Any other craft/hobby junkies out there?

[honeybunmom]

One of my goals this year is to get a handle on how much I spend on yarn and other crafting items. This past quarter, I picked up sewing and the two times I've been to JoAnn's specifically for projects, I spent over $100. Granted, the last trip included some baskets (50% off) for toy organization, but, I was a bit aghast. I know I've already spent close to $200 on yarn/knitting items (probably more since I did buy a book and some magazines, too). And I have more yarn than I can knit right now - especially considering that I have two small children and WOH.

Add to that the crafting supplies I have for my Waldorf educated pre-schooler and I know I have a lot invested. I also plan to keep track of my one-off Etsy purchases for the nature table, etc. Part of the issue is that I make those purchases out of an account that I don't really monitor very closely - just make sure there's enough in there to cover what I'm buying and that's it. I only pay my school loan and make my contributions to my money market account out of it. Otherwise, I use another checking account for bills/household management.

Anyone else need/want to get a handle on this category of spending?

[mommariffic]

ME

I home school DD who's only 2 1/2 and one of the huge chunk of our "schooling" is crafting. I purchased this huge craft caddy from Community Playthings, and it's filled with EVERYTHING imaginable: felt, stickers, paints, scrap book stuff...the list could go on for miles.

And yet I still buy, at least once or twice a month we are at the craft store and I spend at least $100 while there. I figure though it's for "schooling" and we do use all materials so I can let myself slide. I also found that cutting those 50% coupons really can help...a little.





















Who am I kidding I can't stop.

[iowaorganic]

I do it too. We don't have a JoAnns (thankfully) so I don't have that temptation. But we do have a hobby lobby that is entirely too convienient. I stop in for like a spool of thread and spend $25. Then I go to the knitting shop for 2 skiens and come out with 8. Quilt shops are even worse!

I joined the 52 project challenge on the craft board- it has been very helpful so far in getting me to at least finish up projects that I have started- mostly before buying new supplies.

I do need to redo my budget for it though. 2 years ago it was almost $100/mo. I need to have it well under $50 though this year. But it is also my entertainment so......

[honeybunmom]

Originally Posted by iowaorganic

I do it too. We don't have a JoAnns (thankfully) so I don't have that temptation. But we do have a hobby lobby that is entirely too convienient. I stop in for like a spool of thread and spend $25. Then I go to the knitting shop for 2 skiens and come out with 8. Quilt shops are even worse!

I joined the 52 project challenge on the craft board- it has been very helpful so far in getting me to at least finish up projects that I have started- mostly before buying new supplies.

I do need to redo my budget for it though. 2 years ago it was almost $100/mo. I need to have it well under $50 though this year. But it is also my entertainment so......

Yeah, I first justified it by beginning to bring my lunch instead of buying it every day. That cost was anywhere from $6.50 to $8 or $9 / day. Which then gave me $32.50 - $45/week to spend.

Oh, and I forgot to mention my dream of making Waldorf dolls for my children. Of course, I have the materials for that, too. In part thanks to the great going out of business sale from Joy's. I have completed 1. Yeah!!! It was the only thing dd asked for for Christmas. A mermaid. I got 'er done!

[Jenn_M]

Yep, me too.

I have a rather large (although small compared to some) fabric and pattern stash and I've fallen in love with knitting, needle felting, and spinning . I'm trying to only buy yarn as I have a project in mind but I all the pretty colors and fibers.

[zebra15]

I surrender...with in 5 miles of my home I have a JoAnn's, Michaels and Hobby Lobby, plus I found http://www.herrschners.com/. I have yarn for crocheting, and way too much x-stitch as well as tons of kids crafts...

Granted most of it was purched with the teaser 40% off coupons and educator discounts but still, I need to stop buying, there is no way I can finish all this..

Oh I forgot the latch hook kits... then the storage bins

[Smocked]

I love sewing! I love new patterns and I love new fabric....and I love sewing gadgets. I'm just the biggest sucker ever I bought 4 patterns on sunday and have promised myself to not buy anything sewing related for this whole month. Hopefully I can get through some of my excesses fabric that I have bee stashing away for a while

[Knittin' in the Shade]

I have put a moratorium on all my craft spending (except for the occasional yarn that I have to buy for work designs, though most of my yarn now is comp'd by yarn companies/indie dyers) I've got more paper/fabric/yarn/beads/crafty do-dad's than can possiblybe used by one woman in a lifetime! So, I stay out of the craft stores/yarn shops and shop my stash It's hard to resist the siren song of the Malabrigo at my fave LYS, and I occasionally find myself thinking up reasons to go in there (does she need a restock on patterns? Is the hat sample lookign ragged? etc) but I force myself to stay AWAY!!!

[sunnysandiegan]

I became aware of my problem with this very issue a few years ago. We have the his, hers, and ours financial arrangement, so hobby purchases that are solely for my personal enjoyment come out of my personal checking account and those that benefit the family in some way come out of the joint checking account. This is a nice arrangement that suits our family well. The only drawback is it masks the true amount of money being spent on hobbies/crafts.

Enter Fall 2007 when we moved out of our home for three weeks due to home repair and improvement projects (one was beyond our control and I tacked on the others since we already had to be out). I had to pack up 90% of our house for a three week stay with my dad (90 second walk from door to door). OH MY!!! Thank goodness I started EARLY! That experience made me FULLY realize just how many craft items I had. (To his credit, DH never complained or said a negative word and he hauled most of these boxes! He did tease me a bit, lovingly.)

Ever since then, I voluntarily put myself on a "craft diet" where I can only purchase items that are needed in order to complete an existing project I am in the midst of actually DOING. Absolutely no NEW crafts and no craft supplies just because it was a good deal. The idea being that more craft items would be used up than would come into the house and the net effect would be less supplies and less money spent on those supplies. The benefits would be more space for the existing craft supplies (instead of spilling out everywhere) and more money to allocate to other goals of ours. In the end, though, I decided to spend some of that money saved on crops and travel in order to get away and actually get projects done.

Just over two years later....
~ Financially, this has worked out REALLY, REALLY well! The amount I've spent on going places to do crafts has been FAR less than what I was spending on supplies. My personal account has hardly been touched in these two years and the joint account has had less than a quarter of the previous expenses in this category.

~ Space-wise, hmmm.... I'm still waiting for this benefit. I believe I may have owned enough craft supplies for a decade of projects. I have donated oodles and oodles of items to various causes, so items are not actually spilling out unless I am physically working on projects now.

~ Shopping-wise, I have not been perfect in the "NO new crafts or supplies" portion of my craft diet, but the net effect has been minor. I took up knitting in order to teach my DD, who really wanted to learn. Most of our yarn has come from friends and we've only purchased 3-4 skeins for specific projects for DD. I have been given quite a bit of 'swag' from various craft shows and crops, etc. Finding room for this stuff requires me to go through my supplies and donate to a cause.... DD, friends, random "free" spots at events, and some specific charities.

~ Results-wise, I am getting things done and enjoying crafting again! All the shopping in the past was actually getting in my way of DOING.

For 2010:
~ I have joined the Compact, which further reinforces my way of life nowadays and specifically keeps the craft and hobby issue under control.

~ I joined the 52 Project Challenge, which is turning out to be highly motivating in completing projects.

~ I loosely committed to the Decluttering 2010 Items in 2010 Challenge. I say "loosely" because 2010 items seems really, really high to me considering our home is in great shape, clutter-wise. I joined, though, in order to be motivated to get to the next layer. I know my strengths and weaknesses. I can pack things really well and make closets and drawers look very tidy. Therefore, our home doesn't LOOK cluttered at all, but I wonder if we use everything and truly love everything....

You, too, can do it!!!

[honeybunmom]

Originally Posted by sunnysandiegan

I became aware of my problem with this very issue a few years ago. We have the his, hers, and ours financial arrangement, so hobby purchases that are solely for my personal enjoyment come out of my personal checking account and those that benefit the family in some way come out of the joint checking account. This is a nice arrangement that suits our family well. The only drawback is it masks the true amount of money being spent on hobbies/crafts.

Enter Fall 2007 when we moved out of our home for three weeks due to home repair and improvement projects (one was beyond our control and I tacked on the others since we already had to be out). I had to pack up 90% of our house for a three week stay with my dad (90 second walk from door to door). OH MY!!! Thank goodness I started EARLY! That experience made me FULLY realize just how many craft items I had. (To his credit, DH never complained or said a negative word and he hauled most of these boxes! He did tease me a bit, lovingly.)

Ever since then, I voluntarily put myself on a "craft diet" where I can only purchase items that are needed in order to complete an existing project I am in the midst of actually DOING. Absolutely no NEW crafts and no craft supplies just because it was a good deal. The idea being that more craft items would be used up than would come into the house and the net effect would be less supplies and less money spent on those supplies. The benefits would be more space for the existing craft supplies (instead of spilling out everywhere) and more money to allocate to other goals of ours. In the end, though, I decided to spend some of that money saved on crops and travel in order to get away and actually get projects done.

Just over two years later....
~ Financially, this has worked out REALLY, REALLY well! The amount I've spent on going places to do crafts has been FAR less than what I was spending on supplies. My personal account has hardly been touched in these two years and the joint account has had less than a quarter of the previous expenses in this category.

~ Space-wise, hmmm.... I'm still waiting for this benefit. I believe I may have owned enough craft supplies for a decade of projects. I have donated oodles and oodles of items to various causes, so items are not actually spilling out unless I am physically working on projects now.

~ Shopping-wise, I have not been perfect in the "NO new crafts or supplies" portion of my craft diet, but the net effect has been minor. I took up knitting in order to teach my DD, who really wanted to learn. Most of our yarn has come from friends and we've only purchased 3-4 skeins for specific projects for DD. I have been given quite a bit of 'swag' from various craft shows and crops, etc. Finding room for this stuff requires me to go through my supplies and donate to a cause.... DD, friends, random "free" spots at events, and some specific charities.

~ Results-wise, I am getting things done and enjoying crafting again! All the shopping in the past was actually getting in my way of DOING.

For 2010:
~ I have joined the Compact, which further reinforces my way of life nowadays and specifically keeps the craft and hobby issue under control.

~ I joined the 52 Project Challenge, which is turning out to be highly motivating in completing projects.

~ I loosely committed to the Decluttering 2010 Items in 2010 Challenge. I say "loosely" because 2010 items seems really, really high to me considering our home is in great shape, clutter-wise. I joined, though, in order to be motivated to get to the next layer. I know my strengths and weaknesses. I can pack things really well and make closets and drawers look very tidy. Therefore, our home doesn't LOOK cluttered at all, but I wonder if we use everything and truly love everything....

You, too, can do it!!!

Thanks for this great post! Yes, I headed over to the 52 Project Challenge. Gotta start my post again. I think I was getting nervous about the challenge as I was typing and accidentally hit the "back" button on the mouse and lost my post.

Very encouraging that you spend less traveling to craft than what you would otherwise have spent in the stores. A big problem for me is that I'm in front of a computer at work all day and not always busy. So, I'm getting my co-op order posted or cruising the web for yarn sales. Very bad, indeed. I don't shop the online yarn stores as much as I used to, though. Seeing as I have 7 bins of yarn. So, I shifted to buying roving, doll making supplies and 100% wool felt. Gotta find the best online deal! And the drawers of our built in hutch are now full of these supplies.

[sunnysandiegan]

I am selective about which events I attend, of course, in order to keep costs down way low. A local friend and I were crafting at each other's house every week for four months back in Spring 2008 (free and we live one mile from each other). We spent one Wednesday at my house and the next at hers. I completed an entire scrapbook album that way! She went back to work full-time. We started crafting on Sunday evenings at her church recently (half-mile from each of us; no DHs or DDs to distract us) and hope to do that once a month this year.

Other friends and I go to Lake Arrowhead for a long weekend to scrapbook three times a year. We stay in a cabin owned by family of one of the friends. We basically pay for utilities and food ($65/person for the entire three days total) and we cook and clean ourselves. I drive a Prius, so gas is reasonable, and sometimes the first friend mentioned attends and we carpool, which further reduces costs.

These same friends meet 1-2 times a year at a scrapbook store in the middle of all of us for a 9-to-9 crop (New Year's Day was free, then $20; National Scrapbook Day was $35, then $40, but includes all food and drinks).

I attend free quilting classes in my city. They are offered in a few locations on a couple days a week. I don't always take classes, but it is a nice option! This semester I am taking a Sewing for the Home class on Tuesday nights through the same program. I started taking the free classes to learn to quilt, but now I take them every so often in order to get motivated to finish projects!

Best wishes!

[ArtsyMomma]

I did really great last year when it came to craft spending. I seriously cut down what I spent on craft supplies.

For few years, a GF and I would spend Friday nights doing crafts - and we constantly tried new things. When I realized the only craft I truly love is knitting/crocheting I donated the majority of the other craft supplies (needlepoint kits, wooden things to paint) and the other crafting books.

I went through all my knitting patterns/books and saved only the things I loved or thought I may someday do. I organized the loose patterns in an accordian type file.

I did the same 'purge' with my yarn. I must have donated 5 or 6 garbage bags full. No need to keep the cheap acryllic I was never going to use! I found a great program locally that was looking for yarn (a group home/school starting a crochet club!). I crocheted about 50 or so blankets for the NICU with other 'left over' yarns.

Now, to curb spending - I shop from my stash, or work on projects that I had bought yarn for already. I occasionally have to pick up a few skeins here or there to finish something. I recently did the Babette Blanket for DD2 - I think I bought 3 skeins of yarn at $4 a skein to finish a beautiful afghan. Quite the stash buster! I even did several Christmas presents with yarn I already had.

I do other crafts too - but I try to 'shop from the stash' for them too. I know I'm never going to get around to quilting, or sewing clothing - so unless I plan to do the project THAT DAY and I don't have supplies available, I don't buy fabric. I'm doing a collage right now for the bathroom - it's an old butterfly calendar that I cut up. Next, I'll glue all the butterflies to an old poster, and put the poster in back in the poster frame. This project cost me $0!!!!

[honeybunmom]

These posts are very helpful. Before and after dd was born, I had a scrapbooking partner. She moved to the west coast and my scrapbooking took a nose dive. It sounds like having a partner to craft with helps to get things done.

This week I did set the ball in motion to get a mother's helper for Saturdays so that I can work on sewing crafts without the fear of losing a child to some accident around the house and to be able to give my dd my full attention when we craft together.

ArtsyMomma, you reminded me to follow up with the women's shelter not too far from my home to see if they still need yarn. I have some I can donate. I left a message in December and didn't hear anything back.

I need to put some of my knitting books up free for shipping. Some, I will never make anything out of. I have organized my free patterns in a three ring binder inside sheet protectors.

Shopping from my stash is so hard when 1) I have disposable income (not really, though, as it should go into savings) and 2) I've changed my mind about what I want to knit and nothing in my stash works with what I've now decided I want to knit! I need to re-commit.

Thanks, mamas!