Brilliant. I too have been 'penny-pinching' so I can pursue my real dream career as an artist. Most artists will tell you that the term 'poor artist' is a true one. We invest hours upon hours of time, money on paints and/or equipment, produce (sometimes) a small masterpiece and people who can't paint or draw appreciate it, but don't buy or will on pay a few pounds. It's like working for minus $'s or £'s. So when we sold up, downsized, paid the bills, my husband said I could follow my dream of not going out to work but to do my painting IF we could afford it. I've cut back our monthly spend to almost a half of what it was. In fact apart from food/essentials, the only outgoings are insurances, utilities and car, and even they are lower than before. YET we lose nothing. We're not missing out, we still go out for lunch once a week, we're going on holiday shortly... we just don't throw money away any more. The library is an excellent choice to add to the list, as is the internet. I watch free painting lessons for inspiration via Youtube, or rent a book for two/three weeks and talking with the staff, I may even be having a small art show of my work set up there in the summer....
Well done for highlighting this and I hope people will take it on board when they need a little inspirational cost cutting.