A No Buy Year – Kinda

Reader, in a perfect world I have read my TBR aka all my unread books and I dwindled that number to 0. Unfortunately, it’s not that world but I am trying to make it one. I am one of those people who struggle with a big TBR (to be read) and I get anxious and all panicked when I have a huge one. Like last year, at some point it was at 80 and that scared me. Don’t get me wrong, I love buying books and adding to my library but I am at a point where I want to read more than I am buying.

Every year for the last 5 years I have been saying I want to read my shelf and lower my TBR, and every year I fail to do that. This year, I want to do it a little different. I am more conscious about my reading habits and even more conscious about my book buying habits. I am confident that I can do this and quite excited if I’m being honest. Also I have a good reward system going on (which I’ll share at the end of the year) that has me determined to keep at it.

My Rules

• Since I know myself and I can’t go cold turkey just like that, I have given myself a ceiling of 15 books the whole of 2023. That number or less is what I can buy.
• No new books between January 1^st 2023 to December 31^st  with the exception of point 1.
• No new kindle books until January 2024. At the moment I do not read ebooks because of my eyes so I am sure I will be maximizing the use of my Scribd account.
• A maximum of 3 unread 2023 buys at any time. This will help with reading my shelf and not buying books just for the sake of it.

What I hope to achieve:

• To have a TBR of 10 books or less. As I write this my physical TBR is at 53 books.
• To read more of what I have. Sometimes I get swept away by the hype and new releases and I forget and/or avoid to read what I own.
• The reward(s) I’ll be getting at the end of this all.
• Being mindful & conscious about the books I buy. Listen, deciding on which 15 books I will get? Tough! And I have already bought one.

Me putting this out here is a way to keep myself accountable. Also, I am still accepting books as gifts. That just means i need to read them instead of hoarding.

I’ll be back at the end of the year to tell you how I did.See you on my next post! Read something good today.