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Saturday 20 December 2014

Stitch from Stash December Update

My 400th Post!!

Stitch From Stash 2014
Stitch from Stash is hosted by Mel from Epic Stitching

Essentially the idea behind Stitch from Stash is that we are limited to spending US$25 (or £15) per month. There are various exemptions (Birthday money, existing mag subs, clubs etc) but the idea is not to try and pervert the rules and to stitch some of that stash!  I will be posting on or around the 20th of each month because that is when I get paid!

Money from Christmas 2013
£ 40.00
January Budget
£ 15.00
January Spend
£ 25.84-
February Budget
£ 15.00
February Spend
£ 18.99-
March Budget
£ 15.00
March Spend
£   8.42-
April Budget
£ 15.00
April Spend
£ 16.19-
May Budget
£ 15.00
May Spend
£   0.00
June Budget
£ 15.00
June Spend
£ 51.00-
June Bonus
£ 30.00
July Budget
£ 15.00
July Spend
£ 17.00-
August Budget
£ 15.00
August Spend
£ 29.72-
September Budget
£ 15.00
September Spend
£ 29.08-
Birthday Money
£ 80.00
October Spend
£ 46.80-
October Budget
£ 15.00
Birthday Voucher CK
£ 25.00
November Spend
£ 39.60-
November Budget
£ 15.00
Balance
£ 57.36

Just Nan 10 Charts
£ 20.00

Balance
£ 37.36
December Budget
£ 15.00


Balance at the end of the Challenge
£ 52.36

Allowed purchases:
Jodyri Threads of Month Club : £ 5.54

Here are the ten bargain charts I bought from a FB Stash group:


I could have spent another £36 easily but as I did not have £36 in my account I was forced to resist!

New Starts from Stash: Acorn House Designs - Poinsettia Merry Christmas
WIPs and UFOs worked on: The Little Stitcher 12 Days of Christmas, Thine is the Trick and the Treat

Acorn House Designs - Poinsettia Merry Christmas

Prairie Moon - Thine is the Trick and the Treat

I have reached the far right corner of this now so we can see the full dimensions of the piece.  It's actually more square than I thought it would be.  I was expecting it to be A4 sized.


Well, Stitch from Stash was a huge success for me.  It really helped me keep track of what I was spending my money on and helped me decide if I really need a  particular item or not.  I started the year with £40 Christmas money, used the £30 June bonus, got £80 for my Birthday plus a CK gift voucher of £25 all of which added to the monthly budget of £15 made a total of £355 available to spend.  That's quite a lot really!

As I ended the year with £52.36 in the metaphorical kitty that means I spend just over £300 across the year.  But what did I spend it on? Inquiring minds need to know!!

According to my spreadsheet I spent:

Charts - £ 169.06
Books/Magazines - £ 61.00
(includes the JCS CD)
Fabric - £ 51.57
Threads - £ 18.28
Beads - £ 2.54

Total - £ 302.45

So we can see where my weaknesses are!  Especially when I pull out the Just Nan total of £ 73.09.  I am thinking they are investment pieces LOL.  I did find one error.  I had accounted for the JCS Hallowe'en mag twice, once when I reserved it and again when I received it.  But never mind!  I also spent £66.48 on the Jodyri Threads of the month and £75.19 on subscriptions to three different magazines.  These were allowable exceptions.

Mel has generously agreed to host Stitch from Stash again next year so I am definitely in.  There are slightly different rules this time but I am going to try keep my spending even lower this year. I am going to try for the £15 per month including all gifted money.  See you in a year to see if I manage that!


Finally, I hope you are all enjoying the Advent Calendar Blog Hop.  So far, roller skates seem to be an excellent present choice judging by the participants and their commenters.










21 comments:

Kaisievic said...

Jo, you have done so well with this challenge - congratulations. I do not even dare think about joining as I am weak, weak,weak! My grand plan is to build up my stash as much as possible between now and when I retire in about four years time, so this just wouldn't work for me at all! lol!

Kaisievic said...

P.S. Congrats on your 400th post, too.

Gillie said...

I've enjoyed it too and am in for next year! I faithfully emailed Mel but didn't give any evidence on my blog, sadly. Hope to do better next year. Looking forward to GG too!

Katya said...

Congratulations on your 400th post! Well done on Stitch from Stash, too! I personally would never join - one, I am already pretty much 'stitching from stash", and another - I am bad at regular reporting... I even refrain from joining SALs because of that - never can post on time.
Good luck with the challenge next year, I am sure you will do even better and meet your goals.

Linda said...

Awesome job Jo. I probably spent at least a $1000.00 this year. I joined SFS next year. I am NOT going to buy unless I need fabric or floss. Congrats on your 400th post. Merry Christmas.

Linda

Unknown said...

Well done on 400 posts! Your blog is one of my favourites. Great job stitching from stash. I love your new patterns and will looking to reading blog posts in the future featuring these WIPs and finishes.
www.threadgarden.blogspot.com

Katie said...

Congrats on 400! I look forward to 400 more. Great job on your spending. I know better than to join. When I see something I want I get it haha. I don't want to be honest about it haha.

Emma/Itzy said...

Well done on sticking to budget!

Caitlin D said...

Congrats on your 400th post! And way to stick with the budget. :-)

Jan said...

Congratulations Jo on your 400th post!! and to sticking to your spending budget. :-)

Christine said...

Well done on the Stitch from stash, good luck with next year's

Susan said...

Congratulations on surviving SFS. You did really well. Love the Just Nan's you got too.

Julie said...

So you've spent less up than £1 per day on your hobby, I think that's very amazing, well done.

Shebafudge said...

Congrats on 400 posts!

You had a really good year with still coming in under budget - well done! Julie's comment on less than £1 a day really puts it into perspective. Imagine if you were buying 20 ciggies a day...that would be so much more expensive!

Preeti said...

You have successfully completed the SFS. Well done!!
Congrats on your 400th post !! Your new start is looking pretty:)

Clare-Aimetu said...

Well done on staying in budget :-) do you think you spent more or less than usual? Good luck in 2015

Annette-California said...

Congrats on your 400th post - WOW! Great job of staying on track/budget!
Merry Christmas, love Annette

Lili said...

400 posts!How nice! Congrats!
Lovely new stash!!
Very pretty the new cross stitch piece!
Merry Christmas!!

Maggee said...

400th blog post! Congrats! Also great work on SFS in 2014. Merry Christmas!

Leonore Winterer said...

Congrats on surviving SFS, you really did well - I think patterns are my weakness as well. You can always switch out fabric or threads on a project, but what to do if the pattern isn't avaiable anymore?!

rosey175 said...

Hey you made it under budget congrats!! Does this mean you still have some to go to break even? :D /not enabling at all. I don't think I could ever join SFS because I think I would wind up spending more because I'd think "oh I have $25 to spend weeeeee~" and then go too crazy. I do a lot of stitching from my stash already anyway since I'm not overly bothered by having precisely the required floss haha. G'luck with next year's goal!