Book Buying Bans

Yes, you read that right. Today I want to talk about book buying bans.

I know. To a book lover that phrase doesn’t sound right. “Are you sure you don’t mean ‘buying banned books?'” No, you read that correctly: book buying bans. Not buying any books. For a specified period of time. And some people set them for quite a long time. Like until they’ve read every unread book sitting on their shelves, and we’re talking more than five to ten books.

I’ve always thought that seems a little extreme, but I’ve gone on my own–less extreme–book buying bans before. If you think you need to go on a book buying ban, but don’t want to set the ban for long periods of time, here are a few other options.

GO ON A MONTH-LONG BOOK BUYING BAN

I’ve always thought a month is the perfect period of time. If a book catches my attention, I know it won’t be too long before I can buy it if I’d like, but the wait always gives me time to think about it and see if I still have a strong desire to read it when the ban is over. And the great thing about month-long bans is they’re easy to repeat. If you have a lot of unread books piling up, you can put yourself on book buying bans regularly, while still giving yourself little reprieves so that the shiny new books don’t look like a forbidden treat.

READ A SET NUMBER OF BOOKS FOR EACH NEW BOOK YOU BUY

This is a great way to start getting through the unread books on your shelf, while still giving you a chance to buy those books that have captured your attention. If you really want to read it, you have to read a few that you already own before you can get it. That’s what I call a win-win situation!

USE THE LIBRARY FOR A SEASON

Yes, I said a season and that’s because this is something that I do. Let’s be real: in the middle of winter, if I get home and realize that I have books due at the library, I will not go out into the snow, cold and ice to return to them. So, I tend to avoid the library during winter. But during the summer I have no excuse, so unless it’s a book that I know I really want to own or the library doesn’t have it, I like to get the new books that I read from the library.

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