Hello, my name is Katrina, and I’m a ___aholic

Just fill in the blank. I don’t care what it is, I’ve probably been addicted to it. But right now, I am a shopaholic and verging on a hoarder.

I won’t go into the details of every type of collectible I’ve accumulated over the years. There have been a lot. The only hope for me is that my compulsion to acquire is followed sometime later by the need to purge. Not so great for my financial situation, but at least I won’t be appearing on “Hoarders” anytime soon.

Irresistible! The simple beauty of a vintage handbag

Irresistible! Paper appeals to me in the same way fabric does

As my interests change, I eventually am able to let things go. I’ve sold many items on Etsy and eBay and taken the remainder to Goodwill with no regret. But for the past six months or so I’ve been in the grip of a fabic-buying mania, not to mention a vintage pattern obsession.

A third of my fabric collection, piled on the dresser to the left and gradually taking over the sewing table.

I can’t afford to keep buying, and it will take years to use everything I already have. So I have something of a plan. I’ve tried the no-online-shopping rule, the only-on-sale rule, and the one-out/one-in rule, and I just break them when I see the next unbelievable deal. So now I just have an absolute moratorium on new fabric purchases. Every day I unsubscribe to another ten or so shops that send me daily deals via email, and I un-bookmarked my favorite online fabric stores. Still the temptation persists.

But at this point I’m excited to say that I only made one fabric purchase during the entire month of September! And I tossed the last Joann’s coupon flyer into the recycling bin! Also, I’m steadily working through what I have - many recent projects have used up large portions of the accumulated fabric. I’ve also donated huge amounts: 40+ yards of QC to a local lady who makes quilts for pet shelters (so nice!), and I posted 25 yards of upholstery and utility fabrics and almost 50 yards of apparel fabric on Freecycle.

I’m posting all of this here since one of my main reasons for starting blogging again was to make myself accountable for some of the things I need to do. So here’s the status, with an educated guess for the beginning number.

Fabric Stash at 12/31/10 = 30 yards
Purchased through 9/30/11 = 475 !!! WHAT? !!!
Used through 9/30/11 = 175
Donated or sold through 9/30/11 = 140
Fabric Stash at 9/30/11 = 190 yards

That number needs to get smaller!

How about you – do you have a huge fabric stash? Do you consider it an investment or a detriment?

Katrina