Over the past few years, life has changed dramatically across the globe. With many offices and workplaces shifting to a work-from-home model, many men find themselves at home with extra time. Generally speaking, most people want to fill their time with unique and rewarding endeavors – that’s why we’ve put together some of our favorite unique hobbies for men at home!
Whether you’re finding yourself with more time at home or you want to find better ways to fill your weekends, here are our favorite at-home hobbies you can take up:
Indoor Herb Garden
First on the list is one that’s affordable and easy to get into, while still requiring some level of effort: an indoor herb garden.
If you’re a man who enjoys cooking, whether it’s intricate meals, simple meal preps, or great juicy steaks, nothing is better than reaping the reward of your efforts in the form of fresh, home grown herbs.
The great news is that you don’t even have to learn any specialized knowledge – there are plenty of grow kits on the internet that are all-inclusive that walk you through the entire process of growing your own herbs indoors, taking away the stress or confusion around learning how to tend to your own indoor herb garden.
Some of these systems can even connect to your phone and WiFi, bringing herb growing to the modern age, all from the comfort of your home! You can grow 12 different plants in this one at the same time, just make sure to grab some herb seeds too:
Homebrew – Beers, Wine, & More!
Ever dream of not having to leave your home to have an endless supply of excellent beers, wines, or other divine brewed goodies? Then maybe homebrewing is for you! There’s no shortage of excellent information across the web on how to start a homebrew hobby. You can even buy everything you need online in ready-to-go homebrew kits.
Homebrew is a great way to make various different kinds of beers from stouts to ales to sours; you can spend tons of time getting hands on with this hobby by tracking the different batches and their tasting qualities and work toward improving the quality of your brew each time.
Plus, it’s not an insanely expensive hobby to partake in! You can also get into more than just beer by expanding into wines and even mead.
Just make sure you do plenty of research first and use sanitized equipment to avoid getting ill or having a bad batch!
Smoking Meats
If you don’t eat meat, this wouldn’t be a hobby you’re interested in, so move along to the next! BUT, if you love a tender brisket or delectable rack of ribs, learning how to smoke meats may be the next tier of carnivorous enjoyment for you.
Some of our favorite smoked meats are wood smoked, meaning you slowly cook the meat in the smoker over a long period of time by smoldering woods known to add incredible flavor to your meat. There’s no limit on the kind of meats you can smoke, either – from brisket to ribs and even whole turkeys, chickens, or other birds, smoked meat just ends up tasting incredible.
You can’t go wrong with a starter bundle if you’re new to smoking meat, there are also plenty of resources you can find online that will help you figure out the best way to smoke meat at home.
Barista (At-Home Style!)
Find yourself hitting the coffee shop’s drive through multiple times a week to your wallet’s dismay? It may be around time you learn how to take on the joy of creating your own artisan coffee at home!
Not only will you save money by getting into the art of making your own lattes, cappuccinos, americanos, or drip coffees, but you’ll likely save money as well over the long haul! An at-home espresso machine/barista bar could add up to savings if you find yourself grabbing a $5 coffee every other day for that pick-me-up.
Learning how to make your own lattes and the like is a great hobby for men at home, as it gives you something to do with your hands, you can get artistic with it (or conversely, keep things simple), and you get to enjoy the end result once you sit down to have your drink!
We’ve used this Breville Barista machine to make our own espressos, lattes, cappuccinos, and more with fantastic results. It’s easy to learn, reliable, as well as affordable. You’ll also be able to grind your coffee in the machine, making it an all-in-one solution for taking on the art of at-home artisan coffee brewing.
If you’re more into a traditional black drip coffee, you can also learn how to do pour over coffee, which is delicious and typically yields better results than an automated drip machine. Our favorite is the Chemex Glass Pour-Over Coffeemaker; it has a great pour canal as well as the ability to safely be heated on your flat top stovetop (on low) to keep your coffee warm:
Want to learn even more about coffee? Check out The Gentleman’s Playbook’s guide on How to Drink Espresso the Right Way!
Music Production
Next up in our list of unique hobbies for men at home is Music Production! This can range in its scope from learning an instrument such as guitar, ukulele, or piano to learning how to produce electronic music, hip-hop, or lo-fi.
The beauty of music production is that it can be done on a budget or it can inversely become a hobby you sink lots of money into (if you’re looking for that kind of hobby). There’s infinite amounts of instruments and equipment to acquire and have fun with – you also are constantly learning and on a journey of evolving your skills, tastes, and abilities.
All you need to get started is an instrument or a digital audio workstation such as Ableton, and motivation to learn and experiment!
Nothing beats getting lost in a flow state while producing a song that comes from the heart or being able to play some hard riffs with your favorite rock songs of all time. It’s truly a unique, rewarding, and cathartic experience!
Vinyl Collecting/Listening
We may be in the digital age of music, but vinyl records are still in high demand – it’s generally known that the analog audio output of a vinyl record is of a higher fidelity and more accurate to the true sound of a song or album due to it not being digital. Don’t believe us? Here’s the science.
If you’re not into the purist aspect of vinyl collecting, you may be into the retro side of it – there’s something special about owning a vinyl record of your favorite albums or artists. The artwork is large and oftentimes these records also have unique artwork, especially for modern releases.
On top of this, there’s a beauty in the different kinds of record tables and speakers you can mix and match.
Just imagine ending your week with a glass of your favorite drink, in your recliner, with the crackle of a vinyl next to you while you unwind. It’s a great experience every man deserves to have!
If you’re into music production, then you can take it a step further and hunt for obscure records to sample music from for your next beat or song. It becomes a sport!
Indoor Plant Care
While we talked about taking on an indoor herb garden as one of our hobbies for men at home, we wanted to make sure we give some stage time to the broader world of indoor plant care!
There are many different kinds of plants to enjoy and an endless amount of ways to add them to your home. It’s even been shown that having plants indoors help reduce stress and can be therapeutic. Plant care gives you a long-term rewarding hobby where you get to watch the fruits of your labor thrive and grow over time. It gets even more exciting when you begin propagating your thriving plants into smaller, new plants and “breeding” them!
Some easy plants to start with are:
- Pothos
- Philodendron
- Ficus/Rubber Fig Trees
- Umbrella Trees
- Lucky Bamboo
You can even learn how to grow your own avocado seeds into a small avocado bonsai tree!
Meditation & Journaling
Many of the hobbies we’ve gone over so far are largely physically involved or sensation based. If you’re looking for a hobby that can help clear your mind, improve your general mood, and reduce stress in your life, then it may be time to take up meditation or journaling!
Meditation is (obviously) free to partake in, which means you can start right now if you want. You can control the length, method, and focus of your meditations as well. Some meditate for religious purposes, but there’s been a huge pop culture push to meditate for mental and psychological benefits as well – the why doesn’t matter as much as practicing for your needs does. Through various breathing techniques, you can evoke a sense of calm and clarity that rewires your brain and outlook on life.
If meditation doesn’t tickle your hobby needs, but you still want to take on a hobby that has net positive benefits to your stress and mind, try cracking open a journal! Journaling for men has tremendous benefits:
- Thought Organization
- Reduction in Brain Clutter
- Problem Visualization
- Mental Clarity
- Mindful Decision Making
- Increased Discipline
The Gentleman’s Playbook has additional resources for men’s journaling methods and benefits! Check out some more journaling resources we have:
- The Life-Altering Benefits of Daily Journaling
- 4 Simple & Effective Daily Journaling Methods for Men
- Classy & Sophisticated Journals for Men
Which of these hobbies for men at home will you try?
We hope one of the hobbies we listed sparked some interest or inspired you to think of another hobby that interests you! It can be challenging when you spend a lot of time at home and need something to shake up the daily grind.
Some hobbies for men at home you can give a try:
- Indoor Herb Garden
- Homebrewing (Beer, Wine, etc.)
- Smoking Meats
- Artisan Coffee Making/At-Home Barista
- Music Production
- Vinyl Collecting & Listening
- Indoor Plant Care
- Meditation & Journaling
Any other hobbies you enjoy that you didn’t find on the list, but other men may want to give a try? Let us know.