What are some activities which are free or inexpensive that I can do to entertain myself / keep good mental health while searching for a better paid job?
What are some activities which are free or inexpensive that I can do to entertain myself / keep good mental health while searching for a better paid job?
I recently moved to a new city and don’t know anybody here yet.
I want to try out some things and meet new people and avoid sitting at home all day (but sometimes is ok)
My ideas are hiking, volunteering and reading. What would you recommend? Any good ideas?
Volunteering is a great idea, will also help you network work wise while looking for a job.
Yeah, I’m already helping on a local farm. But i don’t think I’ll find any leads for a job from the people there (i mostly do tutoring and software engineering)
I’m not sure what would be good other places to volunteer. A museum maybe?
I tend to be kinda superficial with people i don’t know though. I would love to be better at getting to know people and making friends.
I don't know if anything like this exists near you, but I've heard of community centres/churches that organise something like a skills library/drop in, where people who have skills they can use to help others - people who can mend/fix/repair/adjust things (electronics, woodwork, clothing, cooking, software) and or also teach the basics to others so they can do more themselves, volunteer for a few hours a week and do just that for the community.
I found this example (E: their FAQ) of a London "Repair café" where they do this kind of thing to give you an idea, and if there is nothing like that that exists near you, it would be a great project to try and start with your local community!
Teach yourself an instrument. I suggest piano because it’s super accessible. A keyboard can be had fairly cheap off Craigslist.
I know a bit of piano :) But didn’t bring my digital piano with me (too bulky)
I do have a small midi keyboard that I brought with me. But I’m not really familiar enough with making nice sounding songs.
Do people just switch octaves to be able to play full songs? Or are there songs specifically made to play on a small midi controller?
I liked playing around in ableton live. But i suck pretty bad, and I don’t know anybody who knows a bit about it. (Or plays an instrument)
Harmonica too, a poor man's classic.
Bodyweight fitness maybe?
This is a good option - your area might have a free outdoor gym, I'd look in to that.
I actually like bodyweight fitness! Would love to learn some gymnastics too.
I have a gym very close by my home, but classes are 60$ per session or something. So not really frugal.
Would be cool to just meet up with some people in a park and do exercises together. Not sure of something like that exist here though.
Start working out in the park and see if people join. I see groups of people practicing gymnastics in the park near me. Also Chinese men with wooden swords recently started practicing in the park and I've seen them teaching strangers which is cool.
Basically you got to create the spaces that you want to see and people like you will join.
There are some exercises you can do at home
The best for you would be to have a kind of open air gym with pull up bars, but if not it's still doable to do some stuff at home
Great way of learning an area is going for a walk and filling in questions for street complete, it's an app which let's you improve open street map. The data isn used in loads of places especially cycling apps where things like road surface are useful.
Sounds boring but it's actually really interesting
This sounds pretty nice actually. I really like the concept of openstreetmaps and I'm surprised what kind of details you can find on it. Do you know if anything like street complete exists for iOS? Unfortunately my current phone is not an android, but might switch to one in the future.
Attend free meetups of people in your career field (or the career you want). There's usually free food/beer, you learn things useful for your career, and you get to network with people and possibly get referrals for jobs.
Cycling. You can get decent bikes second hand for pretty cheap. There's no better way to get to know an area than by cycling. Provided, of course, there are reasonably safe roads and cycling paths available.
Cycling can be such a great way to extend your range of activities without having to pay a lot! My new place is quite bikeable. Although there are places which I would rather avoid, especially closer to the city center.
I really dislike searching online for good second hand options though. Seems like most people here use facebook marketplace, and I'd rather avoid spending too much time browsing for the right bike. (I'm pretty tall. so not always easy to find something.)
I have another suggestion; I am trying to teach myself how to make PowerPoint templates. Apparently selling them is lucrative. Maybe learning a skill is up your alley?
That’s pretty interesting. I can’t imagine it being very well paid though, but I wouldn’t know.
I’m actually quite good with PowerPoint. Even made templates in the past.
But I think it would be better to do something with more social contact at the moment. I already do a lot of programming and it would be nice to meet more people in this new city and not spend too much time behind my computer.
It's not well paid but it's quite nice to make that extra money.
Socially, could you find a nice progressive church? I know a lot of people don't like religion but I've met my best friends there and we're all extremely close, and it's not homophobic or transphobic or anything like that. It's good to meet people who you know are going to be lovely.
Disc golf. Low bar to entry, many free courses.
Martial arts are also a great outlet. Many have forms practice on their school sites.
No disc golf options nearby sadly. Martial arts , I have a few options. I think there is an aikido and a jijutsu dojo nearby.
Prices are pretty high for classes here though. I’m also not sure what kind of martial arts i would enjoy. I tried judo and Brazilian jijutsu in the past, but found it a bit difficult to enjoy.
Pre-COVID I used to find software dev meetups. I found this patent law firm that did Haskell meetups once a month with beer and pizza. I guess they wrote custom software to analyze patents as I was surprised this was coming out of a law firm. Learned a lot and job openings were discussed by various members from other companies.
Stretching. Good for flexibility, mobility, and you can combine it with meditation for an added mental health benefit.
I do some research online and watch a few videos for ideas.
Reading, stretching, hiking or just plain walking around the neighborhood or local parks, learning to cook and plan healthy meals…. These are all inexpensive and there is an abundance of free information available online. All of them encourage a healthy lifestyle, which will contribute to to good mental health.
There's an app called GeoCache which is a fun way to learn a new area. People hide caches all around your city. The app shows you their location and you go find them, leave whatever you want inside (usually you just sign the log book), and then put it back. It's a pretty neat little scavenger hunt when you're in a new area.
If you're interested in meeting new people, look for a board gaming store. They're not common everywhere, but around here there are a few and they host public game nights. I met a few people on D&D night.
Idk if you have any interest in hunting, but the state hunting license class is pretty neat, teaches you a lot about wildlife conservation, and gives you an opportunity to meet and interact with local outdoorsmen.
The Fraternal Order of the Eagles has clubs all across the country, and they have awesome club houses. They're usually like a private restaurant or bar, often have game rooms, and host things like private poker tournaments. It's open to both men and women, despite the old-school name. There's some racism in their past, but that's all ancient history now. They're a really open group, at least here they are.
Last but not least, introduce yourself to your neighbors. If any of them are cool, invite them over for a BBQ or something. Or go out with them to do something fun, like hiking, biking, climbing , or shooting. The closest friends I've made since moving across the country have all been my neighbors.
Edit: adopt a dog! Dogs will keep you active, give you companionship, and increase your chances of meeting a human. There was a recent study that showed people walking dogs are way more likely to meet people while out than people by themselves, especially if the person is a male. Plus, they're just awesome. There are tons of benefits to owning a dog, including being happier, and living longer.
Depending on your interests, chess may appeal. There's generally plenty of clubs around, and you have the social aspect of an activity with the learning curve of a hobby. Lots of clubs organise on Facebook. If you want to play rated games there's generally a fee (to pay national dues), but if you're happy just playing internally it's usually free.
Feel free to ask if you've any questions about how it works/is set up near me.
I get on Google maps and start looking for places to explore. No idea what it's like in your area, but I've found all kinds of neat places hardly anyone knows about, all within an easy hike.
How do you find the interesting places to explore though? I feel like google maps is very good for searching specific things, but when I just want to look around there are too many irrelevant locations. And as far as I know, there is no option to filter out specific things (like don't show restaurants or retail stores for example)
I make money off survey apps in my free time. I know you're looking for activities outside of the Internet, but while it's a grind, I've made 5K off survey apps over a couple of years, and haven't paid for anything on Amazon in three years. I am happy to tell you all about it. I imagine the money would be welcome.