Come on in Mengler, confession is good for the soul and it makes us claim ownership to what we are doing. I've given myself an exemption for my thrift store shopping but being in this thread makes me mindful of my purchases and if I'm just buying to buy or if I have a purpose. So I 'fess up to it, and as time goes on I'm getting less and less to confess to! Remember, deep down, there is no problems collecting fabric if that is what you are doing. Just acknowledge that and take care of/curate your collection as a collection and not a pile of stuff.
Sometimes each of us does get faced with a major temptation. C'mon, we have people giving us fabric. There are only so many graceful ways you can get out of that -- especially if you really want something in there... Or sometimes the sales are so good that you seriously will not be able to sleep or have regrets. Last year I did get about 24 yards of fabric from Walmart at a dollar a yard. I've used most of it, have plans for one of the remaining two pieces but yes, one piece is stash. I tease because I missed the penny sale, but gosh -- sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do and in that case all I have to say is Score!
My next project (with Minions) is going to be made from a recent-ish thrift store buy that I confessed to last year. It was the one where there was at least $100 of fabric I wanted, mostly gold embellished Asian prints and included a bunch of Peanuts holiday themed fabrics that I didn't so much want but it was interesting to see a whole year of Peanuts at once! I managed to contain myself and pick out about $20 worth of fabrics that could be used together or work with other things in progress. So a partial success. The old non-Moratorium me would have come out of there with 90% instead of only 10%. And I can make an entire queen sized quilt top for less than $20 (and have a bunch left over!).
In the past 10 years I've gone from an entire room stuffed full of fabric to a closets-worth, I'm hoping to get the stuff out of the closet this year and move the fabric in. Most of what is gone has been given away, some of it has been worked with, and the fabrics that remain are fabrics I want to use. Some how, some day. It's the really great thing about Quilting Board is seeing all the wonderful projects people make gives me plenty of ideas. I didn't even renew my one remaining magazine subscription this year because I'm not being inspired there, but I am here.