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Scrappy Budgets

littlekiwi

littlekiwi

I charge by the hour for anything before noon
Joined
Jan 21, 2012
Messages
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I will have $50USD a month as my fun money (meals out, movies, clothes, haircuts and scrappy supplies). How do you manage your scrap budget? I've already allocated money for CC subscription and backblaze.
 
Me? I haven't cut my hair in years, and buying clothes is pretty rare for me, so I'm not a good person to ask! :backing I do know that if given the choice, I would rather have scrap supplies than eating out. :stash

Our budget covers eating out, haircuts and clothes from your list. I'm not a huge movies at the theaters person, but my husband usually budgets 1 movie a month out of his fun money. He looks ahead at what's coming out and then decides if he needs to see more than 1 movie.

Do you cut your hair once a month? or do you cut it every 6 weeks? That would give you a little extra one month, so you could make a wishlist if there's more kits than money one month. When I had a tiny scrap budget ($15/month), I would stick things in my cart on Thursday (Tuesday night for SOSN). Then come back Sunday (or Wednesday Night for SOSN) and everything that I couldn't remember without looking at it went into my wish list. Usually I was down to 1 kit :-). It was easier to decide on one kit rather than a cartful of things. I also always saved ahead a little in anticipation of the big quarterly sales, and BYOC. And I did buy things at full price when I decided on them later, but they were always things I really wanted, and when I had more wiggle room in my budget.
 
I probably only cut my hair every 2-3 months so it's not a huge thing and clothes/shoes I usually buy from goodwill or deeply discounted. Eating out for me will be the big thing that I'll change plus buying pop all the time when I'm out. I probably don't need any supplies at all but not having money for them especially during sales would kill me.
 
I have a tendency to only shop when on sale, then window shop... and then forget to purchase. If I don't forget, usually means that I truly really want it. I also have to have a real need - as in pictures - to purchase. Also, if a kit is theme-y, then I have to be able to use it off theme too. Enough general items.

Good Luck, Jennifer. Every little step will help!
 
I have a wish list ready for when there are sales. That has been my big saver to be honest. I rarely buy otherwise.

But to be honest, since I am at TLP as a pollywog, I should talk in the past. I find all my supplies here, other designers won't make earnings from me anymore. I'm sorry for them.
 
I shop the sales and wishlist the rest of the time. I only buy without a sale/coupon when I am mid-LO and absolutely need something for that page.
 
If you like any of the subscription options, sometimes that helps me. It's something new each month to satisfy the need to put something in my cart and check-out. I've really had to cut back recently as we focus on credit card debt, so I've limited mine to BYOC mostly. Attend chats and scraps when you can because those coupons are great!!

Also, know what you have, and be creative with how you use it... chances are you need very little if you've been collecting TLP goodies for awhile. :)
 
Rather than having a scrappy budget, I just intend to buy only one or two items per month, usually, so once I've done so, I ignore the newsletters until the following month. :D
 
klee73010 said:
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Also, know what you have, and be creative with how you use it... chances are you need very little if you've been collecting TLP goodies for awhile. :)
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Very good point! This one the biggest stumbling block for me when I was searching for a new digiscrap home. I've been collecting a digiscrap stash for about 9 years so I have plenty! I understand that stores want their products displayed in their galleries but sort of wished I could participate without spending money. Fortunately, digiscrap kits aren't really all that expensive and we are given many discount opportunities, plus I think the quality of products has increased over the years, so I have allowed myself to succumb to temptation. ;) Already, since becoming active at TLP late last December, I have built up a respectable TLP stash. (It helps that several designers came here from old sites where I used to hang out.)
 
I don't really have a specific budget either, but when I start to notice I bought a bunch of georgeous stuff I haven't used yet. I hang my head in shame and stop shopping.
 
We have a budget of what we call "play" money- eating out, whatever purchases, etc. My scrap supplies definitely come out of that- but usually my scrap amount is pretty small. I too am a big wishlist maker & shop the big once or twice yearly sales, unless it's something that I REALLY want & want to use right away (photos in mind, etc.) My stash is huge & with creative team accesses- I'm not purchasing as much as I used too! Good luck!
 
I don't really have a budget. That said, I don't really buy a lot of scrapping stuff too often. I'm trying to get away from being a scrapper who used only themed kits to one who just uses generic, pretty kits instead. Sometimes it works, and sometimes it doesn't.

I already have 5 kits for my trip to London. So I guess I'd better use every one of them.
 
Cath_ said:
I so wish i could stop buying so much, so i can get lightroom
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I never want to encourage anyone to stop shopping, because there's so much gorgeousness in the store!

But maybe skip 1 kit a week that you love and save that for Lightroom? Because I adore Lightroom too.....That is a huge struggle Cath!
 
I don't budget but what keeps MY spending down is not wanting to have to get a new EHD or sort through a lot more stuff. Doing the monthly challenges - Store and Designer - gets me a lot of coupons to use. Since January I've built up a good stash and also use the occasional product from other stores. Learning to change colors etc with current products is a big help and allows a lot more versatility for what I have.

I would definitely cut back on product to have Lightroom! I really love that program , not just for the ability to edit photos but for the catalog I have of all my digi supplies.
 
Every month, my husband and I each get an "allowance" of discretionary funds. That money is ours to do with whatever we want, no questions asked. It gets auto-transferred into our individual accounts - he saves his, and I spend mine. :D

I've got a bad habit of being a supply collector ... er, hoarder. I thought when I moved from physical supplies to digital ones, I'd be better about using them - no more worrying about saving a favorite supply "for the perfect page". I'm still just as bad, though - at last count, I own over 1200 digital kits. Have I made 1200 scrapbook pages? No, of course not. I probably have more digital supplies than I could use in a lifetime... when I came to that realization, I changed my approach to shopping. For now, I'm only buying kits for which I have an immediate project. Like, something I'm going to start within the next month. Not, "Oh, this would be great for that Hawaii album from our trip 10 years ago that I'd like to make someday..." That's how I get myself in trouble. <sigh>

What has worked well for me is using Pinterest as my "free shopping cart". I set up a board for Kits I Want and started pinning away. Every time I got an email newsletter, if I loved a kit and had the urge to buy it, I'd pin it instead. Then when the big sales happen in May and November for iNSD and iDSD or Black Friday, I could go through and get them on big-time sale.

And as you're stretching your stash, be sure to consider recoloring elements to maximize the pages you can use them with. HTH!
 
klee73010 said:
It's something new each month to satisfy the need to put something in my cart and check-out. I've really had to cut back recently as we focus on credit card debt, so I've limited mine to BYOC mostly
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First off, @klee73010, big-time kudos to you for your focus on credit card debt! I carried revolving balances on a wallet full of credit cards from the age of 19 through my early 30's. When my first husband and I divorced, the biggest struggle was figuring out how to divide up the debt, not our assets. It wasn't until I married my 2nd husband (I like to call him my "forever husband") who absolutely HATES debt that I got serious and paid everything off. We've been living debt-free for the past four or five years, and it's such a huge difference, not only in my overall anxiety level, but in our marriage. We don't argue about money!

So as hard as it is, I promise, it's worth it. Hang in there!

And secondly, now that I've gone totally off-topic, I completely agree with you about the value of a monthly subscription. I love my Just Jaimee Storyteller VIP subscription! I get new stuff every week, and when I check out with a $0.00 order filled with new goodies, it makes me smile. Totally worth the cost, and a great way of controlling scrap spend!
 
I really can't spend a lot every month so I only focus on my MPM subscription and add ons. I also try to get some BYOC every month if I can, especially those awesome newsletter deals from designers. Being on a couple of CTs here also helps.
 
BYOC is always a budget-buster for me. Love the sales. Usually, I am scrapping 6 months behind (right now, I'm doing autumn pages), so I can normally have willpower to wait for sales, but BYOC gets me every time. I'll be shopping tonight...
 
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