How Much Money Did I Spend on Books? 💸💸

Getting real honest about money

Chapters
0:00 Intro
3:08 Historical Trends
7:14 2017 Spending
8:12 2018 Spending
8:55 2019 Spending
9:13 2020 Spending
11:06 Monthly Breakdowns
18:06 How I Feel
22:14 YouTube Earnings
24:10 Outro

I put up various book-related videos every Friday! Click down below to check out links to other websites.

// SUPPORT //

// SOCIAL //

[lindaaege]

Less than 100 dollars. I read 130 books this year. It's library all the way

[splitreads]

My goal is to be debt free from my college loan by next year. Only $4, 000 left!

[ekstn]

Thanks for making this! I have a list of books I want to buy, but it’s just not in my budget right now so I rely on my public library.

[RachelB.BookReferences]

I spend less than $15 each year on books, which I only buy secondhand. I hate having owned, unread books sitting around - they nag at me! Right now, I have eleven, and it's stressing me out. I get most of my books from the library, and purchase ones that are niche, backlist types that I can't get there. I'm unemployed right now due to chronic illness; someday, I'll purchase off my "hard to find, out-of-print" TBR list, as that will require more money. :)

[Maryjane]

This is completely unrelated but I can't help noticing your shirt. I really love it! I love nerdy/statement shirt🤓 it also matches with the books😍

[paperbackqueen]

Thanks for sharing this. I love budgeting too so this speaks to me 😆. I really fell out of love with ‘booktube’ in the height of people doing hauls of 20+ books in a month. It definitely snowballed in to a culture of trying to have the biggest/most impressive haul and I’m sure it convinced people to buy books they didn’t really need or want. I love ReadWithCindy’s channel because she mostly reads library books and gives away any copies she buys/is sent after she’s read them.

[jayweasley]

That’s a sick bday present! My grandma used to take me to B&N and let me pick stuff out when I wanted to, it was my FAVE!

[JessicaReadsThings]

I was SO EXCITED to set up my annual budget spreadsheet for the year and plot out all of my goals and such, so I hear you on the budgeting joy. And I bought fewer than 20 books last year, and that was likely triple what I bought in 2019, but I work at the library 5 days a week, so I have no excuse not to borrow books.

[KOMET]

I can fully relate to this. I'm an ardent bibliophile. When I was regularly going to work on the subway (since the lockdown began last March, I've been teleworking), I always had a book with me. I'm one of those persons who read from a book everyday.

On an annual basis, I've certainly spent a similar amount of money on books as you have, Rincey. I became a serious book buyer in the 1990s when I began my career and living on my own. B. Dalton's, Waldenbooks, CROWN BOOKS, BORDERS, and Barnes & Noble - I've bought books from all of them --- as well a number of local independent bookstores.

Now, I'm tempering my spending habits. Besides, I want to devote myself to reading the books I have on hand (some of which I've had for 20 to 25 years and have yet to read). So, one of my New Year's resolutions for 2021 is to go the entire calendar year WITHOUT BUYING ANY BOOKS, either in bookstores or online.

[parksch]

This is really cool! I love any kind of budgeting analysis. I wish more booktubers would do similar videos.

[rosegreensummer]

there's no real library near me, and when i was younger i had no access to one so i had to read rubbish from charity shops with the odd find, nowadays i have access to the internet for information on what's good and to buy cheap secondhand books so i'ts so easy now. It used to be, i worked 8-10 (14 hours' work) and the library shut at five, i'm a lazy pig now and live inthe lap of privilege and it is so nice.

[ryandonagan]

Awesome video! I should really keep track of my book spending too but I just don’t even wanna go there sometimes... My wife probably knows exactly what it is, though. 🤷‍♂️ 🤣

[scoti.dodson]

yesss I love YNAB so much! makes personal finance so easy to keep up, totally life-changing!

[MelindaOtt]

Thank you for sharing this! I don't know if I'd be able to go back and track what I spent on books in 2020, but I plan to keep track in 2021!

[jellybeans]

I love this video! All for nerding out on budgeting (and even better when it's books budgeting!) 💙

[ErinEPeterson]

Love this! Thank you for the full disclosure! You can totally use your book spending as a write off since it’s just a reinvestment into your channel! 😂 I know you’ve done this in the past with recommending Chicago bookstores but I definitely wrote every store down for when we can travel again and I finally make it to the Midwest! ❤️

[lindaharrison]

Nice hustle, Rincey. Book lovers will always find a way to support the habit 😊📚👍🏾📚🙏🏾📚❤️📚🥰

[erikak]

Rincey I love this video so much! I geeked out with you! and I hope you do this again in the future! :) My husband and I have been using a variety of budgeting tools over the years and this year we started using YNAB and it's so great! I keep track of my monthly book purchases in my planner, but I wasn't specifically keeping track of the dollar amount I was spending on books. Books spending just went into my personal spending category. I think next year I will actually track the dollars spent specifically on books thanks to you! :) I totally do the same thing when I travel! Books = best souvenirs! :) As a former B&N employee I feel obliged to tell you that if you don't have a B&N membership you definitely should get one. I am sure you probably have one, but just in case you don't, I calculated your 2020 B&N spending ($327.09 if I did the right math, lol) so the cost of the card would pay for itself! I never was pushy about selling the card when I worked there but since the membership costs $25 per year and saves you 10% off your purchases anyone who spends $250 or more in a year should definitely get one! :) Ok hopefully that information will help others if they are reading comments! Thank you so much Rincey for all of your amazing content!

[hypersanitybooks]

I love your shirt. I should use the library more often. So far I have spent over 1, 200USD.

[GuiltyFeat]

I really like this. I am trying to be absolutely transparent about my spending habits as I start my YouTube channel. I am very conscious of my cost per read and I make choices about what I buy and when I buy it at least partly based on price. I probably buy more than 80% of my books second hand and often have several sites open at once to arbitrage the best price including shipping for any particular volume.