No Spend | Blog Post by Petra

In February I decided to go ahead and try a "no spend" policy on stationery and craft supplies. 

I survived! :D

And I learned a lot. :) 

If you're interested in the details of what this "no spend" made me realize and what I decided my next steps should be, feel free to read on!

When you're a stationery enthusiast it's not always easy to resist the wonders of shopping from such a huge selection of amazing products available in the stationery/journaling world. 
Special pens and pencils, necessary crafting supplies, crisp new notebooks, perfectly designed stamps (and ink pads, of course), cute stickers and alluring ephemera - just to name a few. 
These pretties tempt us from every corner and if not in shops, then online. We browse, we see, we want. :) 
And, to me at least, this is completely logical! 
As creatives, we want to experience more, see more, learn more, try new exciting techniques, use new tools for our creations. 
This inspires us, makes us innovate things, dream up fresh ideas... We seek stimulation to create. 
And sometimes, that stimulation is a brand new pen, a fresh notebook, some wonderfully creamy watercolors or a set of vintage papers for that dreamy collage you've been wanting to make. 
Of course, other things can be inspiring also (traveling and visiting new places, meeting new people, sharing creativity with others...), but this has been just my experience so far :) 

What I've noticed, in my case, is that I was constantly searching for new things. Not new experiences, but things and things that I don’t necessarily need or want. And I didn't like that one bit.
So, a decision was made - all trough February I won't spend any money on stationery or on craft supplies. Good luck Petra! :D

Jokes aside, I really wanted to clear my head for a bit, stop searching frantically, stop buying without being mindful about my purchases and, hopefully, get a clearer picture of what I want to invest my resources in the future. 
The key words being: MINDFUL and INVEST. 
I wanted to be happy and satisfied with what I buy and I wanted to know where my money is going. I needed to feel like I'm investing in something that will be used and appreciated - something that has meaning to me. 

So February began and ended :) 
I cheated once, to be completely honest.
There was a sale on and I managed to get an item from my long term wish list for less than a third of the original price so no regrets there. ;) 

So, what did I learn form this experience? 
What can I change in the future to get to where I want to be with my investments? 

I have dedicated two spreads in my Hobonichi where I've written down these thoughts as something to reflect on in moments of weakness (and I know there will be plenty od those moments :D ) 
But this is life, we're all learning along the way and as long as we provide ourselves with opportunities to learn, we can grow. :)
Here I am, being a big "no spend" preacher, lol :D 
But I really just want to give insight onto my view of things and my own experience with this concept. 

So I'm sharing my journal spreads with you to show what my lessons are and what my future actions will be, so feel free to take a peek and read trough!