I was thinking of taking up birdwatching, maybe that?

You could always make extruded incense sticks. You can get started with the spices in your kitchen.

If you live in a city with a parks and recreation department, check out their website for classes and activities.

If it’s a sport that requires equipment, such as racquets or bats, loaners are usually available from the department or other participants.

You really won’t know what your mind and your body enjoys until you actually try it, so just YOLO random activities, but keep it safe of course. Avoid stuff like highrise roof edge parkour, and you’ll be okay.

Astronomy is as cheap as your local observatory’s entry fee (and the gas to drive there) (assuming you have a local observatory)

retro handhelds.

u can start with getting an R36S for like 40 bucks + a 20 dollar sd card from a reputable brand, just make sure to consult the handhelds wiki for trusted sellers so you won’t get a clone (almost all of the R36S devices sold are clones that have dogshit hardware and often don’t work with a custom OS) and know how to install the OS on new card

it can run nes, snes, all the gameboys, sega genesis, even some ps1, psp and pc ported games. you’ll have to get roms to play the games though but it’s up to you how you’re going to go about that

Reading or chess are pretty cheap.

I just want to point out that any hobby you engage in for entertainment without it feeling like a chore is by definition not boring (to you). Personally I couldn’t see myself in a situation where I’d be collecting stamps, because I would probably find it very boring. But others enjoy it, so it’s a valid un-boring hobby, just not for me.

Zero cost:

• Running
• Yoga
• Bodyweight exercise

Zero cost if you have a library card:

• Reading (fiction)
• Reading (non-fiction)
• Online discussion

Price of pencil and paper:

• Writing (creative)
• Writing (journaling)
• Drawing

Fairly cheap:

• Music (playing)
• Music (listening)
• Painting

Explore your neighborhood

• geocaching
• contributing to open street maps (Street complete)
• photography with your cell phone

May I suggest simple crafting, like whittling, ancient/native pottery, wood carving, paper basket weaving, origami, crochet (or the slightly more addictive and expensive knitting), braiding, weaving, macrame, yarn spinning, decorative knotworking, flower pressing, dyemaking, hand dying, flower arrangement, make walking canes, etc?

Or maybe an instrument? Someone mentioned guitar, but why not harmonica, ukulele, bongos, simple percussives, or why not take up singing, there’s typically a choir almost everywhere, or you could try solo, or whistling, or yodeling.

Or maybe take up gardening/growing? In pots, hydroponically, maybe on a growing lot, or someone’s yard?

Or take up community projects, like either sanctioned or guerilla gardening, greening, forestry, litter picking, maintaining communal spaces, volunteer, start a community project (pollination diversity, bee keeping, growing lots, food drive, food forestry)

Or take up a cause? Build community, take affirmative action, demonstrate, protest, coordinate, communicate, with an established org, or on your own?

Maybe the outdoors could entice? Take up walking, ornithology, watch bats, discover new insects, take up chabana/ikebana, learn to forage, learn survival skills, go hiking, stack rocks, track animals, learn trapping, get into scouting, make bark boats, learn to skip rocks, climb trees, jump in puddles, pretend (or practice) animistic rituals, feel rain on naked skin, sleep under a bare sky, pick skulls, horns and bones to craft with.

Perhaps create stories, tell stories, write poetry, learn magic, juggle, poi, take up clowning, go swing/country/folk/traditional/ballroom/social dancing, try Butoh, write sketches, join a theatre, start a business, take up decorating, or just embrace whimsy?

I can also warmly recommend trying a new thing every week/month/period and see what sticks and not.

That’s very little to go on, so my suggestively is reading.
Very cheap to get into as well as something that’s is easy to pickup and let rest. Plenty of free options around too.

There are exactly zero boring hobbies, through the right eyes or right lens.

boring as you use it, is a term which works best when describing a person. Take from that what you will.

Origami. Very cheap to begin with, still cheap when you’re deep into it. Unless you got so deep that you’re travelling the world to go to conventions but that’s another story, the biggest expense is buying books once you decide to have them physically.

Don’t use printer paper, kraft paper is cheap and works perfectly. Only down side is having to cut it.

Electric drum kit is fun, cathartic, and quiet outside your headphones. Chilis are easy to grow, and they certainly entertain the mouth. Running saved my life. Tennis balls from the machine launcher. Rock wall. Skateboard. People love pickleball, but you need friends. Darts. 3D printer. Electric piano. Cooking class you can meet a girl, cook for her, get back rubs. Singing lessons. Fetish exploration. You got this.