The soap bug is back...

To the OP, I was doing well the start of the year as well.  I decided kinda on a whim to throw in some Zingari Man samples with a Maggard order of Explorer and Magician and I loved both of them, bought full sized pucks along with Asian Pear from A&E.  Then I went on a sampling spree and I've bought two more soaps (Oceana B&M and Navigator from Zingari Man) and tons of samples from Spearhead, 345, Hub City, Stirling. 

Its weird how something suddenly grips me when I can be totally fine with what I have. It happened with Razors last year and I ended up buying a Henson Mild and Medium Aluminum, Yates 921M, Karve B/C and a Titanium Timeless.

EDIT: Oh and after using primarily two band badgers, I decided this year I was going to buy a bunch of boars.  So yeah thats happening.

I too seem to be doing well and controlling things and then all of the sudden I started cycling through stuff to aquire again. Fortunately I'm starting to feel the need to hold back again.........hope it sticks 

I've said this on the forum before but I firmly believe (and this is the right shoulder evil part of me talking) that hobbies are meant to be pursued and hobbies are meant to be enjoyed.  And oddly enough, that is usually the rationale I use to purchase more stuff I want but don't need.  Oh and I was able to use many soaps up over the past year so I felt like I really needed to replace them!

Agreed, I only pull back when the numbers staring back at me starts to feel overwhelming. I like how you defend the right to purchase for a hobby and then felt the need to basically defend your recent purchases by stating you reduced this past year. We're all sick I tell ya, but I'm not seeking a cure

Yup. I find it easy to resist temptation when I can’t easily buy something. Like Ethos, too much shipping cost and can’t get the aftershave shipped to Canada so I don’t stress about it. Then BOOM! The DFS LE is available on Top of The Chain so I can get it with free shipping and Carmine doesn’t just stock the DFS LE but a whole bunch more!! Damn it. Then there’s House of Mammoth. Same thing. When I buy a soap from a new artisan now I’m more afraid I’ll like it than I am that it won’t live up to expectations. It must be natural selection! All the crappy soap makers whose soaps have disappointed me and made me swear off buying more soap are gone leaving only the really good ones. For example, yesterday I shaved with an old favourite Panna Crema Nuavia Rosso after two back to back shaves with Ethos-DFS Colonia. Well I’ll be darned if the PCN just didn’t seem as good anymore. What kind of world do we live in when PC Nuavia can be considered a tier 2 soap?!!  The humanity.  

Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,

Yup. I find it easy to resist temptation when I can’t easily buy something. Like Ethos, too much shipping cost and can’t get the aftershave shipped to Canada so I don’t stress about it. Then BOOM! The DFS LE is available on Top of The Chain so I can get it with free shipping and Carmine doesn’t just stock the DFS LE but a whole bunch more!! Damn it. Then there’s House of Mammoth. Same thing. When I buy a soap from a new artisan now I’m more afraid I’ll like it than I am that it won’t live up to expectations. It must be natural selection! All the crappy soap makers whose soaps have disappointed me and made me swear off buying more soap are gone leaving only the really good ones. For example, yesterday I shaved with an old favourite Panna Crema Nuavia Rosso after two back to back shaves with Ethos-DFS Colonia. Well I’ll be darned if the PCN just didn’t seem as good anymore. What kind of world do we live in when PC Nuavia can be considered a tier 2 soap?!!  The humanity.  

Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,

I know this is off topic but I always felt like Pannacreama Nuavia was underwhelming. The only thing I really loved about them was the scents. Then I put them away for a while and heard some people were having trouble lathering them. I had the same issues and couldn't get anything stable or decent. They went into the bin, which left room to buy more soap!!! Back on topic! Boom.

To the OP, I was doing well the start of the year as well.  I decided kinda on a whim to throw in some Zingari Man samples with a Maggard order of Explorer and Magician and I loved both of them, bought full sized pucks along with Asian Plum from A&E.  Then I went on a sampling spree and I've bought two more soaps (Oceana B&M and Navigator from Zingari Man) and tons of samples from Spearhead, 345, Hub City, Stirling. 

Its weird how something suddenly grips me when I can be totally fine with what I have. It happened with Razors last year and I ended up buying a Henson Mild and Medium Aluminum, Yates 921M, Karve B/C and a Titanium Timeless.

EDIT: Oh and after using primarily two band badgers, I decided this year I was going to buy a bunch of boars.  So yeah thats happening.

Well, at least we're all in it together. Thankfully the soap bug has died down a bit (but damned if that sample of Shannon's Aussie Ice isn't really good), but then the brush bug showed up. For years I've been happy with an Italian Barber Plissoft Barber Handle (my only brush), but then I started shopping around for no reason. Couple weeks later I now have a beautiful brush from the CaYuen shop on Etsy on it's way to me. Looks beautiful but I don't bloody need the thing. For some reason i'm having trouble posting a picture but I'll try to add it in later.

Edit: Here's a shot from the Etsy page.

To the OP, I was doing well the start of the year as well.  I decided kinda on a whim to throw in some Zingari Man samples with a Maggard order of Explorer and Magician and I loved both of them, bought full sized pucks along with Asian Pear from A&E.  Then I went on a sampling spree and I've bought two more soaps (Oceana B&M and Navigator from Zingari Man) and tons of samples from Spearhead, 345, Hub City, Stirling. 

Its weird how something suddenly grips me when I can be totally fine with what I have. It happened with Razors last year and I ended up buying a Henson Mild and Medium Aluminum, Yates 921M, Karve B/C and a Titanium Timeless.

EDIT: Oh and after using primarily two band badgers, I decided this year I was going to buy a bunch of boars.  So yeah thats happening.

I too seem to be doing well and controlling things and then all of the sudden I started cycling through stuff to aquire again. Fortunately I'm starting to feel the need to hold back again.........hope it sticks

I've said this on the forum before but I firmly believe (and this is the right shoulder evil part of me talking) that hobbies are meant to be pursued and hobbies are meant to be enjoyed. And oddly enough, that is usually the rationale I use to purchase more stuff I want but don't need. Oh and I was able to use many soaps up over the past year so I felt like I really needed to replace them!

I too seem to be doing well and controlling things and then all of the sudden I started cycling through stuff to aquire again. Fortunately I'm starting to feel the need to hold back again.........hope it sticks 

I've said this on the forum before but I firmly believe (and this is the right shoulder evil part of me talking) that hobbies are meant to be pursued and hobbies are meant to be enjoyed.  And oddly enough, that is usually the rationale I use to purchase more stuff I want but don't need.  Oh and I was able to use many soaps up over the past year so I felt like I really needed to replace them!

Agreed, I only pull back when the numbers staring back at me starts to feel overwhelming. I like how you defend the right to purchase for a hobby and then felt the need to basically defend your recent purchases by stating you reduced this past year. We're all sick I tell ya, but I'm not seeking a cure

There's definitely a balance to strike. I'm naturally frugal (ok, I'm a bit of a tight wad). We made a shift a few years ago and now believe in doing everything with cash (Dave Ramsey style), so budgeting is important. I recently came across a Dave Ramsey YouTube clip where he was talking to someone with a similar household income about how much to put into the 'fun money' bucket each month. I was basically scolded by Dave Ramsey via proxy for being cheap. I added a bit more to my wife and my personal spending at the beginning of the year as a result.

I also started the YouTube channel, and my wife has become a bit of an enabler, making the same point, that it's ok to spend money on hobbies that you really enjoy, as long as you're doing it responsibly. So I let loose a bit over the past couple of months.

I also took a step back over the past week or so and filtered out a bunch of software that will probably be going into giveaways on the YouTube channel because I like them, but don't love them the way I do so many others. I suspect things will ebb and flow at this point, but I'm committed to keeping my soap stock to less than 52 soaps (not including samples).

I too seem to be doing well and controlling things and then all of the sudden I started cycling through stuff to aquire again. Fortunately I'm starting to feel the need to hold back again.........hope it sticks 

I've said this on the forum before but I firmly believe (and this is the right shoulder evil part of me talking) that hobbies are meant to be pursued and hobbies are meant to be enjoyed.  And oddly enough, that is usually the rationale I use to purchase more stuff I want but don't need.  Oh and I was able to use many soaps up over the past year so I felt like I really needed to replace them!

I've said this on the forum before but I firmly believe (and this is the right shoulder evil part of me talking) that hobbies are meant to be pursued and hobbies are meant to be enjoyed.  And oddly enough, that is usually the rationale I use to purchase more stuff I want but don't need.  Oh and I was able to use many soaps up over the past year so I felt like I really needed to replace them!

Agreed, I only pull back when the numbers staring back at me starts to feel overwhelming. I like how you defend the right to purchase for a hobby and then felt the need to basically defend your recent purchases by stating you reduced this past year. We're all sick I tell ya, but I'm not seeking a cure   

There's definitely a balance to strike.  I'm naturally frugal (ok, I'm a bit of a tight wad).  We made a shift a few years ago and now believe in doing everything with cash (Dave Ramsey style), so budgeting is important.  I recently came across a Dave Ramsey YouTube clip where he was talking to someone with a similar household income about how much to put into the 'fun money' bucket each month.  I was basically scolded by Dave Ramsey via proxy for being cheap.  I added a bit more to my wife and my personal spending at the beginning of the year as a result. 

I also started the YouTube channel, and my wife has become a bit of an enabler, making the same point, that it's ok to spend money on hobbies that you really enjoy, as long as you're doing it responsibly.  So I let loose a bit over the past couple of months.

I also took a step back over the past week or so and filtered out a bunch of software that will probably be going into giveaways on the YouTube channel because I like them, but don't love them the way I do so many others.  I suspect things will ebb and flow at this point, but I'm committed to keeping my soap stock to less than 52 soaps (not including samples).

I didn't always have the variety I have now but now I try to stay at 50ish or less soaps too. I didn't go crazy on buying shave stuff until I was totally debt free including no mortgage.

I've said this on the forum before but I firmly believe (and this is the right shoulder evil part of me talking) that hobbies are meant to be pursued and hobbies are meant to be enjoyed.  And oddly enough, that is usually the rationale I use to purchase more stuff I want but don't need.  Oh and I was able to use many soaps up over the past year so I felt like I really needed to replace them!

Agreed, I only pull back when the numbers staring back at me starts to feel overwhelming. I like how you defend the right to purchase for a hobby and then felt the need to basically defend your recent purchases by stating you reduced this past year. We're all sick I tell ya, but I'm not seeking a cure   

There's definitely a balance to strike.  I'm naturally frugal (ok, I'm a bit of a tight wad).  We made a shift a few years ago and now believe in doing everything with cash (Dave Ramsey style), so budgeting is important.  I recently came across a Dave Ramsey YouTube clip where he was talking to someone with a similar household income about how much to put into the 'fun money' bucket each month.  I was basically scolded by Dave Ramsey via proxy for being cheap.  I added a bit more to my wife and my personal spending at the beginning of the year as a result. 

I also started the YouTube channel, and my wife has become a bit of an enabler, making the same point, that it's ok to spend money on hobbies that you really enjoy, as long as you're doing it responsibly.  So I let loose a bit over the past couple of months.

I also took a step back over the past week or so and filtered out a bunch of software that will probably be going into giveaways on the YouTube channel because I like them, but don't love them the way I do so many others.  I suspect things will ebb and flow at this point, but I'm committed to keeping my soap stock to less than 52 soaps (not including samples).

I didn't always have the variety I have now but now I try to stay at 50ish or less soaps too. I didn't go crazy on buying shave stuff until I was totally debt free including no mortgage. 

Still working on the mortgage.  In year 2 of a refi'd 15 year, but we're trying to cut that in half.