My no-spend-on-books month

I’ve done a no-spend month once before, years and years ago, when I joined Beth for her no-spend month.

That was a really great experience because it broke my Exclusive Books habit of spending hundreds of rands on books every month .

This time, I had an idea that my book-buying habit was getting a bit out of control because I was buying a title from Modern Mrs Darcy‘s list almost daily.

Even $2 – $5 Kindle deals add up… and fast.

Amazon also sends those almost-daily emails with their recommendations based on the titles you’ve viewed.

One day I looked and I had 31 unread titles on my Kindle – real books, not samples. And I’ve been reading on average 10 books a month.

I then decided this book-buying thing was getting out of hand and I decided March would be a no-spend month on books.

What did I do differently?

I unsubscribed from MMD’s list. It’s the same way I don’t ever take a catalogue or brochure from a store – if I don’t see it, I don’t want it. I will subscribe again when I feel more caught up with my current reading and I have told my book club to let me know if Small Great Things goes on sale 🙂

How did I do?

I’ve been waiting for Alec Baldwin’s memoir, Nevertheless, for over 6 months so the minute that became available on Audible, I pre-ordered it with a credit I had.

I somehow forgot about my no-spend March when I went to shop for the 2017 Library project and I picked up some books. It honestly didn’t even occur to me that I was buying books because in my head I had DIGITAL books as my goal. Aside from the 4 books for the library, I bought 1 for a friend and about 5 for me (!).

So I was successful with Kindle and Audible purchases; not with physical books 🙂

What now?

I’m back on the no-spend wagon. We have a mini-break coming up and I wanted some books for lazing at the pool so I bought some books on Amazon last week. Coming to an instagram feed near you 🙂

I do think I’m set for at least another 3 months so let’s see if I can keep up the no-spending challenge for books for at least another 2 months.

How about you?

Have you ever declared a no-spend challenge on buying books? Or make-up? Or clothes?

Speaking of which, I haven’t bought a watch since December 2012 and I now have only 3 working watches left. I’m going to treat myself for my birthday though (4 months away) or sooner if I see something I really want.

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Comments

  1. I hardly ever spend on books.

    Fortunately because romances are a relaxing read for me, I tend to be able to take full advantage of free finds. When I do buy books, it tends to be physical. And then it tends to be fantasy reads because then I know J will read it, and a few friends. It helps make the spend per read a lot easier to handle – when books are R200 – R400 brand new, the spend needs to cover more hours than when it’s just me reading it. I occasionally buy ebook $1 box sets.

    But on the whole my money spend on books would be for the internet connection to download them :p

  2. I had to do this when I realized I had just too many books I was yet to read. So now trying to get through all the books I have before I buy more. I am kind of doing a no spend on groceries and clothes. Only essentials if we really really need them. And I had a no spend on Easter eggs which was a success by the way. Go me! Didn’t spend a single cent on any Easter chocolates.

    Thanks to my Fitbit I haven’t really been wearing regular watches since 2015. I should check I suspect the watches I have would all need new batteries

  3. MamaCat says

    We are still trying to get our grocery bill into what I will consider reasonable. The menu planning and my freezer filled with yummy meals has helped so much!. Our electricity bill is right down (we also are onto gas now).
    Books I love, and I get about 15 at a time, because I get antsy if I do not have a book waiting in the wings. The 15 will include some free books as well. I read them all before sitting down to get another bunch.
    I have completely stopped buying lunch for the last two months. I realised how much I wasted on lunch.
    I guess my no spend challenge is food.

  4. Well… Can I say I am super thrilled that you decided to break your no spend on books for our library, and such fab ones at that!!! Otherwise… I had to unsubscribe to the Modern Mrs Darcy, for exactly that reason. I allow myself to buy books and books alone with my amazon earnings… though right now I am using that to buy school books… and then I have to figure out in the scheme of things it is probably better that my kids do math, rather than I feed my avid reader habit… especially when I do belong to a library!!!! The last year I have systematically worked my way through our bookshelves hunting down books unread… read them, donate them and move on… I am so much lighter for that… I should blog this… turns out I have a lot to say about books!!!

    • Marcia Francois says

      And I would break my no-spend month again and again for such a great cause 🙂

      That is a great boundary for spending on books. (I wouldn’t be able to afford more than one book a year I earn such pennies but oh well!)

      Have you tested Overdrive in CT yet?

      And yes, PLEASE do blog all your strong opinions about reading and books 🙂

  5. Terisha says

    You mentioned having a no spend month on books and I said I was going to join as well. Well that didn’t last long. On the 1st day of the month we were in Durban and, I walked past a massive 2nd hand booksale that the SPCA was holding. They had some great books and so I bought a couple. I have been good since then and only bought our book club book. I have been on no spend for scrapbooking suppliers from the beggining of the year (I used to spend hundreds each month) and have managed to stick to it. I also haven’t bought myself clothes for this year. I have more than enough. Some things still have tags on them.

    • YAY on the no-spend for scrapbooking supplies, and I’ve also cracked with the books, but I jump right back on the bandwagon. I can tell you I’ve saved probably a thousand rands on non-spent books 🙂

Trackbacks

  1. […] I was on such a roll that I also went through my Kindle sorting the entire thing out. The good news is it’s super sorted but the bad news is I had many more books unread than I thought I did, so am working through those now. And until I get where I’m happy with the number of unread books, I’ll be continuing my no-spend on books. […]

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