Spanish forum users turn to DIY hobbies amid rising leisure costs

Car restoration, sword forging, or 3D printing: how free time is filled

There is a scene that repeats itself in garages across half of Spain. A man in an oil-stained jumpsuit polishes a 1998 Mercedes SLK, with the engine disassembled on a blanket, calculating how long it will take to hear it roar again. No amount of money can pay for that. Or maybe yes: the car cost him a fraction of what any new compact car is worth. In an economy where leisure has become a luxury product, part of the middle class has decided that their best weekend plan does not involve paying for admission.

Hobbies as economic refuge

The list that unfolds in the conversation is a catalog of resistance. Some buy old cars, dismantle them, and restore them until they look new. A 1998 Mercedes SLK kompressor and a BMW 320D M pack appear as hunting trophies. Another claims to have converted a worn-out 1980s BH America into a Swiss military-style bike, with a polished frame, new groupset and brakes, brown leather saddle and grips, and rear panniers. He defined it as a "prepper bike." The total cost is not mentioned. Neither is the satisfaction, which goes without saying.

3D printing has slipped into this home workshop. One participant explains that he manufactures his own parts to repair broken items: rubber bumpers that hold the car door, wheel centering rings because the previous owner mounted wheels with a hole larger than the hub. "I improved the OEM design a bit," he states. Translated: he saves the official part and makes it better in the process.

Welding, forging, and sanding in the garage

Heavy DIY has its own club. Someone learned to weld a few years ago and is finishing a workshop in his home garage: metal tables for saws and drill presses, a table saw for wood nearly finished, and a pending belt sander. The final goal is to make his own metal and wood furniture. Another forges knives and swords. A third dedicates himself to carpentry without further adjectives. The boundary between hobby and domestic informal economy is blurred, and no one seems willing to draw it.

Sewing and crafts complete the picture. One participant makes clothes, jewelry, and all kinds of needlework, and recently switched to leather. She admits she doesn't reach her sister's level, who makes bags that are not "those from flea markets." Another person draws digitally because paper felt cumbersome. And some buy trinkets on Asian platforms to see what arrives, sew, make potions, and insult people on social media in the process.

Leisure that doesn't cost money (or almost)

Sports appear in almost all responses. Gym, padel, swimming, cycling, calisthenics, running, hiking in the mountains. The mountain works as a recurring plan: getaways when possible, motorcycle routes, paragliding, climbing. One participant has had a boat for thirty years and sold it last year "with a heavy heart." Now he has a Europa bought for €1000 that costs him €600 per year dry docked, shared with his daughter, €300 annually each. A kick and into the water. As a young man he was an alpinist, but stopped because "it doesn't go well with marriage."

Cinema has its own liturgy. An enthusiast explains that he doesn't watch movies on platforms: he trinc "a cinephile protocol properly done," cinema, popcorn, and Coca-Cola, and usually goes Tuesday or Thursday for the first session to be alone. He loves cinema and hates people in the cinema, he says. Wargames also have their place: games that last up to eight months, like World in Flames, and purchases of Spanish reprints that match the quality of originals. One player admits he no longer looks at the international pre-sale program because the games end up being translated and better edited.

Saving as a life discipline

There is a higher level. One participant details his saving method with a meticulousness bordering on asceticism: he never flushes the toilet, fills two mopping buckets with daily shower water—between five and ten minutes—and that gives him enough for four to six flushes. All light bulbs are LED, although he barely uses them because he moves around the house in the dark with his mobile flashlight. Electrical appliances are plugged into power strips that he turns off when not in use. Another replies with respect: "And I thought I was a cheapskate, but I don't come close to reaching you."

Learning also counts. One participant pays about €220 per year for an online drum platform that includes guitar and piano courses, with ten levels and exercises. Another cultivates the hobby of making money, "a point reached with time." And a third summarizes the general philosophy: forums and hiking, "quintessential cheapskate hobbies."

---

The catalog is broad, but the pattern repeats: activities that require time, skill, and space, not money. Restoring, welding, printing, sewing, walking, reading. The question left floating is whether this is a vocational choice or a silent adaptation to increasingly expensive leisure. No one in the conversation seems to have paid for admission in months.