How has the economy affected your scrapping?

[Kara]

Are you buying fewer digi goodies? Cutting back altogether? Doing more SSD challenges so you get a bigger Sweet Rewards discount? :D

I know I'm cutting back some ... don't know if I can cut back altogether and I don't think I'll get my 40% discount this month ...

[LeeAndra]

Little to no impulse shopping. Waiting for new products to release so at least get 20%. Waiting for dollar days to pick up other things I like. Deleting emails I get from various stores advertising sales so I'm not tempted.

:thumbdown:

[ColleenSwerb]

The state of the economy right now, actually has had little affect on me. I work for an independent contractor, but my department does a large majority of it's work with the state. So there's always work to be done (and there would be more if the dang government would understand how miserable our nations infrastructure is, and put some money towards it, but that's a whole other rant :p).

Of course, come December our bonuses might not be so big. Our company bought another company in the spring, so I'm sure that will affect our bonuses.

Regardless of the economy, I've been trying really really ahrd to cut my scrap spending ways. I don't think I've bought anything here in almost 2 months, and I didn't even use my SR from last month cuz it was only 20%. I figured I might as well just wait for a saturday with something I was dying for, than spend it then. I have AWFUL willpower when it comes to shopping and have really been trying to work on that. We have a lot of big ticket things we want to do with the house in the next few years and I really need to focus on saving for them (and for a new car).

My scrap stash is so huge, and I'm on awesome CT's, so I haven't really felt like I was missing out on anything.

[Nikki Epperson]

Little to no impulse shopping. Waiting for new products to release so at least get 20%. Waiting for dollar days to pick up other things I like. Deleting emails I get from various stores advertising sales so I'm not tempted.

:thumbdown:

I am doing this too. I rarely - if ever - shop w/o a sale and now that has been cut back quite a bit too.

I take advantage of my Sweet Rewards usually though! :)

[jessica31876]

I have only bought like four or five kits here and then three on a dollar day sale elsewhere in the last three months. My husband said he would be getting more work soon so I might be able to start buying a little more but the weird thing is it doesnt really bother me that much. It was hard at first to resist some of the gorgeous kits being put out but now even though I like them I find it hard to put 10 or 15 dollars on one or two kits when I know how much that could buy for other things. So in short it has not only changed my spending but also greatly changed my way of thinking

[nikkiARNGwife]

Really not so much..I guess I am trying not to do so much impulse buying and I do try to only buy on sale items. But we're actually saving extra money with DH gone..I don't have to buy as many groceries b/c I'm not cooking that much. He's not here driving his truck so we're saving on gas (he has an F-150 extended cab so it is a gas guzzler), I only have to fill up my SUV every 2 weeks or so b/c I stay at home and only drive to my parents or to the grocery store 5 minutes away...he's not here spending 10-15 dollars a day on lunch...wow not having hubby home is really saving me some money lol...of course I'd rather not have the money and have him here instead.

[mummytothree]

Nah, I always was a frugal buyer. I never impluse buy and although I do have a pretty big wishlist (that I'm 3lbs aways from buying :w00t:) I choose my kits very carefully and know that I'll always get my money's worth!!! No matter how much I love a kit if I know I can't get at least 4 pages out of it I don't even look twice at it!!!

[mrsmbm]

Nah, I always was a frugal buyer. I never impluse buy. I choose my kits very carefully and know that I'll always get my money's worth!!! No matter how much I love a kit if I know I can't get at least 4 pages out of it I don't even look twice at it!!!

Ditto.

[SamaraGugler]

I've become more selective. I used to be very impulsive. This isn't just from the state of our economy but also the state of my acdsee!!! Holy crap, I have a lot of kits!!! And my "Need to use" file overflowith... :)

[newfiemountiewife]

It hasn't affected me much at the moment.

My DH is a cop, and I work from home. He always has work. LOL. I also just took back on my figure skating job, so that will be additional income we were not ancipating this winter.

I have though cut back for other reasons. Last summer/fall, I bought SO much stuff, just because it looked cute, I saw layouts with the items and thought they were great. This was also before I sort of found my own style. Now I know what I can and can't work with, and I have been limiting my purchases to those types of things. I also have cut back on the impulse shopping, because, well, there's just no need to have everything I see.

I do still shop, I try to shop on new release days, and also check out dollar days. And yes, occasionally I do buy at full price if I just love it, and need it right now for what I'm working on.

[aly321]

WOW! You all have such will power! I am a sucker and feel like I HAVE TO HAVE!! I know I need more self control, but scrapping is my weakness. I actually have cut back a little, I guess, but that is only because my stash is getting to where it needs to be. If everyone here didn't have such darling kits, then I would be alot better off!!

[SeattleSheri]

Fortunately, it hasn't had an effect on me.

[BrattyMeg]

I think I shop more now since I'm home all day bawaha :0x

I spend way less online shopping than I do at Target, Lunches at work, and Gas to drive into the city..so I can make an excuse for it haha

[pbumbaca]

Not as much as it should! LOL!

I try not to buy stuff just cause I like it and more cause I'll use it but it doesn't work often!

[scrapmonkey]

I definitely have been cutting back, with DH out of work and his unemployment benefits will be running out again soon. And now with me getting notice a few weeks ago that I will be out of a job come June. I'm not on any creative teams, so anything I get I pretty much have to buy (there are fortunately a few freebies that I see here and there). Other than Sweet Rewards, I've been limiting myself to one new kit/product per week here. And I've been shopping the $1 deals and sales at other sites (I've put together a spreadsheet to track them), though outside of Jacque Larsen's and Cori Gammon's stuff I don't get much of anything at other stores. It's not easy as there is a lot of temptation, but it has to be done.....

[*Kelly*]

not really, but like most of you have said.. I too shop dollar days *I :wub: dollar days* and sales. I have a few times purchased killer kits by just looking at the CT LO's, but didn't really think about how I was going to use them and now they sit and collect dust. I too have figured out what type of kits work and don't work for me and I go from there. I'm not very impulsive when it comes to any purchases.

[kscwgirl]

I mainly shop only here... so I shop occ. on Saturdays and then SR. I've had to cut back though..

[mpatry]

With the Canadian dollar falling the way it is I'm definitely not buying much. I spent an entire day deciding wether or not to buy a couple of kits because once I saw the exchange rate I was paying abot 10$ for one kit! I just can't afford that!

So I have to really want the kit to buy it right now. Sales are definitely my best friend and I'm wishing I had time for challenges and contests so I could get a few more kits. I'm definitely waiting on pins and needles for the National Digital Scrapbooking Day sales to see if I can treat myself to a few on my wish lists.

[scarletsierra]

No impulse shopping for me either, and I'm more selective in my picks these days...I find myself buying items I know I'll utilize more than once and I shop on the new release days for discounts, etc. etc.

[Paula]

Not buying fewer, I'm just being more selective about where I buy. I only purchase at TLP and here now.

[Becca Bonneville]

No impulse shopping for me either, and I'm more selective in my picks these days...I find myself buying items I know I'll utilize more than once and I shop on the new release days for discounts, etc. etc.


me too me too!!

[breakingbrie]

I've seriously had to cut back lately. We're trying to cut some corners and save more $$$, and scrap stuff is definitely a corner! :P But I still get to buy a bit here and there to keep me going!

[Linz]

Fortunately, it hasn't had an effect on me.

ditto.

[Stacey42]

I've been cutting back for awhile now, but not because of the economy. I've gotten back into crochet and yarn money comes from the same pot as scrap money. I'm also bound and determined to have enough to buy a D40 around Black Friday or sooner should the necessary deal come my way. So a good chunk of my scrapping money is being diverted to that as well.

Plus, my unused kits folder currently has 34 kits in it, some dating back to March & common sense says I need to use them first. :)

[rach3975]

I put myself on a scrapping budget more than a year ago, and I'm lucky that the amount I have to spend on scrapping hasn't changed. I think carefully about purchases otherwise I'd be out of $ the first week of the month, but I have enough to shop sales and $ days through the month and still buy a few full price or new release kits if they're things I love and know I'll use a lot.

I've been a little less tempted to buy lately because this pregnancy has been wearing me out and sleep has been cutting into my scrapping time :cursing: , but I can't blame the economy for that.

[jacinda]

Unless something is on sale for like $1 or $2, I just can't afford it. I have the exchange rate to think of too, and it's just killing me. I haven't bought anything in the shop here for a couple of months even though there are a ton of things I would love to have. :(

[mcardall]

We haven't been affected too much financially. My husband works about 5 minutes from our house, so even the gas prices didn't affect us too much. My husband's car was broken into last weekend. We were really stressed because it is a piece of poo car and we didn't even want to put the $200 deductible into it. Well, we took it to the adjustor and they are either going to total it out completely OR give us a check to "fix it" and we can make more money junking the car. Soooo, we are down to one car. Pretty sad that ripping the stereo out and bending the door can total the car! Those were some DUMB thieves. DH had a $200 pair of sunglasses sitting on the dashboard that they didn't touch. He had some REALLY nice stereo speakers that they didn't touch. PING golf clubs in the trunk... still there. NICE tennsi racket... still there. But they took my bag of change! Maybe $10 worth of quarters in there! Anyway... that means I am home all day, so no impulse shopping and we have been sticking to our grocery list! It's amazing how much money we are saving by not running errands during the day. My husband HATES shopping, so we go in the evening after he gets home and we are in and out of the stores in no time!

I did just empty my PayPal account buying family portraits... so no scrap shopping for me for a while! I have been trying my hand at designing lately, so unless it's a CU product I will definitely use, I don't buy it. Well, that's not true. I have bought a couple of random kits lately. Usually for a gift project I am planning to work on. Too bad none of the projects have time to get done. :)