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I have a confession to make. I love books. One could even say my love for books is bordering on addiction. This probably doesn’t come as a surprise to anyone who reads this blog or knows me at all – but they say acknowledging the problem is the first step to recovery, so here it is. I love books. I love wandering through the aisles of a bookstore and seeing all the new titles. I love browsing online and reading the reviews. But most of all I like buying and owning (and yes, of course, reading) new books.

Is this really a problem? I mean things could be worse, couldn’t they? I could be addicted to some dangerous substances or something crazy expensive like designer shoes (which I do in fact, like). But here’s the problem…between the struggling economy, the ever dwindling amount of storage space in my house and the number of books on my list…I have got to stop - or at least slow down.

Let’s face it, I’m not going to stop reading, so now I have some decisions to make; buy or borrow, new or used, keep or give away.

Here’s the plan;

• Buy new and keep if it’s an author I already love and am collecting. Hardcover or trade paperback only.
  
  
• Buy new and give away if I love it so much I have to have all my friends read it (I can always buy another).
  
  
• Buy used if it’s a mass market paperback and I’m planning to leave it on a plane or in a hotel room.
  
  
• Borrow if I’ve never heard of it but you say it’s good. Then buy if I loved it.

Hmmmm. Not sure this plan is really limiting my buying. In fact I may have just talked myself into buying more. What can I say? I will probably not become a financial planner any time soon but I’ll never have a shortage of books.

Surely you are more practical than I am. How do you decide?

--Dana Barrett