Tea Buying Hiatus Support Group
(Coming slinking back….)
New rules in my tea buying habits. NO BUYING TEA, until I’ve halved my cupboard – numbers of and volume of. Once cupboard is halved, for every three I lessen in my cupboard, I’m allowed to buy one. This will continue until I get my cupboard down to a reasonable number 125. At that time will reevaluate the situation. I fully expect this to take the better part of 6 months – until then, swaps are allowed, and I have one monthly subscription that I will continue….
So I actually feel like after a year and a half i’m finally in a good spot to control myself. Now I just have to set mini goals for myself so that I can ultimately make sure that i’m drinking tea within a year of buying it, and continuing to pare down to fewer and fewer “must have teas.”
I’m currently sitting at 141 before any of my tea orders/swaps/surprise mail comes my way. The plan is to end out the year at 150 or lower. Then I can set a new goal.
Well, my plan was to stick with this, felt pretty confident in it, until the girl that works at Davids Tea came into the store I work at, and gave me a coupon for their friends and family discount. 30 percent off of everything.
Does it count if they’re all going to be gifts? I was doing so well.
Since I got them on Black Friday, I technically only bought one new this month.
Besides, hoarding for Winter is important.
I just had to run in here and hide! I rec’d a cheque today with Xmas money as a gift and I heard about Justea’s sale at the same time.
That 3 pack for $30 is REALLY tempting as I don’t have a lot of unflavoured teas at the moment, and I enjoyed their two blends as well… (I could just buy the Kenyan Black but shipping is $10 no matter what and… add on central!)
I’m not going to let money burn a hole in my pocket though. I should spend some of that money on a variable tea kettle, and then hold onto the rest for later guilt-free indulgences.
5$ gets you in to sil’s house of teas! ready for all your sampling delights bwahahaha
That’s a good price. I can justify that! :P
It’ll be extra fun with TK running around your place, knocking books and dvds off the shelves.
I haven’t bought any tea since cyber Monday – so it’s been 11 days (that’s pretty good for me).
I still have orders coming in and people keep sending me tea, so yes – I’m very afraid that I will not be allowed to buy tea until next BF…
Currently my cupboard is showing 252 (and I’m calling that an ish). I need to compare reality to virtual, but am going to wait until everything arrives….
But how do I get from here to there? Need to turn the burning desire to try everything OFF…….
I first started by setting a goal of getting to 200 teas in my cupboard (i was at like 350+) and then i had races/played games with some of my fellow steepsters to drink stuff down. It also helped to have a day a week where i just drink anything/everything. Now that I’ve rotated through a number of companies i have a much better idea of what i want/like so it’s easier to say “i don’t need another mint chocolate tea in my cupboard.” Joint buying with people was another good thing – more teas but less quantities so i could drink them all up sooner while still getting to try lots of new things :) I still really like new teas and i want to try ALL THE TEAS! But when you look at your cupboard and realise there’s 50% in there you haven’t tried, it made it easier to put a pause on things. I also try to place smaller orders (joint ordering helps with that to get to free shipping thresholds without buying a ton!).
I think the burning desire to try everything turns itself off after a while. At least it did with me. I became more comfortable with writing certain teas or companies off after trying one or two of their teas through swaps. It helps that I’ve gotten pickier and pickier about the quality of my tea over time.
Wow, I thought I had a lot of teas! I have under 20 but after placing my first order with Butiki, I’m trying to stay away from more tea buying. I have a lot of gift making to do so I’m hoping I am able to get through most of my stash. I went a little crazy over Black Friday and ordered a bunch of holiday themed teas. I’m also trying to clear out most of my stash because a friend of mine is going to London and Paris soon and offered to pick up teas for me.
So… I’m really running out of space to store my tea, especially with the Verdant and Butiki orders I placed on/not long after Black Friday (still waiting for the Butiki order, so I’m trying to sip down as many teas as I can in the meantime). I’m pretty much on forced hiatus now. I’ve promised myself a massive shopping list order if I can halve the stuff I have in my tea box. It’ll be a while, haha.
Ack!! I’m in trouble. My cupboard is overflowing and I still want to make a Butiki and Verdant order. Lawd help me.
Next week sometime, I’m doing an official count seeing as I lost track awhile ago. I’m setting a goal, and when I reach it I am allowed to place my Butiki order. Guessing I am at around 280 or so. But a bunch needs to be purged as it is really old. Or it is white tea that I need to purge as it loses flavour quickly and will be bad by summer when I’ll be in the mood for whites again. All of that considered, (I think if I can get down to 200 and not buy a crapton at the tea festival) I’ll let myself put that order in when I reach 180. Reasonable. Ish. Right?? Oh dear…
I think everyone has their own “comfort levels”. I remember being in a HUGE panic when I hit 100 for the first time. I’m currently around 250 and growing (still have orders/swaps coming in).
I’m concerned more right now about volume of tea, rather than number of teas. I’ve bought quite a few French teas in 100g tins, and some others I could only buy in quantity.
I know some of it will be reduced in swaps owed/promised. I choosing not to be stressed about it – BUT I need to stop buying until I get it under control. I don’t want tea going stale because I can’t get to it.
For me, I’m going to STOP buying until I get a grip on how much I really have – once all orders are in and swaps are sent, will take proper inventory and see where I sit. I think the ultimate goal will be around 125 – hovering between 100 and 150.
If you are comfortable at 180 – if that’s a good number for you, then that should be your goal. LOL you need to do what works for YOU. Good Luck – keep us informed…
Dexter… yes volume is much more important! no question. I think I lost some of my panic because I’ve forgotten exactly how much I have, given that it is spread all around the house (as much as I’ve tried to contain it!)
For the longest time I refused to count because I was afraid of the number heh. Hoping to get a good count soon. Had plans to do so tomorrow but apparently we are having company over!
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