Kaboodle

Shopping is the main purpose of Kaboodle! It’s also a social networking site, so you can create a profile, add friends, and people can see what you are adding to your lists. And like Facebook there are groups with discussion threads.

Are you ready to be Kaboodled?! I’ve seen Kaboodle used in many creative ways. And there is a lot of potential yet I think. So let’s explore it. Because I haven’t played there much, I interviewed an awesome Kaboodler! Jen agreed to share how she uses Kaboodle. She describes many ways that she’s using Kaboodle & if you look at her profile you’ll see how highly organized she is!

Connie: How does using Kaboodle help your digiscrapping?

Jen: Kaboodle has been very beneficial for me not only in digiscrapping, but also for my checking account LOL It helps me to stop all the impulse buying. When I get newsletters from all the stores with their new products in them, I save my absolute favorites to Kaboodle. Then as I’m working on a layout and I think to myself that I knew I saw something that would work perfect on this page, I go and buy it. I also have my lists broken up into each individual store so that when a site is having a sale, I can shop more effectively and productively for what I want.

Connie: How do you manage your lists & categories - adding & deleting after purchase?

Jen: As previously mentioned, my lists are broken up by each store. When I add items to the list, I put my very best favorites on top so that when hubby occasionally picks up some goodies from my list for me, I won’t be disappointed. Most of my purchases will end up in my Ultimate Favorites list so that hopefully I can help promote for my favorite designers. I always try to support other designers such as myself.

Connie: As a designer, how do you use it to promote your creations? or do you?

Jen: I never would have thought to make a list for my own creations before but I noticed another designer did that so I tried it. It can’t hurt to have my own list on there right? Even if it gives me a little more exposure, every little bit helps. You never know when someone on Kaboodle will come across your list that may have never heard of you before so it definitely can help get your name out there a little more. I have also searched for my name to see if any of my stuff is on someone else’s list. This, as well as my sales, can help me determine what people like and dislike.

Connie: Are you interested in exploring creative ideas on that? joining a group of designers to share thoughts on that?

Jen: It all depends, I don’t have a lot of time to post in forums or chat anymore. If it was occasional and not very time consuming then yes I would definitely love to try that.

Connie: Do you use groups & network there?

Jen: I have joined a group on Kaboodle before but I’m not so sure about how it works really. I looked around on their page a little and was kinda lost in there so I just left. I don’t join too many groups anymore, not even yahoo groups because I don’t know what’s going on half the time and I would much rather just not be bothered with the emails.

Connie: Do you look at what other people are adding?

Jen: I definitely look at what other people are adding to their lists. It’s mostly when I add something to my list and I see the list on the right side of related items. I love that feature because it’s shown me a few things that I may not have noticed otherwise. There is sooooo much going on in the digiscrap world every day and so many new kits and trends etc, it’s almost impossible to keep up with this rapidly changing online community. So anything that helps keep everything simplified and in one place is definitely an asset.

Connie: What other things do you love about Kaboodle?
Jen: Well, that’s just it, I love Kaboodle too much. It’s so versatile and there’s definitely a ton of other shopping you can do on there besides digiscrap shopping but I try to stay away from that because A) it’s too expensive and B) it’s too expensive LOL If I start shopping on sites like walmart, target, or penney’s etc, it would be just like my digiscrap shopping and it would be too much. At least digital stuff is a little cheaper and you can use it over and over again but with stuff from those other stores, well, there’s not much you can find for a couple bucks that would be worth very much. I still prefer to go out to Walmart and pick up what I need when I need it. And if I need something I can’t find there, then and only then will I come home and search for it online. I shopped on ebay for over a year and spent well over $1,000 so I’m trying to stay away from that for just a little while. I feel the need to simplify things in my life lately. So another reason i love Kaboodle is that it keeps my wishlist in one place rather than one on each store. Before when I wanted to find something to buy that I saved in my wishlist, if I didn’t remember which store it was in, I had to search a bunch of different places until i found it and sometimes I didn’t find it.

~Jen (Jen is a designer & has a blog)

So how do you get started?

1. Register at Kaboodle
2. Add me as a friend if you’d like & I can be a central point like in Facebook. Look thru Jen’s friends to see if you see any mutual friends to add.
3. Then you will be ready to start adding items to your lists. Look at how Jen set her’s up. She has 35 lists based on stores. You can organize your lists any way you want.
4. And if you’re a designer, then you can RAK people (random acts of kindness). More coming on this too.

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