“Building the Book Fort” is a weekly post where I track my bookish life.

Currently Reading:

• Handbook for the Heartbroken by Sara Avant Stover
• The Christmas Pig by J.K. Rowling
• The Darkest Night ed. by Lindy Ryan

Finished:

• Waiting for Christmas by Lynn Austin
• Grimoires and Gingerbread by Danielle Garrett

Total pages read this week (and last week): 414

Total books read: 100 of 100

TBR (goal is -24): -31

#ShelfLove Challenge: 57 of 51

After Thanksgiving, I took the first step to legally break my lease by sending a certified formal demand letter to the apartment management. They sent the maintenance supervisor over on Wednesday to inspect the walls that I share with the neighbor. He said he couldn’t figure out how the smoke smell was coming into my bedroom, but he found a huge hole behind my dishwasher and other gaps and cracks along the wall in the kitchen cabinets. He got all those sealed, but the next day I got an email from the manager offering to allow me to break the lease with no penalties! I’m assuming the supervisor noticed something that isn’t easily fixable, likely expensive, and maybe out of code, so they’d rather let me out of the lease instead of me taking them to court.

I met up with my ex today to talk about it, and we’ve agreed that, assuming I accept their written agreement to break the lease, I will move into his guest house instead of renting another apartment. That way I’m not stuck in another year-long lease and I can start searching for a condo or small cottage-style house to buy. While that means I’ll be moving a total of three times in less than a year, it will still save me quite a bit of money in the long-run.

Speaking of saving money – I’m going to do another #ShelfLove challenge next year, as part of a Low-Buy year. While I didn’t spend nearly as much money this year on books as I have in previous years, I was not frugal about much else. I think that was largely an emotional response to my very practical decision to not leave my full-time job. Given everything that has happened since July, I’m very grateful that I didn’t quit, but I spent an embarrassing amount of money on stuff, and oddly enough, I don’t have much to show for it. I didn’t go into debt, but since I am saving up to buy a home (I currently have about half the money I need for a down payment), I’m going to cut as much of my spending on things as possible and put as much as I can into savings.

What are you reading? Let me know in the comments!