While you can find several practice pads that cost about $10, you could practice on surfaces that are already around you, and that wouldn’t cost anything. Playing on pillows is a great way of doing resistance training with your sticks. They don’t have any rebound, helping you increase speed. My favorite way of practicing when I don’t have a pad has always been to play on a carpet. I’ve found that living room rugs make great surfaces to hit sticks with. You need to make sure that you’re playing on a rug that won’t develop marks, though. Using a fresh pair of sticks is recommended.