Hi everyone! Today I’m back to talk about my book buying ban. After having the summer off work and inheriting, buying, receiving lots of fab new books I decided that I was in need of a month long book buying ban this September. Now that September is almost over, I thought I’d take a look back at how the ban has gone. I’ve even included a few tips at the end if you’re thinking of doing your own ban – not that I’m an expert!

For this book buying ban, I teamed up with my lovely bookish pals Steph, Rachel, Aoife and Cora. It’s been great to have the moral support from one another during those moments of weakness where we nearly bought books. I love these girls and it’s been great to do this ban together – more to the point I think we are all succeeding!

The whole point of this book buying ban was to stop the never ending TBR pile from increasing and taking over my life. The amount of physical books I own that I have yet to read is pretty shocking, especially post-YALC and London shopping trips over the summer. I can’t even bring myself to think about the books on my Kindle or NetGalley too! I am a sucker for just buying books and this means I’m missing out on reading the ones I already own!

I knew that September was going back to work month and so I hoped this would make it easier to stick with the ban and it definitely has. I’ve been much more tired than I was over the summer and so I haven’t been spending hours perusing Waterstones. It’s actually been really great to read some books off my TBR and this also includes some NetGalley titles that I’ve had for a while. I’m consciously trying to up my NG rating so the ban has definitely helped there.

My biggest trick of the trade for succeeding in my book buying ban was that I already had some books pre-ordered for this month. There were some fab releases this month including the highly anticipated Godsgrave by Jay Kristoff which I absolutely would have ended up breaking my ban for if I hadn’t already pre-ordered it. A pre-ordered book doesn’t count against the book buying ban as I didn’t buy it this month, it just arrived in this month – yay! I had a few pre-ordered books that arrived and that certainly made the ban easier.

I am also super lucky to have received book post from a variety of publishers during the month which also takes away that urge to go and buy ALL the books. I can never quite believe my luck when I get book post from publishers, why would someone want to send a book to little old me? It’s such a lovely feeling and one I’m not sure I’ll ever get used to!

Overall this book buying ban has been a success for me. I’ve not spent ANY money on books and as a result my funds are looking GOOD. But is the ban truly over for me …?

1. Don’t go it alone! If you can then I highly recommend doing this with a friend or a group of friends. There will be moments where you want to give in and buy that book you so badly need but trust me, not buying it will make you feel so much better at the end of the month and then you can treat yourself to it! Having someone to help discourage you along the way can be hugely helpful!
2. Pre-Order, Pre-Order, Pre-Order! If there is a book you are highly anticipating being released during the month of your ban then pre-order it the month before. This way you still get the book but you didn’t break the ban!
3. Make a TBR! Decide on the books from your current TBR that you really want to get through during the ban. It will stop your mind from wandering and also your feet from wandering into that bookshop!
4. Keep your eye on the prize! Tell yourself before you start that if you succeed in your goal then you can have a treat at the end. Let’s be honest, that treat will be a book or two but it will be well deserved!

Looking forward into October I think I’m going to continue my book buying ban until October half term because at least then I will have done about 8 weeks of ban and can deservedly treat myself over half term for having completed not only the book buying ban but also the first half term back in work! Whether or not I succeed will be found out soon …

Have you ever done a book buying ban? Did you succeed?

Do you think a book buying ban would help your TBR? Would you do one?

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