tags: #microblog/youtube #books #youtube #reply *** Watched this video today. It's been a while since I've been seeing people doing book buying bans, and it's nice to see a follow up video.  I think the shift in mentality is great: nowadays it's too easy to see all the book that are being released, in so many new cool editions. It also ties into a couple things that I've been thinking (and trying) more recently. I'm not entering any kind of book buying ban, but just trying to be more mindful. ## The Problems I think there are a few main problems with all the book consumerism and FOMO ### Huge TBRs And Collections If you have a huge collection (or a huge TBR), there are some issues that can arise: 1. Harder to manage: you just don't remember what you have or plan to read. Een browsing a physical or digital list might start to become complicated 2. Stress over unread books: tell me you never had a bit of anxiety when you think of your ever growing TBR? 3. Physical collection takes space. And when I see booktubers with piles of books on the floor, I don't think that's something that I want for me. Space is limited, and cluttering can have a negative impact on your mind ### Money Spent Buying books and not reading them can be a bit of a waste. Yeah, sometimes we buy things on sale, but we are only saving money if we would still buy it if it was not on sale. This is specially dangerous with ebooks. With ebooks it's so easy to have a HUGE wishlist on Kobo/Amazon, and then you also see the constant sales, and every week you pick a book or two. In the end, you spend 20 bucks on books you are not going to read, instead of using that to buy that book that you really want to read - and also delay getting it until it might be on sale. ### Time Used Following Up News And YT/Blogs, Browsing Sales It's quite a time involvement to follow booktubers, and check blogs and sites about new releases. Yes, it's fun and worth it if you do it a little bit, but otherwise, your hobby is to know about books, and not to read them. Similarly, one can spend way too much time (and money) browsing the weekly book sales on Kobo/Amazon or other sites. ## Maybe The Solution While some people might benefit from stricter book buying bans, I think maybe the alternative is the most basic dont-fall-into-fomo option: **buy what you are going to read**. But I'm not talking about future you, I'm talking about now. Buying what you are going to be reading right now, or right after the one you are currently reading. Maybe pre-order the next book in a series if you are caught up, and you are sure you will be interested in it by the time it comes out. Make an exception if there's a sale on something on your wishlist, but keep your wishlist limited to a top 10.