5 Things I Need to Stop Buying

I'm hoping to be quite thrifty this year - sticking to a tight budget and tucking as much money as possible away in my savings. I'm also continuing to declutter and, of course, one of the easiest ways to have less stuff is not to buy it in the first place!

So, I will generally be trying to Buy Less Stuff this year, but even if I wasn't on a budget there are a few things I really need to stop spending money on...

1. Pretty homewares. Smart crockery, stylish teatowels, colourful bedlinen, nice prints, all that lovely stuff that brightens up your space and helps make a house a home. I love this sort of stuff! It makes me happy!

But here's the thing: I'm currently living with my parents (to help with the aforementioned Saving Money) and using all their things while mine is packed up in boxes waiting for the time when I once again have a kitchen, etc, to call my own. It might be lovely, but buying this stuff only to pack it away in a box to maybe use at some point in the future in a flat I don't yet live in where I may or may not even have space for it... well, that's just daft.

I am not going to run out of teatowels any time soon

2. Clothes with wool in them.

Note to self: wool makes you itch, you idiot! No matter how nice that jumper is, it is not magically going to have less wool in it next time you wear it! When will you learn that the thing you've just tried on doesn't feel itchy because you've only worn it for two minutes in a changing room, not because you've discovered a magic wool-rich garment that doesn't make you itch? It doesn't matter how nice it is, put it back on the rack immediately and save yourself the sadness and wasted £s when you inevitably give it to your sister in a few months because, guess what, it makes you itch. 

These jumpers were so cosy but so darn itchy

3. Jewellery. I see so much gorgeous jewellery in vintage shops, at craft fairs and on sites like Etsy, but no matter how many pretty things I ooh over it doesn't seem to change the fact that I hardly ever wear any. Most of the jewellery I've bought in my adult life has either never been worn or has only seen the outside of my jewellery box once or twice. I know I never wear it, but somehow forget this fact when I see some lovely sparkly thing or charming brooch... and if I do suddenly decide to start wearing it more often, I've got plenty of nice pieces already.

"Don't buy stuff that you know you never use": not rocket science but apparently it's something I need to work on remembering!

Vintage pretties, never worn

4. Fancy moisturisers with the words "radiant" or "radiance" on their packaging. This seems to be moisturiser company code for "contains that light-reflecting shimmery stuff". I think it's supposed to give your skin a healthy glow but unfortunately I'm so pale that the effect is less healthy glow and more sparkly vampire. Not a great look.

A non-sparkly vampire I stitched for the book Felt-o-ween :)

 

5. Fabric and other crafty supplies that aren't for a specific project. This one is going to be tough.

There is just so much lovely fabric and so many yummy crafty supplies that are just brimming with possibility! They are so, so hard to resist, especially as I spent my working life (and big chunks of my spare time) surrounded by these delicious temptations.

But, of course, there are only so many hours in the day and only so many projects that I'm going to start (let alone finish!). I need to focus on using up the supplies I already have in my stash and save my crafting-project-pennies for the stuff I actually need to finish up a project... not splurge it all on pretties that make me go "oooh!" but then end up metaphorically gathering dust in a corner of my studio.

Lovely fabric I need to think up a project for!

Do you have something you need to stop buying? Or a particular crafty shopping weakness - something you can't resist adding to your stash even if you never seem to use up what you've already got?