Unpacking the "Buy now or miss out" feeling of products

I stock up on products I really love and want to use multiple times. Perfect example is Cocoa Vanilla, HS, and CP lines. I know those will be used a lot AND bonus is they carry over between lines.

I am able to use last year's Cocoa Vanilla line with this year's No Limits. I can use the HS line from 2020 and combine it with her most recent release. CP Halloween and Christmas lines go well with each other.

I remember when I first started scrapbooking...I could go to my LSS and get paper that was like 2 years old. Sure there was a rush to get stuff but older stuff was manufactured more often and in a higher quantity.

Now? If you don't pre order and get it on release day, good luck!

With LSS no longer really around, that has caused companies to adjust. On line stores only have so much storage. And it costs money to have product sit and not get bought. So they limit what they get which limits what we have access to.

I am super picky on what I like. So when there is a line that wins me over, I buy multiples so it lasts me awhile while I wait for a new release I like. I wish I didn't have to but it's the way it is now.

Very much like get your Christmas decor in Sept/Oct or not have it for December.

I'm ok with "losing out" on a collection. My mindset is that it's fine, other people enjoyed it and created with it, I happened not to despite really liking it and that is it. I get to see the pretties they made on social media and that's it. There are several scrap releases a year and the industry moves so quickly, nearly at the same rhythm fast fashion does. I keep that in mind and let the negative feels go.

I do allow myself to buy stuff from a release I have a love at first sneak peek situation with. I also know this kind of hyper enthusiasm only happens a couple of times a year at most. If it happens more (and especially regularly), I'm likely overevaluating my desire and not drawing a clear line between ooh-pretty! and absolute must-have. It's time to sit down and have an honest conversation with myself then.

I rarely stock up. Most I will get is two sheets of a same pattern paper and even that is on the rare occasion. Love it, use it once, enjoy it, let the idea of it go. I see this craft as an enjoyment, a fun parenthesis to embellish everyday (and special occasion) memories, but not an obligation to "do good" by my photos. If I'm just using cardstock or a pattern paper that isn't as perfect as that paper I bought X years ago and already used for a different story, it's totally fine. There's nothing wrong with using something up without having an identical backup just in case I have "better" photos for it. The only things I'm buying backups of are perfect jeans and favourite discontinued perfumes.

I'm at peace with paper and embellishments being used up and forever out of my scrap game. Sure, I may think to myself that it would've been better suited to another memory but I don't dwell on it. Documenting is meant to be enjoyable, light and fun for me, not a full-on enterprise with planning out, stocking up, investing. Of course, other scrapbookers feel differently about this hobby and that is totally ok.

Personality-wise, I'm not particularly anxious, I'm not a collector (helps a lot with keeping a very manageable stash in this craft, I swear) and I'm really not into the whole sunk-cost fallacy mindset (not buying more embellishments to fit paper that I bought but find I can't really use with the other stuff I have for ex, especially if I'm not crazy about that paper, just getting rid of said paper and no longer thinking about it). I shrug it all off.

Oh, and I've learned I love myself some themed scrapbooking. I know that I will likely fall for 1 Halloween collection and 1 Christmas collection per year. I've just accepted this as my scrappy fate. Looking forward to finally making a new scrapbook line purchase this year when these releases hit the shops!

I don’t buy multiples of things. It’s very rare for me to buy 2 sheets of the same paper. I haven’t bought anything from Cocoa Vanilla’s new line even though I do like it. I am purposely buying less lately. Instead of buying an entire collection , I’m picking and choosing the things I’m most likely to use instead of everything I think is pretty. I have a decent stash and I’m enjoying using what I have instead of chasing the newest releases. I’m not worried about not having new pretty things to buy. Don’t get me wrong, I like to shop, but right now I just want to use what I have. I’m supplementing what I have with some new stuff, just not all the new stuff. Lol! 

I {try} to think of this as a WIN-WIN situation. If I spend money on a product I love, then Yay ME! I have fun things to play with. If I "lose out" to those quicker off the starting block, then Yay ME! I saved some money.

Some things I feel like I MUST have when they come out: they are in themes I want to scrap, colours or patterns I love, or they go with collections that are almost depleted. Maybe I see some card designs I really want to try (like the SU! penguins last year) . Or something sparks my imagination (like the SSS gnomes). If I score them, I feel like a winner. If I lose out it is not exactly the end of the world, but I reserve the right to whine... Especially when I keep seeing other people's projects with them on YouTube and Pinterest.

We DO have LSS's here, but I feel sorry for the people who run them. They need to predict way ahead of time what we will want to lay money down for. And if they run out of a particular line, the manufacturers have already moved on to the NBT. If they order lots of a particular line and don't sell it, the stuff is stuck in their inventory and dragging down their cash flow.

It is not just in scrapbooking, but everywhere in merchandising in general now. I think it started as a kind of a war between the on line suppliers and the brick & mortar ones, although most merchants offer both options these days.  If I see something I might like in Costco on Monday when I am there, I better grab it, b/c by early June when I am back again, it will be like I am in a brand new store... I will need to get any lawn games, water balloons, Slip n Slides now if I want them for when the kids are here in July. Cuz by July WM will be wall to wall back to school, even though classes don't start here until around September 1st. By the time school starts I will need to stock up on Halloween supplies, and on we go through the year.

I think the companies have, for the most part, created the FOMO that exists in the scrapbooking and stamping industries. As @sunnycamom said, "Now? If you don't pre order and get it on release day, good luck!" Once it's gone, it's gone. If you miss out now, you probably won't find it again; and if you do find it somewhere, it will be a lot more money.

I have to admit that I have succumbed to FOMO on occasion - more than I'd like to admit. But it isn't very often. I am of the mind that, as kmage said, "Something new is always coming down the pike, so it doesn't really matter."

I think most us fall for FOMO at some point. I’ve bought things I just had to have and a year (or two or three, etc) later I never used it and I’m ambivalent about the product. It’s humbling to realize I wasted money on something I really don’t love as much as I thought and will likely purge it unused. I try not to get caught up in buying (and frequently fail) and if it sells out before I get a shot at it I figure the Gods are telling me it wasn’t meant for me.

Tuesday Morning used to be so bad for me. Seeing those things I passed on at full price, now at a discount? Bad, bad, bad for my wallet.

Since a majority of lines are pink and flowery, I find I don't have a lot of FOMO. Most of the lines I really love aren't the super popular lines and are easier to find, I think.

In the past I would buy into the 'fomo' mentality but now I have been scrapping long enough to know that there will always be something coming out that I will love. Sure, I miss BG but the reality is after having it in my stash for 5+ years, I probably never would ever get around to using it. What I have in my stash now is things I can sit down right now and use.

I know how you feel. My husband collects records (or vinyl as the cool kids say) & CDs and every time I see another one come through the door I have to think "who am I to judge?", I just don't want him to ever count my patterned paper or stamp sets lol.

This is pretty much how I feel about all the new releases.  For designers & companies I like, I find there's a sameness from one collection to another that I feel confident I'll love something else down the line if I am not in the market to add to my stash in the moment. 

I definitely suffer from FOMO.

I think a lot of it stems from starting to scrap as a poor college kid who WANTED things but couldn't afford them in any regularity. As birthdays and Christmas gifts, sure.. but that $25 monthly subscription? After already buying an album + page protectors? No way.

So now I see something I like.. woops it went into my cart.. extra woops I clicked buy. I've had moments of guilt afterwards in the "You don't actually need this" kind of way. I'm trying to work on the overbuying of things I don't really need/will use just because and the guilty feeling over using money I've earned on wants instead of only needs. Shit's a process though.

i think a large part of that feeling is strong and effective marketing on the part of the companies.  it's that QVC type of hype that they put out there.  i was just telling DH that there is a particular designer that is so convincing that they can pretty much sell water to a drowning man. companies just know the trigger words and catch phrases to get people to buy. the marketing gives you that "in crowd" feeling if you buy their products.  "be part of us", "don't miss out on this amazing new item", blah blah blah.

i don't really get swept up in that FOMO mentality but when i like something, i do tend to go back and buy a lot of it. i will hunt high and low and when i find it, i will stock up.  i'm not afraid i will miss out as much i'm afraid i will run out. LOL

There are some companies that are consistent with their offerings so I don't feel like I need to jump on everything right away. It may be that some people find Doodlebug boring but for me I know I can mix and match and if I miss out on some pieces I like I can find something just as fun down the line. It also helps that they don't retire collections or under-produce as much as some companies.

And while I have bought and used up multiples of some collections (DBug So Much Pun, HS Wolf Pack) and wished I had more, for me I realize it's trying to recapture the fun feeling of using products that were beautiful and suited my style and that came together easily. I don't necessarily need more of the same thing. I just want that feeling again. I believe FOMO is much more about feelings - missing out on the fun or the feeling rather than the actual product.

The things you miss out on/don't own also still have all their limitless potential, which is imaginary, whereas the stuff we actually own shows itself to be a bit of a nuisance (to organize, to match with other things, to actually use) which is reality. 

In the stamp/card world I feel like every company is cranking out fun stuff at an alarming rate and their DT/Influencers are very good at their jobs. But the companies also all constantly being inspired by/copying each other's ideas so I sometimes find I regret jumping on the first version of something when another company brings out a better/more "me" version a month later.