Everyone loves a great deal! The exhilaration of acquiring something at a good price can be addicting but can also lead to shortchanging yourself when you apply it to quilting. Everyone has a budget when it comes to the amount of money they can spend on quilting. Being frugal with your $$$ is not necessarily a bad thing, however you need to invest in your passion instead of cost cutting yourself to death.
What do I mean by this? You need to change your mindset.
Stop thinking about your quilting in terms of how much money you spend on quilting – a cost - but rather how happy it makes you – an investment in your well-being. This means being cost effective but not stingy. Invest rather than spend and be frugal rather than a penny pincher. Invest your time, your money, and yourself wisely: assess your investments by their value rather than solely by their cost/price.
Time
In some ways time is the greatest investment that you will make in your quilting but it is often the most misunderstood. Your time is valuable, you have a finite amount and can’t make any more, but so many people use it poorly. Why do we think it’s good value to spend half an hour driving across town to save a few cents on gas at a cheaper gas station but get impatient with ourselves when we are taking “too long” to complete a quilt? The decision to drive across town is basically saying that your time is “free” (i.e. worthless) while your impatience with your quilting is saying that your time is more “valuable” than the quilt that you are making.
I think that we are wrong in both cases. All you have to do is think about a charity quilt to see that your time is worth more than “free” and that the time you invest in a project is worth every minute. A charity quilt is worth much more than just the fabric you used. You put your time, heart, soul and hard-won expertise into it. Imagine what it would have cost if you had to pay someone to make it from scratch including buying the tools, etc. Think about the value to the person who’s getting it. It isn’t just a large piece of fabric to them so why do we sometimes begrudge the time we invested in it. Stop wasting time on low value activities and invest it in your passions, one of which is your quilting.
Money
A quilter’s relationship with money can be weird. Often we spend too much thinking about cost and not enough about value. We worry about costs but then get tempted by a “sale”. We build up a stash that we will never use, accumulate tools that are of minimal use and then we worry about spending money on good quality tools, thread or fabric. Think about the value of tools fabric, threads or other investments in your quilting in the context of time saved, improved quality, and the beauty of the final product instead of the cost. Being frugal is good but often spending a little more on something of better value or quality is a better investment in the long run. I am sure you have all experienced the frustration of working with a poor quality, tool, machine, fabric or thread. It sometimes is enough to make you question whether you should quilt at all! Why put yourself in this situation just to save a little money? Focus on investment rather than cost.
Yourself
Your greatest quilting asset is you so take care of yourself! You need to invest in yourself the same way you invest in the other tools in your studio. You should consider ergonomics when buying tools and equipment. You need to maintain yourself physically and mentally with a healthy lifestyle (chocolate is healthy!). Perform your quilting in ways that don’t injure your body or affect your mindset in negative ways. There is only one of you, so invest in yourself so that you can pursue your passion for a long time.
Invest
As an example, I recently invested in a course on precision piecing. It wasn’t exactly cheap (about $200) but it was amazing. I wish that I had made the investment in time and money at lot earlier. Although I am an experienced quilter I still occasionally have trouble getting my blocks to line up. After this course I now know that an investment in time early in the project (i.e. cutting) will save me time, frustration and even money later in the project. I have used the tips I learned in my course already as I work on my Half Square Triangle Quilt Along and the quilt is coming together so much easier. I know that this knowledge will pay off for the rest of my quilting “career”. I wish I had done it sooner!
Remember, look at quilting as a long-term investment rather than a costly hobby. Treat your time as valuable and use it accordingly. Use your money wisely but make buying decisions that consider the long term. Invest in your mental and physical well being so that you can enjoy your passion for many years.
Quilting is your passion, so make the investment!
Creatively,
Download the free Get Out of the Ditch! guide to learn how to start free motion quilting by clicking here.
P.S. Do you strive to improve your quilting skills? Do you want to have fun doing it? Do you want to meet other quilters in a supportive, safe environment? If you answered “yes” to these questions, you need to join The Quilter’s Way. The Quilter’s Way is the only quilting membership site that includes both training and an active, supportive online community. It’s not your grandmother’s quilting circle! Don’t wait another day! Join now.
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