Reading is a vice, a habit that is hard… nay, it’s impossible to lose.
I’ve been a reader all my life, I started at six and never came back. Comics, novels, non-fiction, magazines, blogs, the sides of corn flakes packets…
When I was in high school I skipped lunch to save money for books. But it was easy, because I knew I’d find dinner prepared when I got back home.
When I finally got a paying job, I set myself a monthly allowance for books.  Something around 100 euro – which means five hardbacks, or eight/ten paperbacks, or a whole lot of ebooks per month.
When the going got rough, around 2014, I cut that back to fifty quids, then to twenty. And that allowance had to make room for Kickstarters, too.
Then, back in May this year, things turned real bad, and I was at 0 money for entertainment – because putting bread on the table and paying bills was more important that buying books.

Basically it meant going cold turkey.
But not really. I found a way around that, too, and kept reading.
Now things are better, I have a 10 quid monthly allowance for my books, and what follows is a list of strategies I used and I am using to keep reading while broke. How to get my fix, if you will.
Maybe someone is interested.
And you are invited to add your tricks and tactics to save on books in the comments.
Let’s go. Continue reading →