Hobbies and pastime have become more expensive due to inflation

What about getting into sports? Even two tickets to the AFL will set you back around $80, and that’s before you factor in food, drinks and transport. For something like swimming you need to shell out $80 (at least) for a decent swimsuit, $25 for goggles, $20 for a swimming cap, and about $7 for pool entry every time you head out. Then, if you like it and want to go further, flippers are $40, a kickboard is $35, and a pool buoy is $25. Even walking the dog isn’t free. Have you seen the price of pet insurance these days?

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Arts-related hobbies like going to the movies, theatre and comedy shows are also on the decline for similar reasons. According to August 2024 research from price comparison site Finder, more than half of Australians (53 per cent) have hit pause on engaging in these kinds of hobbies in a bid to cut costs.

“Cost-of-living pressures are definitely impacting the pastimes Australians are choosing, and how much they spend on them,” Angus Kidman, a money expert at Finder, tells me. “With disposable incomes declining, many are prioritising essential expenses, which means hobbies take a back seat.”

As journalist Tyler Austin Harper noted in The Atlantic, this kind of “hobby inflation” has seen once affordable pastimes, such as his love of clay shooting, become totally unaffordable in an already unaffordable world. “In the past decade and a half … the cost of a sporting-clays habit has more than doubled in many places, far outpacing regular inflation.”

While not being able to undertake a hobby might seem like a small thing to some people, the absence of them can have serious impacts.

“When hobbies become unaffordable, people often lose a key outlet for managing stress and feeling good. That can lead to increased frustration, low mood, or a sense of disconnection, especially if the hobby was part of their identity or support system,” clinical psychologist Dr Rebecca Ray says.

So for now at least, my 2025 hobby is … well, searching for an affordable hobby.

Shona Hendley is a freelance writer living in Victoria.

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