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Goal: Save $500 in Book Expenses using Public Library in 2008

Posted by Sean | Posted under Books, Goals | May 29, 2008

I used to spend a lot at Amazon.com, but I’ve become a fan of the public library. With my increasing appetite for financial books, it makes sense to get them free. But more importantly, I want to nip the "clutterbug" in the bud. Far too many of the books on my bookshelf were only meant to be read once, which is wasteful. Considering my objectives of reading more, saving money and saving space, I came up with the following goal for the remainder of 2008:

The Goal

Save $500 in book expenses by using the public library in 2008, based on the current retail price for new books at Amazon.com.

S.M.A.R.T.

There is no consensus on the acronym, so I chose the major terms at Wikipedia.

Specific: maintening (or increasing) my financial reading.
Measurable: it will be measurable every step of the way.
Achievable: bit of stretch at the current pace, but do-able.
Relevant: the #1 goal is reading, but saving adds to the fun.
Timely: the drop-dead date is December 31, 2008, midnight.

Progress…

$16.49 - The Total Money Makeover - Dave Ramsey
$13.57 - Warren Buffett Speaks (First Edition) - Janet Lowe
$16.47 - Wise Investing Made Simple - Larry Swedroe
$11.53 - The Bogleheads’ Guide to Investing - Larimore, Lindauer, LeBoeuf
$10.20 - Liar’s Poker - Michael Lewis
$17.13 - The Only Guide to a Winning Bond Strategy… - Larry Swedroe
$53.55 - Technical Analysis of the Financial Markets - John Murphy
$12.92 - Buffett: the making of an American capitalist - Roger Lowenstein
=====================
$151.86 - Running Total *

* I think I missed a book or two. Maybe a nice librarian can pull my records next time. Either way, the balance will be under $200 on June 1, so I’ll need to pick up the pace.

Summary

The plan is to track this locally and post it at the end of the year. Although I might do better to post an update halfway into the journey. Let’s do September 15th.

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3 Comments so far
  1. Chicky Finance June 1, 2008 9:21 pm

    I loved this idea! Hmm but you know my library situation, stinky one :)

  2. Mrs. Accountability June 5, 2008 6:34 pm

    Great goal! For years and years, at least a decade while my children were little, we used to use the library a lot, but I had a lot of trouble getting the books back to the library on time once I started working. I was paying so much in fines I decided it would be less expensive to buy the books from half.com. But I definitely agree with you on the cluttery part of buying every single book that I’m only going to read once. I’m thinking about listing them at half.com…

  3. Sean June 6, 2008 12:17 pm

    I’m lucky our library is either on the way to, or in the direction of, several places: bank, grocery, wife’s work. Our library also allows 6 renewals per year to be done online. Fees are not big, but it is handy, might be an option.