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Entry tags:
Book spending
I have a Borders Rewards membership. Eh, why not, it's free, and I get coupons and discounts. This morning in my inbox, I had a message about my holiday savings reward -- $29.88. That's a hardback, or a couple of trade paperbacks, or three/four massmarket paperbacks. Yay me! Except the email also broke down what my other savings were during the year. Working from the discount (usually 10% but occasionally as much as 20%), I can tell about how much I spent on books/magazines at Borders this past year -- more than $700. And I probably spent equal that at B&N and Amazon, although I haven't run a report in Quicken to know for sure. Which is more than I estimated. I thought I spent about $800 annually on books from all sources. Granted, this year I went a little overboard and the TBR pile grew into a mountain, but, but... Ouch.
But then I stop and think about it. And I feel like a feckless spendthrift, because even if it is only $1,200, that's $100 per month, which is 3 or 4 hardbacks per month, or 12-14 paperbacks, or 6-7 trades per month. Am I reading that much? Well, yeah. And that doesn't even take into account library books, PBS, or library sale books.
I justify my book buying by saying that there are worse addictions. That I don't smoke or scrapbook or do drugs. [Scrapbooking ranks as an insidious, addictive activity, I think, based on my observation of my obsessive scrapbooking friends.] I don't drink to excess. I don't collect expensive tchotchkes. I just read books. But seeing in black and white what I've spent on them (the bulk of my entertainment budget) is making me cringe.
But then I stop and think about it. And I feel like a feckless spendthrift, because even if it is only $1,200, that's $100 per month, which is 3 or 4 hardbacks per month, or 12-14 paperbacks, or 6-7 trades per month. Am I reading that much? Well, yeah. And that doesn't even take into account library books, PBS, or library sale books.
I justify my book buying by saying that there are worse addictions. That I don't smoke or scrapbook or do drugs. [Scrapbooking ranks as an insidious, addictive activity, I think, based on my observation of my obsessive scrapbooking friends.] I don't drink to excess. I don't collect expensive tchotchkes. I just read books. But seeing in black and white what I've spent on them (the bulk of my entertainment budget) is making me cringe.
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I remember that! I loved my Waldenbooks membership and bought there almost exclusively. I would get a thrill when I received the $5 coupon. They stopped doing that here a while ago, though.
I *know* that I'll spend enough to offset the price of the membership...I just resent having to pay for it. And I get tired of lugging around a wallet with a million membership cards. Safeway. CVS. Giant. Borders. B&N. BAMM.
Plus (an afterthought for me) I don't want to share my address, phone number and other information with every vendor in the world. It's kind of scary to think what marketers and vendors could tell about me if they pooled all of their information about what I buy and where I live, etc.