Tea Buying Hiatus Support Group

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I think it says a great deal about the tea-buying mindset of steepsterites in general that this thread hasn’t seen a post in over a month. I really had to dig to find it. But aaagh, please someone help me be good? Or at least talk me down from this ledge. Between Whispering Pines, 52teas, and American Tea Room, I’m having a hard time not placing orders. And my tea cupboard is fit to burst at any moment.

Swap, swap, swap, swap, swap.
This is how I get around buying more sometimes :)

I did the Secret Pumpkin exchange for that exact reason. Plus I got to buy some awesome Halloween-y stuff in the hopes that someone else shared my weird sense of humor. But I’m still antsy, hnngh. Maybe I will look into more swaps. Or I’ll just have to try and sit on my hands until I drink more stuff down.

Swapping means that you get to interact with someone else through the internet with common interest in tea. How cool is that? It’s like electronic penpals who communicate with loose leaf tea :)
Also, as you have probably experienced, there is a great feeling when something comes in the mail which means you can make a new teafriend’s day and trade a mutual smile!

Dexter said

Go shopping in your own cupboard. If it’s really bursting you probably have teas that you haven’t drank in a while. Revisit some of those – try some that you haven’t tried – enjoy some of your favorites that you are hording. :))

@ Proust: I have really enjoyed the ones I’ve done thus far, so I’ll see about maybe posting something up in the official swap thread.

@ Dexter: That… is a fair assessment, actually, and a good way to think about it. I’ll try and trick myself by doing so with the teas I have undoubtedly pushed to the back.

Dr Jim said

One thing I did was to go back and drink a cup of every single tea that I owned. It took a couple of months, and I found some teas I didn’t even know I had!

The other thing that helped me was to realize that some of my older teas were going bad. I added a date purchased to my tea spreadsheet and set it up to automatically turn the date red after one year. Those teas became a priority to drink, and I don’t let myself buy new tea in a category that has more than one or two red dates.

I keep almost placing orders too but am overwhelmed with teas. I’ll swap with you if you’d like Beorhthraefn! :)

@ Dr Jim: I probably do have some older teas stashed in the back, though I have been trying to drink all that stuff down. I’ll give your system a go, since I already have multiple tea spreadsheets going. One more won’t bring much additional shame, I should think.

@ Stephanie: Do I know that feeling. And sure, I’d be happy to set up a swap with you. Following you now!

Inkling said

YES, swaps and TTBs are the best way to assuage that voice in your head telling you that you NEED to buy more tea. I managed (just barely!) to resist stopping in at David’s Tea on a rare trip to that area this weekend by reminding myself that I have NINE samples from a recent swap that I haven’t even tried yet!

TheKesser said

@Dr. Jim: That’s a really good idea about the date turning red. How do you set that up? I’m not super good at Excel.

Dr Jim said

You need to set up a cell with today’s date:

=TODAY()

Then select the cells that have your purchase date and apply conditional formatting with the rule less than. The initial rule will show whatever date is in the cell. Select the cell today’s date is in then type -365 (or however many days you want to set).

The default format for less than will be red in a red background. It is also possible to tailor this to whatever you want. The more advanced version, which is at least twice as complicated, lets you set two dates: drink now and over the hill. My advice is to start out simple for now.

TheKesser said

awesome. Thanks!

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I’m up for a swap, but my cupboard isn’t up to date. Tell me what kind or tea you like or are interested in trying, and I’ll tell you what I have.

Was this aimed at me, Michelle? Because if so, then yeah, I’d be up for a swap. My cupboard is mostly up-to-date, I think, so let me know what you might be interested in! I like pretty much everything except rooibos and honeybush blends.

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Argh. The WP cakes AND a coupon code? Someone please stop me!

STOOOOOOP!

(hides your credit card and wipes your memory in case you memorized it)

Phi said

They are only $11… I mean…

I asked Brenden yesterday and he told me he had like a bazillion of them… so wait for BF when everything is on sale :P

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It’s Thanksgiving/Black Friday time and I want to buy ALL THE TEAS. It’s soo hard to resist! But seriously my tea buying feels out of control.

curlygc said

I feel your pain. Next year I am going to wait until November to make the bulk of my tea purchases. Or, at least I wont spend a bunch of money in Aug/Sept again. In retrospect, that was dumb.

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Lindsay said

Bringing this thread back because I clearly need it. :)

Ubacat said

I was wondering how long it take before this thread surfaced again – especially after all the Black Friday sales. My tea cupboard is already exploding and I haven’t received all the orders yet.

My cupboard is exploding too – and we’ve definitely got each other to blame, Ubacat! ;-)

I have at least 3 more tea shipments coming in. After that, I really need to go through my cupboard, figure out which stuff I feel like tossing (into the compost), which stuff is close to sipdown, and exactly how much I’ve got of each variety.

Ubacat said

I know, I know. Summertime is when we decided to try the monthly packages because there’s nothing happening in the summer. My tea collection was looking in control so I thought, why not? Now, I see I really need to get the cupboard to the bare bones before those Black Friday sales.

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Inkling said

I’m actually feeling kind of proud of myself at the moment. I resisted all the Black Friday sales because I hadn’t reached my sipdown goal and I really need to focus on finishing my Butiki collection before everything loses its flavor. But all the reviews of A Quarter to Tea look so intriguing, I’m REALLY hoping my family gets me some tea or a gift card for Christmas so I can try them out!

Kaylee said

Impressive! Good job!

Inkling said

Thanks for the encouragement! :)

Dr Jim said

I didn’t buy anything either, but that was because I did my binge buying during the summer. I looked at the sales and there was just no type of tea I didn’t already have too much of.

Equusfell said

Dr Jim- what an excellent problem to have!

Dr Jim said

My wife doesn’t think so.

Your wife must not drink tea :)

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I’m back on hiatus. Let’s see if I can wait until April, when the first flush green teas come out.

This past year, I indulged myself in a good amount of “necessi-teas” and true indulgences.

Equusfell said

This is a good goal to shoot for. I think I shall borrow it!

Good luck to you :]

Inkling said

Sounds like a smart strategy. Go you!

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Does it count if I buy from local shops?

Inkling said

The rules are up to you! :)

I’m supporting local businesses, so I don’t think that really counts.

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I’m excited because it’s looking like I may get to come out of hiatus with respect to herbals, fruit blends, and other non-caffeinated things pretty soon. Not quite there yet, but getting closer.

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MzPriss said

I need this.

mrmopar said

I think I am cutoff completely for next year..

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