Cooking and knitting scarves were two examples, maybe they don't apply to you. However, if you have time available and the desire is to use that time to save or earn money, there are MANY ways to do it. I suspect that homebrewing is one of the least efficient available to most people.
Agreed, however, look around at the threads on this forum, how many of them make ANY mention of saving money by brewing vs. how many clearly show love and appreciation for beer and the process of brewing?
There are a number of thrift oriented forums that talk about ways to save money. I don't take part in them personally, but they're out there. Do any of them have threads on homebrewing? My guess is that they don't. The initial investment of equipment and time involved in brewing just doesn't add up.
Why would that be? Probably because anyone who has seriously looked at it has decided that if you want to save money, the way to do it is drink less beer and drink cheaper beer, not homebrew.
If money is really tight, and you have several hours during which you can brew, I suspect you're much better off finding a way to earn money during that time than homebrewing. I haven't seen any evidence presented to convince me otherwise. Especially when a brewday is usually a several-hour affair, not something you can do with a spare 20 minutes each evening.
I respect your perspective. And you are correct that those who brew to save are in the minority vs those that brew for other reasons. There are lots of ways to save money, yet few have as quick and easy rewards as homebrewing. The initial cost investment is typically 200-300 dollars for all grain brewing. The time involved per batch is usually 6-8 hours total "active time." The money saved is usually around $.40/bottle. At 20 dollars a batch saved you are saving approximately 3 dollars per hour. That seems very very low as compared to other things. Here is where we diverge. I don't spend the 6-8 hours ONLY brewing. I am cooking/cleaning/watering garden/working the budget/being dad. All those things require time anyways so I am doing double duty. Instead of watching tv or reading or any other hobby where the time commitment is nearly 100% I am spending 20% of those 6-8 hours brewing and the rest is being put to good use elsewhere.
Just to clarify, I have nothing against people who don't care about the financial aspect of brewing. I do find it problematic that some people continue to act as though the savings of brewing at home are never actually realized by anyone. It would be tantamount to me saying you should never cook your own meals as a way of saving money because the cost of the stove, fuel, and groceries will mean you never break even. Especially when you factor in your time spent cooking and shopping. Maybe people out there actually think like that, but around here people have a strong DIY saves money mentality and I have adopted it and put it to, I hope, good use.