Chat Between Chapters: Book Buying Budgets

Posted November 9, 2014 by Rose C. in Chat Between Chapters, Featured Posts / 30 Comments

chatbetweenchapters2

 Book Buying Budgets: Do you have one? Do you wish you had one? Do you track book buying expenses? Are you ready to show your book shelves some love by signing up for our No Book Buying Challenge???

Julie Review Avatar Julie:

I’ve kind of adopted a ‘stop buying books you hoarder’ budget where I can only buy books if I’m going to read them right away. I give myself a pass if the kindle daily deal for a book on my TBR is like $1.99, ’cause come on! But normally, I try to avoid buying books that will just sit on the shelves, physically or virtually, forever. That way I can spend money on books I actually plan to devour and enjoy. I haven’t tracked my book buying expenses, but I’m curious to see how much it turns out to be. I‘m looking forward to doing that as part of this awesome challenge we’re about to start.

Rose review avatar Rose:

In the past three years, I have not really had a book buying budget. I have been in a very comfortable position financially where it didn’t matter how much I spent on books. Now I am tightening my budget and that includes my book buying budget as well. I plan to start tracking my expenses more but only buying books with amazon gift cards that I receive from points earned on my credit card. And I intend to dominate the book buying challenge! I have shelves and shelves of books I have not read, but would like to! I cannot wait till this challenge starts! I would love to be able to say that I have read every book I own! 



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Posted November 9, 2014 by Rose C. in Chat Between Chapters, Featured Posts / 30 Comments

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30 responses to “Chat Between Chapters: Book Buying Budgets

  1. I’m a total cheapskate when it comes to buying books! I love free Kindle books and libraries so much! 🙂 In general, I will only pay for a book if we need it for school or it’s by an author I’m already a faithful fan of. I’m curious about your credit card that gives you Amazon gift card credit. Is that an Amazon card or something else? Also, can you share the link for the No Book Buying challenge? This is the first I’ve heard of it. Thanks for sharing this fun topic on Booknificent Thursday!
    Tina
    Tina at Mommynificent recently posted…Conversations with Authors: Booknificent Thursday Link Up Party #71

    • Julie

      Hi Tina 🙂 The No Book Buying Challenge isn’t posted yet, we plan to post it in early December.

  2. I don’t have a book budget per say, but I do have a rule that I usually follow: I have a box that I fill with the books I’ve read that I don’t want to keep. When it’s full, I take it to the used books store. Whatever money I get from those books goes towards new books. I also keep track of how much I spend, and I recently began doing this on my blog: http://thereadingwench.com/2014/11/15/you-only-spent-how-much-1/ That was a trip where I broke my rule, but I still spent less than $30, which is what I aim for when I do break the rule. My rule came about because of a lack of space in addition to a lack of money. Also, I’ve had to move a lot over the past few years, and my back got tired of lugging around all those boxes full of books I had outgrown or that I knew I would never read again.
    If the No Book Buying Challenge is a year long, then I’m willing to give it a shot. Any shorter, and it would be too easy.

    • Julie

      Hi Rachelle, yes the challenge will be all year long. I really like your rule – selling back books and only using that to budget buying the next books is a great idea.

    • Julie

      I don’t feel as guilty about buying a book and reading it, as I do about buying a book and letting it just sit there on my shelf heh.

  3. I don’t really have a book buying budget but I do keep an eye on how much I spend on books, especially if it’s month where I buy lots of other things. For Kindle books the account is actually linked to my dad’s card so that keeps me from going crazy with one-click purchases 🙂

  4. I gave myself $500 this year – not including my audible subscription cost – and its been a challenge. It’s my first time having a book budget because I never used to buy books so much – but then I became a book blogger and discovered ALL THE BOOKS! LOL I’m so incredibly excited about your challenge. You haven’t posted all the details yet have you? I don’t want to miss that 😛
    Berls @ Fantasy is More Fun recently posted…A Month of Giving Thanks Day 12

    • Julie

      Yes, becoming a book blogger can be dangerous to your bank account lol. Wow thinking about spending 500 a year on books is a lot! The challenge should be posted in early December.

  5. I don’t have a book buying budget. I’ve never had one. If I or my kids want a book, we get it. I don’t really want a budget 😉 but I’m sure my hubs would love it if I put myself on one. LOL I don’t keep track of my book spending either but I can see it when I look at my physical bookshelves…my desk…my library floor! So yes, I’m absolutely ready for the No Book Buying Challenge. But it may break me! 😉
    Bookworm Brandee recently posted…**Reviews ~ Beast Parts 3 & 4 ~ Ella James**

  6. I don’t have a book buying budget persay, though this is my 8th attempt at a buying ban this year. I’m more of a ‘does buy books for months, then buys as many as she can carry’ type of girl.

  7. When I was younger (and didn’t have bills and such) all my money went towards books and I had no budget. That led to a lot of books that have been sitting on my shelf for years so now I only buy books I know I will love and rely on the library for the rest. I guess I’m a little like Julie in that respect!
    Alise recently posted…ARC Review: Rites of Passage by Joy N. Hensley

    • Julie

      Yea how about all those previously purchased books on your shelves, how many of those are unread? If you’re anything like me, the answer is probably most/all of them heh.

  8. Wait, what? A not buy any books challenge? Where do I sign up? I spent $500 last month. Gasp, right? I have an amazing library near me so there’s no reason. I just rediscovered indie bookstores and went a little bonkers. I don’t usually have a budget. But it’s usually only $100 in one month. Probably $1000 over the course of an especially bookish year. I honestly don’t reread a lot of the books I buy so probably could save the money. I do like the $1.99 daily deal exception for a book on the TBR list. Although I’d have to make an exception for Symbiont by Mira Grant. It’s out in a couple of weeks and the hardcover is nonegotiable.
    Leila recently posted…Hidden by Catherine McKenzie

  9. I don’t have a book budget but most of my books these days are not ones I by – I receive them for review or I get them from the library. sometimes I borrow a book via Kindle Prime. When I do buy a book, I pay for it from my stash of Amazon gift cards so actual, out-of-pocket cash spent on books this year has been $10-15 dollars. Those were for books that I couldn’t get via Amazon.

    I do want to start tracking my purchases and I will probably join your challenge so I can focus more on my own books. I am hosting a month long challenge in February for reading books you’ve won or received as gifts. I have a stack, physical and virtual, of those. 😀
    Bea @Bea’s Book Nook recently posted…Sunday Book Share #114

    • Julie

      Ooh that’s a good challenge idea. Why is it that giveaway books get pushed to the bottom of the TBR?

  10. I haven’t really had much of a budget for books. I used to limit myself to $10 a month, which was more than enough since I buy them used and on clearance. But lately, I just buy when I want. I probably should stop buying books, too, because a lot just sit on my shelves, but when they’re only $1 or $2, its so hard to pass up!

    Tina @ Pages of Comfort
    Tina recently posted…[Review] Go Ask Alice by Anonymous

    • Julie

      Ooh look how organized you’re being. It is getting close though, we should finalize our post details soon 🙂