I have a lot of explaining to do.

Hi, there! If you’re new in my book blog or bookstagram then you’re probably wondering what this post is about. Simply put, I just want to let you know what I’ve been doing this year regarding buying and reading books. And I hope I can also inspire someone by sharing these experience…

1) Reason Behind Using Our Old Shelf Again

After six months of using plastic boxes for my books, I must use our old shelf as a container for my books again. It’s because I threw away some boxes where the stuff owned by my mom were contained. Cardboard boxes, or simply called carton, attracts termites. I am preventing to have that same problem so I threw them all away. The white plastic boxes also made all of my mom’s stuff seemed properly stored in her room.

I’m not really happy with the “incomplete bookshelf” I brought back in my room (I call it that because of its design). It’s actually a finish product meant for lighter things to display. And the reason I displayed it on our living room is because it’s also a bit shaky. But now, I have no other option but to use what we have.

2) TBR Pile Reading Challenge

Since I am also doing my TBR Pile Reading Challenge I needed to organize my books well by separating the read books from the unread ones. I usually thought that I have a hundred of books left unread in my room. Now that I manage to unhaul since the start of this year, I felt like my book collection is finally making sense. What I hope in the future is to see all of my read books in one bookshelf. I’m already doing the necessary steps to achieve that personal goal and I’m happy with what I’m seeing so far. I’m done separating the pile. I think I have a 6 feet tall of unread books. I can’t gather them up in just one pile because the books will fall on me, so, that’s just my estimation.

3) Penalty For Buying Books

I knew I can no longer stop myself from buying new books. Book buying ban is not effective for me. But what I did is to give myself a penalty whenever I couldn’t stop hoarding. Example: If I bought ten books, I should give away twenty books as penalty. And somehow, it works. I did give away twenty books but the fun part for me is that I somehow updated my TBR pile and give books to those who might be interested in reading them instead of just let my books collect dust and be forgotten.

4) Lessons Learned While Unhauling

I realize books have expiration dates. If I bought a book just because it seemed interesting during that time I was in the bookstore, then, I let the years passed that I didn’t even pick up that book again, it only means I had lost my interest in it. Some books that I give away are those that I DNF. I even asked myself why I bought them in the first place. And I knew the truth. It’s because I just bought them without really researching first about the book, the author or the genres. It’s fun to discover books without doing the research first. But now, I realize, I just bought some books because they’re on sale or being sold in a cheap price since it’s already used.

5) Readathon Theme Per Month

I think it’s helpful to create a readathon with a theme per month based on the books I already owned. Currently, I have a lot of books I could consider as sexy so I set the Sexy Readathon month this September. Then on October, I set the Vampire Readathon because I have some vampire books that I hoarded just because I got intrigued with Dracula. Instead of joining some readathons that might make me buy new books I simply check all my unread books and decide from there what will be my next theme.

So, there. These are my bookish projects I hope I can finalize this year. How about you? What are you up to these days fellow book lover? Let me know through the comments.