budget scrapping?

[arimacias]

i have set a very VERY limited budget for myself this coming year.
i have LOTS of pages to get printed and will have to do it a little at a time.
is there anyone else on the same boat?
i would love to hear your tips....
and katie, i could only DREAM of a sale on the very very basics, like cardstocks, templates, alphas and stuff....sighhhhhhhhhhhh

[whatnext]

i have an acquaintance who only scraps with freebies. i guess it's possible. hard to do, though, with all the great stuff in the DD store! maybe your budget could be the start of you trying to make some of your own papers, etc.?

[Joey_M]

SALES! I try and buy things or get pages printed when they are on sale. There might be a sale going on at scrapbooksplease.com right now if you get your pages printed individually.
DD is awesome because of the quarterly sales, the weekly sales, the special sales (like Chirstmas), and the AWESOME freebies that can keep you going when you can't afford to shop!
HTH! I am in the same boat!
Happy New Year!

[lisa.hinrichs]

If you are printig pages and good at planning/saving, I know that scrappingsimply has a quarterly sale twice a year that markes all their page prints down 25%. They also have an offer to buy credits during the sale, if you don't have a whole lot of pages ready to go but will before the next sale.

Their last sale was at the end of August so the next one should be coming up soon. I didn't have a whole lot of pages ready to print the last time so I purchased some 8x8 credits and some 12x12 credits. It seemed like a lot of money at the time, but I have been ordering prints off of them since August, and only have to pay the $5 shipping.

[dugarner]

I have a very small budget, too. I usually spend around $20-$30 a year on supplies. This year was different because I had a little more spending money. But when the sales come around, I usually buy one or two things. Wait for the quarterly sales, and give yourself $10, you'll be surprised what you can get!

I have waffled back and forth on the cost-effectiveness of printing my own pages vs. having them bound in a book. At $2/page, the cost of printing vs. the cost of a book is just about equal. But Shutterfly (once or twice a year) will have great sales, so I just have to be patient. I only print at the most twice a year. If I had the $$, I would print books as I finished them. As it is, I have three in my queue waiting to print.

It can be a great budget hobby, you just have to work at it. I use elements and paper over and over, and no one can tell. Just have fun with it!

[Starlite9711]

I think DD is the best place to be on a budget! There is thrifty thursday when many random items are on sale (look for basics then, stitches, papers, etc). And The 25c items, AND the quarterly sales.....Just save up your wishlist and check it on thursdays and then jump on the quarterly sales!!

[katie pertiet]

Be on the lookout for special Thrifty Thursdays in 2010! Every Thursday will now bring a special new item at just 99¢ and throughout the year we will have category specials with alphas, templates etc on sale! Doing what we can to make the best products in digital scrapbooking affordable too!

[suzanne]

I'm trying to buy basics like solid papers and brads and tags and less theme kits in order to save money. There are lots of freebies on here and elsewhere that can be coordinated with the solid stuff in the store here.

[ValerieP]

Thanks Katie-love a sale! Just one more reason for this to be my digi scrappin home! And I really should watch what I spend-oh that's right I do-I watch it go out of my bank account and into my goodie file! Oh well, I WILL try to exercise some constraint!

[Blesus]

I challenge myself to use what I have, try to recolor, rotate or flip templates, get my supplies more organized, and the like. I tried surfing the internet for the freebies and, for me, it was a huge waste of time. The quality was terrible and even though I was extremely careful, my poor 'puter got sick. The down time was more than supplies - lol. I will stick with DD products from now on. Thank goodness for the never-ending wish list - I try to add things as I see LO's I love and then buy on sale.

[ValerieP]

OH yes-I only "do" free from here-I caught a virus early last year from somewhere else and learned my lesson!

[dorah]

I didn't see this on here but don't forget the 25 cent items. Those can be a great way to boost your supplies. Also if there are chats be sure to attend those as there can be awesome freebies at those.

[arimacias]

Originally Posted by katie pertiet

Be on the lookout for special Thrifty Thursdays in 2010! Every Thursday will now bring a special new item at just 99¢ and throughout the year we will have category specials with alphas, templates etc on sale! Doing what we can to make the best products in digital scrapbooking affordable too!

OHHHH KATIE!!!! you just made my day!!!
i cant wait to see what you have in store!

[AllynD]

Originally Posted by dorah

I didn't see this on here but don't forget the 25 cent items. Those can be a great way to boost your supplies. Also if there are chats be sure to attend those as there can be awesome freebies at those.

You will regret each time you let a 25 cent item pass without snagging it!

[audrey77]

Also, go through the tutorials on this site, and go to the chats (especially Cassie's) to learn how to change, alter, recolor elements/papers. You'll find yourself reusing and repurposing items. Plus the freebies are great!

[esther_a]

There are so many freebies here and it's amazing what you can achieve by recoloring and blending papers. You can do a lot with fonts, too, clipping paper to them, adding a stroke to turn them into a sticker, embossing them to make them look like chipboard, etc. You can also create your own frames using an inner stroke. But I also get great mileage out Katie's templates. I buy the ones with lots of sweet frames and embellishments - reusable in all sorts of ways! And I rotate the templates, add and remove elements, etc. You get so much more mileage from digi kits that from paper supplies! One of the interesting things I notice from the 365 or Daily December is that people choose one main kit and template and are able to use them for the majority of their album. You can't get much more economical than that and it looks great!

[chari]

So, I ran scrappingsimply.com, the site still exists, but I am no longer there. I created the 2x a year sales, and am not sure if they will continue. I have now contracted with a pro photo lab here in Utah. We are launching the digital scrapbook printing site: persnicketyprints.com within 2 weeks. I will make sure you are all taken care of. We will have an introductory print offer {$1.69 a 12x12}. These are on premium archival PRO photo paper, printed with a wet silver halide process that makes your images the most archival.

[Myra]

I know all you ladies are already digital addicts, but may I just interject - have you ever calculated what the equivalent for unlimited use of your digital supplies would convert to in paper costs? We need an accountant here...

Digital has been a dream for my budget. DH thinks I'm being "frugal" because I went digital. I let him think that - but I'm here because really I like it better.

[Chris]

The best way for budget scrapping is to become a CT member somewhere.

[FlowerGirl]

As far as printing, do you have to print your pages? I just burn most of mine to disks and give them to people or save them that way. I have printed some bound shutterfly books, but I don't print the majority of my pages.

[rj77]

Originally Posted by Myra

I know all you ladies are already digital addicts, but may I just interject - have you ever calculated what the equivalent for unlimited use of your digital supplies would convert to in paper costs? We need an accountant here...

Digital has been a dream for my budget. DH thinks I'm being "frugal" because I went digital. I let him think that - but I'm here because really I like it better.

OH, the endless use of digital supplies is absolutely a dream. No worrying about running out of your favorite paper, or the chipboard where all the vowels disappear so quickly. It's wonderful!

[Elena]

OK... I AM an accountant, so I thought I would do the math for one item. I randomly went to an on-line paper supplies store, picked an alpha and did the math. An alpha is typically 1.99-4.50, so I used an avg $3.50. You pretty much get 3 of each consonant, 4 of each vowel, and if you are lucky some brackets. If I am extremely generous and say you can manage to get 10 words, one use of the brackets and use the rest for about 20 monograms, it works out to 12 cents/use just for the alpha portion of your layout. Digi... let's see, what is $3.99/infinity? Oh, that's $0! So really, it's free! Like my twisted logic?

[Lynn Grieveson]

Originally Posted by Elena

it's free! Like my twisted logic?

LOL!

Seriously though, just by digi scrapping instead of paper scrapping we are already budget scrappers which is pretty cool

[SharLamb]

Originally Posted by chari

So, I ran scrappingsimply.com, the site still exists, but I am no longer there. I created the 2x a year sales, and am not sure if they will continue. I have now contracted with a pro photo lab here in Utah. We are launching the digital scrapbook printing site: persnicketyprints.com within 2 weeks. I will make sure you are all taken care of. We will have an introductory print offer {$1.69 a 12x12}. These are on premium archival PRO photo paper, printed with a wet silver halide process that makes your images the most archival.

I have loved Scrappingsimply for several reasons: 1. (& most important) They print 8.5 x 11 with full bleed. 2. They are F A S T....less than a week from the time I upload until I'm holding my LOs. 3. The color always looks good. I look forward to seeing the specs on persnicketyprints. Will you be offering full bleed 8.5 x 11s?

[kaleidoscope]

As a paper scrapper I have to disagee - provided you print your pages. (I sort of don't get the point of doing it if you aren't going to print them.) It all comes down to what you buy and how you use it. Yes, it's easier to make changes in digital to get the most out of your supplies. But if you buy alpha stamps you don't run out of letters. And I've never paid even $1.99 for letter stickers. I'm a careful spender.
If it costs $2 to print a page (have no idea but that was mentioned above) then it's pretty comparable to paper scrapping. And you can make a paper page for less, it just depends on how you've spent your money and your style (like if you put a lot of stuff on a page or you're more of a simple scrapper). They both have their pros and cons, just like everything in life. Of course, if the electricity goes out, I can still scrap. (even if you have battery power it'll run out at some point LOL)

As for budgeting digital supplies - start playing around with your software and you can create some of your own backgrounds and elements. Save your money for the stuff you really love you think you'd use a lot and don't feel like you could make yourself. It's a fun challenge to see what you can do. You might even impress yourself!

[chari]

Originally Posted by SharLamb

I have loved Scrappingsimply for several reasons: 1. (& most important) They print 8.5 x 11 with full bleed. 2. They are F A S T....less than a week from the time I upload until I'm holding my LOs. 3. The color always looks good. I look forward to seeing the specs on persnicketyprints. Will you be offering full bleed 8.5 x 11s?

SharLamb, absolutely full bleed. The printing system will actually be better and more efficient on a Noritsu 37HD. These are the new Noritsu silver halide machines. I started scrapping simply, but there became major issues on the business side. (as you can see, the SS website is still marketing Christmas stuff... they aren't taking care of my baby!) It's hard being a woman in a mans world! So as far as you getting your prints quickly, that was because i was "micromanaging" these guys to get them out.
Persnickety will be better

[chari]

Originally Posted by kaleidoscope

As a paper scrapper I have to disagee - provided you print your pages. (I sort of don't get the point of doing it if you aren't going to print them.) It all comes down to what you buy and how you use it. Yes, it's easier to make changes in digital to get the most out of your supplies. But if you buy alpha stamps you don't run out of letters. And I've never paid even $1.99 for letter stickers. I'm a careful spender.
If it costs $2 to print a page (have no idea but that was mentioned above) then it's pretty comparable to paper scrapping. And you can make a paper page for less, it just depends on how you've spent your money and your style (like if you put a lot of stuff on a page or you're more of a simple scrapper). They both have their pros and cons, just like everything in life. Of course, if the electricity goes out, I can still scrap. (even if you have battery power it'll run out at some point LOL)

As for budgeting digital supplies - start playing around with your software and you can create some of your own backgrounds and elements. Save your money for the stuff you really love you think you'd use a lot and don't feel like you could make yourself. It's a fun challenge to see what you can do. You might even impress yourself!

I was a "thrifty" paper scrapper, but the cons outwieighed the pros. What if you are making a book for each child? Wouldn't it be faster and cheaper to print 3 of the same page. Its much more efficient for me to make a layered page, flatten, save, go back, change the photo for the next child at Disneyland or whatever, flatten, save. etc. I can whip out 10 pages in an hour! QP are a dream... and I don't have to build an entire craft room for it!

[SharLamb]

Originally Posted by chari

Persnickety will be better

Sounds promising. I will hold off on my next big print job until you are up and running, and give you a shot. Thanks for the heads-up.

[kaleidoscope]

Originally Posted by chari

I was a "thrifty" paper scrapper, but the cons outwieighed the pros. What if you are making a book for each child? Wouldn't it be faster and cheaper to print 3 of the same page. Its much more efficient for me to make a layered page, flatten, save, go back, change the photo for the next child at Disneyland or whatever, flatten, save. etc. I can whip out 10 pages in an hour! QP are a dream... and I don't have to build an entire craft room for it!

I do, actually. I have 2 children. It takes me a long time to figure out 1 digital LO so it really hasn't been any faster for me. Once I get one LO figured out and done, most of the time I can get through the second one faster especially if I have the same number of pictures. I duplicate or make the second one very similar. Again, not necessarily cheaper if it's costing $2 a page to print.

[JALong]

I have been so impressed with the challenge freebies lately. They are fun, gorgeous and such good quality. DD is the most generous place to be.