My Book Buying Ban

So...I'm going on a book buying ban but I don't even know if I can call it that? I'm not going to completely stop buying books but I'm definitely going to limit myself on what I buy. The past few years, I've been acquiring books faster than I can read them. My TBR is so huge that if I never bought a book again, it would still talk me almost three years to read through. Thus, the main purpose for this "ban" is to help my TBR, but saving money will also be fantastic as I'm hoping to study abroad this fall and would like even more money for when I'm traveling. 

Like I said, though, this isn't a ban. I'm still going to be buying books and the like, but the way I go about buying books is going to be based on a set of rules I've set for myself. These rules are also going to apply to acquiring free books. A lot of the books I've acquired recently have been gifts, sent to me by publishers or authors, or even just on sale for free as an ebook. Since the goal of this ban is to reduce my TBR, I'm extending the rules to free books as well. So, what are the rules? 

1. In order to add a new book to my collection, I must first read two (2) unread books off my TBR. This not only includes buying books, but also free books being offered to me, preorders, and book boxes. 
2. If there's a book that has already been released, before I buy it I'm going to download the ebook sample and read that to see if the writing style is good and if it sucks me in. 
3. No impulse buys/instant gratification. If I see a book I want, I'll add it to my Amazon cart or a list or wherever, but then take a few days to think about the purchase. More specifically: is this a book I'm going to read the moment I get it or can I wait until I'm ready to read it? 
4. I'm telling myself not to go to bookstores or the book sections in regular stores. That leads to impulse buys at a higher price.
5. And, this was a pretty cool idea I saw someone recommend, when I could have purchased a book but didn't, I'm going to add the amount to a list and every so often add it up to where I can see how much I've saved. 

I'm sure at some point I'll think of even more ways to help myself stay on track, but I think for the time being this is a good place to start. If you're going on a book buying ban, or have been on one, let me know down in the comments or give tell me some of your tips!

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Thanks for reading!

xoxo

Lauren

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