Last week I went to a local store that sells cameras and Scrapbooking supplies. I'm on a self imposed spending hiatus, but I have had a gift certificate for this store for over a year now and I figured, since I had time to burn, that I'd just go check out what is "new". This sudden interest was spurred by a flier that I received in the mail that offered a $10 off $30 purchase coupon...I figured I could find SOMETHING to use the silly GC on so that it could stop looking pitifully neglected in my wallet.
The entire time that I was driving to the store, I was trying to think of SOMETHING that I needed to buy. I swear I gave myself a headache trying to conjure up a mental picture of my needing anything scrapbooking related. I finally resigned myself to just 'go with the flow' and to let the mood move me when I got there. "Good strategy," I thought..."I'll buy the first thing that pops out at me and call it a day", I surmised.
Well, if I had decided to wait for the 'mood' to move me, I will still have my stagnating butt sitting in the store.
The last time I visited the store, about a year ago, I remember getting giddy over some Maya Roads chipboard or something of that sort. This time I walked in and I was drawn to the door that I'd just walked through. I walked around that blasted store for 15 minutes of my life and as the seconds melted away, I felt as if I were wasting precious bits of my life force. I felt nothing.
Nothing at all.
I looked at some of the clearanced Bazzill, nothing. Just last year those crates of cardstock would've have me needing a bib to keep my salivatory droppings from destroying the beautiful papers.
I looked at the new rubons...nada. I do remember thinking, "cute" when I looked at the Making Memories Rubon booklets with the colorful phrase transfers...but I didn't even touch the package. Did I ever tell you how I have 52 packages of MM Rubon Alphas? There used to be time that I would fantasize about having the world's rubon supply at my disposal.
Not a single, solitary idea book or magazine called out to me. Well, I'm sure they were, but I lacked the ability to understand what they were saying.
I was a little unnerved by this experience, truth be told. I have been pretty much avoiding any targeted scrapbooking shopping expeditions for over 6 months because I was concerned that I might lapse back into my spendy ways. I guess I have nothing to worry about since I couldn't even bring myself to by a sheet of patterned paper that was clearanced down to a quarter.
I wonder if this means that Scrapbooking is coming to an end for me. Could it be that I have killed off the craving for 'stuff'? I keep telling myself that I've simply trained myself to see the value in what I purchase and not to purchase anything that doesn't add value to my hobby. Hopefully, when I run out of something, my shopping trips will be a bit more productive.
Till then...I still have that annoying gift certificate...
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9 comments:
You're not alone. I've found that I'm buying much less compared to this time last year. I have found that I'm thinking more about what I do buy, and that it is becoming easier to resist the "gotta have it" impulse that has wreaked havoc on my paypal account in the past.
Part of this is that, like every other scrapper I have a huge stash.
Part of it, too, is that I'm looking at gadgets such as MM's tag curler and thinking WTF would I ever do with that?
I saw that darned gadgety tag curler and promptly left the store. It's almost as if the whole shopping thing no longer made sense! What's next? Rubon Sealer? I'm waiting for some walking talking example of brilliance to come up with a pink hand held fan to blow your ink dry...or maybe an papercutter with a vaccum attachment so you can cut and clean at the same time.
Please don't give them any more lame ideas!!!! :D
They did make me giggle, because quite honestly I can see someone marketing those! :?
I feel the same way lately-nothing says buy me. I want to use what I have and push my creativity. I think I am over trying to get pubbed and just trying to make pages that make me happy.
yeah ditto...went to a crop on Saturday and left spending not even a penny. Sure I wandered around and picked up a few things only to put them back thinking...why the heck do I need that when I have 300 sheets of patterned paper at home? Then I found out the lss is having a garage sale...I started clearing through my embellies...I have 30 sheets of partial alphabet stickers that I'm parting with...adn that doens't even cover the rest of the crap I realize I've been hoarding and will probably never use. *sigh* What a burden it is sometimes!
...or maybe an papercutter with a vaccum attachment so you can cut and clean at the same time.
LOL! I can see the marketing now: the new Cut 'n Vac! a wee little pink vac just the right size to suck up all of those little bitty paper scraps!
man...maybe i will be so lucky that this will happen to me. i am in NO need for anything scrapbooking related for years but manage to continue buying because i HAVE to have it and then it sits for months unused....
i know what you mean. i put myself on a buying moratorium over the summer because i'm not teaching. but then when i want to buy something, i can't find anything i want to buy. i think it is because we are more selective now in what we choose to spend our money on.
either that, or we are just tired of looking at the same old crap in the LSS
lol... if someone came out with rubon sealer, I might just buy it so I could keep all those older Heidi Swapp rubons sticking to the page!
For the rest, I have a terrible buying and hoarding problem, but I just got back from a very large and somewhat long trip and even though I have hundreds of awesome new photos, I have no desire to go out and find matching supplies. Aside from the fact that said trip has me temporarily broke, I'm just over the shopping thing. (Of course, I say that now. We'll see if I hold the line after the next round of CHA goodies ;) For now, I can content myself with shopping in my stash. Heaven knows there's enough stuff there that I haven't seen for months! That's as good as new, right?
lol! I know that when I happen upon a bag full of stuff I 'forgot' I had it's like Christmas! I think I've found everything that I could've possibly tucked away...but there's always hope!
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