A few weeks ago I wrote about how I might be
moving to Japan for a year. Back then it was 70% likely. Now I'd say it is 98% likely. Pooch has taught me my first phrase - the title of this post - which means "Do you have a cat?". I have even started a notebook.
We're talking serious lists. Did you know that storage units the size of a small shed cost about £25 a week? That's £1300 for a year. I do not have £1300. I could manage more like £13. So that means a major destash which throws my buying habits into sharp relief. Take this box of ribbon.
That's one of those deep A3 IKEA cardboard boxes. I very rarely use ribbon. Yet I do buy it when it is on sale on the off chance I will. Things bought on sale which you then don't use are not the bargain they seem. I now need to destash this ribbon on ebay and I'm not going to get half what I paid. Multiply that up to a yarn stash, fabric stash and umpteen bits of other crafting fantasia and I'm looking at having spent a lot subsidising a stranger's craft habit.
We tell ourselves that we're buying for the future or even that all this stuff is our pension, but then you never know what is going to happen next. I will certainly be taking this on board as a valuable lesson and only buying when I need something in future. I may not be waiting for the sales but then in the long-term I'll be making a saving.
Another good thing and all this is that all those things I was saving for something special I now get to use before I have to get rid of them completely. Those polka dot letters on the front of my Japan notebook? Last time I used them was when Pooch and I got engaged. So I've had that part-pack of letter stickers for more than 6 years and have moved house with them 3 times all because I was saving them for some mystical occasion. Likewise this button:
It is a porcelain one my Mum gave me that I was 'saving'. Now I've used it so will actually see it more often. It is on a project I made this weekend which is for a bloghop in two weeks time.
If you want to see what I'm currently destashing
have a look on ebay here. There are a lot of craft books going on in stages as well as ribbon and other bits.
1 comment:
Hi Lixie,
I can definitely relate to the stashing. My husband and I have a whole room full of craft supplies (mostly mine!). I've already moved house with them once, and it was a nightmare. I de-stashed some wool about a year ago, and it was harder than I thought. All those projects that will never happen! In reality, I'd just bought most of it because it was on sale, with no idea what I was going to do with it. I could afford to be more sentimental about my craft supplies if I had a larger house.
I really hope you continue to blog when you're in Japan! I'd love to see it. I went there in 2008, and I know you'll have an amazing time.
xx Katie.
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