I've decided if I'm going to buy fabric from now on, it's gonna be the good stuff. No more fabric shopping at big box stores because I always get things on a whim or because it is on sale. And a lot of that cheap fabric was...cheap. It's still good enough to learn on/play with, but I won't buy any more of it. This will mean fewer yards purchased per year, but I need to be more selective with what projects I start anyway.
I think I'll give Connecting Threads a try for budget solids and backings, etc. Another thing - at least with online fabric shopping, you can be reasonably sure your fabric hasn't been dropped on the floor, stepped on, run over with a cart, drooled on, used to blow a nose, or smudged with makeup - lots of abuses big box fabric goes through.