Normally, I randomly pick out books without having any direction. This year, I wanted to approach my reading a bit differently. I’m making a list now so that it’s easier to pick books each time I finish a previous one. I’m also hoping this will push me to read some of the books that I already own as well.
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Today, I’m only including the books that I already own. These are the ones that have been saved on my Kindle for way too long. In the spirit of decluttering and saving money, I’m setting out to read only from this list first. As you go through this list, you’ll notice that I have bought a lot of nonfiction books that I feel will inspire me. I also read fiction quite often – I just tend to pick it out more sporadically and it tends to get read right away.
From My Bookshelf
I’m currently in the process of reading three different books on my Kindle. I’m not entirely sure how this happened since I rarely start two books at one time. Somehow it did happen though and I’m working my way through them slowly each night.
She Takes on the World by Natalie MacNeil
Living Well Spending Less by Ruth Soukup
Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert
The next set of books are the ones that I haven’t started at all. In fact, one of them (She Means Business) was a pre-order book so it hasn’t even made it to my Kindle yet. These are the books that I still have high hopes for enjoying in the near future.
Finding Clarity by Amanda Young
Boss Mom by Dana Malstaff
Push by Chalene Johnson
Feisty and Fearless by Pauline Field
She Means Business by Carrie Green
This last set of books are the ones that I’ve started but abandoned for one reason or another. Some were abandoned because I couldn’t get interested in them, while others were abandoned because life got in the way. Essentially, I’m calling these my “Last Chance Books.” They get one more chance before I give up entirely on reading them. Then, they’ll go filed away in the cloud somewhere.
Leave Your Mark by Aliza Licht
The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo
The Compound Effect by Darren Hardy
Go Pro by Eric Worre
Get Rich, Lucky Bitch by Denise Duffield-Thomas
My goal is to give a mini review of the books I read each month during a monthly review post. So, you can look for the first one of those at the beginning of January as I review what I’ve read, accomplished, and experienced in January.
Book Buying Freeze
Last year, I was inspired by Emilie of Burke Does and her spending bans. In fact, she just blogged about her ban for quarter 1 of 2017. The purpose of these bans are to cut down on frivolous spending – especially on items that you don’t need. I was so inspired by her dedication and progress last year that I thought I would follow suit with mini spending bans of my own this year. Emile tends to do her bans by quarter and I love that set up but I’m going to approach my first try at a spending ban in a slightly different way.
When I started browsing through my Kindle to create my reading list for 2017, I realized just how many books were waiting to be read. I was excited to find some that I’d forgotten about and disappointed to see how many I had downloaded and never touched. So, I have decided to set a book buying freeze for myself. Starting today, I am not allowed to buy any more books until I’ve read the ones on the list above (or given them their last chance).
I am making one exception to this freeze and that is on children’s books. We are still building our child’s first library and I don’t want my book freeze to affect this. Basically, I’m not allowed to by any more books for myself until I read through the ones I already own. Then, I’ll be needing lots of suggestions for new books to read! (Feel free to share your favorites in the comments!)
Have you ever done a spending ban of any sort? If you haven’t, would you ever consider doing one?
