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Just Curious about your stamping adiction and budget?
I know everyone has a different Idea of what is overboard and frugal but I am curious... I just started stamping in April and was recently reminded by my stampin up rep how much I spent in 4 months and why I need to demo! It was over $500 and that does not include the wizard I bought with nesties, the 68 copics and countless trips to the craft stores and many online orders.. yada yada yada. I give my self a mini heart attack just thinking about the dough I've spent. But I really do love my new hobby and I feel I needed a creative outlet aside from scrapbooking.
There is still so much more I want and need. I dont have enough stamps, DP, markers etc. I am trying to tell myself I wont buy anything new until I have inked up all my stamp sets at least once but I dont know how long I can hold out for. How do you add to your collection and do you give yourself a monthly budget? How do you keep yourself in check! lol:rolleyes:
Angela, LOL, well, that is the great question about this hobby. . . wanna guess why I became a Stampin' UP demonstrator??? DISCOUNT!!
It is sometimes, especially at first, very difficult to keep yourself in check and stick to your budget. I always say I have X to spend this month on whatever I want and I try to stick with that. Generally I do pretty well, but some months, it seems like I go completely crazy -someone has a great sale, SU Pre-orders, etc. I am getting to the point now that my scrap room is pretty well stocked and that helps me to spend less and use more of what I have, but when SU comes out with new stamps, I am all over the new catalog, LOL. It is hard to be strong and stick to a budget, but you definitely don't have to have everything.
My budget varies from month to month. But with back-to-school, fall activities, a slew of b-days, Christmas, winter vacation, more expensive electric heating bills, etc. my budget will take a big hit from now until February. :(
I cancelled my Club Scrap membership, I regretfully stopped my Unity stamp kits, and I am giving up my SU demo-ship. I will still spend on my stamping hobby, but hopefully much less.
I am going to try (stress the *try* part here) to keep it to about $200/month. I'm getting to the point now where I frequently see a set that I like and then think "Oh, I already have such-and-such set that is similar." That really helps keep the costs down too.
I don't have a budget per say, I just buy what I can afford. Some months is more than others. I get paid every two weeks and I know that my second paycheck I get is my "play money" for the next month. For example, my second paycheck is this Friday and I need to buy a plane ticket so that is that much less to spend on crafty stuff. The end of the year is always hard on my crafting funds because of the holidays
Ha...interesting question! Well...I use to have a no limit or more like no set amount budget before my mother passed in June. I use to spend close to $300 a month (sometimes more...especially around tax return time ;)). Now I'll maybe spend that in a year. Still...I've taught myself to be good and work with what I got. My mom would always tell me "it's not what you got but how you use it". ;) I still almost never listened to her until now that I have that spending pinch!
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It took me four years to get enough supplies to really be able to create what I want at any time. It stil do not have copics...just ordered a scor-pal and my first set of nesties yesterday. I have about 85 stamping sets and there are only a few I think I need. My budget is between $25.00 to $50.00 a month. Lately it's been on the higher end.
__________________ All I want is the chance to prove money won't make me happy!
I don't have a budget but I'm also not a big spender and never even go close to over-spending. I don't buy regularly either - just when something stikes my fancy. I don't know - guessing at at $150 a month average. Some months would be nothing and others would be lots more.
No budget...Used to be a demo, and was very pleased with the discount. If you decide to become a demo, please review the NEW guidelines, and the contract. I took it to my attorney for review, hence the USED to be a demo part! LOL
On to your question...I spent ABOUT $150 a week replenishing my SU!stash at first. Then it slowed down to $100 a week when I started purchasing company's items, like Spellbinders and Copics.
i am a tad bit frugal, but now i am very very practical since my husband has been one of the lucky 2.3 million unemployed for a year now...
i use all the impulse buys (from the past) first, i buy only what is on sale or will use over and over.
i am constantly counting pennies, so i use all i have stashed...
so tally maybe $50 - $100 a year... used to be over $50 a MONTH when i was in a stamping club... (miss it lots!)
jan
__________________ "grandma squared" janice aka *favorites stalker* MY BLOG
Ha...interesting question! Well...I use to have a no limit or more like no set amount budget before my mother passed in June. I use to spend close to $300 a month (sometimes more...especially around tax return time ;)). Now I'll maybe spend that in a year. Still...I've taught myself to be good and work with what I got. My mom would always tell me "it's not what you got but how you use it". ;) I still almost never listened to her until now that I have that spending pinch!
I think one of the easiest ways to overspend is being a regular on your favorite message board. I regularly spend time of this board, as well as one other, and BOTH are chronic enablers. If spending is an issue, I think the less time spent reading about great toys will help you not to overspend.
That being said, I have gathered an incredible amount of information/inspiration from these boards. I have also absorbed an incredible amount of enabling, and buying products. I try not to jump on the bandwagon and buy something because others love it. If I don't have multiple uses for an item, I try not to buy it.
My budget is my "fun money" from our household budget. However, if I want to do Starbucks, manicures, new shoes, etc, that also comes out of said line item. So it varies. I generally spend about $50-75 per month on this addiction. It was WAAAY more when I started, however.
I keep myself in check by keeping a list of my supplies (like markers, stamps, Prisma pencils, etc) in my Blackberry, so I don't duplicate. I also think long and hard about what sets to order from my monthly stamp club. For instance, I own about 45 floral sets, so I don't need any more of those. I didn't own any baby sets, so bought the train & teddy set this month. I probably need a wedding set, but none are ringing any bells for me this time, so I will wait. I just ask myself, "Do I like this set enough to spend $x on it? And what is my opportunity cost (in manicures and other things)? Is it worth it?"
I've found that whenever you begin a new craft, there's a certain amount of initial purchase output necessary to get everything ready. Last winter, I took up needle art again after a 15 or 20 year absence. Well, a lot had changed in that time, and I've been amassing new flosses, cloth, and patterns for a few months now. I'm sure I spend way more on this craft now than I do on my papercrafting, just because I already have more than I need for that. But thankfully, my needle art purchases are beginning to even out, too.
I've become a lot more frugal in the stamping in the past year ( I just talked about it on my blog yesterday!). I used to buy every trendy new stamp set and paper. Now, I curtail my buying to just what I love. Like Markie's Mom, I'm leaving my demoship behind this month, and I know it's going to cut way back on my impulse purchases. I won't feel compelled to buy stamp sets, per se, but will feel better about buying just one stamp or maybe a clear or cling mount set at a fraction of the price.
I no longer try to recreate the exact card I saw somewhere. Instead, I will look at a card using Medallion stamp, for example, and think "Well, I can make the same thing using the Baroque stamp that I already have."
I've found that when it comes to stamps, some of them have a much longer shelf life than others. That's why I try to steer away from the latest trendy thing (like the bird craze, or owls, or cupcakes) and just buy what I'm still going to love ten years from now.
I just started stamping in January and signed up as a demo in March so I could use the discount because I wanted so much and I was using so much (I make cards for the charity Still Someone.) I think you should take the plunge and become a demo if you are going to keep spending that much-it just doesn't make sense not to! (But I do think your spending will probably level off some as you get stocked up on the basics-punches, paper, accessories)
I never had a "budget," but now I do and it is basically zero, with a slight exception: I just ordered some copics from Carpe Diem (spelling?) because they were 3.85 and I needed to fill out my colors. That order means I have minus zero to spend now, is that possible?
Went to M's yesterday, bought two $7 sets of stamps (xmas) and some paper for a grand total of 18.00 : )
As for anything else? Not in the budget until I am employed full time (am working part time right now).
Of course this means I am actually using the supplies I have on hand, which are ample to get me through the next five years : )
A local mail store is going to sell my cards and then I will use some of that money to replenish cardstock, ink and consumables.
__________________ AfterHoursStamper.blogspot.com �It is easier to believe a lie that one has heard a thousand times than to believe a fact that no one has heard before�
I definitely spent more $$ when I first started stamping. Had to buy cardstock, inks, DP, ribbon, all those gadgets, etc. Now I spend $50 or less a month because of the current economy and the fact that I just don't need as much as I did when I started out. I try to be more selective with what I buy. I have to know I will use it- not just "maybe'.
I go in "spurts" when it comes to spending. If I stay out of the craft stores or off this site for awhile(so I don't see all the enable posts) I do much better. I am a SU! demo so I have to make sure I meet my $300 for the 3 months,so some months are more due to that. I do have so much that I probably could not buy anything for a long time and still have alot left over. That being said I really don't have a set "budget", butif I spend alot one month I try not to spend any the next. I did like you once and totaled my perchases for a 6 month period and almost croked when I reached the total. Lucky for me DH wasn't around when I did that!!!!;)
I guess when I initially started off I spent a lot of money because I got the cricut, cuttlebug, and so many other tools. I have lots of paper (addicted to them of course) and stamps tooo.....So now I am trying to limit my spending to say 50 dollars a month, but it is very very hard. There are so many new things coming out in the market and you want to try them all.... And of course there is the fact that I do not yet own all the COPIC markers out there But I am trying very hard. Like I used photo tabs for sticking down photos on my scrapbook layouts, try to use every scrap of paper. Think twice before I randomly cut a new sheet of paper etc.
But there are months when I have gone over board (like when it is PTI or GKD release time). :(
I am not sure my answer was of any help. But just my two cents on this topic.
I agree with some of the OP. When you start a new hobby, it costs alot to 'set up'.
When I got the new SU catalogue, I marked all the pages that had something I liked. As the weeks have past, the sticky tabs have be reduced to 4. I find that SU seems to have more girly type items so I am trying to expand my generic or masculine stamps, embellies, etc.
I am on a 'acquisition' bing - just bought a Cricut Create and the Design Studio plus some carts. Talked to my daughter today and confessed I need to start producing. Our church bazaar is the first weekend in Oct so I am planning to make items to donate to the 'stsore'.
I have a budget of $125 per month but I am trying really hard not to use it as we are trying to get a mortgage so we can move. I do have enough supplies to last for a long while so I am good there and I was like some of the others and buying stamps that I thought were cute or that I liked and I ended up not using them, so now when I get the urge to buy I go to an online store and put items in the shopping cart then I leave the site and go back a day or two later and look over what I put in the cart and I usually get rid of 3/4 of what I placed there to begin with it saves alot of money. As for your not wanting to get anything else until you have inked up the stamps you already have, I found away around that, I index all of my stamps so when I get a new set I ink it up and put in on a sheet of copy paper, this way I know what I have and I have put ink on the stamp so I don't feel bad about getting new stamps.
[QUOTE=markie's mom;15076978]No budget...Used to be a demo, and was very pleased with the discount. If you decide to become a demo, please review the NEW guidelines, and the contract. I took it to my attorney for review, hence the USED to be a demo part! LOL
QUOTE]
Would that be because you are on a design team and had to make a choice anyway?
I know two lawyers who ARE demos and that is the reason they are staying on as a demo.
As far as budget goes - my only advice is stamp for awhile before you start buying everything you think you need. I can tell you when I first started I bought so much JUNK that I've thrown away, given away or stored because I don't use them. It's really easy to see a technique or card and be like I HAVE TO HAVE THAT TOOL or that Stamp set, but honestly if you just WAIT a bit and use what you have you will find "your style" and realize that you would rather spend your money on new stamps than more punches or something like that. Oh yeah, and paper - Keep your scraps organized and you will be amazed at how LITTLE paper you will need to buy. I did this and put all my scraps into folders by color and I swear I have yet to cut a new piece of paper and now have stacks of paper still in the wrapper....wasted money that could have bought some new stamps.
No budget...Used to be a demo, and was very pleased with the discount. If you decide to become a demo, please review the NEW guidelines, and the contract. I took it to my attorney for review, hence the USED to be a demo part! LOL
On to your question...I spent ABOUT $150 a week replenishing my SU!stash at first. Then it slowed down to $100 a week when I started purchasing company's items, like Spellbinders and Copics.
I was wondering and wondering and wondering what you were going to do, 'cause I knew you were a demo!! I'm so sorry about SU! but am soooo happy for Flourishes (I have a fondness for them) and There She Goes. You make the most beautiful cards with their stuff. I have a direct link on my browser to your gallery!!!
To the OP:
What's a budget??
No, just kidding. I don't have one. If nothing has gone wrong in a while (so I don't need to pay for repairs) then I buy more. Just within a month I bought that Magnolia Club thing for a year, some Papertrey, Crafty Secrets stamps and other stuff from Creative Play Stamps and some MORE Crafty Secrets stuff from Eclectic Paperie! And on Sunday, an SU! order. And this coming Friday and Saturday, a stamp convention!!
This makes it sound like I am filthy rich, but I am not. I am just miserly in the other areas of my life. A co-worker once said of me (not knowing of my stamp purchases) "wallet tighter than a clam with lockjaw".
I've never really had a set budget, but I agree that when I first started this hobby I was buying like a madwoman to get my stock up to par.
Now that I get my stamps pretty much free, I only have to buy consumables and a few embellishments here and there. I watch for sales and take advantage of shipping specials. Hobby Lobby has tombow adhesive refills right now at 30% off, so I stocked up on those yesterday.
I would say that now I am spending less than $75 a month and that includes a stamp club I am in.
I love looking through the stuff I have and *finding* some new things in my own stash!
for me its about $100 a month, other months less, depends on what expenses come up, some months are better than others ;)
I only have a year and a half crafting so i stilll need a lot of stuff lol ;)
When I first started, it was spendy. I was probably spending that much or more with buying my Nestabilities and my Copics and different inks and punches and whatnot. Now that I've been on some past design teams, done some guest designer work and am currently on two design teams now, my spending for stamps has gone down tremendously. I do, however, still purchase a bunch of stamps but I usually limit myself to about $40 a week on stuff.
Sometimes I don't even buy anything! I did go over my limit this past week as I had to place a PTI paper order so I ordered one of each which should last me a good long while before I need to buy more!
And what I find with patterned paper is that I get tired of it really quickly so before, when I was buying five or six sheets of each, now I'm just buying one (or two if I really love it.) Besides, I always see new paper that I want before I'm done using up the ones that I loved before. LOL!
So once the initial shock of "OMG I BOUGHT THAT MUCH STUFF?!?" wears off, I'm almost certain your spending will go down. There is always so much new stuff that is coming out seemingly every day but I've learned (by trial and error) what I like and what I don't like. Like say...ribbon. I want to love ribbon but I'm ribbon challenged so I don't know where to put it. So, I buy just plain ole 1/4" grosgrain ribbon so I don't feel so guilty when I don't put them all over my cards and projects. And for me, watercolors. I hate watercoloring...but some love it. As you go along, you'll learn what you like and don't like and can make edits in your spending.
Just have fun and don't stress and don't think you have to have everything-OMG-right-now-or-the-world-will-end. LOL Coz it won't...and if you keep coming back and looking at it then maybe it is something that you'll want to add to your collection.
I was spending a lot, but had to cut it back. I miss my weekly purchases from MFT, but I have to start to use what I am buying. I have a lot of stamps, but not enough paper or markers to use with them. I am working on that now, but trying to stay around $20 a week. TRYING being the main word there. ;)
I try, try, try to be wise in my expenditures. But sometimes I just HAVE to have something. And even though I strive to buy on-sale items...sometimes it just doesn't work.
__________________ Jansy The one who dies with the most embellishments wins! www.gingersnappedgirl.blogspot.com
I don't really have a budget. I just buy what I need or want when I have the money to invest. I DO need to set a spending limit though cuz I can really go nuts at times.
Almost all of my supplies have been gifts from my family and friends for birthdays and Christmas. My hubby has even given me Copics for our wedding anniversary. Prior to his job being eliminated in July, I probably spent an average of $15 a month on stamping/scrapping. All of my salary has to go paying bills now. Every once in a while, though, I get paid for framing a wedding invitation or making a special card for my mother-in-law, then I'll use it to replenish my paper supply. I just won a little money with my fair entries, so I'll treat myself to a new stamp set when that check comes.
It's amazing how content I feel with the stuff I already own. The really cool thing is that I've been able to make some nice, meaningful gifts for people with my stash at a time when we just can't afford storebought gifts. I hope this lesson in contentment is not something I forget once my hubby gets a new job.
__________________ Marcy Wolf Creek Crafting
I just love the smell of Stazon in the morning!
Last edited by kiddielitter; 09-08-2009 at 12:21 PM..
Reason: typo
I don't really have a budget, but try (sound of throat clearing - here -) to keep it under $80 per month. I have so many stamps that truly, in the new SU catalog, there is only one stamp that I really wnat, the medallion background. Oh, I am a sucker for those big stamps! The last three weeks, I have not been working and was doing WAY too much on line shopping and blew the aforementioned budget out of the water. But I must remind myself that it doesn't happen too very often, plus I have given up driving four hours to a stamp convention where I would spend a truly staggering sum every year (about $400). I have begun selling a few cards for too little money and having so much fun making them. I sometimes think that I am like a little kid, I get so much pleasure from this hobby! I have started a small card ministry for our tiny church and I make the cards for it also. I am planning to have a stamp and scrap garage sale, but upscale, with wine and cheese, at my house in the next month or two to get rid of some excess craft baggage. I will feel better after that! :rolleyes:
I have never lived on a budget, I have always spent until it was all gone! haha.. really...
and so when I first started stamping I was a BIG spender. I would spent hundreds every month. Now, like a lot of ladies already said, I'm pretty much set up. There aren't many more Copics I need, I have tonnes of stamps from DT stuff and recent purchases, and there are days when I wander through my LSS aimlessly saying "I have that, I have that, I have that" and I end up walking out with NOTHING! lol. it feels good though. It feels nice that I can sit at my craft table and not want for anything. It took me 3 years to get here though...
__________________
{Gallery}{Blog}
I design for: Stampendous!, There She Goes, Technique Tuesday,
SRM Stickers and Deconstructed Sketches.
It is easy to stay on a budget in Dallas--we have maybe 2, maybe 3 places to go shop beside the big boxes and I don't like most of their stuff and shop only when I have a coupon. Now, when I drive 120 miles to Winnsboro in East Texas, then it is $150 each day--so I only stay one! That is my new go to place for supplies. She has everything and, if she doesn't, she will order it for you.
The up side of being a hobby demo... if you can only spend the minimum each quarter because you know you will order again next quarter you have a built in budget. I try very hard to keep it right at the minimum and because I'm spending so much on SU I don't buy stamps or inks, etc. anywhere else. So that makes it about $100 monthly. Looking at the previous posts I'm either extremely frivolous or tight as a clam with lockjaw compared to some Okay, sometimes I binge on fabric but I'm running out of room for everything and that really does temper the lust for more goodies. I do recommmend becoming a hobby demo for the discount and pre-order stuff, etc. Have fun with your hobby.
In the beginning I did not know what a budget was. Now I try to budget $100 a month just for me. Lately though I have been spending less and less of that $100 budget. I also keep a wish list in a purse size notebook that stays in my purse at all times. When I do shop, I make sure to buy items off my list and that way at least I am getting things I actually know I want or need and saves me from buying duplicates. For instance, I got into everything Tim Holtz recently and just had to have all the AI, DIP, etc. Well I went to the ranger site, wrote down all the colors of inkpads, and all the sets of alcohol inks. I bought them over a few months using coupons and on-line sales. I have all bu two of the sets of AI and all but 3 distress inkpads. Also got to cross out a huge part of my wish list book. )
No budget...Used to be a demo, and was very pleased with the discount. If you decide to become a demo, please review the NEW guidelines, and the contract. I took it to my attorney for review, hence the USED to be a demo part! LOL
QUOTE]
Would that be because you are on a design team and had to make a choice anyway?
I know two lawyers who ARE demos and that is the reason they are staying on as a demo.
Nope...I was going to give up the DT's this year, until I read the new IDA. Sorry, I'm too independent to have someone dictate to me who and how I present myself electronically.
Just went over receipts from last month...Whew! I spend a TON on punches! LOL...However, they were all 50% off...Yeah, tell that to my husband! "But honey...I saved you soooooooo much! I got all 31 of them for 50% OFF!"
Last edited by markie's mom; 09-09-2009 at 03:19 AM..
Just Curious about your stamping adiction and budget?
budget?
