I’ve actually been very good about not buying books this year.  I have purchased a few books for my Kindle thanks to an Amazon gift certificate, and I picked up one series book (also with a gift certificate) at Borders, but it is part of a series I’ve been reading and collecting, so I don’t feel so guilty about that.

That said, the books just keep piling up!  I track my library on LibraryThing, and I officially have 151 books on my to-read list.  151 books!  Most of them are in a storage box under my bed, which is why I don’t think I’ve realized just how many books there are.  My goal is to half that number by the end of the year.  I’m not sure if I can do it.  Oh, sure, I can read 75 books by the end of the year.  That’s not a problem.  But that means no more accumulating books.  The other problem is that a number of books I have were passed on to me by friends and family and are the later books in a series, and I always feel that I should try to read a series in order, or at least read the first book in a series to get familiar with the characters.  Which, of course, means accumulating more books.

I’m doing it in a money-saving manner, of course, with Bookmooch and PaperBackSwap, but at this point it’s less about the money and more about the fact that this book collection is getting out of hand.  It would be one thing if these were books that I had read and loved and wanted to keep. But I have 151 books that I have never read and might completely hate just sitting around!  

I think that come summertime, I should re-evaluate my box of books and see if there’s anything in there that I will never read and just list them all on the swap sites.  Or maybe I will have some sort of a blog contest.  Win ten pounds of books!

Yeah, you’re right, that sounds like it could be the worst prize ever.

I’m sure you’re thinking “Okay, so if it’s not a money thing, then why is this on a personal finance blog?”  Because I think that a huge part of personal finance is smart ownership.  And by that I mean not only taking care of what you have but making a point to only have things that you want and that you will use.  If you are a big gamer and want three different gaming systems (and you can afford them), then by all means, go for it!  If you are a bookhound and you have 1000 books that you have read and you love and they take up an entire room in your house, hey, why not?  But what’s the point of having things you never use?  It’s accumulation for accumulation’s sake which I don’t think is a good way to live your life.  If you do it with one thing, what’s to stop you from doing it with two things or five things?  Eventually, it will cost you.  And yes, many of these books were just given to me.  But some I picked up on my own.  Some I got through swap sites, which involves paying shipping – not much, but it’s not free either.

By swapping the books, I can get credit for other books that I do want to read.  Or I can sell the books and make a bit of money.  Even making $1 from each of these books would still pull in a very good amount of money.  Or I can do what I did yesterday and packed up some books for mailing to friends who I know will enjoy them very much.  And yes, that does cost money, but it’s nice to send little gifts every now and then.

For me, the best part about the Kindle is the size and portability.  I like to carry a book in my purse anytime I’m traveling by Metro.  Why?  Because more than once, I have ended up stuck due to a broken train and have been incredibly glad to have something to do.  With the Kindle, not only can I carry a number of books with me, but the Kindle fits much better in my purse.  It’s a little bit taller than a standard paperback, but it’s not as thick, and it’s angular, so it slides into a bag with very little trouble.  I’ve noticed more and more Kindles on the Metro.

(Now, I realize that a free way to read books would be to just go to the library.  I’m just not a library person.  I never have been.  I’ve tried, and I end up with overdue books every time.  Were it more conveniently located, I might be better off.  Just one of my things.)

I’ve been using the Kindle for about a week and a half and I’ve read a few books on it already.  The Kindle has a lot of great things going for it.

1.  Size.  Takes up much less space than a regular book, and can hold many many books.

2.  Amazon’s store has a lot of books available, plus you can use it to read other ebooks you may own.  That not enough for you?  Then you can download a number of books that are in the free domain and read those as well.  Thanks to ManyBooks.net, you can even download some of them directly to the Kindle for no charge.  Right now, Amazon.com also has a bunch of books available for free download.  I think it’s a publisher gimmick to get you hooked on a series, but hey, I’m not one to turn down a free book!

3. Easy to read text.  The screen is unlike any other electronic screen I’ve used.  Definitely no tiring of the eyes due to staring at a flickering screen here.  Also, the text size is adjustable, so this might be a good option for people with less than stellar vision who struggle to find large print versions of books.

Of course, it’s not perfect.  Buying an ebook means that I don’t have a book to swap via a swap site or share with a friend.  And while the books may be cheaper than buying them new, I’m sure they don’t beat used book prices.  

Time will tell how much I come to love the Kindle, but so far, it’s been a great addition to my library.  I’m debating whether I should bite the bullet and download Ulysses.  Now there’s a book that will keep you occupied for a long time (I read it for a college course, and even with the companion book of notes and the classroom discussions, I still have a lot to learn about that work.)

Anyone else have a Kindle?  Thinking about getting one?

I recently had the opportunity to play with an Amazon Kindle, and I think I’m in love. Why? It’s a gadget. It is for reading books (another thing that I love). It is small and compact and lets you carry lots of books around very easily. The screen truly is as easy to read as they say.

Electronic books in Kindle form are significantly cheaper than their paper counterparts. Additionally, I do like reading classics online through Project Gutenberg, but get tired of reading the books on my computer (and don’t want to waste the paper to print them). I would be able to convert these books and read them on a Kindle (still for free), which is definitely a plus for the Kindle.

The downsides? Well, price, for one. Plus any books you buy are electronic. I am working on decluttering my home and weeding out my book collection mainly due to the sheer amount of space that all of these books take up. So the idea of electronic books does appeal on one hand. On the other hand, I get rid of my books by either selling them online or swapping them on Bookmooch or PaperBackSwap. By swapping the books, I get credits to request books from other members. In fact, I get most of my books this way – it’s rare that I buy a book new anymore.

So the end result of my Kindle lust? Well, as I said, I’m a gadget geek, so of course I want one. But right now, it’s on my “I would buy this if I had a million dollars to spend,” but not on my “Save money to buy this!” list. If I traveled a lot for work or spent more time on the metro commuting every day, then it might be more worthwhile, but for now, it would just be a fun toy to have.

Of course, if anyone wants to buy me a Kindle, I’m not going to turn them down!

What sorts of gadgets do you find yourself lusting after?

Abundant Life Spending Spree Day 4 – $200 (sadly, not enough for a Kindle)
With $200 to toss around today, I would buy the X-Files Complete Series dvd set. It’s a show I loved while it aired, and I’m intrigued by the movie coming out this summer. It might be fun to go back and watch the whole series (except maybe not the last season…).

I’m only a few chapters in, but I’m quickly realizing just how much this book applies to me. While I feel that I am responsible with my money, I shy away from taking the initiative to actually better my financial situation in many instances.

For example, one of the things Suze mentioned is that many women won’t push their bosses for a raise. Even if they find out that they are paid less money than some of their counterparts, they won’t fight for what they deserve. Sure, some of us will go to our supervisor and ask, but when the supervisor says “Well, we just can’t afford that right now,” or “We’ll talk about it at your review,” we just take that answer at face value and don’t do any thing else about it. I do the same thing. When I was hired at my current job, I was promised a specific raise after I’ve been here a year. There were five of us hired with the same deal. Now, we’re hearing that may not be the case. It frustrates me, but at the same time, what am I doing about it? Not a whole lot. I also discovered that I am one of the lowest paid members of my team. I’m also one of the newest, so that’s not entirely unexpected, but in terms of education and skills, I do stand out a bit. This should be something else to include in my argument for the promised raise. But again, I just don’t bring it up. I’ve mentioned it once, and then sort of let it get swept under the rug.

Therefore, a goal for the coming weeks is to talk with my supervisor about this situation and find out exactly what is going on and what I can do to prove that I deserve this raise.

I also realize that I am entirely too generous with my money, even when I don’t want to be. Right now, I have a friend (who is really more of an acquaintance) staying with me while she job hunts. She doesn’t have a timeline for how long she will be staying with me, but I think it could be up to a month (or even more). I don’t mind that she’s staying in my home. I have an extra bedroom and I am happy to share my space. I don’t expect her to pay rent at all.

It is starting to bother me, however, that she isn’t really pitching in for groceries. Admittedly, this may be bothering me because this month, I decided to really tighten my budget now that I’m using the YNAB system, and because I do have some larger expenses coming up that I am saving for. After she had been here a few days and hadn’t purchased any groceries (and even went with me to the store, watched me buy the groceries to make dinner, and didn’t pitch in), I casually asked her how she wanted to deal with groceries, and she said she was going to pick up some things. That’s all fine and good, except that she still expects me to provide her dinner, which for me, tends to be the most expensive meal of the day. And even though it grates on me that she expects me to provide for her, I still don’t say anything.

Not only is this not great for my financial health, it also isn’t good for our relationship. Because of this, I am letting her other habits grate on me as well. Maybe I would be more willing to put up with the fact that she doesn’t do dishes or use coasters and gets food on the floor if she were paying her own way.

Or maybe she’s just a bad houseguest. Either way, I should say something about the fact that right now, my budget doesn’t allow for me to be feeding two people instead of just one. I shouldn’t let my emotions play into it. I owe it to myself to be honest about my finances. I think I feel some sort of responsibility to take care of her, as she is a guest in my house, which is something women are all too quick to do, and then we just get taken advantage of. I need to learn to stand up for myself and for my bank account

I love books. I have always loved books. Bookstores are one of my favorite places to visit, and also a very dangerous place for my wallet. I find it very hard to walk into a Borders or a Barnes and Noble and come out with nothing. But I’ve been doing my best, especially since I have a giant pile of unread books at home.

One way that I discovered to get rid of books (and also get new books to read for next to nothing) is book swapping sites. There are a number of them out there, but I use both PaperBackSwap and BookMooch. The basic premise of these sites is that you post a list of books you want to swap. People request the books and you mail them (via media mail). You then get a point for sending the book, and you can use that point to request a book from someone else. Simple!

The process isn’t quite free, obviously. You do pay to ship the books, but you don’t pay when you receive, so it all sort of evens out. Either way, it’s much cheaper than buying a book new.

Wouldn’t a library be cheaper? Well, yes, clearly. But I often like to keep books that I really enjoyed, or I like to pass them on to friends or family. This gives me that option. Or if I choose, I can take the book I received and post it back into the system and end up passing it on.

One of my favorite features on these sites is the Wishlist feature. The two sites work the feature a bit differently, but if there is a book that is not posted or not yet released, you can wishlist it. With PBS, you are on a waiting list, and the books are offered to requesters in order. With BookMooch, everyone on the waiting list gets an e-mail when a book is posted and you have to go to the site to request it. Each of these methods has its plusses and minuses – if you are on your computer a lot during the day, BookMooch might give you the better chance to get the book. If you don’t mind waiting your turn and you would rather not have to rush to the site all the time, then PBS is more your speed. Personally, I use both, and frequently have the same book wishlisted on both sites.

Ultimately, this has led to me saving money, because when I go into the bookstore and see a book I really want to buy, I wait, and I come home and check the book swap sites for the book. Sometimes I can get it for nothing!