Addicted To Rae Dunn | How Collecting Pottery Is Putting Women Thousands Of Dollars In Debt
“I spent over $15000 in 6 months. It consumes my every thought…I even think of it when trying to fall asleep. Nearly cost me my marriage!”- Kim
Have you ever gone on a shopping spree and felt that rush of endorphins you get as you leave the store with your hands full of shopping bags? Imagine doing whatever you could to get that feeling on a near DAILY basis.
In my last Rae Dunn post titled Rae Dunn The Madness & Obsession, I talked about my own Rae Dunn collection, and some of the insane things I’ve seen happen online in the Rae Dunn World (shout out to the Rae Dunn Rants & Raves Facebook Group!).
You can check out that post first if you want some background on what Rae Dunn is, but basically Rae Dunn is a woman who makes pottery, and her pottery eventually became mass produced in China and is sold by the company “Magenta” now. You’ve definitely seen it around- it’s the white dishes with black words that are sold at TJX stores. This pottery has a MASSIVE cult following, with groups and pages on just about every social media platform dedicated to collecting it.
Because of the massive following and trendiness of Rae Dunn pottery, thousands of people (mainly women) around the world began collecting it, talking about it, and sometimes doing whatever they could to get it.
I’ve been collecting Rae Dunn for a couple of years now. Recently, I’ve been taking a hard look at our finances and figuring out where I can save money. I have a goal to purchase a house within the next 5 years, and really reevaluating our finances is a huge key to making that happen.
I’m not insanely addicted to Rae Dunn, but I do like a lot of it, and I HAVE raced out of my house to the store on more than one occasion when I saw something good posted on our local group. The truth is, I find it fascinating that collecting this pottery is SO addicting to so many people. What about Rae Dunn makes it more addicting than any other home decor item? I also follow Facebook groups for Le Creuset and Kitchenaid, but the people in those groups aren’t nearly as addicted to those brands as people who collect RD are.
First, I’m going to go through my own experience with getting hooked on Rae Dunn, then I’ll share some quotes from women who shared their experiences with me on their debt caused by addiction to Rae Dunn.
Reining In My Spending
When evaluating our expenses, I decided it was time to reign in my home decor spending- including Rae Dunn. I joined a Facebook group called Rae Dunn Rehab to see if I could get some inspiration on learning to let go of the hold it had on me.
I’ve never personally had an addictive personality. I don’t smoke or drink, and the biggest addiction I have currently is for caffiene, so it surprised even myself when I started buying pottery excessively.
When I first joined our local Rae Dunn group, I would go to the store EVERY night after work looking for my very first piece of Rae Dunn. When you see people posting these items that you want every day, but finding none for yourself, it can be discouraging.
That discouragement only heightened the “high” I felt when I found my first pieces. After weeks of our store having nothing, I swear I saw a light shining down from Heaven when I found my first cream and sugar set sitting on the shelf at Homesense.
In the last two years, I’ve accumulated probably 20+ mugs, 4-5 mixing bowls, popcorn and chip bowls, spoon rests, cream, milk and sugar pieces, a clock, canisters, home decor items, holiday items, bathroom items, melamine dishes for Summer, pet dishes for both pets, two tiered stands to display them on, and countless accessories. If I total everything up, I’ve maybe spent $400-$500 in the last couple of years on Rae Dunn, and have been gifted a fair amount too. If that sounds like a lot, you may be surprised to hear that some people spend that much on a single piece sometimes, and some spend thousands of dollars a year to keep up with their “in search of” lists and new releases.
When I decided to monitor my spending this year, I started taking a hard look around at the items in my home, and asked myself why I purchased certain things. It’s funny how when you actively decide NOT to spend how much you realize you actually spend on a day to day basis. In the past few weeks, I’ve found myself feeling bored and thinking “what do I need that I could go buy right now?” The answer is usually nothing, which makes me realize how much I used to buy that I actually didn’t need just because I was bored or wanted that “shopping high”.
Identifying the source of the problem
When it comes to Rae Dunn, I really had to dig deep to identify WHY I like this stuff so much. I never imagined myself collecting any home decor items, let alone pottery, so it surprised even myself that I got hooked on this.
Like I mentioned in my first post, it all started with me trying to find cute dishes that would work as cute props for my blog and social media posts. Once I realized that Rae Dunn was a “thing”, I became obsessed with looking for “good finds” so I could post my day’s bounty on our local pages. It feels good to post something and have people ohh and ahh over it - and that attention can be addicting on it’s own. It just makes you feel accomplished in a weird way.
When de-cluttering my home, I took a good look around, and felt overwhelmed. Everywhere I looked was white dishes, yelling at me with their giant black words. It no longer felt fun and cute to have these dishes I looked so hard for. I decided to get rid of some, keeping mainly holiday items (because it’s fun having special dishes for holidays), hard to find items, or items I use frequently. I’m having the hardest time getting rid of mugs, and I don’t even drink hot drinks! I literally use the mugs for either cold drinks or ice cream. No one in our household drinks hot drinks.
So why do I keep buying? Is it because I actually love the stuff, or because of the hysteria behind it? Maybe a combination of both? I’m not done buying Rae Dunn for life, but I’m being much more aware of the items I bring into my home, and only bringing in items I really love.
The reality is, there are A LOT of nice dishes out there that aren’t Rae Dunn that I would love to see on my counter, but I’ve reached for RD because it feels like I’m a part of something big when I’m buying it. Now that I’m actually able to acknowledge this, I will be analyzing things I buy and truly only buying things that I love- RD or not.
The Addiction
*Photo below submitted by Priscilla. She says “This pic was right around my peak before I started to sell most of it. I had a few things scattered around the house and on my counters, but this was my main spot.”
My Story
The first time I realized I might have a problem is when I found my very first black Halloween mixing bowl this past Fall. I had been hoping for black Halloween items since I started collecting, but before this last year Canada didn’t get a lot of anything really, and I was never able to find one.
I was at work when I saw it- a tip from another dunnie in a nearby city that the black mixing bowls were out that morning. Usually when nearby stores get stock, our stores do too, so I had to go and look. I used my short 15 minute break at work to drive over and see. Winners is only a 5 minute drive to my work, so I gave myself 5 minutes to get there, 5 to look for the bowl and check out, and 5 to get back.
I walked quickly into the store and to the back where the dishes are, and saw it sitting there on the shelf. I’m not exaggerating when I say that my hands were literally shaking when I handed the cashier the bowl to wrap. Like SHAKING. That was the first physical reaction I ever felt to finding Rae Dunn, and I remember thinking “this probably isn’t normal.” I also ended up being a few minutes late getting back for work, and had to cut my last break short to make up for it. Little did I know, a few weeks later we would be slammed with Halloween stuff, so much so that many items would be put on clearance (which I also bought some of).
Another time where I realized I had a problem was during the initial release of the Rae Dunn birdhouse shaped clock. EVERYONE wanted these clocks, and posted about them all day every day. I was sitting at home in my pajamas one night when someone in our local group posted a photo of clocks on the shelf at Winners and fall mugs. My son was also in his pjs watching TV, and the second I saw that post, I sprang out of bed and told him we were going to the store. With traffic, I live about a 5-8 minute drive from the store, and was hoping they wouldn’t be all gone before before I got there. When we got to the store, the store was PACKED. I sprinted (yes sprinted) to the back and found 4 clocks! They were more expensive than I was imagining (I think around $16.99 each), so I had a brief “do I really need this” moment. I grabbed one for myself and one for a friend and headed over to the mug section. Standing in front of the Fall mugs were 4-5 women, grabbing them, or deciding which ones they wanted. I got down low, grabbed a few from the bottom shelf and went to check out. I of course updated the local group, and upon walking back the first shelf noticed that the clocks were gone within a few minutes. I bought my son a treat for being such a good sport, and went home with a weird “what the hell am I doing” feeling.
Thousands in debt
From being a part of several online Rae Dunn communities, I’ve often seen collections posted with hundreds or thousands of pieces. I’ve seen people fighting over it and posting about how much they NEED it. I’ve seen people making up fake sob stories to get pieces sent to them, tricking people, people fighting, crying, complaining, humiliating others, people using natural or personal disasters to get pieces sent to them. If we told someone about this behavior without telling them what the addiction was, many would probably believe it was something a lot worse than pottery.
It’s kind of frustrating, because on one side, you see amazing friendships being built by having this common interest but on the other side, as your about to read, this fun little hobby can also destroy lives.
When I decided to write this blog post, I went onto the Rae Dunn Rehab page to ask the ladies there why they decided to declutter, how much they have spent over the years, and why they started collecting.
Here are some direct quotes:
“ It all started with one holiday mug & then I was hooked! The FOMO is real!” - EB
“It started back in 2015 with a flour canister and here we are $20k and 4 China cabinets full later.”- Mary
*Photos below submitted by Mary of 3 of her china cabinets.
“It’s a constant struggle between Marie Kondo and FOMO!”- Melissa
“It started with a mug for me and grew into a monster that took over my time, finances, relationships…basically every minute of my day was focused on finding pieces on my ISO (in search of) list. I wasted a little over a year hunting, stressing and overspending before I broke free.”- Amanda
“I spent over $15000 in 6 months. It consumes my every thought…I even think of it when trying to fall asleep. Nearly cost me my marriage!”- Kim
“With me it was the hugs & kisses canisters. Never even heard of Rae Dunn. Forward 3 years and who knows, probably $6000 later here I am. I’ve sold about $1500 but still have a hard time letting go of some itesms. I still hunt but now it’s a lot easier for me to say no and walk away.”- Laurie
“It all started with a mug I found at the thrift store..and life as I knew it was over…”- Debbie
“It feels good to walk into a TJX store and not bee line over to the housewares section. Life, not to mention finances and clutter is much better without this unhealthy obsession.”- Julie
“Was innocent joy of finding fun words to match my moods, then I found the online community and it morphed into a competition to find the newest, latest, and greatest. Seeing everyone hunting fueled my desire to say I had certain pieces too. Addictive personality to the max.”- Tracey
“This addiction will turn loving mothers into cruel monsters!”- Crystal
“A Traumatic discovery was soothed by drinking tea from my PRAY mug while reading my Bible. That mug was soon replaced by others: grace, faith, believe, courage and strength. It led to 3 years of intense collecting and a $15k+ to fill a void and a broken heart. The chains are broken, majority of the collection has been resold, and I am seeking proper therapy to deal with my parent’s deceit.”- Pam
*photo below submitted by Pam. She states “This is just a portion of what I started purging in Feb 2019. Since then I’d say it’s doubled, considering there was way more stashed away in drawers, cupboards, bins, boxes and displayed. This picture is from what was on my kitchen table and island. What you see on the back wall is mostly gone as well.”
“My first piece was a “best day ever” heart plate for my wedding reception. I didn’t even know what Rae Dunn was at the time. The plate was on clearance and it was cute. A few months later, I started collecting like crazy, and in retrospect it was an escape from the stressors of life and a crazy job that felt out of control. I’ve probably spent at least 2K on Dunn. I started returning and selling it off when I realized it was just making my anxiety worse and my house felt so cluttered. It got out of control when I started “needing” holiday pieces and had no room for them. When I was sacrificing time with my family to hunt. My priorities fell all out of whack and it just wasn’t worth the stress anymore. I’ve since sold over $1000 on mecari (an online selling app), and another $200 on Facebook. I’ve probably lost a few hundred dollars in buying online then selling for less than I paid, but it’s been worth it to clear my space and regain my sanity. I’ve kept a few staple pieces that I use regularly, but only what will fit in my cabinets and mostly out of sight. Recently I sold my beloved canisters, which took me a year to find the matching pieces from the same release collections. Those were difficult to let go of, but the $ I made went to expenses.”- Megan
“ I just started two months ago when I first saw a mug with my husband’s name on it. I loved how cute the cups were, so I got one with my daughters name on it, then got another one for my sister, then other sisters, then canisters, Christmas canisters and I already maxed out two of my credit cards. I keep telling myself no more. Now I’m going to stick to it before I max out another credit card.”- Dolores
“As so many have said, it started with a mug and escalated from there. The addiction was fueled by joining Rae Dunn groups. One day I realized that the only time my husband and I spent together was going from store to store frantically searching for pottery with words on it. I lost time spent with my family that I can never get back and that is what saddens me the most about allowing myself to get caught up in this craze, which will end just like cabbage patch dolls and beanie babies.”- Janis
“ For me, it started with the “Crazy” mug ironically. A friend asked me to check my local store for stuff, and I was hooked. My marriage suffered, my kids suffered, and I ultimately suffered too. I was obsessed, and one day, I woke up. I don’t know how many thousands I spent, how many hours I wasted, but I am glad to say I dug myself out of the rabbit hole called Rae Dunn. I’m slowly selling my collection, keeping the items I truly love, but saying goodbye to the addiction. My marriage is thriving, my kids are happy, and I feel like me again. I warn everyone not to collect this stuff, it makes you a monster.”- Brittany
“I can’t even calculate the money. I also had to replace everything in my home at the time I started collecting, so I sometimes forgot and purchased doubles, and most was in storage so I never noticed. Oh, and I always got extras because maybe I could use it in a trade, or maybe a friend would want it. Still dealing with that extra stuff.”- Kathy
“I started collecting bits and pieces for my hope chest when I move out, and I found a “tea” mug. That has now snowballed into 75+ mugs and various other items. I have purged a lot though, and continue to purge what I don’t love.”- Emma
After reading the stories above, I felt even more compelled to write this blog. Shopping addictions are REAL and impact both ourselves and our families. It’s SO easy to get caught up in this fun world full of beautiful pieces of pottery, and fun accessories and the friendship that comes along with it- but at what cost?
If you collect Rae Dunn, and you’re reading this now, I want you to ask yourself these questions (I’m asking myself the same):
Do I REALLY like this item, or am I buying it because it’s popular and hard to find?
Am I only buying this so I can show it off and feel a sense of achievement?
Will I ever USE this item? (either for it’s intended purpose, or for display)
Will buying this item add to clutter at home?
Does the clutter at home make me feel stressed and anxious?
Can I TRULY afford this item without going into debt? Am I swiping my credit card mindlessly without thinking?
Do I already have a similar item at home?
Are other people influencing what I like, or am I deciding for myself? Do I only want to buy this because someone else decided it was the new “hard to find” and “in” item?
Do I acknowledge that just because someone I don’t know on the internet says something is cute doesn’t mean it’s actually cute. I can think for myself.
Am I buying a timeless piece that I will enjoy for years to come?
Is my hobby hurting my family in any way?
Am I spending too much time hunting and not spending enough quality time with my family?
Do my kids REALLY want to be dragged to the store on a regular basis to buy dishes. Is this hobby hurting my abilities to be the parent they need?
If I stop spending so much on Rae Dunn, are there better things my money can go towards? (Vacations, paying off debt, a house fund, my child, etc).
By a lot of these stories, you can see that FOMO (fear of missing out) is a big reason for collecting Rae Dunn. People post items in the group, which makes everyone want to find those items too. I think for me, that is a part of the attraction to collecting RD. I would LOVE to know your thoughts on all of this! Comment below and let me know if you collect Rae Dunn! If you do, did this post make you think about your current collection/spending? If you don’t collect Rae Dunn- what do you think of the Rae Dunn craze?
D