How to calculate an annual budget for books

Short answer: estimate how many books you actually read in a year, set the average price you are willing to pay per book, multiply, and adjust to your reality, taking into account libraries, loans and used editions. The budget is for buying with intention, not for reading less.

What you need first

• An idea of how many books you read last year.
• The approximate amount you usually pay per book.
• A place to write it down: a spreadsheet, a notebook or a notes app.

Steps

1. Count your real reading. Use the number of books you finished last year, not the number you wish you had read. If you are unsure, start with a conservative estimate.
2. Define the source of each book. How many will be bought new, used, borrowed from a library, lent by a friend, from a subscription or on sale? Each source has a different cost.
3. Estimate the average price. Look at recent purchases and calculate the average amount per book in each category.
4. Multiply. Number of books per source times the average price of each source. The sum is your annual budget.
5. Set aside some slack. Reserve a small margin for new releases, gifts or recommendations you did not foresee.
6. Divide by month. The annual amount divided by twelve gives an easy reference to track.

An example

Pedro reads about twelve books a year. He plans to buy six new, five used and borrow one from the library. He estimates 60 per new book and 25 per used one. The math is: six times 60 plus five times 25, that is 485 a year, about 40 a month. The values are illustrative; real prices vary a lot.

Common mistakes

• Budgeting for the reader you wish you were: this creates piles of unread books.
• Ignoring free alternatives: libraries and swaps cut costs without cutting reading.
• Not tracking: a budget without a record is just an intention.
• Treating the budget as punishment: the goal is to buy better, not to stop reading.

Next step

Write down the amount and track it for three months. If you end up with extra or too little, adjust.