I never intended to have a stash, or just a small one. Then I found myself at an estate sale for a former quilter. This woman had a STASH! It was separated into color groups, with the lightest at one end, prints in the middle and darkest fabric at the other end. Every color was represented, I kid you not. And it wasn't old stuff. This lady had obviously been working on her stash, and turning it over, so it's not as if I got a lot of fabric that was old. It was set out in two huge bookcases, plus some in drawers (pre-cuts) and even some boxes (home decor fabric). It was the last day of the sale, and the daughter of the woman had not sold any fabric. I expressed an interest. She said I could have the whole lot for $50 if I'd just cart it away myself that day. Done deal! I don't know how many hundreds of yards I ended up with, but I've been sewing out of that stash with virtually no additions for over 3 years, and I still had 6 big storage tubs, plus some boxes, stuffed full of it when I moved into this house a couple of months ago. Best deal I ever made. Now I'm so used to having a stash the I can't live without one - albeit a much smaller one. LOL!