Before I retired, over a 10 or 12 year period, I collected fabric for my stash. I was pretty frugal in doing this, usually only buying fabrics on sale or with a coupon from Jo Ann's. I always said I wanted to buy fabric while I was working so when I retired, I could still make all the quilts I wanted without having to spend a lot of money on fabric. I've been retired for 2 years and I have set a rule for myself to only buy fabric if I need something to finish a project I'm working on - backing, border, or maybe background fabric... EXCEPT for my quilting vacations that I take with my quilting friends every year. We go different places all over the U.S. and visit as many quilt shops as we can drive to! We didn't take one in 2009, so when we went in October of 2010, I really splurged. I had been on a "fabric fast" for a year and I just couldn't resist all the fabric we saw - I think I spent about $400 on fabric. We all decided we wouldn't do that again, and would do a little more sightseeing and a little less fabric shopping on our next vacation!