movie prop rentals and rentals to IP lawyers looking for prior art. I've done some of the prior art stuff myself. IP cases can drag on for years, and lawyers aren't known to be especially price sensitive....

[Jane_Doe]

I'm not sure if it counts as a hobby per se, but my hubby started a DJ business many years ago that he has done part time. Really started out as a "fun" hobby - he loves music, but became more of a job over the years, besides the fact that the modern music kids listen to can be pretty hard core and that gets old needing to keep up with what is current. Anyway, both our kids made extra side cash helping him and he would get extra pocket money. He has pretty much stopped since our kids are older and he is sick of the "modern" music.

Since we are quiet right now at our business, he has been selling stuff on Ebay to make a couple extra bucks and also de-junk the house. We used to do Ebay years ago for fun when we had free time. It IS fun to sell something you got at a yardsale or thrift store for $1 or less and then turn around and sell it for $40 or more!

Anyway, some people enjoy doing things that HAPPEN to bring in money at the same time. I think that was the point of the OP.

Any other ideas?? (and no, I am NOT going to pass them on to my DH!!)

Time for Happy Hour!

Jane

[BearlyWorking]

Wood working and remodeling. I will be trying to work it into a fix and flip after RE.

Bear