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This applies to my craft room, but I bought the plastic sterilite drawers, thinking it was economical storage. Well, now the tops are sagging in where I stacked things on top of them, drawers do not shut well. For all I spent, I could of gone and got a nice file cabinet that would of held up better. I am lucky to have a unfinished wood shop that makes wonderful solid wood pieces at a reasonable price, and I can paint or stain myself if I want to. No more plastic for me.
I bought a Versamark pad thinking it would substitute for all the colours when doing tone-on-tone stamping.. BUT Versamark works with embossing powder, so I HAD to buy all of the EP.. I didn't have many stamps that looked good embossed, so I had to buy a bunch of solid stamps. THEN, I saw how amazing emboss resist looked and bought all of the coloured stamp pads anyway!!!!
It never ends..
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I design for: Stampendous!, There She Goes, Technique Tuesday,
SRM Stickers and Deconstructed Sketches.
another one -- trying to go cold turkey on not buying.
whoo, when the damn broke it got ugly. very ugly
I read a quote from a JC Penney's executive once. He said that people, when their financial situation demands it, will stop spending for approximately six weeks. Then, whether or not their financial situation has improved or not, they will resume their former spending habits.
I have found this to be true for myself. Amazingly accurate for most of my friends as well.
I read a quote from a JC Penney's executive once. He said that people, when their financial situation demands it, will stop spending for approximately six weeks. Then, whether or not their financial situation has improved or not, they will resume their former spending habits.
I have found this to be true for myself. Amazingly accurate for most of my friends as well.
I agree with that. Frugality experts call it the frugality diet. Even the best frugality experts do it. I study frugality, when DH & I if we get a few extra dollars to spend we always buy ourselves a treat. Lately, mine has been dolls. I collect ball jointed dolls. I never could do a cold spend ban. I really admire all of you who do. I am better at small treats and saving.
My favorite is my father's idea that driving out of your way to save a penny a gallon on gas is somehow saving money. Sometimes he visits me in NJ (from PA) just because he wants to fill his tank.
You and I must have the same father!!! My dad also boasts about the great deal he got saving a few cents a gallon on gas by driving across time. (1) Doesn't he recongnize that he spent $$ to drive across town? (2) even though he's retired, isn't his time worth something? :p
I read a quote from a JC Penney's executive once. He said that people, when their financial situation demands it, will stop spending for approximately six weeks. Then, whether or not their financial situation has improved or not, they will resume their former spending habits.
I have found this to be true for myself. Amazingly accurate for most of my friends as well.
The longest I went was the year I gave up buying craft supplies for Lent - wait that IS six weeks!!
I guess he's right.
Organizing is what always costs me money. I buy things to organize myself so I'll use what I have and save money but I just keep spending money on organizing stuff. I think I might have a world record for the biggest variety and quantity of bookcases.
Well, I guess I'm guilty of "buy enough to get free shipping" on Amazon. I'm sure I could easily spend thousands of dollars on DVD's and books if I had it to spare.
Does making cards save me money over buying them? No, I never bought cards in the first place. It saves my mom money, since I make cards for her. To be fair--I think she's the one who gave me blank cards for Christmas or a birthday, so it probably evens out.
My actual save money tip--consider what you use up a lot of (for me it was gluesticks), ideally something you can get a few of fairly cheap. Then when people ask what you'd like for birthday or Christmas, etc. you have your answer. Make sure it's something you'll actually use up though, since they may keep giving you the same thing over & over.
Yep! My Christams cards will cost at least $5 each...and of course that doesn't include the time making them, or the cost of the stamping retreat where I make them! lol I guess I could have worse bad habits!
another one -- trying to go cold turkey on not buying.
whoo, when the damn broke it got ugly. very ugly
I can sooo relate to this one. What a disaster my "cold turkey" episode was. It didn't last very long and I am "still" trying to use up the items I bought when the damn broke. What a baaad idea that was. :oops:
I am also guilty of the spend a few more to "save"...never a good idea. To all of us who have made mistakes, the saying goes "If you learnt something from it, it wasn't a mistake." Well, let's all try to learn and then hopefully we won't make these same mistakes over and over again.
Wish me luck! :mrgreen:
__________________ Trish Everything in life happens for a reason...especially in crafting!
Stampin' Up! Sale-a-bration gets me every time. I buy $50 worth of stuff I don't need (even though I do WANT it) only to get a $15 free item. Sigh - such a sucker...
Me too! My husband recently told a group of my friends that they should really cherish any card that I have made them because they average about $800 each.
It took me awhile to start reading the forums here on SCS, but they make me feel SO good. I start feeling guilty about how much I spend for supplies (with the same notion that we are "saving" money not having to buy cards), but then I read something here and I know I'm not alone. I do know I'm happier when stamping...so I don't care if I bought more "to get free shipping!"
I bought a Versamark pad thinking it would substitute for all the colours when doing tone-on-tone stamping.. BUT Versamark works with embossing powder, so I HAD to buy all of the EP.. I didn't have many stamps that looked good embossed, so I had to buy a bunch of solid stamps. THEN, I saw how amazing emboss resist looked and bought all of the coloured stamp pads anyway!!!!
It never ends..
It truly is a never ending cycle ... but I love it!!!
OMG! I needed a good laugh today! I just told my husband about the post about not spending $3.00 on a card when I can spend $300.00 to make a card! All of these posts are hilarious and so true. Someone should write a book series about "Scrapaholic Shopping Addictions"! Truth is, it's not going to stop me because I love this hobby!
Hoarding costs me more than any single other bad habit listed on this thread. If I'm not going to use it, why spend the money to begin with? Especially if I hang onto it long enough for it to go out of style... I'm purging my studio and mending my ways - if it comes into my studio, it gets used!
My money saver??? Buying up all the paper pads at Michaels during their sale days....What a MISTAKE! I have 3 closets and UNDER my BED full of paper pads. I love designer paper, but there is a limit, even if it IS on sale for 75% off!!! I mean, I spent thousands of dollars on patterned paper that is just so/so....I was new, and thought I'd coordinate everything for scrapping....Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight!!! LOL
I'm making my own wedding invitations with the notion of: "Hmm, it'll save me moner and will look like how I want it!" Uhh.
I just started building my "collection". Apart from browsing online for supplies, I've been purchasing stuff from here as well. My wallet isn't loving me right now, but at least I'm feeling very creative and my fiancee is being very supportive (for now).
Organizing is what always costs me money. I buy things to organize myself so I'll use what I have and save money but I just keep spending money on organizing stuff. I think I might have a world record for the biggest variety and quantity of bookcases.
We could be twins on this one. I have given and sold a ton of organizing stuff that didn't work, I out grew it, bought it because it was cheap and it was cheap/on sale because it was POC (piece o' cr_p). :p
I like to try to build my own and sometimes I just waste a whole bunch of money and time on some idea that turns out awful. Everyknow and then I get it right so I keep trying.
Originally Posted by Joan B
another one -- trying to go cold turkey on not buying.
Me too! My husband recently told a group of my friends that they should really cherish any card that I have made them because they average about $800 each.
Oh my gosshhhhhhhh, I almost just spit out my coffee as I read that one!! HOW very true that is!! <BG>
I'm soooooo guilty of everything above! Although, at least I know that I DO create AND give those gifts/cards away, but have I really SAVED $$ in the process? Hmmm... ;-)
For me, 25 years later after starting stamping, the crafting/altering projects, collecting EVERYTHING I thought I needed to have, the trends changing, wonderful enablers that get you to buy something you would never have thought about before, and WOW, I probably could have a really NICE house somewhere with all the money I've spent on it all... :oops: (Just not one here where I live in CA!) <---trying to make myself feel slightly better about all the money I've spent. I don't think I'd ever want to really "know" what I've spent over the past 10 years alone. I'd probably want to run and hide!!!
Ah, but the joy of it all...and reflecting on the many lovely $800 cards I've made for folks! ;-)
__________________ Barbara God gave us memories so we might have roses in December. James M. Barrie
I'm just catching up on some of my newsletters so I'm late to weigh in, but I just have to. I've spent about $7000 in the 3-4 years I've been doing this. I bet I haven't made 200 cards. Using these figures, it curently works out to $35 per card. The funniest part is that I never gave cards before (except a few at Christmas) because I always thought they were too expensive and a waste of money. Huh? :confused:
I'm just catching up on some of my newsletters so I'm late to weigh in, but I just have to. I've spent about $7000 in the 3-4 years I've been doing this. I bet I haven't made 200 cards. Using these figures, it curently works out to $35 per card. The funniest part is that I never gave cards before (except a few at Christmas) because I always thought they were too expensive and a waste of money. Huh? :confused:
Ooooo! I feel your pain! I think I've made more cards than that so my cost per card isn't quite that high, but no matter how much "stuff" you have, you never have just the right stamp, or just the right paper so you have to buy more!
