Well, for me it doesn’t always work. I can’t speak for everyone else.

There are two main reasons why book buying bans don’t typically work for me. The first one being that whenever I say I’m going to go on a ban, I always break the ban. Either a book comes out that I really want (and was not aware of it’s release beforehand) or I just give in because I’m a bookaholic and I’m weak. Sometimes it’ll be a book that’s on my wishlist that goes on sale as an ebook for $1.99 and who can resist that deal? Not this weakling!

Now, if I do successfully go a month or however long without buying any books, I have saved myself some money, right?

Wrong.

The main problem that occurs with book-buying bans is not so much whether I keep to the ban or not, but what happens after. Which is that I end up spending just as much money as I would’ve had I not banned myself for a period of time. While I might give myself more time to think about whether I want certain books or not, the fact is that there are tons published weekly and there’s always going to be a book that I’ll want.

So, for me, book-buying bans don’t work in the sense that I’ll save money. At least, not intentionally. The only way they might work is if it turns out I don’t buy quite as many books as I would’ve because I ended up using the library more during my ban (and you’d think I would, since I work at one). Either way, I’m going to spend money on books because I like having my own personal library. The only way I can save money is if I choose to read more from the library, then only buy the book if I know I’ll reread it down the line.

Do you find that book-buying bans help your or don’t make a difference?