I’ll being doing the #ShelfLove reading challenge again next year, as a part of my Low-Buy year.

Goal: Abstain from buying books or set a book buying limit – and focus on clearing your physical and virtual TBR bookshelves for the entire year.

Challenge Dates: January 1st – December 31st, 2026

THE GUIDELINES:

• Abstain from spending money on books for one calendar year or set a book buying limit (whether that’s monetary or the number of books you may buy).
• Gift cards are OK as well as any Audible or Libro.FM credits you already have.
• Encourage other challenge participants via blog comments and social media.
• Library books do not count for this challenge. This challenge is only for books you already own.
• Netgalley, Edelweiss, or other ARC books you acquired prior to 2026 count for this challenge because you have the book, so you might as well read it (and write those reviews!).
• Read books that are in your personal library that were obtained before January 1, 2026.

NO BOOK BUYING CHALLENGE STEP 1: SELECT YOUR GOAL

• 1-10 books: shake hands with your shelves
• 11-20 books: pat your shelves on the back
• 21-30 books: give your shelves a warm friendly hug
• 31-40 books: regular date night with your shelves
• 41-50 books: your shelves are now your BFF
• 51+ books: your shelves and you are going steady – I’m choosing this goal again because my reading goal will be more than 50 books. While I am allowing myself to buy used books with money I get from selling back the books I no longer want, I won’t be buying any brand-new physical books. The only exceptions to this are that I am allowed to buy myself one new book for my Birthday and as a Christmas present to myself. I’m also not buying any ebooks this year, but I have a lot of credits for audiobooks, so I’ll only be limiting those to the credits I already have.

NO BOOK BUYING CHALLENGE STEP 2: Link-Up

• Create a sign-up post that includes your chosen goal on your blog or any social media platform (Facebook, X, Goodreads, StoryGraph, Litsy, etc.).
• Don’t forget to use the challenge hashtag #ShelfLove.
• Comment on this post with a link to your sign-up post!

NO BOOK BUYING CHALLENGE STEP 3: READ THOSE BOOKS!

• Feel free to post updates on how the challenge is going and what books you’ve been reading. I’ll be providing an update every week in my “Building the Book Fort” posts, and you can comment on those posts if you would like, but updates aren’t mandatory.

I can’t wait to read y’all’s sign-up posts and show my bookshelves some love!