Paying for your craft supplies

[MsDisney23]

I am pretty new to scrapbooking and new when I wanted to learn that it would be an expense. I figured like most new hobbies, the start up cost or investment would be it, boy was I wrong..

Let's get started here, I first took over 2,000 pictures in WDW this past Sept. and bought everything that they had for scrapbooking. I have to say that I got some nice things there, but yes we all Disney is pricey! I looked for deals to get these photos printed, I used both Wal-mart and Walgreens and yes they cost me some money as well.

Now lets move onto Michael's, how easy it is to get sucked into the 40% off discount coupon, which gets you going back week after week after week, Oh then that lady that has a in contract that white gloves must be worn when restocking her ever sought after punches,, yes Martha herself. By the way I have to tell you ladies, I do just love her show, so if you've never seen it you need to check it out!

I've taken trips to Wal-mart and Target to buy cardstock by the pound, tape, glues Xyon and so forth. Again more $$$$$$

Now for the best part, this machine that you ladies all just love,, The cricut expression, yes I even got one of them after shopping around and doing my homework, I got a bundle deal from hsn, I was very happy with my purchase from them and everything that came with it. Oh but wait it does not end there... Flash forward to Thanksgiving, yes I was the lady waitig at 4:00pm for Michael's to open at 5:00pm to get my hands on the Cricut carts for $27.99 and $34.99.. Yes, I did purchase 6 of them, all Disney!

I went to my first crop, yes I found out that also cost $$$$, but I have to tell you, I had a wonderful time and met some great ladies! It was worth every cent! Which leads me now to the CROP bags, the craft bags with all the nice fancy compartments that we sit on the table that holds all of our gadgets that we need and use! More $$$$$ Then we need those Iris boxes, photo boxes, brads to go with the pretty flowers to learn how to make cards...

I realized there is no end in site, next we will work on a craft room now for me in the house!

I would love to hear how everyone pays for their scrapbooking. I have to tell you I am enjoying all of the fun that comes with scrapbooking. I think it is endless of what you can make and do with all these wonderful supplies.

 

[rlovew]

I use my birthday/Christmas money and monthly allowance to pay for things.

 

[jacksmomma]

Yes it is an expensive little habit, but one thing I do is remind myself that I am not just making something; I am preserving memories.

I buy just about everything either on clearance, sale, or with a coupon. I only buy carts when they are $30 or less. This means that I do not have as many as other people or I may not have the latest and greatest ones, but that is okay with me.

As far as printing goes, I print my pictures at Sam's. They are a little cheaper than most places. I also keep an eye out for free printing offers. For me, printing pictures in small batches is a money saver. So many times I have printed a big chunk of pictures only to go back and find that I really did not want them in the size they were printed in.

If you have an Archivers near you make sure you are on their mailing list. They regularly send out coupons for free cardstock.

 

[PinballFamily]

This is a great question.

If DH sees this...I'm dead!

We might be a helpful source of info - my DD19 and I only got into scrapbooking last fall - got our first (Baby Bug) Cricut machine last Christmas. (And got an E about 5 months ago...)

So, it has been just over 12 months...

Since then, I think a conservative estimate of what we've spent is *well* in excess of $3,000. (And probably much closer to $4-5k)

But, the thing is...we are very cheap and only buy things very much on sale (think 50-90% off - no crappy 20% off for us!), and with ACM/Mike's/Jo's coupons. Cricut carts we never spend more than $30 for (and just got 2 for $5 each!), DCWV stacks - we never pay more than half price, and we buy A LOT at our LSS yard sale events when new and lightly used supplies are very cheap and name-brand good paper is like 10 or 15 for $1.

But, the shelves, cubes/racks, adhesives, brads, eyelets, Copics, punches, Cuttlebug/accessories, Stickles, embellishments, storage totes, yarn/ribbon, pens/markers, cards/envelopes, paper, magazines, Cricut mats, clear/rubber stamps and pads, albums, photo paper and ink cartridges, photo development, and general scrapbooking tools (whew!) do add up. AND FAST!

Not included in my estimate are swap costs - for supplies and postage, event costs (like crop fees and expenses relating to travel, classes, and conventions like CKC). Those also add up fast, but I prefer to think of those as more entertainment - some folks go to movies or out to eat. We don't - we go to scrapbooking events!

We're a family on the "envelope" budgeting system - but, to be honest - in the early days of setting up our scrapbooking area, some, um..."extra" money was found/diverted to support our habit - - but in the past few months, we've been pretty good about holding to spending only the money in the "scrapbooking" envelope - about $100 each month. (And actually, our budgeting envelopes were made using the Bags, Tags, Boxes, and More cart!)

If we totally stopped buying scrappy supplies today - we could probably scrap for years, without spending another dime. (Sad, but true - we've got stockpiles of everything.) But, where's the fun in that???

In fact, the hobby of scrapbooking has given me many hours of enjoyment with my daughter and our many, many, many, new friends - both IRL and those who live in the computer - and our family gets great joy from flipping through the albums of completed pages that mark the large and small events of our lives.

I'm not sure if this answers your question at all - or if you passed out long ago!, but hope this helps.

 

[JESW]

Welcome to the dark side.......we have scrap book supplies!

Jill

 

[AlexWyattMommy]

I refuse to disclose just how much money I have tied up in the swap making, uhm, I mean, scrap booking hobby.

 

[jacksmomma]

Cricut carts we never spend more than $30 for (and just got 2 for $5 each!),

So where did you find carts for $5 and which ones were they?!

 

[PrincessNancy96]

I will never tell how much I spend as DH would be shocked..

I do however, only buy on sale (unless it's a MUST have now situation).... I buy photos only on SALE unless it's again a must have....

I give myself a cash limit every 2 weeks for needs.. if I can't pay for cash, it's not bought... my mom also over buys so everytime I visit, I come home w/ a bunch of new stuff...

I have swap items that still haven't been used since 2006..... so I really don't need to buy much any more but paper.... that is when I go all out w/ the 5/95 cent or 6/96 sales!


Ok, off to clean house and make a dent in cleaning the mess laundry/scrap area as I have to get some notebook/post it sets done for my neices by tomorrow...

Have a great day!

 

[PinballFamily]

So where did you find carts for $5 and which ones were they?!

I was SO tickled to find these at the Black Friday (indoor) yard sale at Absolutely Everything (a not-so-local marvelous scrap, card, stamping, art shop) - we were among the first through the door and I grabbed both new, sealed carts that were on the table and they were marked $5 each. 50 States and Jasmine. (We have 29 carts - most are older ones, but got a few shortly after release including LAB. These work great for us and we do have SCAL, also, so really don't need any more font carts.)

We estimate we got $300 worth of scrappy stuff at the sale - and spent $25. TinkerBean added up her stuff - $465 worth and spent $60.

We, too, stock up on Coredinations and Gemstones paper at Jo's when it is 5/.95 or 6/.96 - we loved the 7/1.00 sale, but haven't seen that one lately!

 

[jacksmomma]

I was SO tickled to find these at the Black Friday (indoor) yard sale at Absolutely Everything (a not-so-local marvelous scrap, card, stamping, art shop) - we were among the first through the door and I grabbed both new, sealed carts that were on the table and they were marked $5 each. 50 States and Jasmine. (We have 29 carts - most are older ones, but got a few shortly after release including LAB. These work great for us and we do have SCAL, also, so really don't need any more font carts.)

We estimate we got $300 worth of scrappy stuff at the sale - and spent $25. TinkerBean added up her stuff - $465 worth and spent $60.

We, too, stock up on Coredinations and Gemstones paper at Jo's when it is 5/.95 or 6/.96 - we loved the 7/1.00 sale, but haven't seen that one lately!

That is awesome! Don't you just get a rush when you get a good deal like that?!

 

[PinballFamily]

Yup! Love those great deals!!!

I am very lucky - DH actually does know *about* how much I spend on scrappy stuff. We support his hobbies, too - so, he actually doesn't complain! We've also dropped $3k on a single pinball machine, too, so...we absolutely splurge on ourselves occasionally - but also love saving $ like crazy, too.

A funny story from last January - he knew that I spent a bit on scrappy supplies for Christmas and for getting our new scrap area set up over New Year's. So, when I happily showed him my first two page layout, he said "Great...it only cost me $350 for each of those pages!"

 

[NemoMom07]

We're a family on the "envelope" budgeting system

I am soooo doing this for one of my New Year Resolutions. I am going to do $75 cash in the envelope but try to aim for $60. I spent waaaayyyy to much this year. My lss closed the first part of the year so I really went way out on that. I think I was subconciously filling the void of losing my ds13 this year with spending. I think I did it with my ds3 Christmas too. I might have gotten a little too much. But when you have had a child who had no abilities and then do have one who can play I guess I really want to give him all that I can. I did do the same for my disabled ds when he was young. Guess I figured something would spark him and an ability.

Anyway back on the subject. I am going to make myself stick to a budge with cash only this year. I am allowing myself for $200 in carts at the most through the entire year, but I am going to try to make myself wait till M's black friday sale next year and load up. I am kind of sick of myself for spending so much. Kinda of feel like that now too with Christmas stuff.

 

[PinballFamily]

Anyway back on the subject. I am going to make myself stick to a budge with cash only this year. I am allowing myself for $200 in carts at the most through the entire year, but I am going to try to make myself wait till M's black friday sale next year and load up. I am kind of sick of myself for spending so much. Kinda of feel like that now too with Christmas stuff.

You have been through so much - I can't even imagine.

I was truly the "Queen of the Debit Card" and never used cash. Now, it is very rare that I pull out the debit or credit card - we pay cash for virtually everything now. We've been on the envelope system for almost three years now and I can't imagine going back. Even DH is a convert - although it took him a bit longer - I got so tired of us both hitting the ATM for $200 on the same day and 48 hours later having absolutely no clue what we spent the $400 on! Now, this way, we take the money out of the envelopes before heading out for gas, the grocery store, the LSS, whatever - and that's what gets spent. I have to say that it did take about a year to really get the system down and all the bugs worked out -- and all the "forgotten" expenses accounted for with envelopes.

I, too, feel like I spent $ on Christmas things that were unnecessary. So, on Black Friday evening (believe it or not!) DH and I actually went back to Target and returned about $50 worth of things that I had bought a week or two before. We just didn't need them - we have enough for under the tree already.

Good luck with your resolution and let me know if there's any help (or encouragement!) I can provide.

 

[pixiedustforever]

I can only WISH that my DH would do the envelope system. Worked for me when I was single, tho'! He's the spender, I'm the saver.

I started working as a merchandiser & mystery shopper during the school day to support my craft habit. Currently saving for the CHA winter 2010 releases ... 12 new colors of Distress Ink and Tim Holtz' Sizzix dies. Ooh-la-la!

Like all y'all, I could created for years with what is already paid for.
And I DO need to step up productivity! Anyone else?

Marylee

 

[nicurn]

one of the reasons I went digital. I still have a ton of stuff that I use to make other scrappy projects but thankfully I am not sucked into m's, ac moore, etc quite as much..

 

[BernardandMissBianca]

How do I pay for scrap supplies?
Well I have a husband who gets paid really really well. And it doesn't hurt that he has a really expensive car habit so it evens out in the end.

How do I physically pay for it?
The Debit Card is my friend. I very rarely carry cash anymore.

Now to the real question, how do I hide said purchases from hubby?
I have gotten really creative over the years hiding stuff, and it's easier now that I only use reusable bags, the scrap stuff blends in with the daily purchases from the grocery store, Target, etc.

PBF I did the envelope thing when I was a kid. I have no time to think about that now so I just use my savings account. I can move money online all the time, it's just easier for me. DH never knows how much money we have at one time. He just asks for his weekly allowance.

 

[LoriNSC]

I had a baby cricut last year & decided to go digital so I sold it & my carts. I've missed it so much. So black friday I got a black Cricut expression. I've bought 12 carts, design studio, SCAL & cricut gel pen/marker holders. I just bought a Gypsy & am awaiting delivery now. It's an addiction but I feel DH has his hobbies (fishing & guitar) so I can too. I just paid off his $15,000 boat so I don't feel so bad.

 

[PinballFamily]

DH never knows how much money we have at one time. He just asks for his weekly allowance.

Buffy, you're funny!

Finally, DH has it "down" - every Friday morning he hits the "Entertainment" envelope and grabs out $10 to go out to a Chinese food lunch buffet with a gang of his co-workers. And every week, they tease him about "his allowance" from me, blah, blah, blah...but last year, we managed to put 32% of our 2008 household income into savings - either short-term liquid savings or longer term investments. Not sure if we'll hit that mark again this year, rolleyes1 scrappy and WDW habits - eek!) but hope to come close. I'm not convinced any of his co-workers can say that...!

 

[LindaBabe]

Buffy, you're funny!

Finally, DH has it "down" - every Friday morning he hits the "Entertainment" envelope and grabs out $10 to go out to a Chinese food lunch buffet with a gang of his co-workers. And every week, they tease him about "his allowance" from me, blah, blah, blah...but last year, we managed to put 32% of our 2008 household income into savings - either short-term liquid savings or longer term investments. Not sure if we'll hit that mark again this year, rolleyes1 scrappy and WDW habits - eek!) but hope to come close. I'm not convinced any of his co-workers can say that...!

Here HEAR! And believe me, that savings pays off, when you can retire at 60 and everybody else turns green with envy. (that would be me)

The amount of scrapbook stuff I buy is limited by the space in my 'studio' - I looked at the carts on sale at Joann's yesterday - and couldn't find one I wanted! I'd like the quickutz Stardust font, but how much room does that take up? And I can't find it anyway. When I can't find anything to buy, it's not hard to 'hide' what I bought - and I'll have a nice little stash of cash when I DO find something I can't live without. . . Like next month when I go to Florida for 3 weeks and there are several nice scrapbook stores

 

[morgansmom2000]

I refuse to disclose just how much money I have tied up in the swap making, uhm, I mean, scrap booking hobby.

Uh, ditto