Tip 1: Set a Budget and Tip 2: Use Pre-paid gift cards

I was asked by a fellow bead chatter +Preethi Iyer to start a blog about tips for beading on a budget.  I laughed out loud because I'm still trying to figure that one out.  But, as always, I'm happy to share my thoughts...

First thing, this craft of ours is not an inexpensive venture as a matter of fact it can become quite expensive. When I started off in my beading journey, I was satisfied with shopping in the craft shops--JoAnn's, Michael's and Hobby Lobby--because I was learning.  As my interest and love of the craft grew, the craft stores, although good for lots of materials, were no longer sufficient as I wanted to improve and increase the quality of the pieces I was making.  Note:  there seems to have been an explosion in jewelry-making because, the quality of materials being offered now has increased tenfold.

Tip 1:  Establish a budget:  Sounds simple, right?  It's not!  You have to know what your disposable income is.  I mean I can set a $300/month bead budget but does that mean I don't eat out, or go to the movies etc.

Look at your income and set aside funds accordingly.  Here's what I do!  I establish a monthly budget (I won't tell you what that is!  LOL).  I set aside the appropriate amount of money from my bi-monthly salary.    One other thing:  I establish a separate budget line for beading classes. Here in Austin, the average class at the bead shops are $35.  I pretty much budget for 1 class per month. 



Here are some sites that provide insight on budgeting!

http://financialplan.about.com/od/budgetingyourmoney/ht/createbudget.htm
http://www.investopedia.com/university/budgeting/basics2.asp
http://www.ehow.com/info_7759849_tips-setting-budget-can-live.html



Tip 2:  Use Prepaid Gift Cards or Loadable DebitCard:   AMEX, VISA or MC prepaid gift cards  or the re-loadable prepaid card.  I either purchase the gift cards or load the re-loadable gift card with the saved funds and this is what I use on my shopping trips.  For example, if my budget was $300/month (it's not), I buy 3 cards and I have at least one with me at all times or transfer the funds to my reloadable card...this way if I pop into a bead store, I don't have to use my debit or credit cards.  Caution:  You gotta watch for "fees" on the reloadable cards though...(each one may be different).  You may transfer $50 but if you don't meet balance minimums there's a service fee...

Once the value of the gift cards are gone, that's it! No dipping into other resources.

This is fun!  Let me know if you have other tips and I'll be happy to share them and try them myself....