Digi Scrapping Budget

[jaylensmom]

Question for those of you who have a budget do you stick to it? How often do you go over? What made you set the budget you set?

This year I really want to stick to a budget...especially after counting the unused kits I have. I'm not even sure how much of a budget I should set. I don't want to go to low that I'm crying every week and I don't want to go to high that I really don't need to have a budget. Help!

[ColleenSwerb]

Kellie's been talking about this over at Me So Scrappy. Lemme see if I can dig up her thread....

ETA: Here's a link to the thread, which has a link to the first post. I'm having trouble finding the posts over on the site, but I'll link them up as I find them.
https://www.sweetshoppecommunity.com...ad.php?t=49346

[ColleenSwerb]

Found them.
Post 2 - http://www.mesoscrappy.com/2010/12/l...the-next-step/
Post 3 - http://www.mesoscrappy.com/2011/01/l...ing-out-space/

And another on impulse buys, by Sally - http://www.mesoscrappy.com/2011/01/a...e-impulse-buy/

[mummytothree]

I don't really have a budget, I just never let myself buy unless I have the 40% off and then I usually spend between 20 and 40 bucks. Last year I spent about $250 bucks in the shop and if I looked at my unused kit folder I bet more then 70% of what I bought last year is still "unused"!!!

So this year I've told myself I have to scrap with "x amount" of those kits before I can buy anything new!! Then I'm gonna limit myself to only spending $125 bucks. If I keep up with using my new stuff then I'll go ahead and let myself spend some more but I'm just not gonna spend the money if I'm just gonna waste it!!!

[FireWolf]

Yep, I've got a budget this year. A big, fat, whopping ZERO!!! We're on a no spending plan this year unless we get money as a gift for a birthday or something.

Normally I don't have a budget but we are working on goal setting and financial planning this year and believe it or not, I actually volunteered to go no spending. I must have lost my mind really, but I have enough kits in my stash to scrap every day for the next 2-3years and never have to use the same one twice.

[CA Dreamer]

I should really be on a scrapping budget...particularly since I am not the most prolific scrapper in town! But, the $$ I spend spend 'collecting" digi supplies is much lower than what I used to pay for prints and buying tangible supplies

[lovely1m]

I set myself on a budget because that's how I feel comfortable. I only buy during Sweet Rewards or any special times during the year. If there is a spend $10 get a kit free or GGG sale, then I allow myself money for that sale. I don't go over my budget. I spend around $25-$30 a month, but I only buy here, too.

[color of my heart]

i actually didn't buy a lot at all for about 6 months. mostly because i had no extra money, and i was crazy busy with school. i didn't scrap hardly at all in 2010 because i had no time or energy to put forth. but now, i'll probably limit myself to like, $25-$35 a month. mostly because i don't have much spending money cause i'm not working. and yeah. if i don't spend it one month, i'll have it for the next.

there was a short while where i was spending $30+ a week here at SSD. kind of crazy. but i was working, and i was scrapping. and i was using what i bought.

[Chantal Miller]

I do... but because of the exchange rate it varies. At the moment it's about $80 bucks a month

[SweetMelissa]

I have $20 a month to spend unless I get some extra money (usually by doing swagbucks, birthday money, ect). But I don't let myself buy a new kit until I've used the last one I bought at least 2 to 3 times.

[carriesmom]

My budget is whatever I earn from my designing. Usually around $20/month right now (I'm hoping to improve that number!) I used to spedn $20/week here but I lost my job and now I am self-employed so things are tight. For a while, I wasn't shopping at all. I generally shop with my SR (especially if I got 30+ points) and a new release if I absolutely love it!

[mariewilcox]

I don't really budget and I go through spells of buying and not buying. Today I've been buying because I wanted a few specific kits to work on specific photo albums. Other times I don't buy for weeks because I just don't need anything (like around the holidays - I tell myself how many Christmas/Snow kits do I REALLY need? LOL).

After my splurge this week I am going to try to limit myself to 1 kit a week or the equivalent per month (so about $30 or so). Like someone else said, that is way less than I used to spend on paper supplies!

[MamaBee]

My hubby was who put me on a budget... I went a bit crazy when I first started that I bought a lot... and was still doing traditional paper scrapping. Now I've cut way back on my spending to really only here and one other place, once in awhile. So, monthly hubby loads my paypal account and that is where I manage how much I have, also keeping in mind that I need $$ for printing. Of course when I hit Micheals/Archivers/Joann's/Hobby Lobby, all within 2 miles of each other, that can still be a problem... so I have to be careful and only go once a month or if I have a really good coupon.

[Jengerbread88]

My budget is wonky. I have approximately $10 to spend each month, $15 if I didn't spend anything last month and didn't have sudden expenses.

Because my budget is more "What do I have left after the other stuff I HAVE to buy," it's hard to say whether or not I go over. Most months, I buy nothing. If there's a sale, I buy something.

[littlekiwi]

my budget is about $35USD a month because of exchange rates

[Megan Turnidge]

Hubby and I each get just $40 per month as our "blow money." If I want to buy anything, it's gotta come from my blow money - that's not just for scrapping. So if I want to buy a purse, something from Etsy, music, digi stuff - it comes out of that $40. I often decide I'd rather have a tangible product than a digi kit, so I rarely buy anything anymore... maybe 1-2 kits every couple months.

[joelsgirl]

Thanks for the shout out Col.

I have a $30/month budget. I picked that number because that's about how much product I can use per month on top of my CT layouts without feeling compelled to scrap all the freakin time. It's a number that works really well for me.

I keep a list of things I buy so that I always know how much I've spent and am not just guessing. Having to write my purchases down helps them seem more real PLUS it gives me something to check off when I use them. I love checking things off.

So before I purchase, I ask myself if I really want this product enough to do without something else I might totally love later in the month.

I also make great use of my kaboodle list. Adding things to my kaboodle means I don't have to worry about forgetting about something I "love", and then when there is a sale, I can go back to that store's kaboodle list and sort through what I really want. Usually after I pass on it the first time, I realize I don't really love it so much.

So last year with my budget, I went under three times, and I went over in Nov, but I had $10 in paypal money from Swagbucks to cover it. I LOVE living on a budget! It's so rewarding.

[jaylensmom]

Originally Posted by ColleenSwerb

Found them.
Post 2 - http://www.mesoscrappy.com/2010/12/l...the-next-step/
Post 3 - http://www.mesoscrappy.com/2011/01/l...ing-out-space/

And another on impulse buys, by Sally - http://www.mesoscrappy.com/2011/01/a...e-impulse-buy/

Thanks for the links Col.

[jaylensmom]

Originally Posted by mummytothree

I don't really have a budget, I just never let myself buy unless I have the 40% off and then I usually spend between 20 and 40 bucks. Last year I spent about $250 bucks in the shop and if I looked at my unused kit folder I bet more then 70% of what I bought last year is still "unused"!!!

So this year I've told myself I have to scrap with "x amount" of those kits before I can buy anything new!! Then I'm gonna limit myself to only spending $125 bucks. If I keep up with using my new stuff then I'll go ahead and let myself spend some more but I'm just not gonna spend the money if I'm just gonna waste it!!!

I haven't even looked at how much I spent last year...I'm also not allowed to buy anything until I use some of my unused stash...

[ScrapShabby]

BUDGET? What budget? Holy Moly! I must be the one keeping the sites in business! LOL

I had a really great paying job for about four years, then quit a year ago cuz I got sick of the owner making everyone's life miserable. Myself and my entire staff all quit and walked out one day cuz it got so bad. So I went from about $80,000 a year to unemployment, which sucks! However..... I am fortunate enough right now that I don't have many living expenses, so I'm embarrassed to say I spend a bunch. My kids are almost grown, and I'm old enough that most my debt is paid off and I'm a purely cash girl. If I don't have the money, I don't charge it.

I just started digi scrapping about six months ago and I'm not exaggerating when I say I have probably spent a few thousand dollars in those six months. I am slowing down now, but there was just so much yumminess out there that I couldn't resist! I know I'm stupid for doing it cuz I'm going to run out of unemployment any time now and the job market hasn't been nearly as spectacular as it used to be. I've been looking, but I'm sad to say that I refuse to take a job that pays even less than unemployment until I have to, so for the time being, I keep looking and enjoying my new digi hobby. Once I go back to work, I know my time will be limited, so I am taking full advantage now. It's what I do for me. It's my guilty pleasure! I should budget, but I don't. I'm bad at it, I admit.

[Milmomma]

Well I have spent the past year really working on my photography more so than focusing too much on buying kit. I only spent about 25$ at each GGG sale, and honest I think for the most part that's all I bought. It will probably be similar this year. I've got a lens I truly want very badly, the issue is the price on it. So I'm saving and trying to be good with money. Oh and we've paid off 2/3's of our debt this year as well. We are trying to get better with money all around and we have cut out lots of fun money to work on the debt. I don't regret it at all since in the end it will leave us in a better place.
I think you have to do a budget that works for you. I only work part time as a Photographer and usually put that money towards kids activities or back into equipment. (love having the newest gadgets) So my husband provides the other income and pays the bills so to speak. See how much you have spent, think how much you want to drop that this year, and break it down by 52 weeks. Then you have how much per month you can spend. Don't forget to budget in the GGG sales!

[profiler_mar]

I have not had a budget and like so many others, I have loads of unused kits. This year, I am limited to $10 a week, but I am trying to not even spend that!

[Kara]

I don't have a budget per se, but I mainly shop with SRs and GGG. Splurging for me might be spending $20 - usually it's just a kit or a template set each month. I'd love to buy more - but it just isn't possible right now.

[Kim Mauch]

Hubby and I each have $50 fun money per month to spend however we want. For a lot of months in 2010, I spent the majority of this on digi kits (mostly here at SSD). I have the same budget this year, but I imagine most of that money will go to my new favorite hobby - clearance clothes shopping for our bundle of joy due in April!

[Erika in TX]

So what about printing? Do you save all your LO's and send them all in at once? Monthly?

I have about 25 pages that need printing, but I spent my printing budget during the GGG sale...BTW, how often do those happen???

[haydensmommy217]

the ggg sale happens twice a year

[tanya.72]

I would say $30 ish a month is my budget

[rach3975]

I give myself $30 a month. It's high enough that I can shop during SR and get a couple of new releases that I love (and plan to use immediately for the NR point), but low enough that I'm able to use what I'm buying. I generally stay within $5 of my budget. Initially I set it by thinking about the cash gifts my parents usually give me throughout the year and dividing it in 12. (Gotta love my parents. I'm in my 30's and they still give me money every time I see them!) I still try to do all my digi shopping using gift money instead of the family budget, and once in a while I can convince DH to get me an SSD gift card as a present.

[joelsgirl]

Originally Posted by Erika in TX

So what about printing? Do you save all your LO's and send them all in at once? Monthly?

I upload my finished layouts to Scrapping Simply when I upload them to the galleries so that I am ready to order as soon as there is a sale. Scrapping Simply does a sale like twice a year, so I spend a lot on sale days. I put $20/month back so that when it's time to buy my prints, I have the money saved up.

[SarahMD]

been so long since i've scrapped, I might of spent $10 last year! lol. but in the last week i've already spent that now that i'm back into it again. and it's been so long since i've visited SSD, what is the GGG?? just wondering..... lol.

my projected budget though will be between 20 and 30 a month (hopefully)... that is if i can stay on top of actually scrapping this year!

[schock77]

Great thread... I don't budget well but need to... I'm thinking about trying to do more challenges this year and only buying when I have SR... I KNOW have enough unused kits to last me a LONG time... so I'm trying to focus on those.

[jaylensmom]

Thanks for all the feedback...I've set a monthly budget of $50 but...I have to use at least 10 of my unused kits before I can use my budget...I think that will force me to use those kits that are just sitting on my hard drive and maybe I'll scrap more pages...Although today I will be getting Cindy's templates

[sari55]

Originally Posted by joelsgirl

I upload my finished layouts to Scrapping Simply when I upload them to the galleries so that I am ready to order as soon as there is a sale. Scrapping Simply does a sale like twice a year, so I spend a lot on sale days. I put $20/month back so that when it's time to buy my prints, I have the money saved up.

Do you print 12x12 or 8x8?

[Chantal Miller]

i have a very good printer and print my lo's 8x8 at home. the photo paper comes from my scrapping budget or the change jar but because both DH and DD do colour printing (I think dd's school projects use more ink than my LO's), ink comes out of the household budget.

[AmberK]

I have a monthly allowance that I can use for whatever I want and since I dont usually buy a whole lot for myself my allowance is spent on digi supplies.

[4noisyboys]

I don't budget, but I don't spend much anymore. I don't really have time to scrap much if I'm not on a CT. I have SO much I've never used and probably won't have time to use!

I might spend $10 or $20 here or there...sometimes I just send a GC to someone that I know would love to shop. That's just as much fun for me!

[cbettua]

I don't have a budget but I am usually frugal and don't spend a ton.