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I work so I can buy books

I’m finishing up my current day job in about a month. And for a while there, I didn’t have any real job prospects so money was going to be an issue. What some people might find strange is that when I started to worry about money, my mortgage or utility bills were not my first concern. Nope. My first horrifying thought was that I might not be able to buy all the books that strike my fancy immediately. Yes, I confess. That was what freaked me out. Now, I’ve heard people talk about waiting but I’ve never tried it. And I don’t think I want to. Seriously.

So, maybe I have enough books in my TBR pile to get me through the apocalypse but that is not the point. When Fade to Midnight by Shannon McKenna comes out, I. Must. Have. It. When Lover Mine by J.R. Ward releases, It. Will. Be. Mine! Same goes for Bonds of Justice by Nalini Singh, Vampire Mistress by Joey W. Hill and Tempting the Fire by Sydney Croft. And those are just a few of the print books I want from 27th April onward. The ebooks are a whole other animal so I won’t even bother to list those except to say that Dreamspinner had three releases days per week and I don’t know Torquere Press’s schedule but helloooo. You see the problem.

Right now, when I get paid, I set aside money for bills and the rest goes under miscellaneous, which includes groceries and books. When the “tentative” figure I assign to books blows, the grocery total gets…adjusted. ;) Do you have a book budget? Do you stick to it?

This entry was posted on March 22, 2010 at 5:44 am and is filed under J.R. Patrick . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.

16 Responses to “I work so I can buy books”

  1. Pearl Says:
    March 22, 2010 at 5:59 am

    OMG! I can so relate to this post! I am currently unemployed and looking hard for a job because I NEED to get of this bookbudget and by books without having to choose between releases! I went from buying 10-15 books a month (not including ebooks!!!) to 3 months of not buying a single book and now probably will be able to but about 5-8 bks in a month…and definitely not every month. I NEED A JOB! BADLY!

    To answer your questions: yes I am on a bookbudget (and hope to get off it soon) and yes I have no choice but to stick to it and it’s KILLING me!

  2. j.r. patrick Says:
    March 22, 2010 at 7:24 am

    ((Hugs)) 3 months of not buying a single book?! That’s like my worse nightmare!!

  3. Elizabeth Says:
    March 22, 2010 at 8:18 am

    Hmmm just started a book budget 2 months ago, and blew it the second month. I buy a $50 gift card for myself at Amazon; I have a kindle so its soooo easy just to hit that BUY button and or preorder. This way once that money is gone on the gift card I have to re-evaluate what books I JUST GOTTA have and oohhhh that looks interesting (and don’t they all).

  4. j.r. patrick Says:
    March 22, 2010 at 8:49 am

    Good strategy!

    I tried the gift card thing once at ARe and failed miserably. I blew it in 2 or 3 days. *sigh*

  5. Deb Says:
    March 22, 2010 at 9:18 am

    Chiming in ..
    It is very hard, when the income is low. When Bob got laid off, things were tight. Bob and I agreed to 20.00 a month. That last about 4 months and it was Bob who broke it. Poor guy just could not pass. Their were 6 Samhain print books, on our list and he said they H*ll with it. He felt bad, but we enjoyed that because we took the print books with us on our get away.
    Now, We just curve it a little.

    Great Blog, J.R !

    • j.r. patrick Says:
      March 22, 2010 at 9:30 am

      Books make us so happy, Deb. It sucks when we can’t get all the ones we want. :(

  6. Maria63303 Says:
    March 22, 2010 at 9:59 am

    Book budgets…what’s that??? lol…I have a budget and have not stuck to it once…it’s totally out of control….oh well….food is overrated

  7. Pearl Says:
    March 22, 2010 at 10:30 am

    Would you believe I’d forego on food (if hubby would let me) and buying clothes, bags AND shoes, to buy books!

  8. Anna Shah Hoque Says:
    March 22, 2010 at 11:43 am

    I can totally relate to this…I’ve been out of work since November last year and I’ve had to curb my book buys which is like sheer torture! I’ve actually cut down on my groceries just so I can continue to pick up books (print & ebooks). I can’t live without reading so I’m hoping and praying that I find work really soon so that I can go back to my regular book buying habits.

  9. Nancy Gilliland Says:
    March 22, 2010 at 11:50 am

    I can sympathize with those out of work and budgeting for books. I work in what everyone in my state calls “the unemployment office” although we have nothing to do with that agency! As a state employee, I have to confess that I still have to struggle to meet my budget and still put something away for books. I kind of solved part of my problem by taking a review position that supplements the buying dollar for me. I love to write and talk about books anyway, so this is a solution for my money shortage.

    • j.r. patrick Says:
      March 22, 2010 at 12:03 pm

      Reviewing is also a great alternative!

      I tried if for a while but I can’t relax and enjoy a book I know I have to review. Weird but true. Also I found it difficult to write reviews for bad or so-so books. lol It was fine when the book is good or absolutely awesome but just blah was like pulling teeth to write the review.

  10. Heather P. Says:
    March 22, 2010 at 12:06 pm

    If I were not a sinle parent I would have no problem buying books and paying bills because I could just not eat. lol But I do have 2 people that depend on me. I just make do with 1 or 2 a month if possible and that is just paperbacks. Ebooks I just ignore until I have scraped up enough money to do those.

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