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In this week’s Ten Money Questions, we speak with Debra Roby. Debra is the Contributing Editor at BlogHer for Hobbies, Crafts & DIY. She maintains two personal blogs called A Stitch in Time and Deb’s Daily Distraction. I met Debra in Chicago at BlogHer and she was a fun surprise. Below, she is candid about her past, passionate about her crafts and answers these money questions with meaning and great thought. Enjoy!
1. It is rumored that you have an extravagant fabric collection. When you’re passionate about a hobby is it hard to strike a balance between the fixation and dollar amount it consumes?
That rumor is false!! My stash is elegant, organized by theme, and a true snapshot of the color trends from the past 25 years.
That said, I’ve found that early in a hobby obsession, it’s quite easy to fixate on accumulation. For the fiber hobby-ist, each new item is a Christmas-day-present with shiny-bow wrapping. We see something new and different and believe that we must possess it to feed our creative souls. Additionally, many of the mailing lists, discussion boards and blogs “give permission” to others to indulge in retail therapy.
Too often, we later pick up 2 yards of something up and ask: What was I thinking when I spent $20 on this?? It gets donated to a guild’s charity, sold at a garage sale, or put up on EBay for a fraction of its original value.
I think the balance between “having enough to be creative” and “having everything new and shiny” is one of the most difficult disciplines in any hobby. Knowing when bigger isn’t better, when more is too much, and when you are feeding a need in yourself that has nothing to do with your passion is a major step to controlling the impulse to be that person who “dies with the most and wins.”
2. What is your most significant memory about money?
It was a Friday in late winter during the Carter administration’s gas embargo. I was working-to-survive and living on my own; underpaid, and barely getting by. I lived on chicken (twenty-five cents/pound), powdered milk, home-made bread and peanut butter. Fresh fruits and veggies from the mark-down sales only. My autonomy was important but came at a price.
I had waited in line to get a couple dollars worth of gas for my AMC Gremlin, trying to figure out how I would be able to join my friends downtown at a bar that night. I didn’t have the cash for the door and one glass of beer, but I craved some social contact and distraction from my life. Going meant sanity; staying home meant defeat on some level. I was too proud to call a friend and ask them to treat me. Again.
I reached the head of the line and was directed to a pump. When I stepped out of my car, a $20 bill froze to the bottom of my shoe. I took it as a sign. First I filled up my gas tank (almost $10 at that time) and used the rest of the money to see friends and restore my soul. I think I even went out to breakfast with them.
I still wonder about the person who lost that bill. Did he/she need it as much as I did? Did their loss ruin their weekend? Did I completely waste the found cash?
That simple experience informs a lot of my giving now. I do truly random acts of kindness (pay for a box of animal crackers, then ask the cashier to give it to the next fussy child in her line) and choose to give to charities that make small gifts that can dramatically change lives instead of feeding the larger charities.
In many ways, that $20 bill changed my life.
3. What is your worst habit around finances?
I’ll admit it. Since I started banking online and can check my balance plus all ins and outs daily, I don’t balance my checkbook anymore. I don’t even keep a separate check register. But, I almost never write a check either. My bills are paid online, paychecks are direct deposited, I know when the spouse withdraws some cash before he remembers to give me his receipt. Anything suspicious in our accounts is checked by a phone call. I’m not convinced that the practice would be anything more than a waste of time and paper.
4. On Deb’s Daily Distraction, you’re tracking your weight loss in the Tale
