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!!