The Bookish Mindset

For those with self control, I love you and I wish I was you, but this post isn’t for you. This is a post for the people with piles of books consuming their shelves, floors and anywhere else they can hide them.

If like me you have a physical TBR that you need to get under control, then I hear you, I am you.

After having a lot of spending fun over the last few years with pre-orders, this year I have vowed to get my TBR under control. So here’s how I’ve done it:

Set a realistic goal. I know there’s new releases I will adore this year so I know I’d never be able to do a no buy year. So I’ve set a goal of having 30 books or less on my physical TBR by the end of the year. Where I’d normally read around 100 books a year, that’s 70 to read from my current TBR pile and that feels do-able for me. Choose a number that feels good for you either per month or per year and stick to it.

Limit pre-orders. This is a tough one, but I’m only going to pre-order books that I will read as soon as it’s released. If I don’t need to read it straight away, I can buy it when I’m ready for it. And I’ll definitely be prioritising indie authors. If you love bookish mail too, then maybe you can limit yourself to one a month or a number per year. Keep a list of the ones you’re looking forward to if you’re worrying about forgetting about them.

Give yourself permission to DNF. I know by now when I’m not enjoying something. It could be a chapter in, it could be fifty pages in or it could be half way through. If you’re not enjoying it, then give yourself permission to put it down.

Make a list. I’ve started to rite down everything newly bought so I can see how much I’m buying. I also cross them off when I’ve read them so I can see whether I’m actually reading them. Making it visible like this makes it really obvious to me so helps keep me under control. You could keep yours in your notes app on your phone or as physical stack on a separate shelf.

Save it up! So here’s a different tactic: for each book I finish I put £1 into a savings pot and I can only buy books from this pot. It works most of the time but I’m not strict. I know others who do 1p per page as well. A fun way to save up for those new releases!

Collectively, these seem to be working really well for me, but I’m absolutely not perfect and I’d never expect to be. There’s no need to be miserable about it so for me it’s about finding ways to keep it fun. What are some ways you manage your TBR?

Time is running out to enter my reading challenge, check it out here! Read nine books from nine prompts over the first six months of the year and be entered into a draw to win a bundle of bookish goodies.

If you like what you’ve read and would like to access more content, I’d love if you could take a look at my patreon and consider supporting my content on there too. You can also find more content on my Instagram here.

And don’t forget to check out my other blogs and reviews – you can find books with similar themes in the same folder link below, or click back onto blogs to see the whole offering.

Last updated 02/06/2025