Lisa, for each charm you add, you usually remove one of your plain links. I started with a 14 link starter bracelet, bought 3 charms at first, and then purchased an additional link for $1 for a total of 18 links. At my charm bracelet party, I purchased 6 additional charms, so I now have 6 blank links that I can use to start to build a new bracelet. If you are in an area that has home parties for the bracelets, it is the way to go! I ended up getting around $140 worth of charms for only $37!!