This is it!  The last month of the #ShelfLove No Book Buying Challenge!  Those of us participating are discussing how we did.

For those of you who don’t remember, I chose not to purchase any books this year.  Free books, of course, didn’t count.  I made one exception, but other than using gift cards I received for Christmas and my Birthday, and getting books from the Boyfriend as a prescription against insanity, I didn’t buy a single book.  Not spending my own money on books took some creativity on my part and generosity on the part of others, but I can at least say I was successful.

I also succeeded in reading at least 51 books that were already on my shelves…or in boxes…in a storage unit.  Yeah, lots of books, itty bitty living space.  There, my friends, is where I flailed.  You see, despite not buying books with my own money, I still managed to bring a lot of books home with me this year.  In fact, I have less space on my bookshelves than I did before the challenge started, and that’s after taking several boxes of books to the used bookstore to earn enough money to buy the Outlandish Companion, Vol. Two.  I earned that book, darn it, so why isn’t there any space on my shelves?!  Well, between the Boyfriend showing he loves me through books, a couple of subscription boxes I get, and all the giveaways I’ve won this year, I not only replaced the books I sold but ended up filling every last nook and cranny of my bookcase.

I have so many books and so little space for them that when the Boyfriend asked me what I wanted for my graduation present, I told him, “NO BOOKS!”  I then checked myself for a fever because that is the first time in my life I’ve ever turned down the opportunity to get books.  It turns out this challenge has been a sort of 12-Step program for me.  So, I plan on participating again next year, but that’s for another post.