Book Haven discussion

Since we are all bookaholic's and proud of it, I was wondering if anyone has set aside a book allowance for themselves?
I've heard of other people doing this, because their book spending gets out of hand if they don't.
When I was a kid, I allowed myself to use my weekly allowance completely towards books. However, now... I rarely buy books unless it's a treat for something special or I am using giftcards.

OR

When you purchase books, do you have a limit at how much a book can cost?
I know some people won't spend more that $7 on each book...

Well, I do not have an allowance, since I do not need the money every day, except for rare occasions when I go out with friends of something. I have 1000 sheckels, but I am saving it for a trip and not going to spend it.
I accept many new books from my mother, but the two main times I get new ones it on September, when the local biggest bookstores in Israel having a huge sale, of 4 book in 100 sheckels only! Whihc is amazing! You see, in Israel every good book costs about 98 sheckels, so you understand how stupid it is to buy books in here, unless it is a sale. The second time I get books is on my birthday on April 29th. If I have a party or lunch for my birthday, then mainly family comes along and out of 4 aunts and 1 uncle (my mother's siblings only) - two or three give me two or three books. Which is cool :)

I usually only buy the first book in a new series. Then I will let my friend borrow it and he'll buy the next 2-3 books and then a third friend usually buys the rest. I did buy the latest Dresden Files book though after not having bought any but the first. And I've bought all the Dog Days books.

When Borders was around I didn't allow myself to spend more than $10 on a book unless I really, really wanted it. Usually this was because I limited myself to the clearance section and always walked in there with a coupon in hand. Borders is gone now :( and although I like B&N's cafe I don't really care for the clearance section. So for B&N I stick to ebooks, which I refuse to pay more than $5 for (very few exceptions on this dependent on the author) and I only buy them when I'm actually ready to read them.

At library sales I limit myself to the amount of shelf space available at home. This is because I've really run out of space so I need to be particular about what I bring home until I can get rid of some books.

I've been really good this year though by limiting myself to the amount of library sales I frequent. Between the library sales, using the library and swapping with friends (both physical and ebooks) I've saved quite a few dollars.

I have a 20.00 a wek allowance from my conservator to spend freely, but I put aside 20.00 for a book if I want.

I don't put money aside for books. However, whenever i enter a bookshop, i limit myself & make sure that i don't spend more than 20 K.D. on my books. Also, here in Kuwait, book prices range from 1 K.D. to 8 or 9 K.D. So, books here aren't that expensive to blow any budget.

$25 every 2 weeks is my book allowance.

Brei wrote: "$25 every 2 weeks is my book allowance."

not bad.

Sonya wrote: "Brei wrote: "$25 every 2 weeks is my book allowance."

not bad."

I found its easy to spend a little too freely with my kindle, so I set myself an allowance, I go over on those days when multiple books from multiple series are released all at once fortunately that dosent happen often

I rarely buy "new" books. I do most of my shopping at yard sales, flea markets, goodwill, used book stores, library sales, and antique shops. I rarely pay more that $1 for a book, so I can get a lot of books for little money. When I do occasionally shop on amazon.com, I usually limit myself to $25.

I'm not as strict when it comes to my daughter's books, so I'll usually spend $10 a week on books for her. She's a book lover and it makes me so happy that she loves to read. I can never say no when she asks for a book!

Before I had an ereader, I would limit myself to walking out of the store with 2 books. I usually ended up with a huge pile of books I was interested in. I would then sit in a chair at B&N, narrow them down based on the synopsis, then read the first chapter to narrow it down further, and if I still needed to eliminate some books... I would open the book to a random part, read a few pages, and narrow my choice down based on that. lol

I'm probably the worst of the bunch, I don't have a budget and no self-control, what-so-ever.

Meaning? Well, two days ago I bought 9 books, after I reminded myself that I'm only going to check if the book I ordered has arrived to the bookstore. To Make it clear: it didn't. Not only did it not arrive, three of the books I bought from a totally different store *facepalm*.
And it's not like I have nothing to read...I have 30+ unread books on the shelf, and over 300 in my kindle. Unread, of course (curse you free books! At least it doesn't cost me anything).

I should limit myself, I really should.

I don't know what you're reading speed is, but has anyone tried to limit themselves according to how many books they read in a certain period of time? I mean, create a rule that you don't buy more books than books you've read since the last time you bought books. For example, the last book you bought was two weeks ago, in the last two weeks you finished 3 books - so if you buy books, you don't buy more than 3. Does that makes sense? If you read a lot of books you can limit yourself to half that amount to buy. I think it will also help kill the TBR pile.

Adva wrote: "I'm probably the worst of the bunch, I don't have a budget and no self-control, what-so-ever.

Meaning? Well, two days ago I bought 9 books, after I reminded myself that I'm only going to check if ..."

I've tried the whole limit myself to how many i can read in a 2 week period, it didnt work for me, I jump genre alot, so some of the books I read can be 300+ pages others 150 or less, sometimes I read a book a day other times it takes me a week to get through a book. I buy 2 books none costing more than $9 then that leaves me $7 remaining of my budgeted $25 with that $7 i look through the .99 to 2.99 books for the kindle and select some of those after i finsihed my 2 more expensive books, if I still need more to read after that I search the free books, if I dont budget my budget I get in trouble either by going over or getting only one or two books then having little to read for the rest of the 2 weeks

Brei wrote: "Adva wrote: "I'm probably the worst of the bunch, I don't have a budget and no self-control, what-so-ever.

Meaning? Well, two days ago I bought 9 books, after I reminded myself that I'm only going..."

If you like ebooks... you should join netgalley! You need to post reviews after you have read the books, but you get them for free! Plus, a lot of times they are advanced reader copies, which means you get the free book before it's released. Sometimes that have really popular authors too! :)

I borrow as many as I can from the library. Then I have a long wish list on Amazon for ones I can't get at the library so when I have money I pick some off of that list to order. It doesn't happen more than a couple times a year but the library keeps me pretty busy.

I also put books on the Amazon list that I want to read again more slowly or that I think I'll read or use more than once. I hate buying books and then not enjoying them.

I love needlework and cookbooks so I often take them out from the library first to see if they're worth buying.

I don't really have a book allowance. Buying books is becoming more and more of a luxury these days since the wee one is starting school and most of my money goes towards her, haha. But Half Priced Books is a wonderful place if I just have to have a book. And the library is grand for books I really want to read, but don't necessarily need to own.

I used to go to used bookstores a lot. We have a couple in IL that are really great. You can find some great books for 50-75% off the original price! :)

The library is great, but I always forgot to return books on time. :(

Haha, I have that problem, too! Thankfully, my local library sends an email reminder nowadays. Thank you, technology!

I buy way more books than I read. I have about 1000 TBRs. I do budget about $35.00 a week for books. I was mostly buying from Borders as well as a used book store nearby. Now that Borders is closing, I'll probably end up by more books through online book stores.

I haunt used book stores and the library plus my sister's DH lets her spend an unreal amount of money on books which I am the eventual recipient of so I really spend almost nothing on books...spendthrift that I am...there are some authors I collect...Amy Tan..Chris Bohjalian...the others I manage to find on the cheap:) I have bought used books online also but the handling and postage is outrageous.

Most of the time I buy books on Amazon.I look for the lowest prices because I don't have much money and I don't have a job yet.I also get books on my Kindle sometimes.I expect to spend $7 a book.

I read library books or books loaned from friends. I'm saving up for an eReader because it's possible to get new books for a buck. How fabulous is that!

I used to buy one book a week, usually an art book of some kind from the clearance shelf at B&N. Now, I'm on a tighter budget so I hit library sales.

I've never made myself stay on a book allowance, so to speak. However, I have gone through periods where I will make myself read one of my books completely before I allow myself to buy another one. Sad to say, being the bookaholic that I am, I have "fallen off the wagon" every single time. Whenever, I go into a books store (or Amazon) those books always seem to be staring at me like little, lost puppies with soulful eyes, and they ALL want me to take them home.

Now, I tend to just go with my sister's philosophy. She told me that I could try using "moderate restraint" in the book stores instead of "wild avarice". Of course this is the very same sister that told me, since we're both bookaholics, we should go spend time in the libraries to "dry out" from our reading addictions. lol.

Surrounded by all those free books, that might help a little Kathy. I keep trying to make myself spend less and go to the library more, but I've ended up doing both now. If it's at the library, I'll request it. If it's not, I'll buy it and usually with only minutes between requests because I do most of this online. I'm bad!

Unfortunatly, libraries are not a choice for me bacause I tend to read books in their original language (so if it's an english author, I'll read the book in English, and the same for portuguese authors) and portuguese libraries don't have english books. Also there aren't many contemporary books.
But I do try to keep my spending to a minimum(?), I'll buy one or two books only monthly, then on my birthday and on christmas my parents always go a little crazy and buy me...I think last time it was 18 books.
I love re-reading my old books so it's not hard for me to wait for July and December..

I very rarely buy a book at full price. So I usually set aside, say, $10? Especially if I'm at Salvation Army or whatnot. $10 goes a long way.