Craftless...... Sort Of

Last week we entered the season of Lent.... That may not mean a lot to some of you, but for me this period always signals a time of great inner thought. What kind of person am I? How can I improve myself? What do I need to add into my life? What can I eliminate? It is also the time of the year when people often try to give up something- if only for the 40 days of Lent. Lots of people give up meat or sweets or chocolate. For me, I chose to give up something different.

One of my big weaknesses has to be that I like to buy craft supplies- those little sheets of labels in the Michaels dollar section often call out my name. As a matter of fact, that dollar aisle happens to be one of my favorite places. My husband has learned over the years that the way to make me happy in a new town is to find the nearest Hobby Lobby or Michaels and drop me off to cruise through the aisles and see what is new.

Lately, I haven't been purchasing as much on those shopping trips. The bags that I carry to the car are smaller and the stacks of items in my craft room are smaller. That is because I have built a large supply stash and I am not using it at nearly the pace that I would like.

Because of this, I have decided that during Lent I will not shop at either a Michaels or a Hobby Lobby. I will not walk down the paper aisle and randomly flip through 10 different paper packs, examining the colors and trying to decide if I need them. I will not pick up the 3 new shades of adhesive rhinestones or pearl beads, even if they are only $1 a pack. Instead, I will make a deliberate effort to actually examine what I have in my supply closet and decide what I can do with the items. Will I use them? Do I need them? Can I make something for someone else?

I won't kid you..... it has not been easy, and I am only into the first week of this craft supply fast. On Saturday I had to go pick up some things that my daughter needed for an upcoming prom. The ULTA where I was shopping is directly across the parking lot from........

Yep..... right there beckoning to me was the Michaels craft store. To make things even more difficult, I was all by myself. There I was, having driven an hour and a half, finished with my daughter's shopping, all alone...... but I didn't crack.....

I got in the car, drove to Chick-fil-A and had lunch, then I treated myself to frozen yogurt from my favorite fro-yo place before driving the hour and a half back home. It actually felt good to resist the temptations of paper, stickers, and rubber stamps.  I know that the next 39 days will not a breeze, but I am really going to try....

Who knows, when Lent ends I may continue this craft supply buying freeze...... We will see.

I would really appreciate whatever support my fellow crafters can offer. Have you entered a spending freeze? If so, what did you do to help you through it? Are you using more of your stash now?