If you had more free time without any additional income, what would you do?

Sleep, exercise, catch up on chores (cleaning, organizing). I'm tired of being tired, achy, and messy.

Ugh, please, I would do anything to work less and create more. I'm making the furniture for our flat, I would do that faster. I am making my own TTRPG, I just started on a TCG cause I think the tools for making them yourself are in a good place (and I've literally always dreamed of making one), and I like to write short stories - I'd definitely do more of that.

Got a big steam backlog, that'd be nice. I'd workout more everyday. Idk, work is a means to an end and the moment I can make that more efficient I will.

Drink bourbon in a nice garden and listen to the radio. I’d probably write a lot more also

Spend lots of time gardening, reading, writing, and painting. Unfortunately, it seems like I’m going to have to spend the next forty years as a wage slave before I can enjoy that life

I have a fulltime job and still get to do my gardening, reading, writing and tinkering with machines like cars and computers, this last year 2024 I planted a pepper patch and now I got unlimited Thai, Habaneros and Chiltepin peppers...
- Yeah, I was in a mood this morning. Seasonal depression is a doozy this time of year.
  
  I’m actually planning to do some containers on my balcony this year. I do miss having an outdoor garden, though

I can tell you exactly what I do, because 25 years ago, I chose to forgo promotions at work and prioritize free time and quality of life over money:

I spend time with my family.
I do the things I want while I'm still young (or rather, while I was still young 🙂).
Generally leading a good life free of stress and drama.

You were given only one life. You have a finite set of hours on this dirtball, and the countdown is running. Every extra hour you give to your employer in exchange for money is an hour you don't spend with your loved ones, and you can't buy it back. Retirement age is too late to enjoy your life.

Nobody goes to their graves thinking they should have worked more.

I can tell you exactly what I do, because 25 years ago, I chose to forgo promotions at work and prioritize free time and quality of life over money:

My hero! I just recently retired at 55 for same reason.
- I'm the same age and I've been retired for 25 years 🙂
  
  I have a job I really enjoy that I do a few hours a day, for the money sure, but also for fun. And then I enjoy a lot of extra hours doing the things I want.
  
  It's like retirement but with a few hours of fun stuff I gotta do every day, sure, but it's still fun. When I retire for real, I just won't do the few hours of fun no more.
Nobody goes to their graves thinking they should have worked more.

There are plenty of workaholics that absolutely think they should have worked more in their last moments.

They tend to be awful people.

Create a game. I'm already over the first obstacle which is knowing how to program. Being the only girl in my IT class, I'd create these little unfinished games as a hobby, save them to a flash drive and show them off to my IT teacher, who was very impressed and encouraged me to go into the game development industry. I've been wanting to create a full fledged game ever since! 😃

That's awesome!

I'd travel more. I could never afford to leave the country of course but I'd like to see neighboring states or even just see more places in my own state. I want to know what it's like to exist in the world before it's gone.

I have done more traveling, but not out of the country. I have no desire to leave the country. We have plenty of beautiful things here in the US. But I live in such a beautiful state, I have the best views just outside my windows.

Read more instead of audiobook on a commute or work through my backlog of unfinished games

Yep, I prefer reading to audiobook for sure
- Me too but the convinence of an audiobook while driving and cleaning is pretty cool too. Books i want to absorb more ill read. Sometimes ill read a book then listen to the audiobook after.

There's a lot of free things happening in my town. Okay-to-excellent concerts, art event openings, always something at the library, (bring/pay for materials only) FabLabs, screenings of weird old/foreign movies. I'd take more advantage of them, hopefully with friends and family. If no friends and family to embarrass, become politically active. Rest and read more.

Contribute more to FOSS. Maybe start my own open source project.

Definitely more 3d model design.

Look for a better job cuz mine is not great but it's something

Game development. I've started implementing so many games, and I've always stopped because my day job sucks the joy of programming out of me before I can get far enough to release something.

This is honestly a scary question. My work and hobbies blend together. Outside of them I have zero idea what I would want to do. Sometimes that makes me feel really empty.

This hit a little too close for me. I felt this way when I was in the military. It's important to remember to slow down for your own sake. Civilization is getting faster but I think the individuals need to take pauses to regroup and gather their thoughts.

I tend to go on walks in the woods or beach or some other nature backdrop. Find out what works for you, but sometimes just taking time to pause and look around is enough for your brain to workout problems behind the scenes.

Sorry you feel empty sometimes. I do too. I think that feeling is a natural response to the world we are living in. That's why I need time to slow down.
- Thanks for sharing your similar feelings and what you do. Walking in nature doesn’t make me feel not empty but it certainly is a more enjoyable way to feel that way! I agree with slowing down. I use too much tech
Actually that doesn't seem empty to me at all. That's great that you were able to blend the two! And it's always easy to pick up another hobby.
- That’s true :) Sometimes I just feel outside of my few hobbies, work, and family there is nothing else meaningful to do. Your question influenced me to think further! I don’t mean this in a depressed sense, just nothingness.

nothing,

glorious nothing

Nothing, can be very glorious! I make sure to load that into my day every day.

I already have a lot of free time when my boys go to their moms for the week, and it’s fairly busy when they are with me. Plus I work from home, and enjoy a good amount of autonomy with my workload.

You could say I am balancing both sides of this discussion. But I’ve been dealing with a lot of baggage — both from my marriage and other trauma from growing up — so despite my available free time, I struggle to find motivation to do things outside of the basic responsibilities of being an adult/father.

It’s not for a lack of want though. I have a long list of things I want to do. Some more expensive than others. But even the free stuff isn’t that appealing at the moment.

Ideally, I would like to get into exercising regularly, and pick back up on woodworking. I want to hardscape my backyard by building a stone patio/fire pit, and rebuild my deck. Today it occurred to me that I could build a chicken coop and raise chickens, and potentially sell the excess eggs for a little extra income. I also have to paint and decorate my house.

I suck at motivating myself. 🤣

Brother, I hear you and I feel you. I know all about baggage. Just let it go little by little if you can't let it go all at once. You got this!
- Thanks! I’ve been in therapy for the past year and a half, and have been doing all of the hard work. I’m definitely in a much better place than before, but I’m still stuck in the freeze. I’m sure it’ll come back eventually, but right now, like you said, I’m just letting it go little by little. 😊

I read a lot. I would read more.

Scrolling killed my reading habit . I’d love to get it back .

Part of the problem is buying the books I think I should read, instead of the books I would enjoy reading. !!

More photography

This is the way. I’m trying to have my camera on-hand more, and add time into essential trips etc so if I want to stop to take a couple of shots I can. I’m also planning my holidays/trips with more of an eye to taking photos, rather than that being incidental to the trip - eg: I last went to Belgrade, which is a cool city, and planned out the interesting bits of brutalist architecture I wanted to see and photograph before I went.

I think about this a lot, I have no actual clue what I would do. I wish I had a proper hobby to put my time in. Right this moment I could take some form of second job, I'm hungry for moneyyy (to pay off mortgage)

Yes, pay off that mortgage. To be honest, the only reason I'm able to be retired at 55 is because I paid off my mortgage. If I hadn't done that, then my pension wouldn't really be enough to pay bills. But since now I have no bills, it works out.

Debt-free is the only way to be truly free in my opinion. Good on ya, mate!

A smattering of random stuff because I have ADHD and being able to do whatever comes up on a whim is how I spend my vacation leave since it is the only time I don't feel stressed.

Still get the essentials done, but not on society's schedule.

Still get the essentials done, but not on society’s schedule.

One of the main reasons I retired early. I actually liked my jobs, I just hate being on anyone else's schedule. It seems so petty, but I gave up a lot of money just to be on my own schedule. lol
- Honestly if I could set my own schedule it would be great. My natural bedtime is around midnight and waking time is 9 a.m. so every day I get 5 or 6 hours of sleep because I have to wake up at 6 a.m. to conform to society's schedule.
  
  Decades of attempting to shift my bedtime earlier have failed, because even if I can get to sleep earlier I wake up at like 4 a.m. and can't get back to sleep.

Since I saw a couple "read more"s - my trick, if you'd like one, is to put a book on the turlet. I open it up when I'm urinating, too - but usually I hit a point where I'm into the story enough where I start taking the book and reading it as my activity. But I've certainly taken months to get through a book just using bathroom time for nonfiction, less narrative stuff.

I'd work more, since I have so little money that free time without additional income would dry up my money fast.

Naps and be under the water more.

Work on a fedi project. Write more music. Travel a bit. Learn more languages.

Hell, I'd settle with just drinking coffee and watching my dog run around in the backyard.

so, what? half the work hours but at double the rate of pay so it comes out the same?

probably read more. cuz that's free. i can't afford to do much else.

Not quite what I meant. I just mean what if you had more free time, but not more cash. Sort of what you wanna do for free that you can't do now because of time restraints.

I'll edit to rephrase the question.
I considered it more as you’re not working, you have a fixed income in this situation. Like a retired person.
- Exactly.