The 2015 Bookish Life Budget numbers have all been evaluated and now is the time to prepare for 2016. I’ve taken a lot of things into consideration. First I only plan on attending a few small cons in my area. These cons are not firm. This early in the year, I can’t find the author line-up, but they are definitely potentials. Another area to look at is my pile of review books. I have quite a few in my TBR. I’m really behind and need to be picking up these instead of buying new ones. Unless of course it is the newest installment in one of my favorite series. Well, then all bets are off. Something else I need to look at is shelf space. The room we use as an office / library is starting to overflow. I spend a good chunk of time rearranging every time I purchase new books. I’ve even used up all the wall space. There is only so much I can do, so I need to get choosy on the physical book buying.
Since the cons and actual book buying itself are variable numbers, the budget itself should be pretty stable. Let’s take a look at what 2016 should look like.
| Category | Amount | Spent this Month | Remaining Balance |
|---|---|---|---|
| B&N Membership Renewal | $25.00 | $0.00 | $25.00 |
| Readers & ‘Ritas 2015 Event Ticket | $180.37 | $0.00 | $180.37 |
| Buns & Roses | $45.00 | $0.00 | $45.00 |
| Boas & Tiaras | $52.24 | $0.00 | $52.24 |
| Audible Subscription | $298.08 | $0.00 | $298.08 |
| Books (Ebooks, paperbacks & hardcovers) | $400.00 | $0.00 | $400.00 |
| Total: | $1000.69 | $0.00 | $1000.69 |
I’m going to take it easy on myself and reduce slowly. I’ve shaved off about $363.51. It is pretty much just the amount I spent on RT last year. Meaning I’m not really cutting back much. I am not going to count any gift cards I get because I buy so much at Amazon for all different reasons that it is too hard to pick out just book spending on them. I will just tally up the value of any books and take it off the budget.
I will be posting updates monthly which will include any books I may have received for the month. Those book hauls will include review books, gifts and purchased so it will be possible for me to have a huge haul, but have spent very little.
This should be a good year and I think I’m going to have a much bigger savings in 2016. Fingers crossed that 2016 grants me great amounts of willpower!
