Use Office Supplies to Save Money - Visitor's Scrapbooking Tip

by Drew

Scrapbooking Tip: To save money on a scrapbooking project make sure to visit your local office supply store for needed paper, backgrounds, and other supplies. Scrapbook stores and other craft stores usually charge an arm and a leg for something you can find right across the street, at usually half the price.

Fion: Thanks Drew for your money-saving tip! Using office supplies in your scrapbooking is a way to break out of the box thinking, and to be more creative in coming up with other ways to scrapbook without breaking your bank. However, one main consideration is whether these items will be "acid-free". Some suggested to use a pH pen which contains a chemical to test the pH level of the paper. Paper that's non acid-free and non lignin-free will become brittle and turn yellowish (look at old newspapers) over time.

Still there's scrapbookers who effectively use tags, paper clips, jumbo clips and such from the office supply store and turn these items into creative embellishments, bookmarks and such for their scrapbook pages and as gifts for others.

If you're using digital photos which you have back-up copies of, you might not be that concerned and page protectors might help to prevent acids from one page from "migrating" to other pages. But if it's some treasured old photos, then you might want to stick to acid-free and lignin-free materials, which though are more costly but might help to preserve your memories for more years.

Even if we are using acid-free and lignin-free products, be sure to store your scrapbooks in cool and dry areas as heat and humidity could shorten the lifespan of our photos!