Some Cool Hobbies to Start in 2025
We are now a couple of weeks into the new year, and I’ve spent a lot of time pondering what I would like to do differently in 2025. I’ve wondered how I can better use my time rather than simply scrolling my phone during every spare moment. Likewise, it would be nice to have more spare moments, as about 95% of my time is spent working, parenting, cleaning my house, or some combination therein.
Having discussed this with my husband, he said something so simple and obvious (as he so often does) - “You need a hobby.”
Boom. Why didn’t I think of that?
He also regularly encourages me to not take on so much of the household responsibilities (bless him). While I feel perfectly happy cleaning the entire house whenever I work from home or on the weekends, he thinks I’m making things too hard on myself and that it would be wise to put my feet up once in a while. It’s hard to imagine doing that for any period of time since I long for the day when every single chore is done and there is nothing more to be done. But it seems like that day is never going to come. Therefore, it would probably be a good idea to be more flexible with my responsibilities and simply enjoy life a bit more.
Since then, I’ve spent some time contemplating what kinds of hobbies would be fun, worth pursuing, and wouldn’t require me to spend too much time away from home and my family.
Here is what I’ve compiled:
Scrapbooking. This is a hobby I would love to start this year since I have so many photos - both physical and digital copies. Also, it’s so easy now to have the photos on your phone printed. Some ideas on how to organize your scrapbooks:
A scrapbook of just you and your spouse/partner over the years.
A scrapbook of your child for each year of their lives. Make sure you have plenty of shelf space if you’re going to do this one.
A scrapbook of you and/or your spouse from childhood or early adulthood.
A scrapbook of you and your original family - parents and siblings.
A scrapbook of your pets.
A scrapbook containing any school photos.
A scrapbook containing photos from specific holidays over the years - such as Christmas, Halloween, 4th of July, etc.
A scrapbook of random photography, if you’re a little artsy and just love taking pictures.
A scrapbook of family travels over the years.
A scrapbook of very old family photos - think grandparents as little kids, your great-grandparents, etc.
Gardening. In terms of frugality, self-reliance, and sustainability, I can’t think of a better hobby than gardening. This isn’t a hobby I would normally consider since we don’t live in a house with a backyard but now, concepts such as “urban gardening” and “vertical gardens” are emerging with great popularity.
Cooking or baking new recipes. Cooking is usually nothing special in our house - we have to make food all the time, being a family of 4 and all. However, cooking and baking can become quite an adventure and a lot of fun if you’re exploring new recipes or making yummy desserts.
Deep cleaning. My husband disagrees that this can be a hobby and thinks it should be removed, but I’m keeping it. I have found that cleaning, especially deep cleaning, can be relaxing and fulfilling. Of course, it depends on how much time I have to clean (I often feel rushed and cannot do everything I want to do) and which chores I’m doing. There are certain chores, such as cleaning the bathroom, that I will never enjoy as much as other chores (such as vacuuming and mopping). Most of all, I enjoy decluttering and re-organizing and could do it for hours on end if I have no other obligations.
Reading books. Preferably real books, if you have access to a bookstore or a library. There’s just something special about old, dusty pages in a book. Reading a physical book (as opposed to an audiobook, for example) also forces you to sit down and stop doing anything else, which I think is probably more relaxing and mindful than listening to an audiobook while completing other tasks.
Knitting or crocheting. I have believed for a long time that these activities should make a comeback, considering they have fallen out of popularity in recent decades. For a very brief time in high school, my senior math teacher started a knitting club, which I joined. Learning how to knit and watching my ugly scarf grow in length was more fun than I had expected it to be.
Writing/Journaling. It’s well-established that writing and journaling can be fun, possibly lucrative, and very fulfilling. There are a limitless number of possibilities when it comes to writing topics and you can literally do whatever you want on paper. Here are some topics to pick your brain if you’re interested in writing:
Write a scary short story. Don’t be afraid to make it a little wild.
Write a song and try to put it to music if you know how to play any instruments.
Think about something in your life that you would like to change and then write a story about that alternative path your life could have taken. You can create a completely different world than the one you’re living in now.
Write down a few sentences about what happened that day.
Think of a period of time you would be interested in exploring (such as the 1980s, for example), and write about yourself living in that decade.
Explore and examine your most genuine emotions and write a poem about them.
If you had a childhood you didn’t particularly enjoy, rewrite your childhood as if it went perfectly. Perhaps in this alternate childhood, your parents never got divorced or you never got bullied, for example.
Volunteering. In this world, it is so important and gratifying to give back if you can. And there are so many good causes to spend your time and money on - animal shelters, men’s shelters, women’s shelters, shelters for victims of domestic abuse, etc. Or, you can simply buy some necessities and food and give them to random unhoused people who are walking around on the streets. I live in Central Florida, where countless destitute individuals are sleeping under I-4 on any given day. Driving by them and seeing them so cold and probably hungry tugs at the heartstrings for sure.
XOXO, Alexis.