Just a variation of the "shop from my stash first" plan that has helped me use my stash.
I will occasionally choose my back FIRST. For example, my quilting group does a mystery quilt every year and it is tempting to go shop and we all know that most of use have a stash to shop from. This year I chose the backing first. For me the back is the biggest cause of excess shopping. I chose a large print with lovely colors that I had gotten on sale but it had been sitting on the shelf unused. I then pulled coordinating colors from my stash that matched the backing and met the fabric requirements for the mystery quilt top. The blocks look mighty strange at this point but their colors are lovely. The final layout is coming soon and I am anxious to see how it all plays out. Bottom line, a big old chunk of unused fabric will be out of my stash along with some smaller coordinating pieces. Sounds like a win to me!