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Originally Posted by BelleZora
What is enlightening is that the only two purchases I can really justify were the most expensive.
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Some of the books purchased in January I did read this month, but it is clear that the small purchases not for immediate reading are the ones breaking the budget and cluttering the TBR list.
A 12-step maxim is to stay out of slippery places. For me that may mean unsubscribing from the Daily Deal emails. My current travels are introducing me to books I want to read now. I could buy them at full price for immediate reading and stay within budget if I gave up the 'bargains'.
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My situation has been exactly the same. I started keeping track of my purchases this year on a whim and it's proved to be most enlightening, sobering, and motivating. Six weeks into the year and the picture was clear. This thread has been immensely helpful, much more so than I expected. I'm even finding the fun in resisting purchases.
Quote:
Originally Posted by pdurrant
Having this book waiting there is quite good. For any purchase I just have to consider whether I want the book more than this one I'm already resisting, and so far the answer has been "no".
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Great idea, to have a specific yardstick rather than a nebulous concept of "good enough." I'm borrowing this and I have just the book, too.
Quote:
Originally Posted by pdurrant
It's probably best to proceed on the assumption that as good a coupon will become available sometime in the next year. In which case, ask yourself "Am I really going to read this within the next year?"
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My gut says that mega coupons will become scarcer. Kobo has to start making money at some point and now that it's pretty much the last man standing, at least in North America, in regards to eink epub readers, my guess is that they'll be less concerned with inflating their numbers and more about the bottom line.
That said, the "next year" standard is spot-on. I think the new shiny is always the most likely to be read. After a book has been considered and rejected several times in favor of something else, the odds of it being read go way down. And you shouldn't read a book just because you've bought it, either. The money's gone, no point in compounding a bad decision by wasting precious reading time on something that doesn't appeal.
A side benefit to this thread, for me: When I book I wanted to read wasn't available in eformat and Amazon marketplace sold a hard copy for a few bucks plus shipping, I tended to buy it. Now, I'm checking the local university library's listings first and they almost always have it. As a result, I've only bought one pbook this year and I've borrowed the rest. Score!