2019 and the CHANGES it will bring – PERSONALLY and BLOG-WISE

If you don’t know by now, you must have been living underneath a rock, or simply haven’t stumbled upon my blog before today. 2019 is a year of huge changes for me and, that means, for my blog as well. I thought it was time to talk about it some more, to share my expectations and the things I want to accomplish – or try to accomplish while my life is being turned upside down.

THE CHANGES

Picture courtesy of my awesome brother-in-law

Most of you know my boyfriend and I bought a house last year and moved right at the end of the year as well. We’ve been busy getting the house set up, but it’s been a hectic time. We’re hoping to do some more remodeling in 2019. Time will tell how that will work out since the biggest change will have a huge influence on that.

That change, of course, being the little one’s arrival. I’m due a week from now – but who really knows when he’ll decide to make an entrance, right? – so starting then, I won’t be present on my blog for quite some time. My whole life – our lives – will revolve around that little wiggle of a bundle for a while. It’ll take time for us to figure out some routine that allows us to pick up our hobbies again. Maybe it’ll work out, maybe it won’t. Just know that I’ll try my best to not let my blog disappear in the void. Actually. I’m quite set on not allowing that to happen since this blog is more than just a hobby; it’s an outlet, it’s relaxation and.. you all mean so much to me. I can’t even imagine not being a part of this community anymore! This blog will always have a special place in my heart as well so I promise I’ll be back eventually!

WHAT I PLAN ON DOING

There are different things I’m trying to stick to. The past two months, I’ve been busy writing and prepping posts for when I’m absent. I don’t want this blog to die a slow death and, honestly, I really needed the creative outlet of writing posts as well. Perfect combination, wouldn’t you say?
This means there’ll be posts popping up even when I’m not actually present on my blog or social media. I apologize in advance for not replying to your comments and such, but you can see how that might be a tad impossible with a baby and all. I know I shouldn’t really apologize for it, but I’m still doing it. Ha!

Once I’m settled, I know I’ll be back to blogging. Whether it’ll be in the amount I was these past two years is something I highly doubt. There’ll be changes. I can’t see myself posting as much as I have in the past – which was sometimes on a daily basis – but I’ll at least be trying to get out one or two posts a week. I won’t disappear on you! I refuse!

There’s also a small possibility of my blog gaining a new feature once I’m “back”. I know this is a book blog, where I sometimes – rarely, sorry.. – share recipes, but since the little one will be such a huge part of my life.. I might just be adding a bit more to this blog. I want Books & Munches to show a huge part of my life, and what better way to do that than share something as huge as becoming and being a mother? I have no clue yet how I’ll be doing this, but I’ll definitely try and figure out something. Do tell me if you have any ideas for this, or things you’d like to see / know regarding the little one!

MY BOOK BUYING HABITS

With the huge haul of 2018 – seriously, how did the universe allow me to haul a total of over 150 books? – I definitely need some strict rules regarding book buying. In any case, I’ve automatically stopped buying books impulsively since the year started. I know most of our money will go towards our house and the little one from now on, but I also feel like I should be allowed to still buy myself some things, you know? Pretty sure the boyfriend will have his occasional splurges as well, haha.

This is why I set myself some ground rules, which I’m trying to stick to for the rest of the year!
~ Only pre-order books by authors I love and / or series I’m reading.
~ Buying books I read and loved the ARC of is totally allowed – support those authors!
~ Kindle deals are allowed if the book already was on my “Want to read” on Goodreads.
~ No limit on free Kindle books because.. they’re free!
~ Special edition pre-orders of anticipated reads are allowed – after serious contemplation.
~ For every three books read, owned pre-2019, I can buy one book that doesn’t fit any of the above criteria.
~ Special anniversaries / holidays are allowed a splurge if I stuck to my rules so far.

I’m actually keeping track of this very cleanly in my reading spreadsheet so I won’t even have the opportunity to cheat! Truly, I even made sure it shows me how many “no rules” books [aka one for every three books read] I’m still allowed to buy. Know yourself, right?

Apart from that, I’m keeping an overview of how much money I’m spending on books and saving on them. By pre-ordering, but also by reading ARC’s instead of buying finished copies. I hope that’ll motivate me even more to stick to my rules but time will tell!

Do you have rules when it comes to your book buying?
What do you think of the ones I set myself? Doable? Or not?
What would you like to see regarding the little wiggle once he’s born?

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