"Scrapbooking is a waste of time and money"

Lots of times on boards I see someone upset that someone said something along these lines to them and then the thread goes on and on with people appalled anyone would think that and defending scrapbooking with the old "YOU ARE PRESERVING YOUR FAMILY'S PRECIOUS MEMORIES!!"

....BUT....

If you stop and think about it... Scrapbooking IS a waste of time and money. All you REALLY need to 'preserve your family's precious memories' is photos, an album, and a pen. Some scrapbookers spend hundreds... even THOUSANDS of dollars a month on scrapbook supplies! Can you really say that is not 'wasteful' when there are people starving and homeless in the world?

Same thing for time. Can you really say your time spent scrapbooking could not be spent elsewhere doing more 'important' things? When I am scrapbooking I COULD be teaching my son to read, outside going for a walk to better my health, volunteering etc....

I am not judging ANYONE! I have no doubt spent thousands of dollars on scrapbooking supplies over the past 11 years that CERTAINLY could have been spent elsewhere to make a difference in the world... or saved for retirement or my kids college education, but I am also the first to admit that scrapbooking IS a frivolous hobby that I spend money on because I like to play with my pictures and paper.

You've made some excellent points. I think those things all the time when I read the posts here but I bite my tongue and don't say it outloud (I know that's hard to believe!). Well actually I did voice my opinion when someone said they spent $1000 in a month on SB supplies! It doesn't mean I like it any less than the next gal, I just don't spend a ton of time or money on it and I don't worry about what others think of my hobby!

Well, I do teach my kids how to read and I go for a walk/jog every single morning, am team mom for soccer and volunteer other places, etc., etc., then when all my work is done, I spend all my time and $$ on SB supplies cause it's fun, fun, fun!!! YAY! LOL!

When you really think about it, (and you have quite a point) you could also say that sex is just a way to make babies and anything other than doing it for that purpose is purely a waste of time . However, I personally like to enjoy life, and just like SBing, I like to have fun with that area of my life with my dh too, and I insist on wasting time and money in a fun, fun, fun way!

I guess that hinges on what you consider a "waste of time and money." If it means anything that isn't directly related to the basic necessities, then yes. However, scrapbooking for me is never a waste. It develops my creativity, I make them for gifts for others, and my children LOVE them dearly. I scrap with my daughter and we have a wonderful mommy-daughter time doing it. I'm preserving my family's memories, but I'm also helping develop myself as a person and investing in our family. Doesn't sound like a waste to me!


Now granted, I spend about $30 a month and not $1000. I think anything can be taken to extremes and become unhealthy for you and your family.

I completely understand what you are talking about...but I am going to continue to spend just as much money on this hobby of mine as I have in the past. Scrapbooking is no different for me than golf for others, etc. for an example.

good points though!

Very true. I love this hobby, but at the end of the day, what will happen to all those albums? I've never posted this since I joined this site because I didn't want to make anyone mad, but here goes: My mom buys large lots of books at auctions all the time. You wouldn't believe how many older scrapbooks she gets in there. Some of them are baby books with all of the baby's firsts, locks of hair, etc. In the end, I love doing this hobby, but it's nothing to get all worked up about. Maybe someday someone will buy my albums in a lot at an auction or they'll end up pitched. It's just a fun way to waste time and get together with friends. I don't get the people who get worked up when someone says scrapbooking is a waste of time. I think golf and football and stamp collecting are wastes of time, but to those who enjoy those activities they are not. To each his or her own, y'know?

It can be a waste of time and money...but I'm actually hoping to add just a touch of craftiness to it to get my mom motivated because she's had a box of pictures, a photo album, and a pen for about 3 years now and I can't get her to even begin! But no way do I really want her to become a full-fledged scrapbooker! My dad'll kill me! haha

Scrapbooking to me can be such a relaxing outlet -you can create the way to want to with your page layouts - your in charge! You will also have some beautiful albums to leave for your family as years go by. My Mom, who has alzhemiers, left me a big box of photo's, some had names/dates on the back, others nothing. How great it would have been if she had only put the pictures in albums of years ago which were just black pages and you used black or white photo corners and then wrote something below the photo. At least that way I would know some things about the photos. Anyway with all the "scrapbooking stuff" out there today we can leave our own wonderful work.

Its like anything else you do in life... whether it be scrapbooking, or quilting, or building things, or computer hobbies..... its a hobby. And if you like it and enjoy it.... do it. if you like it enough you spend the time and money on it. Yes for some people it probably does seem like a waste of time and money... but so are a lot of other frivolous things people spend money on too but hey if they like it... its their time and money to spend on it LOL

My friend is a perfect example... she and her hubby each drive some big SUV thing that gets 14 mpg.... and cost them almost 25 grand for each... whereas my little fartbox Saturn cost me 8 grand "used" with all of 22,000 miles on it and I get 30 mpg in town and 35 on the freeway.... LOL I think that for them to buy 2 vehicles that cost that much and they won't actually take on long road trips (because it cost too much in gas! LOL) is absolutely RIDICULOUS.... but they like it so oh well.... I save money in the gas and buy paper! LOL LOL and flowers, and Glue Dots , and ribbon, and chipboard.... hmmmmm.... I should go actually work on something ! LOL LOL

I really got a kick out of the parody on the SNL YouTube video where he/she said "I'm not just putting photos in an album, I'm preserving my family's memories in a scrapbook."

It was the way he said it that cracked me up!

colleen, girlfriend long time no talk, you are right, i would like to have the money i have spent on this hobby, oh well, i spent that much and more on my ex....heeheeehee

susan a

Colleen what you are saying can apply to any hobby that requires time or money. It is true that you don't need to spend $1000+ on supplies. However, it is also nice to have a creative outlet to express yourself. I enjoy doing this hobby. I also enjoying reading to my kids and going for walks. I would never put this activity before the important things in life and I would bet the majority of the people here would feel the same.

All I can say is that there are far worst things to spend my money and time on. I'm still learning to make better choices.

As to worldly ills and problems, I do what I can as I can.

Seriously, if I was scrapping and spending time here (versus actually scrapping), I think that money and more would have gone to doctors/therapy. Which means even less time with family, not taking pictures, not sharing this obession with others, etc. So in the end, I'm totally justified too scrapbook.

Vivian stole my line. It's cheaper than therapy.

• lapeen2 Said:

I agree with you. I've cut waaaaaaaaaaay back on the amount of carp I buy for scrapping because it really wasn't worth it. You can do a lot without spending much at all.

I look at it as a combination of an artistic outlet and a sort of time capsule, so yes, the memories can be retained without all the effort, but the art can't.

• VivianR Said:

You took the words right out of my mouth!! Working with a high functioning Aspergers child zaps it out of you. I KNOW I would be under serious doctors care if I didn't have my scrapbooking. We have a rule at this house...if DH comes home and I am in the scrapbook room, playing early chant and talking to my sewing dress dummy he is to leave me alone and pick up any messes left outside because it has been a really, really bad day!!

• petergabrielfan Said:

Who auctions off scrapbooks???

I could understand if it was of a famous person of something, but... if I found an old scrapbook of family members, I would keep it as an insight into the past.

That strikes me as very strange...

• ironscrapper Said:

I bet it makes your scrapbooks smell a lot better when you use less carp!

sorry I couldn't resist...:)

I agree with you ladies!

Luckily, my DH collects model trains so we both have "expensive" hobbies. I guess for that reason, we understand each other and our "hobbies".

I've also come to the conclusion that I'm not really making scrapbooks for anybody but me. I don't have children, yet, and the "preservation of memories" sounds nice, but I really don't care who looks at my books in a thousand years. I just really enjoy getting together with other ladies who love to create their own mini-masterpieces and shop for the tools and supplies to make them!

Yes it's pricey and time-consuming, but I love it!!!

• ironscrapper Said:

When you buy items per lot at auctions you have no control over what is inside. She also gets stacks of pics sometimes. If the people in the photo aren't identified, many people just think they're junk, even if they are historical treasures. I even see boxes of family photos at garage sales sometimes. People are weird about that stuff sometimes. My mom tried to track down one owner of a SB to see if it was a mistake. The book's creator was dead and she was never able to find her son, the baby in the book. Hopefully people will keep those things when we're long gone.

I approach scrapbooking same was as I've approached any hobby:

-- I scrapbook for enjoyment's sake
-- I don't need every latest and greatest thing or "fad" that is part of that hobby to have fun doing it...if, for example, I decide I really, really want a Sizzix or Cricut, I'll find a few great friends to go in on it with me and we'll share it around, like we do with other tools
-- I set my budget & stick to it and only buy things I need...I went into Michaels and spent 6 bucks on the 1 thing I needed...I take my toddler so I don't get time to window shop!

I feel the same way about photography. I never needed every filter, the fanciest film or a million hours to just have fun with it, and even take photos that were of equal quality to what someone else spent thousands on equipment to capture. My father is an avid hobby photographer but our family was always built around his doing that & he taught me as he went. I've kept that in mind too--I don't shoe my daughter away from my creative work.

I do say that I scrapbook both for me and for my kids...I don't think they'll care if there is 500 embellishments on my page or if I hand-journaled vs digiscrapped something but they will, hopefully, want to read the stories *behind* the photos and even if they don't keep my album forever-and-ever they'll have those stories to pass on down.

Anyway, I'm with the original person who posted...agree with everything you said. Nothing wrong with loving a hobby, but I'm all for keeping the spending under check (less spending = more creativity & thinking Outside the Box a little). Even if people spent 10% less & passed that 10% along to other people to put food in their mouths...imagine what that could achieve.

My CM consultant was telling me that her mother's neighbour died and her daughter showed up and put boxes of albums & photos on the curb. People do pick these up and there is a huge reselling business out there now because they become free rights materials. It is sad though...I even found a site once where the guy was picking these photos up & posting them in the hopes of family members of people in the pics identifying & reclaiming them.

Other things too. A guy in Canada saw of our top military medals being sold on ebay and bought it so he could pass it back to our national museum.

Photos & family art are a big deal in my family...then again, all of us are artists. I wouldn't dream of giving away any of it. But, apparently, some folks would.

• Here Kitty Said:

I have scraped for a hobby for 15 years or more. And never let my hobby come before my family. I voluntered in my sons school from kindergarden until he graduated and I am still a team mom for my sons football team even though he has graduated. I have made numerous albums for his friends and always pass on all my doubles to all of his teammates and friends, and to see the smile when you hand them pictures or an album of them is worth every penny I have ever spent. If I had a million dollars I would have made everyone of them an album. I do think some people go way over board with this hobby and maybe I could do better things with my time but then I would also need therapy

• ironscrapper Said:

Unfortunately quite a few people don't have family that would care. Either they have died out already, live elsewhere and are selling off everything, or are removed in the family tree and the people would be strangers to them anyway. I hold no illusions that anyone will care about the books I create and keep. (Hopefully someone might keep the books I make for others.) Aside from possibly refreshing my own memories in my old age, they are merely fun to make and a creative outlet for me.

Me too Me too.

I think if I'm not scrapbooking, I would be addicted to some other worse things and maybe those could be harmful to me. I am just weak! No way around it. This is in place of some serious therapy (well I haven't been scrapping much lately, maybe that was my problem). I am a happier person after a crop though..not sure if I'm just 'conditioning' my family to be supportive of me!

And I do spend time with my friends & family and volunteer my time for worthy causes (in my eyes). I guess everyone's balance is different. I will probably not go as far as making my own scrapbook paper (seriously, people do that...with a tree and a screen and you're all set)! I do spend un-necessary $$ on scrapbook supplies, but I do not spend much on anything else... this is my 1st true hobby. Well... just like everything else, balance is everything.

I hope scrubby (scrapbooker's hubby - from that YouTube video) thinks the same way.

I think of scrapping as my hobby! Any hobby can cost money. I also like to run as a hobby, that costs money too. Scrapping is something I really enjoy so I don't think it's a waste of time or money!

I'm the same way. I scrap as an "attitude adjuster." I'm an artist, and scrapbooking is just another way to release that artistic creativity, only the scrapbooks preserve memories for generations to come. Not just Jory and Lizzie, but their children and their grandchildren and so on.

I, too, do not put scrapping before necessities. The refrigerator and pantry are stocked, and the children have what they need for school and such, the rent and bills are paid before I spend more than $20 on scrapbook supplies. I do not have the latest and the greatest expensive toys; I have a laptop, yes, but I bought that for school. I just got a Sizzix Sidekick two weeks ago, and I got it off eBay.

I do not need a Wishblade or a Craft Robo, or even a Cricut. Granted, they'd be nice, but I can scrap just fine with my Sidekick and two alphas, one girly and one not-so-girly. That's it. Since I discovered eBay has scrapbook stuff, I very seldom pay full price for anything anymore. If it's not cheap on eBay, I don't need it right this second.

I work full time, go to school part time, volunteer at my childrens' schools when I'm off work and school. I do not scrap instead of spending time with my children; most of the time, I elect to scrap after they're sleeping for the night, as I'm a night owl. Once in a great blue moon, I'll put a movie in, let the children play with their toys, and scrap. But not very often, because they're always into my stickers and such.

Oh, sure, I'd love to be a trillionaire and have an entire huge room in a mansion for scrapbooking. I'd love to be able to waltz into Michael's, or Hobby Lobby, or Archivers, and drop a thousand dollars each visit.

But that's not to be. I'm working full time, working FAST FOOD full time. Going to college part time to make something better of my career. I don't want to be 40 years old and still working McDonald's drive-through. My ultimate dream is to be a computer programmer/web designer and work from home so I can be here when my children get home from school. I want to have the flexibility to volunteer more often at their schools.

As for giving money to make things better in the world? I have found that if you donate money even ONE time, they can track your address and then every organization and company in the world who needs money starts sending you mail, or calling you on the phone for donations. I donated some money ONE time to the local Children's Hospital, in my son's name, and I haven't heard the end of it. I am contacted several times a month, via snail mail, to donate money. (My cell is unlisted; we recently got a landline and all we've gotten are calls for donations, people wanting to sell us stuff, junk.) My parents have it worse. They donate to various organizations on a yearly basis, and they get contacted every day about donations!

I'm sorry I kind of got off topic, and got on a soapbox, I'll get down now. I just had to defend scrapbooking, defend myself for scrapping. Even my hubby agrees I'm doing something good with my time when I scrap. There are so many worse things we could be doing than scrapping, eh, girls? We could be going out getting ourselves arrested, cheating on our significant others, all sorts of horrible things. Instead we choose to sit at home and scrap, and stay out of trouble.

Priorities-I scrap because I like it and when I have time after productive activities are done, and spend what is left after obligations are met.

Perspective-I have no family, when I go the books will be dumped. Hey, no guarantee those with families they will be "passed on". The kids/grandkids may not be interested, think of some of the stuff your family left you.

Waste of time and money-I do it because it is fun for me and I can afford to buy what I need. It seems the majority of people's hobbies or interests outside of work are fun for them are a waste of time and money. TV, going to watch sports, NASCAR, wrestling, movies, playing cards, rc hobbies, boating, paint-ball, video and computer games, internet forums and chat rooms just to name a few.

Just another opinion.

• Prettylolo Said:

You make a great point also!!! I only scrap at night after my kids are in bed. It is MY time. Everyone needs to make time for themselves.

Lot's of things are a waste of time and money (but I love them anyway) - big houses, big cars, nice clothes, lots of toys, boats, motorhomes, movies, vacations, eating at restaurants, bla bla bla. You're absolutely right. Don't scrapbook, if you have a problem with it.

I don't know why anyone is feeling like they need to defend why they scrap??

My point was that people get all 'up in arms' when other people think it is a waste of time and money and they shouldn't because ...like any hobby... it technically IS spending time and money on a non-essential thing.

I'm sure everyone here knows of SOME hobby that they think is a dumb waste of time. So it only makes sense that there are those out there who think scrapbooking is.

i scrap because if gives me something to do that i enjoy.. not because of the money.. hubby told me to find a hobby and would you know i chose an expensive one...

i do alot of swaps on here not for the stuff but for the friendship i have gotten from them

so it is not about the money for me

• lapeen2 Said:

It's human nature to defend something you feel passionately about so even though you, personally, weren't attacking scrapbooking you raised the point and therefore others will continue the discussion by defending it. I'm sure no one is too upset!

Frankly, I really don't think this is an expensive hobby. I buy things as cheaply as I can. It's not the hobby but self control. Anything can be done in a wasteful way as well as a thrifty way.

Like I bought a $25 pack of paper on clearance for $10. Now who can pass that up. And it was DCWV paper with textured cardstock in the pack! Where's the waste, I ask?

hey, ya know what? it all is frivilous. i should save the money. we really need the money. but i need my sanity more than my money (and whoever says scrapbooking is not therapy is NUTS!). hehehe.

• Quote:

I don't consider it "technically" non-essential. My entire family wants to keep the scrapbooks once I pass on to that lovely place above. I've had to mark which ones are which as if I'm leaving tomorrow for good.

If we are going to consider scrapbooking "technically" non-essential, that would hold true of golf, tennis, music lessons, crafts of any sort, hobbies of any sort. But technically speaking, they are all essential to each of us in our lives as a release/therapy/or just a good time.

Michele, that's another reason for having digital copies. So that everyone can get a copy.

thier are some valid points in here. but i pesonally feel any hobby can be expensive if you let it.1000 a month I couldnt afford it but to each their own! I find it to be as said before, to be an artistic therapy! the victorians also must of thought so because their scrapbooks go for high dollar on ebay the graphics i suppose. so I kinda think we are doing the same only in a more modern way besides i love my albums and they make me happy so i will keep spending for supplies and ect. and maybe someday my children will love them and if not i had a blast making them

Well shoot, it is scrapbooking, not macrame (Oh, please tell me no one here has a macrame hobby. If so, my apologies. )

Anyway, everyone has hobbies, things they enjoy doing, things that relax them and make them happy (maybe even macrame ). It's nice when a hobby results in something useful, and I consider SB's useful. I almost never look through past photo albums, but I love looking through SB's. They make the pictures more fun and the journaling helps me recall details. I also like to cook (food!), decorate cakes (more food!), and read (improve my mind! - well, except I read a lot of junk because my mind needs a rest).

As long as I'm not spending money we need for important things, I don't feel a bit guilty.

• jlrroad Said:

It was an intentional typo lol - this site censors the word cr@p.

• ironscrapper Said:

Well that makes sense...still funny though.

Indeed lol.

I had a guy say that exact comment to me. (that scrapbooking is a waste of time) But he spends all his free time bicycling. When he should be with his family. Plus he spent $1,000 on bicycle tires. At least I have something to show for my time.

Sorry...wait, no I'm not sorry...but I don't agree that it's a waste of time and money. At least not how I do it, most of the time. I'm using what I have in supply already and my purpose is to tell the story of some of our family's history. I think that's important.

Also, creating, for me, is therapeutic. It helps me relieve stress. I don't consider that a waste of time at all considering how stress that is held in can be so detrimental to one's health.

While in the case of some, their spending on sb supplies is out of control, I don't think you can make a blanket statement like this with the implication that ALL of it, and FOR all, it is wasteful.

• scrapbookbuzz Said:

For me I have some disposable income. Either I "waste" it on scrapbooking supplies or something else. So for me it's not waste either

Yes some people say it's a waste of money and time.

But how can something I enjoy doing so much be a waste of my time and my money. It's not for me.......

Scrapbooking is cheaper than therapy.

• Quote:

LOL, absolutely. And therapy isn't a "waste", right? I think we've justified ourselves

it is cheaper than therapy, I also think it's alot cooler to look at peoples creativity in their books. rather than a bunch of pictures!!(when there is a story line behind your book, it all seems worth it to me)