Monday, April 9, 2012

Spending trigger 3: Creative and home improvement projects

Since I’m still avoiding going over the last three months of debt reduction, I’m going to write about another one of my big spending triggers: Crafts and home improvement projects! 

I constantly get myself into new home improvement, crafting, or creative projects… and each new idea comes with a list of supplies I have to buy to complete the project.  The problem is I don’t have time to accomplish everything that pops into my head so I end up spending money before I need to and creating a ton of clutter.  The other half of the problem is that I frequently lose interest in finishing the project, like the baby blanket I started knitting for my best friend when she told me she was pregnant (her son is now 2) and I have only completed about 15 inches of blanket!

To solve this I’ve decided to have a “waiting period” of two weeks before buying any supplies for the new project.  I am going to keep a little notebook with me and jot down the ideas and what supplies I need and then wait for a couple weeks before getting the supplies.  Most likely after two weeks I will have come up with some other idea that I can jot down and then wait through, a nice cycle that never results in purchasing supplies or creating more clutter!

In the meantime I can work on some of the projects I’ve already started.  Some evening soon or maybe this weekend I’m going to go around the house searching for unfinished projects.  I know they are lurking in every closet, drawer, box, bin, and shelf.  It’s time to either give the project up as a lost cause and get rid of the clutter or actually get the project finished!

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