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I’ve had some time to look over the numbers of my Bookish Life Budget and I see that I did pretty well again this year. I did get to some cons and still managed to keep my book buying under budget. I didn’t use my library as much as I thought I would. I’m a little worried about my library usage. The city I’ve moved to has a library, but from my research does not have any online services. It also does not seem to have any connections with the nearby libraries that would give me access to their online services. It looks like I’m going to be left with the one state-wide library card I have. Hopefully since it is such a big system, I will be able to find what I need from it.
So let’s get down to the numbers from 2017. At the start of the year, my total Bookish Life Budget was $1785.88. This is how it worked out:
| Category | Budget Amount | Actual | Remaining Balance |
|---|---|---|---|
| Barnes & Noble | $25.00 | $25.00 | $0.00 |
| NOLA Story Con | $263.69 | $296.33 | $-32.64 |
| Buns & Roses (w/Bear) | $75.00 | $150.00 | $-75.00 | Boas & Tiaras | $50.00 | $0.00 | $50.00 |
| Readers & Ritas | $180.37 | $0.00 | $180.37 |
| Audible | $298.08 | $223.56 | $74.52 |
| Books | $893.74 | $455.51 | $438.23 |
| Totals | Starting Budget | Amount Spent | Remaining Budget |
| $1785.88 | $1150.40 | $635.48 |
So after all my spending in 2017, I had $635.48 left over. Last year, I rolled the extra from 2016 into my 2017 budget, but I think I’m going to do something different this year. One of the cons I went to was out of town and therefore did incur costs for traveling, meals and hotels. The amount for those items comes close to what I had left over from the budget, so I’m putting it towards those costs. I’m going to start fresh in 2018 with no rollover money and see how well I can stick to the budget. In 2016 I saved money by not attending cons. That was something I wanted to rectify in 2017 and I think I did well getting out to two. NOLAStorycon and Buns & Roses were a blast. So many great authors to meet! New Orleans was fun. Annie (Booked and Loaded) and I went a couple of days early to do some exploring on our own and it was fantastic. There won’t be any out of town cons for me in 2018, but I’m sure we’ll have fun at the local events. Check out my instagram for pics! I didn’t take many, I’m so bad at that.
Now that 2017 is over, and I would call it a Bookish Life success! Now to plan my numbers for 2018 and see how much I challenge myself. Until I figure out what is going on with the library in this area, and get caught up on review books, I think I will leave a generous book budget. We’ll see.
Thanks for all the support and encouragement throughout 2017 in helping me watch my budget. I hope you all had a great year last year. There are a lot more people using the library now, so I’m hoping that helped you all some.
Here’s to a successful and book filled 2018!
