How do you spend your evenings beyond consuming media?

[catspaw]

I spend most of my evenings on my couch, either hanging out online, watching things, or reading.

Soooometimes I go for a walk around the neighbourhood.

I'd really love to find more ways to spend my time in the evening that don't involve just sitting around consuming media. So I'm looking for advice and suggestions. Any ideas?

[AuroraNorth]

This is something I struggle with too- it's so easy to sit down with the laptop and not get up again. One thing that I've started doing is setting a kitchen timer for 1/2-1 hour, and when it goes off that's it for the evening. I can't get back on. Ditto on the weekends- right now I have 8 minutes left and then I can't get online for 4 hours. For tv, I set limits- "OK, I want to watch Show X and then the set goes off. Also, while I watch I have to clean off the coffee table and couch/mop the floors/set the hem on a dress." That way, I'm getting something done that I'd otherwise put off.

Do you do any kind of crafts? Knitting, jewelry-making, naalbinding, building a telescope?

Can you take an evening class in something? I have a basic knife skills class coming up in two weeks- it's just a oneshot but it means I won't be on the computer. I also have a regular bellydance class.

Just getting out of the house helps- a regular evening walk is a habit of mine.

[MalcolmOwen]

In an effort to avoid my usual go-to stuff (Xbox Live, League of Legends, endless repeats of NCIS and Criminal Minds) I've started to bake bread. It's not difficult, and I've experimented with each batch (Plaits, rolls, boobytrapped loaves etc).

[ZenGwen]

I try to get out at least once on weeknights - to a swordplay class, or a knitting circle, or the pub. Other than that... chores, working on personal projects (studying for the GRE at the moment).

[Thrillho]

Usually after cooking dinner, cleaning up after dinner, reading with the kids, bathing the kids, reading with the kids AGAIN and getting them into bed, I'm wiped and just want to sit down and write. Trying to break up the writing with a little bit of working out.

[ETFnerd]

being a night person, i'm usually working out, then logging my progression, then interacting with my NF peeps... i'd like to get laid more but my wife is pretty tired after taking care of the kids all day... media provides a good cost/return profile and if given a choice, of course, i prefer porn...

[Blaizen]

BSc by day, work by night, crash in the weekend....

[scarletleavy]

I practice a lot of yoga in my evenings. I read the newspaper, eat dinner, watch 1-2 episodes of a show, yoga, Skype, and then bed.

I'd really like to pick up a hobby of some sort, or go to a class or something.

[67alecto]

I just switched back to a Mon-Friday schedule, and I no longer have to get up before 5am on my work days, so I'll be making adjustments in the coming weeks.

I go to the gym in the evenings, so that takes up ~1 hour each night. I cook in large batches, so one one night this past week I cooked 3lbs of Salmon. Another night I made a batch of chili and 2.5lbs of taco meat. Oh, and with all the cooking comes doing the dishes.

I did a little work on my Jeep, adding a new license plate bracket to fit around the 3" tube bumpers I put on last week, tweaking the fit of the bumpers I put on last week, and adding a new center dash section that has a place to put my phone/mp3 player/gps.

I also made some new pencil/pen holders:

Basically, while I'm at work, I jot down things for my to-do list. Previous this past week, I saved all of those for my days off which were Thu, Fri, Sat. Now, I'll be dividing them up a bit more.

[Lachy]

@67alecto, those are damn cool! I wish I'd thought of doing something like that before throwing out my old game discs.

[ROOCHOP]

Geocaching is a great nerd related, puzzle solving need activity that's free and will take you walking in your local area. If you don't know what it is, check out www.Geocaching.com

Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk

[Mb82]

In mid winter not much other then studying for classes. In the summer I will take the kayak out till past dark( running lights on the boat) or go for a bike ride. Come fall it is night fishing time around here so 2-3 nights a week you can find me under some bridge in my kayak fishing. Of course during all of this if I am not online or watching TV I am studying or tieing flys.

[Oogiem]

I spin yarn every evening. Sometimes I knit and sometimes I work on scrapbooks.

[ebm1224]

most of my nights are spent cooking dinner, eating, doing a little cleaning/laundry, hanging out online, watching tv or movies, and getting ready for the next day. 1-2 nights a week i love to go play trivia. lots of bars/restaurants do it and it's a great way to see friends during the week. games are free and sometimes we eat dinner there...or sometimes just get a drink. usually games last from 8-10 so there's time to do the gym/shower thing beforehand and then i'm almost ready for bed when we get home. i'd love to find other things to do, though. i used to love doing jigsaw puzzles but my eyes aren't as good anymore. crossword puzzles and soduku are fun though.

[JKey]

My husband and I are pretty social people. We spend our evenings playing chess or scrabble, chatting with folks at our local dog park, hanging with our community group, or just finding excuses to explore different shops and places in the densely packed area we live in.

We eliminated TV and cable over 3 years ago and don't regret it. We do spend time online browsing sites of interest, but that's mostly to find new ideas and fun things to do. We enjoy lifehacker.com for neat ideas to make life better, pinterest or gentlemint (in my husband's case), but all of this is done with the goal in mind to stay active and better ourselves. Right now we're trying to plan out some shelves made with a pipe frame, and then we're looking at building our own bedframe.

[spezzy]

crossfit...

[shutterpillar]

I am a loner, so I have no RL friends. I spend my weekends with my husband and kids. When I am not doing things with them, I am on the interwebz reading NerdFitness.

When I am NOT on the internet I am playing with my camera, drawing, listening to music, reading books, painting, or trying to teach my dog to turn off light switches.

[JKey]

When I am NOT on the internet I am playing with my camera, drawing, listening to music, reading books, painting, or trying to teach my dog to turn off light switches.

If you ever master getting your dog to turn out lights without scratching the wall, please let me know! It'd be helpful when she's the last one to leave a room.

['Roos]

I spend SO MUCH TIME out Swing Dancing. Like, I could be out four nights a week, dancing. When I'm not out dancing, I'm at home, sleeping, or helping teach cooking classes. Some nights I sew.

[Guest guest4729]

I wish I could say something besides surfing the internet, working or drinking, but I can't.

I hate TV and never watch it. I also hate missing everything on the internet. It's a curse, but I'm addicted. I would like to slowly ween myself off of the computer but when you've got nobody around it's really hard not to get sucked in. When my boyfriend visits I barely touch my computer unless it's absolutely necessary. When he's not around I'm on it all the time. Bleh.

Once it gets nicer out I might start running at night if I feel like trying to like running. lol

[Laurenji]

Hubby and I are reupholstering a cool old chair that he found out on someone's curb several years ago. The cushions are shot, so we're making new ones. He's helping me cut out the fabric. I also will knit, and sometime we'll make bread, or take turns practicing the piano (I've been playing since I was six, and he's now decided that he wants to learn.)

We do watch a lot of TV, but we try to temper it with other, more productive things.

[WizardTrip]

I use to hit up multiple happy hours a week with friends, but awhile back decided to cut it way back in order to save money and consume less alcohol. So far, I've been successful. With that extra time, yes, I spend a lot of time watching TV, movies, on the internet, etc. I have, however, started to try and cook more, so that has helped. Also, depending on the time of year, I'm usually involved in either a volleyball league or kickball league. Now that my snowboarding season is over, I plan on getting into a Muay Thai gym within the next month or 2, so that'll fill up another evening.

[KillerGriller]

I hate morning workouts, so my nights are usually workout time. Runs or weights, then watch some tv while I log my activities online and eat.

[shutterpillar]

If you ever master getting your dog to turn out lights without scratching the wall, please let me know! It'd be helpful when she's the last one to leave a room.

I know, right? That's what I'm sayin'!

In all seriousness, I have made it my mission to teach her to do a slew of random tasks. She's mastered all the basic commands so I decided to take it up a notch. She LOVES to learn. Its the highlight of her little doggie day.

[morethanjustamom]

Hubby is a tv addict, but we do try to get into bed by 10, which is a major sacrifice on his part because he's a serious night owl. Since we've been getting up at 5:45 am to work out, he's getting better though.

In the evenings after homework, dinner, baths, and bedtimes for the kiddos, we usually have time to watch about an hour and a half of tv on DVR before I'm ready to pass out. He could probably watch longer, but he usually goes to bed with me. I like to knit, read, and sew, and sometimes I'll do that if hubby's show isn't one I particularly like.