Joleisa - The Frugal Lifestyle Bloggers
Hobbies That Clear Your Head and Make you Money
It’s been said that one of the best things for your mental health is to get involved with at least one hobby that you enjoy. This not only gives you something to focus on, but it also helps to keep you calm and centred.
We are taking it one step further and suggest that being involved with certain hobbies can also help to make you some money.
Some time ago, mental health blogger Jess gave us these tips on the subject. The more we thought about it, the more we realised that we are actually sitting on some goldmine ideas that can help our mental health and our wallets.
Here are a few of our passions that have actually made us some money in the past, and they could possibly help you readers too:
Baking to improve mental health
We absolutely love baking and find it quite easy to follow recipes, make modifications and we also love experimenting with decorating cakes.
Over the years we have put this skill and knowledge to the test and made cakes for birthdays, anniversaries and even a wedding cake.
We have to be careful though as we don’t do this as a job but actually as a hobby which we enjoy.
If someone wants us to make a cake for a celebration, we have to factor in all the costs to see if it will be worth it financially. Cake making can be an expensive hobby so we are careful to make sure we tally all the finances properly so that we don’t take on another headache.
Crotcheting
Before we were teenagers, our mom sent us next door to a young lady who was really good at crotcheting. We would sit on her veranda and just watched her until we got the knack of things. After some time, we learnt that valuable skill and in our forties we used that skill to make blankets, baby items, shawls and baby comforters, not just for the sake of making them but to sell. This has been quite a little earner for us. Some of the items we listed online and once we even entered a craft fair where most of the items we had for sale were crotcheted items.
These days we are quite busy with lots of thing happening all at the same time but whenever we feel stressed and have the time to sit down, we crotchet. It is really really calm and soothing. We don’t sell a lot these days but the items that we crotchet make beautiful gifts for our families and friends.
Crafting
We have enjoyed doing craft since our primary school days and right throughout our lives we have dabbled in one form of craft or another, from paper craft, to bookbinding. Of all the hobbies we have dabbled in perhaps this one is the one that has given us the most monetary return. Granted, it is the one that we have invested the most in. We recently bought ourselves a cricut machine that was recommended by a friend in Holland, and although it was quite expensive, we have really enjoyed using it.
We have used it for paper craft, as well as to decorate insulated and plastic bottles and cups and also to add decorative features to bags.
As well as being very therapeutic, we are grateful that it has earned us some cash to cover the cost of the materials and the machine itself. And also that it has helped us to be less stressed! That is always a plus!
Cooking
Now that I look back on it, I am really glad that my mother insisted that us girls come into the kitchen to watch her cook. At first all we had to do was watch, but after a while we began to take on commis chef role and then by the time we were teenagers, we could cook almost anything. My mom is a really good cook and I am delighted to say that she taught us well. When the time came in secondary school for us to make our option choices, we were sure that some ‘cooking’ lesson would have to be part of it.
Roll on a few decades later, and we still enjoy cooking for our family, our friends and even cook on a television programme which we absolutely enjoy. It is so much fun and yes we are paid to do it. I know some people find cooking stressful and a real bother, but it can be enjoyable and I do think the best time to start is whilst you are young.
Writing
Very recently I had the ‘pleasure’ of the company of an 11 year old in my home. When she came I noticed that she was constantly on her Iphone so that even when you spoke to her, she did not remove her gaze from her phone which I found to be quite rude. Any way, some time in the afternoon of the following day, she came to me and asked what should she do as she had run out of data! It didn’t take me long to give her my reply which was to get one of the many age appropriate books from the guest room to read. Needless to say, she was not happy with my suggestion and did not take me up on the offer.
I can honestly say, I can't remember a time when I could not read. I remember reading all the time, inside, outside, wherever I was, I would read. In my opinion, reading builds your imagination, your appreciation of times, places and culture. Reading can transport you to places and situations so that you feel a sense of the situation that you are reading about. I find that reading is calming and relaxing and I would certainly recommend it as a way of keeping calm.
As a result of our love of reading, we also wrote and published our own book called Living Life While Squeezing Lemons. You can find it below.
Sewing
We can follow almost any pattern to make a full garment! Thanks to sewing lessons we took when we went off to college. This skill has helped us to save money on things like adjusting or even making curtains and drapes, bedsheets, cushions and even handbags.
The skill of sewing always come in handy. And it is quite therapeutic to sit and plan and change even while you are sewing a piece.
When we had babies, we would make little outfits for them using bits of the fabric left over from making our own clothes. Imagine how our hearts welled with pride when people commented on how cute their outfits looked! And this too, gave us a mental boost.
We still love sewing even though we don’t have really little ones anymore. So sometimes we invent girls teen girls round from church and teach them, using fun ways, how to sew on a button, repair a rip, recycle a garment or article, and even how to make a skirt and a dress. These have gone down really well with the parents and we sometimes have a waiting list! It does help to make us feel worthwhile, productive, and able to give back to the society.
Your mental health, just like the rest of you, is really important and needs to be treated that way. Sometimes we do need to take a break, but sometimes it is activities, skills and hobbies that we need to get immersed in so that we can clear our heads and manage our emotions.
Hopefully we have given you some ideas to think about and we would also love to hear your ideas too!
Jo and Leisa are frugal lifestyle bloggers and they blog at joleisa.com and joleisareviews.com. They are a part of the team on Channel 5’s Shop Smart Save Money. Both trained teachers, they now blog full time and work with a range of brands. Their children are their pride and joy and Leisa also fosters kids from birth to 18 years old. The girls love to have a laugh with friends and family.
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Thank you so much girls for your kindness and for your contribution to the blog.
Keep up the great work.
Darren