I already know my books are going to become a source of internal tension when it comes to downsizing. I love to read, and my interests are wide and varying (with a particular focus, however, on rather trashy romances). Books are like my babies - some people have kids, some people have pets, I have books. I own sooooo many, but when I see my books, I think "that's not a lot."
I really recognize the book problem when I move or when I have people over. They see my books (the ones on the shelves, the ones on the floor, the ones on the end tables, the ones on the nightstand, the ones on the dresser, the ones in a suitcase ...) and they never fail to get a look that says, "Holy shit girl! You got problems!"
I wrote about emotionally eating, and I do that, but I also think I emotionally read. If I'm having a bad day, nothing is better than sitting down with a new book that has that new book smell and an unbroken binding and floating away to Regency England or futuristic America or the Wild West. Most of the time, I'd be drifting off to those places with a cookie in one hand and a soda in another.
So I suppose when those people look at me and think I've got a problem that maybe I do. Buying books hasn't directly put me in debt. I don't charge books on my credit card or buy them when I don't have money in my checking account. But has buying a book caused a credit charge? Probably.
Okay. Definitely.
I will buy a book with the money in my checking and then realize I don't have money for food or gas and then charge the groceries and fuel. So yes, buying books is a problem.
The Dave Ramsey envelope method will help me with this, I hope. If, after budgeting my bills, I withdraw all the extra cash and put it into envelops (envelops for gas, food, home, and entertainment) there will not be a lot to buy books. I will have to start choosing between a new book or a trip to Reptile Gardens with my nephew or a movie with friends.
Of all the things downsizing is going to force me to do, this will be the hardest (besides the weight loss thing). I need to remember that I have a library card (local and state) and they do inter-library loans if they don't have the book I want to read. I also need to stop buying books I've never read and only purchase a book if I know that I'm going to reread it or I can loan it to a kid at school. I get stuck in the buying-books-I've-never-read trap when it's the next in a series. For example, I'm completely addicted to Kresley Cole's Immortals After Dark (yes it's as trashy and sexy as you think!) and I buy those books as soon as they are in paperback (darn her for being so popular she's releasing books in hardcover now!). I do the same thing with anything by Sarah MacLean. She's so delightful :)
However, even as I'm typing this I'm thinking, "Well, if I had a Kindle or e-reader" the books wouldn't take up so much space and then I could buy MacRieve when it comes out!!"
<smacks self>
Cyndi! Space is not the issue right now - or it's not the only issue. The real problem is the money you're spending on books. <okay, now I have a real problem because I'm talking to myself>
I probably need to start doing some soul searching about which books I think I must keep and which ones I can donate it. However, I tried doing this with my sister a few months ago and it was like Sophie's Choice people!! And even then I only got rid of 25 books or so (yes, I have so many that 25 is qualified with "only."). Don't make me chose between Katniss and Harry or Kleypas and Quinn. I'll have an anxiety attack. Because to be quite honest, right now they're all keepers :)
p.s. This link is sort of my life: 25 Signs You're Addicted to Books
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