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Sunday 12 May 2013

Beads, Budgeting & Summer Stones 2013 Collection.

Okay, I finally have to deal with the B word and it's not the one that ends in "eads".

Wedding Bracelets
Whilst I have a full time job and make (fairly) sensible choices about my disposable income I have decided to cut back on my bead spending for a while.  As May is set to be a very sociable month with anniversaries, weddings, festivals and ending on a troll date with friends it seemed like this was a good month to start.

Obligatory bead photo to the left - the double stacked combo I wore for a delightful wedding earlier this month, complete with dress and nails!  The photo was taken specifically to share with troll friends and I rarely notice the odd looks I get whilst photographing my wrist these days!

So how will it work?  Firstly I've not bought any beads at all this month.  The beads I'm blogging, and will be blogging about, were bought before May - I've actually gone a fortnight without making any purchases despite some great deals.  This is a good sign, I'm actively avoiding some selling groups and I've even managed to take a peak at the recent Flash / Trunk sales and not bought any beads, go me!

Secondly I've set a budget for each month, now this is where it's going to get challenging... in order not to completely sabotage myself at the first hurdle I have set aside the funds to buy a kit if I find one I like.  This is because I have a "troll date" with friends at the end of the month, at the same time as Trollbeads are releasing a Summer Stones Collection consisting of 6 beads.  For some great photos of this kit head over here at Endangered Trolls, I've yet to hear if retailers will sell these individually so I can't decide whether I want 1 kit of 1 each, or a kit of multiples.  It's not exactly a new collection, more a scaled down version of the extensive 2011 gemstone collection but either way as I wasn't collecting when the 2011 kit was released I definitely want to partake of this one, I love stones!

So what happens after my troll date?  I've budgeted to buy one special purchase (or equivalent as I buy a lot of preloved beads) each month, but I've set myself a spending limit and if I want to spend more it has to be because I've decided to buy a bead instead of doing/buying something else... every time I try and do this I always end up falling off the bead wagon in the most spectacular style, repeatedly; hence a plan AND a public blog post to see if that makes a difference?

Wish me luck!!

5 comments:

  1. Great blog and good for you setting a challenge like that, I promise not to encourage you to break it!! Good luck and looking forward to our"troll date" xx

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  2. haha I am so looking forward to our troll date.....and we promise to help you keep on track xx

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  3. Lol thanks girls! Announcing an intention to hop on the bead wagon usually precedes the biggest bead splurges if history is anything to go by!

    Hopefully this time I may slow down enough to catch up with myself, or I am in danger of growing out of my white bead box in record time...

    Looking forward to our troll date, I shall be happy with some stones and if I can't get exactly what I want on the day then I'm happy to wait. I was like that with the Rocky Beach Kit, knew I wanted it but also knew I wanted to wait for the right beads to make up my kit.

    P.S. Of course usual disclaimers apply... Not included are RFRBARP - Really Flipping (polite version) Rare* Beads At Reasonable Prices so if anyone is sat on a set of LE 2009 Chinese Silvers they wish to sell at retail prices do please get in touch!

    *with trollbeads it's hard to tell when Rare is really Rare, but that's a whole other story!

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  4. Cutting back is actually really hard! I think people underestimate just how hard it can be until they've tried ;) All I can say is that honestly, it does get a little easier ;)

    I've been going through months of next to zero bead spending after enormous vet bills started late last year (honestly, they resemble the Yellow Pages.) I treated myself to a couple of uniques last month but aside from that I've bought nothing since last November.

    I'd slipped into a comfortable rhythm of buying whatever I deemed "must haves" per month - nothing excessive but you know how it is. Going from that to nothing was really painful!

    Over the last few months have been the small & beautifuls and the deluge of critter beads - both exactly my kind of thing! I've had a couple of small & beautifuls gifted to me by friends but I've had to just ignore them :( Same thing with critters - no bees, none of the ladybirds, no attempts at butterflies :*( And I love critters!

    I say enjoy your Troll date because that's super special and I guess not something you'll be doing frequently :D

    Victoria

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    Replies
    1. Thanks Victoria, it's good to know it can be done :) It's been very much like you described, I'd also got into a comfortable rhythm of buying and although I get some fab deals, and have some great jewellery, the overall effect on my finances is it's a bit too much! It's been more noticeable as we were approaching May as I have quite a lot on this month.

      The Troll date is super special, we've been looking forward to getting together for quite some time now so hence I've set aside the funds for this, but if I don't find what I want I don't mind waiting... more looking forward to the meet, although fondling lots of lovely troll jewellery comes a close second ;)

      Vets bills suck, we spent a small fortune on our dog in the last few years, worth every penny but it was quite painful at the time. Now I walk Guide Dogs and someone else worries about the bills, not the same though!!

      The small and beautifuls definitely did for me this year, and I've still got a peacock and teal tiger to find, but I've stopped rushing to get these, they'll come when they're ready. I've not got into the critter beads apart from my lovely Christa turtle which I prefer to Troll, however I've seen some lovely ladybirds but I quite like a lot of the artisan beads for critters. LOVE the Mars bead you've showcased on your blog, would love to see more of that style coming through!

      Still Day 14 and still no beads bought!

      Mars x

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