When I was reading the vacation planning topic, I noticed that both Another Deb and Irishbelle were bird watchers. Bird watching is a perfect pastime for de-cluttered people. All you need is a field guide and a pair of binoculars and you can collect things just by seeing them. Some activities need so much stuff (camping, sports etc).
I was wondering, what other activities people enjoy without acquiring more stuff?
cool topic!
like most people, i enjoy reading and listening to music and i love how digital media has enabled me to do both, with less clutter.
before digital cameras, i never got into photography ( i guess i simply couldn't afford it) and now i enjoy it immensely.
i got my claws on an ipad2 last week, and found a free drawing app....i've never drawn or painted in my lfe and suddenly, i am having an absolute blast doing both.
and absolutely no clutter.
yoga and meditation are clutter-free.
visiting art galleries and museums....absolutely clutter-free.
cool topic!
like most people, i enjoy reading and listening to music and i love how digital media has enabled me to do both, with less clutter.
before digital cameras, i never got into photography ( i guess i simply couldn't afford it) and now i enjoy it immensely.
i got my claws on an ipad2 last week, and found a free drawing app....i've never drawn or painted in my lfe and suddenly, i am having an absolute blast doing both.
and absolutely no clutter.
yoga and meditation are clutter-free.
visiting art galleries and museums....absolutely clutter-free.
It's a slightly approach but I say guitar.
-Acoustic guitar, a guitar stand, a strap, and a handful of picks.
-An electric guitar, a m-audio fastrack audio interface and guitar rig 4 software... You could go sans amp and effects pedals.
From just the title of this thread, I thought of bird-watching (something I love to do, lol). Too funny that I opened this thread & that is the first post.
Love the idea of museums too.
Other ideas:
Walking
Running
Hiking
Nature study (maybe using field guides from the library)
Volunteer work
Reading (get books from the library/borrow books from friends)
Going out w/ friends (dinner, coffee, movies, etc...)
My only really clutterless hobby is yoga – a mat is handy to have, but you can easily do without.
I do try to keep my other hobbies as clutter-free as possible, but there's still a fair amount of stuff involved. It's worth it.
I agree that my reading habit would count, if I would only use the library or a digital reader. I'm not there yet, but I'm on a bookswap website, so at least what I do acquire from thrift stores don't tend to stay long.
I don't think my museum habit counts as clutter free. Once you get the membership, the junk mail begins to arrive in bulk! Plus, they all have divine gift shops.....
My volunteering has actually helped me declutter, though, so I'm counting that twice. I teach craft classes for a cancer support group, and I donate all the supplies from my endless stash. Little by little, the fabric library is getting checked out and not returned!
Baking works as a clutter free hobby for me, only in that I have room in my cupboards for the basic equipment, and tend to stick with what I have rather than buy new things. (Not always. Bakerella's cake pop book snared me. I'm trying to resist the temptation to go overboard with all the things I'd have to buy to make all of her recipes.) Plus, I tend give away my results.
I agree, cool topic. Playing a musical instrument is pretty low-clutter. (I play ukulele and sing.) Also, writing. Although I do like to write in notebooks. I also like hiking, which doesn't need much special equipment if you're just going for the day.
Ligiahag is a spammer. Not a good idea to visit the site, either; could infect your computer.
cooool topic. :) i like to lie in the sun, in my garden, watching the the birds or the clouds, listening to the wind...
talking to persons that i like is my favourite "hobby" and absolutely free of clutter but always inspiring.
I volunteer for the local music festivals. I get into all the concerts for free, and no ticket stub clutter!
As long as you use, love, and properly care for the equipment that your hobby requires, I think all hobbies can be clutterless, regardless of how much stuff they require.
For my photography I have a lot of equipment (camera bodies, lenses, loads of accessories, lighting equipment, tripods, reflectors, a studio space etc etc) and I use it all. If I chose to give up my studio and be a street photographer, I could probably do very well with just one camera body and one lens; but that's just not my style. I don't consider my abundance of photographic equipment clutter, however, because it's all stuff I use, love, and care for, and it all enables me to pursue my passion.
As for what hobbies one can do without accumulating more stuff, I'd be tempted to say "any hobby you want". One person could do yoga in their living room, wearing their regular clothes and without a mat; another might prefer to have several mats, towels, blocks, straps, special clothes, special bags, books and quick reference guides, subscriptions to yoga magazines and memberships to yoga centres. Does that make yoga a clutterless or a cluttery hobby?
You might think skiing would be a cluttery hobby, since it requires a lot of equipment; but if you choose to rent your gear every time you hit the slopes and not keep any in the house, does that make it clutterless?
Someone mentioned drawing as a clutterless hobby; but depending on how much you like to experiment with different types of paper and different tools (pencil? conte? pastel? ink? charcoal?), you can accumulate stuff quite easily.
Even bird-watching can make you accumulate stuff. If you decide you want to take photos of birds, rather than just watch, you need some pretty sophisticated equipment.
I could keep going, but I think you get the point. Any hobby can be cluttery or clutterless, depending on your outlook and preference. The emphasis I would add is to pick your hobbies according to your passion for them, not according to the number of objects they require.
I’m pretty bad when it comes to uncluttered hobbies... my biggest one is sewing/beading/knitting/crochet. I managed to weed all that stuff down to two bins of supplies, a bin of costumes I made, plus my sewing machine. That stuff just takes up a lot of room, but I’ve been doing it since I was two years old and STILL don’t want to give it up, hahaha. I enjoy it a lot.
I like to read too. I use a bookswap site like jbeany and try to borrow as much as I can. I still have a good shelf of books though and try to keep it in rotation. There is ALWAYS a stack of books by bed that I read.
I used to collect dolls and then realized, for me, there wasn’t any point to that. I got rid of most and now I’m down to my two favorites (and won’t be getting any more).
All of my hobbies are clutter-less because the items I use for my hobbies (regardless of quantity) I do not consider clutter.
I paint, read, garden, bake bread, visit art galleries and museums, take care of my dogs and travel.
Painting could be cluttery but I keep everything in a large basket except for the paper which is stored vertically on a shelf over my desk. Having it organized is key.
:) I don't consider my sewing & costume stuff clutter, but my hubby does. Unlike Ginger, I have more than 2 bins of supplies.. try 12, plus the sewing machines and their cabinet. (I have a serger in addition to a regular sewing machine.) Used to be a lot worse though.. I have gotten rid of a LOT of stuff over the last couple years. My problem is that I need to sew more and spend less time on the computer. :)
Visit your local library and read! This has afforded me a lifetime of enjoyment at a very low cost and zero clutter. If I want to read something more recent, I usually download an ebook or in rare cases add a nice hardback to my personal library.
Video games can also be a low clutter hobby. I have a collection of hundreds that fit neatly in a CD binder. The most cluttery hobby I have at the moment is the guitar because I rarely play it.
I don't consider my hobbies and interests clutter either after getting rid of excess, and I no longer buy supplies unless I have a project planned and know how much I need. Yes, it takes up space, but so does my bed, but I enjoy my hobbies as much as I enjoy sleeping :)
I have some hobbies that could be considered cluttery, but what does keep them contained is that I've assigned them some limited space and they are not to be expanding outside of those borders any more; knitting/crocheting, jewellery making, quilting and paper crafting. I will cull down some other potential hobby areas that just won't happen, once July is here. Like JuliaJayne, I won't buy fabric for quilts or other supplies for the other crafts, unless there is a real project in sight.
- Jewellery making: I'm about to open a jewellery shop at Etsy and if it becomes a humble success, it will then be my way of getting rid of earrings etc. Some end up being gifted to my sister, but she already has enough; don't have the heart to clutter her up either...
- Reading: e-reader, library, blogs. Thank god for those.
- Photography: camera, usb cable, charger plus cord, extra battery, will buy a small tripod for a table (Etsy photos have to be as sharp as possible)
- House planning: photos collected from on-line sources, assembled in electronic journal and blog articles
- Decluttering: yes, this has become a hobby that counteracts some other activities in my home/on-line!
I don't have any clutterless pastimes. :-) All of mine take gear or supplies or stuff of some kind.
Dancing, writing, photography, beadwork, reading, cooking, gardening ... my "rule" for hobby-associated stuff is that I can't have more than the available storage can accommodate. I don't want the Stuff from ANY of my pastimes to be on view all the time.
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