As of writing this post, I own a whopping 133 books that I have not read yet. That is a LOT of book, you guys! It's not like I don't want to read the books that I own - I absolutely do! I just get very distracted with new recommendations and buying pretty new books is extremely cathartic, especially with how stressful things have been so far this year! I often log onto Amazon, Book Outlet, or Book Depository ~just to browse~ and then before I know my shopping cart is filled with 15 books and my credit card is out. It's a problem y'all.
Enter: #Project5!
#Project5 tracking sheet in my bullet journal
Basically, the aim of this project is to slow down my book buying a bit, which is what I'm aiming to do this year anyway. The idea is that I MUST read at least 5 books that I own before I'm allowed to buy one. Because I'm only counting the books that I own toward this project, library books or books that I borrow from friends do not count toward this plan. I will be allowing myself to "bank" books, so say I read ten books and hadn't yet bought a book for the first five books I read, I can then buy two books, and so on. I'm assuming that I'll likely go with this "banking" strategy throughout the year because I love buying multiple books at a time!
I will be allowing "exceptions" throughout the year which will include:
-Books that are gifted to me throughout the year won't count as bought books
-I will be allowed to spend any gift cards I receive on books
-I will be allowed to treat myself to max 5 books for my birthday and for Christmas, and these "treat yo'self" books must be purchased within the month of my birthday/Christmas (so May and December)
-If I unhaul 10 books off my shelf (whether that is a read book or an unread book) I will be allowed to purchase 1 book
Post-it to keep track of my unhauls on the same page in my bullet journal
I'm really excited to take on this new project of mine and hopefully this will help to taper my book buying a little bit. I'll still be able to put together fun hauls every once in a while as well because those are some of my favorite videos to film! I will, of course, let you know how this project works for me. If you're planning on doing something similar or already do something similar, please tell me in the comments! I would love to know!
1. I recently joined Book of the Month Club, something that I've been wanting to do for quite a long time now, and because you pay for that membership up front, I decided to cut myself a break and instead of using one of my #Project5 credits, that my BOTM each month won't count toward #Project5. Just a lil' treat for myself each month! :)
There is an option to add up to two extra books to your BOTM box each month, and if I decide to take that option then each extra book I put in the box will count as using a #Project5 credit unless it is a "freebie" (I got a free book for signing up!) or it is a book I've already read. Which leads me to my next rule...
2. I can purchase books that I've already read without using a #Project5 credit. This was inspired by my parents moving away to Florida and taking some of our family books along with them, including our first edition US hardbacks of the Harry Potter series. I wanted to own the same editions that I grew up with and while they're not the original run editions, I'd still have the same covers. So, I figured that if I've already read the book and I want to add it to my collection, that it shouldn't count toward my #Project5 credit.
3. I do have an Audible account, and each audiobook will not count as using a #Project5 credit, but I also can not count finished audiobooks through Audible as counting toward earning more #Project5 credits.
UPDATE AS OF 7/1/2017: A few changes to the rules are being implemented!
1. I recently joined Book of the Month Club, something that I've been wanting to do for quite a long time now, and because you pay for that membership up front, I decided to cut myself a break and instead of using one of my #Project5 credits, that my BOTM each month won't count toward #Project5. Just a lil' treat for myself each month! :)
There is an option to add up to two extra books to your BOTM box each month, and if I decide to take that option then each extra book I put in the box will count as using a #Project5 credit unless it is a "freebie" (I got a free book for signing up!) or it is a book I've already read. Which leads me to my next rule...
2. I can purchase books that I've already read without using a #Project5 credit. This was inspired by my parents moving away to Florida and taking some of our family books along with them, including our first edition US hardbacks of the Harry Potter series. I wanted to own the same editions that I grew up with and while they're not the original run editions, I'd still have the same covers. So, I figured that if I've already read the book and I want to add it to my collection, that it shouldn't count toward my #Project5 credit.
3. I do have an Audible account, and each audiobook will not count as using a #Project5 credit, but I also can not count finished audiobooks through Audible as counting toward earning more #Project5 credits.
I think that these two additions to the rules will really help me stay on
track with not buying too many *new* books throughout the year! :D
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