I get it. You found this REALLY COOL STICKER and you have one chance to put it somewhere so it has to be good.
I get this because I, too, once suffered from Sticker Commitment Phobia Extrema. It's a condition in which you can't help but buy those AWESOME stickers but you're terrified that you'll waste the sticker so you put it in a drawer to "save it" and find it 5 years later when you're Marie-Kondoing your place; it still brings you joy but you still get sweaty palms at the thought of taking that back part of and sealing its fate so you put it BACK in the drawer and find it another 2 years later when you're moving and cleaning house again because you learned some tricks from Marie and then you feel guilty because this sticker has just sat in a drawer for 7 years and so you put it in a box this time which you put in a different drawer because you're evolving.
Let's all take a minute here and realize there is hope! All jokes aside, here's a list of gentle suggestions of what to do when you can't stick your sticker.
1. Make a scrapbook of them so you can pull them out and look at them forever without committing to forever.
2. Define a theme for each place you'll stick stickers and STICK TO IT. My water bottle is reserved for all the places I've visited (except I got really excited about my first Bloom Coffee sticker so I broke the theme briefly, no regrets). I started this collection on accident but then I really enjoyed that every time I picked up my water bottle, I remembered one of our trips of funny moments across the United States. Theme ideas: plants, coffee shops, small businesses you've supported, places you've visited, places you dream of visiting, flowers, inside jokes, inspirational sayings, weather, space, aliens, dogs, cats, monkeys, bands.
3. Make a rule that you have to know where this sticker will go before you buy it. This is my personal rule while thrifting and it works most of the time. As soon as you can, follow through with your resolution and stick the sticker where you envisioned it.
4. Buy a cheap laptop cover, fill it with stickers you like, when it's full, remove it and frame it on your wall, then acquire another cheap laptop cover and start over. Another option is get a new case every year and keep them framed as a snapshot or art journal of sorts of that year. Be sure to document the year if you do it that way though.
5. Place stickers on the underside of pieces of furniture like tables and record stands and chairs and desks.
Just start. I believe in you! I kept stickers in drawers for a long time before just going for it. I started with stickers from the Grand Canyon, Glacier, and Roswell and it's so much more fun seeing these stickers every time I pick up my water bottle than only seeing them when I cleaned out our catch-all drawer. These stickers, and the ones that followed, have started so many interesting conversations, reminded me of hilaroius moments, and spurred other adventures. None of that would have happened if I left them in the drawer and this former commitment-phobe has no regrets (about the stickers).
Ongoing list of places to stick your stickers:
Laptop case
Water bottle
Car
Journal
Skateboard
Kitchen Aid
Record Cabinet
Tablets
Guitar case
Cello case
Theremin Case
Phone case
Surfboard
Bookshelf
Camera
Sketchbook
External Hard Drive
Framed Collage
Storage Baskets
Computer Chargers
Filing Cabinet
Toolbox
Videogame Console
Speakers
Suitcases
Projector
Cooler
Folding Chairs
Coffee Table
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