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How do you manage to NOT spend every dime on all these fun stamps and supplies?? Stamptember is killing me!! New Lawn Fawn! Hero Arts kit of the month! Copic! Embossing powder! Distressed EVERYTHING!
Move to Australia - the exchange rate is a killer ;):o Mind you, I did weaken and get the Lawn Fawn Christmas Happy Howlidays set but that was all - it is just so cute!
No problem. I am very frugal (cheap if you must know) and I have been stamping since 1998! Been there..done all that..and bought the T-shirt! I have enough seasonal stamps to sink a ship! I don't shop on the internet ..don't shop at US stores (the exchange rate makes me cringe) and don't drive a car (so very few 'road trips'! I love to recycle and use up bits and pieces. If I die absolutely nobody (well except my stamp group) will want my stash or appreciate how I scrimped and saved to get it! So no more purchases (well maybe a die or two!) or binge buying! I am just going to wallow in the 'stuff' I have...for now!!! LOL
At the beginning, it was super hard because I didn't know what I would like and not like and I didn't have much of anything and needed pretty much everything, and it all looked amazing. Building up stash as an SU! demo was a great way to get started. Now I can be more selective, but the struggle is real, that's for sure! I totally agree with cardmaker2 about just not looking when the budget is too close to zero (and shopping your stash ... just saw a great little line about not being able to clean the craft room because you keep finding fun things to play with that you forgot you had.)
I use a bunch of 'filters' now when I'm thinking about buying something new:
* is this a one use or multi-use item (sometimes I want to get a stamp set when it's really only one stamp I love and it's only for that one special quirky friend, which really means I'm about to spend $15 or so to MAKE a one time only single card. Is there a work around for that or is it still worth it?)
* three pass and 24 hours rule. I have to have fallen in love with whatever it is three times. Then I wait 24 hours before I'll allow myself to make a purchase.
* I never shop sales. If a sale and what I've fallen in love with happen to match up at the same time, then it's a bonus, and I'm happy with the perk, but that's the extent to any sale shopping for this girl.
* If it seems trendy, I wait a loooooooooooong time before I think about jumping on the bandwagon.
* I know there's always going to be something even newer, cuter, more fun coming down the road, so if I have to skip this thing in front of me that's calling my name in the worst way but is really on the other side of my budget boundaries, I know there's going to be another something darling calling my name in the future, too, and it'll be at a better time in my budget world.
* I love the challenge of shopping my stash, discovering new uses for things I'd only thought of in a certain way, or giving some attention to some lonely stamp set that'd been collecting dust for longer than it should.
__________________ If you don't want your tax dollars to help the poor, then stop saying you want a country based on Christian values, because you don't. ~ Jimmy Carter
This is a relatively new hobby for me but not the first hobby I've had. So I started this one when I retired, a few years ago and vowed not to have another hobby that costs a lot of money. I used to embroider, paint ceramic Christmas houses, sew clothes for my girls, and didn't always finish the projects.
Anyway, one of my other hobbies is going to thrift stores. When there, I walked through the craft dept. and found a couple of rubber stamps and a stamp pad. That was the start!!
To make a long story short, I have a room full of recycled supplies. I still have about 5 or 6 unopened stamp pads, clear stamps in unopened packages, tons of DP with maybe some sheets missing but so what? Ribbon by the spools, even adhesives. I have decided to stop buying card making material because I have way more than I can use, but I still look!
Sorry for being so wordy. LOL!
__________________ We can't all be stars but we can all twinkle.
When I stopped smoking years ago I went bat **** crazy rewarding myself. I started buying sewing machines....lots of them. And sergers, embroidery machine, and tons of fabric. Now, I'm honestly glad I still have all of those supplies. I'm winding down toward retirement and I have what I need. At this point I consider it to be free. Then I discovered paper crafting. It is a much cheaper hobby than sewing. I bought everything that caught my eye. And now I'm glad for it.
I have the supplies to sew or craft just about anything without buying much more than adhesives or replacing a few markers.
I guess my point is - - - these supplies that I have hoarded now will get me through the lean times that are coming up. I don't give away, throw away or waste what it has taken me so long to accumulate. Nor do I have buyers remorse for what I have spent.
Also, I don't have very much self control. But the bills still get paid.
__________________ A good dog, a sewing machine, and an old guitar......
Lol.. I should have stopped when I had one room full. Instead I started storing in 2 other bedrooms, den and garage. I have been going thru stuff and trying to downsize. Took myself off of all vendor email lists and trying to be very selective about cwhat I buy now if anything.
My rule is that I can't buy anything for "some day". I used to get things just because I really, really liked them without giving much thought to how I would actually USE it. Now I have to have at least three or four SOLID ideas of what I'm going to do with anything (stamp, paper, die, embellishment) before I'll even consider the purchase. I also have wishlists for things that I really love and have ideas for (can't buy them all at once, you know), and wait for sales to roll around for those particular things. If I still love them (recently visited one of the wishlists and over half of the items had moved from "gotta have it" to "what was I thinking?" status, so I deleted them) and still have ideas for them, then I'll move ahead with bringing it home or ordering it.
Having said that - I'm pretty amazed with how many Unity stamps I've fallen in love with and had ideas for in the past few months... Now I just need time to execute those ideas!
I am right there with you! lol I bought hundreds of dollars worth of stamps and 'stuff' years ago... and I made some fun cards and messed around with scrapbooking over the years... but life got in the way... kids growing up, divorce, moving to a new home, major surgery, a job that was making me crazy.. you know. All the nuts and bolts life throws at you.
Recently though, having settled into my new home.. and new relationship with awesome bf, cutting my hours at work and actually having TIME for myself... not to mention a freed up bedroom now that one flew the coop.. ;) I decided I wanted to dip my toe back in the water. Hahaha!!! MISTAKE! More like I've belly flopped in like Shamu! All the things I bought years ago are still great, but the things out there now!!!?? Holy wow! I spent hours/days looking at video after video on youtube.. just general stuff. Relearning about inks and markers and wood mount and photopolymer... Oi. Last night I was laying in bed... with my phone.... ear buds in... scoping out more tutorials while said bf lay snoring next to me. ;)
I have to say, I have spent a bit of $$ in the past month or so.. but there were things I felt I truly needed..(probably didn't NEED, but in my own mind, I did) I have extensive wish lists all over the place... Joann.com, scrapbook.com, walmart.com, 123stitch.com. OH and eBay. AND Pinterest. Yessssh. Yoda said it best! xD
But everyone is right. You really have to pace yourself. Be selective. Nothing that you see for sale is the last one that's ever going to be available. That is what I have to keep reminding myself of. When I first started looking at stuff, I kept seeing 'retired' pop up. In my head, I thought, Oh no! I'm not going to be able to find one for sale.. ever. But, even if you can't find it on the website where it was originally sold, eBay. My watch list is huuuge, but a lot of the stuff on there, I am tracking to see price trends.. and also just something I might be interested in later, but may not have been able to find anywhere else, so I added it to a list there, just to keep track.
Gosh, I could go on and on.. but this is already a short book. Spend time here. Peruse the forums.. ask questions. I did. A lot of them. Ladies here probably dread seeing my name pop up with new threads. lol You can google stuff to get reviews, check out youtube to see how things are used.. if it looks complicated, etc. All that will help guide you in your search for things you want.
What the check book can't accommodate, can't be bought!
__________________ The quickest way for a parent to get a child's attention is to sit down and look comfortable. Practice safe eating always use condiments
How do you manage??
I don't mean to sound simplistic or anything, but there is some truth to it. (Wise Mrs Patmore from Downton Abbey even said that one time 
