I am a new quilter and had no idea what a "stash" was until I went to my first quilt club meeting two years ago. I thought I could NEVER become a quilter because I had no "stash."
So I made it my mission to obtain this stash as cheaply as possible so that I could begin making quilts as soon as possible.
HOW I COLLECTED MY STASH:
1) I told everyone I knew not to throw away any fabric; just donate it to me. You will be surprised at how many people throw away huge bag loads of fabric remnants. You will also discover that not everyone uses cotton fabric. I keep it all since I use the crappy fabric as my test blocks so I don't use up my good fabric.
2) I shopped every daily deal online that I could find. These websites were my opening screens each morning when I turned on my computer. I only purchased when the deal was really, really good. Also, get on the sites' mailing lists to be notified of promotions.
3) I went to estate sales, garage sales, moving sales (talk to your neighbors before they put their stuff up for sale) and fabric shop going-out-of-business sales. And don't forget the thrift stores (unfortunately our thrift stores have nothing left since I live in a community that quilts a lot).
4) I no longer throw away old clothes. They can be cut up and included in quilts.
5) Whenever an opportunity comes up to do some charity sewing, I join in. At the end of the sewing the leftover fabric is given away to whomever wants it.
Building a stash is not as difficult as it seems in the beginning. And... the stash GROWS FAST! LOL