Everyone has a hobby. For some it is shopping, collecting or something else that causes money to leap out of your pocket. And when getting out of debt, that’s not what you need or want.

But you know there are a lot of things you can do to keep yourself busy that don’t cost a single additional penny and can occupy your time, make life interesting, and fun.

Let’s take NASCAR for example. Watching stock car racing for some is as painful as watching tennis is for others. So if you hate NASCAR, you’ll get the drift and you can substitute something you enjoy in its place.

The more you can distract yourself with diving into some watchable sport, the more money you will save. Every minute at home occupying your time with watching the event or participating in online activities about it is a moment that you were not off spending money.

Having an interest in NASCAR is even cheaper than having an interest in cooking, something that I love to do. With cooking, there are ingredients to buy, not with NASCAR, everything is free, free, free.

Race fan Paula Deen from the Food Network Channel
Photo by Bristol Motor Speedway

NASCAR even has a history connected to us, bankruptcy. There have been many teams and drivers that have struggled financially. I know that Mark Martin filed personal bankruptcy many years ago and look at him now, still racing and actively involved in racing.

Let’s just take a look at all the things you can do for free with an interest in NASCAR to help you save money. The one big thing you need to avoid when you get involved in any distraction activity is spending money on that activity, and NASCAR is no exception. You can find an interest in a sport without having to have the jersey or jacket. You don’t need any bobble-head figures to make you an interested fan and you don’t even need to go to the game or sporting event. The goal here is free entertainment.

So following my NASCAR example let’s look at all the free stuff.

A big race takes hours and hours of time to watch and if you have cable television in your house, then you can watch the SPEED, FOX, or ESPN channels for an exceedingly large amount of NASCAR entertainment, These channels are probably already included in the cable or satellite television package you are currently getting so there is no additional charge to you for these channels.

Online there are a never-ending number of websites and forums to participate in. But any journey into NASCAR must begin with NASCAR.com, which is, you guessed it, free.

Photo by Pro-Zak

If you already own a gaming device in your house like XBOX, there are some fairly inexpensive games that you can get hooked on that are NASCAR oriented and will consumer hours and hours of your time. Except for the investment in the game, the playing time is free.

So unlike golf, where you need to buy clubs and pay for green fees, NASCAR is a great sport for the financially challenged. Maybe that is why NASCAR is the number one spectator sport in the United States. But if NASCAR isn’t your thing, there are all sorts of other motorsports, on two wheels or four, that can occupy your time.

The lesson to be learned here is to get into something, let it distract you from the pain of your money troubles and occupy your time that you would have otherwise filled with distractionary spending. Use that spending free time to free up cash to use to reduce your debts and obligations.

Before you know it, lap by lap, you’ll be getting out of debt.

Steve

P.S. If all of that wasn’t enough, there are also the women at the NASCAR events to distract you and make the hours pass.

Photo by Bristol Motor Speedway