I usually like to do a few year-end posts so I can review all the things I’ve been tracking and look at the results.
For this year, I did things a little bit differently and I’m going to combine a couple of posts in one, so here is my “Things I Bought” and my “Best Books” 2-for-1 post for 2023.
First of all, what did I do differently this year? In short, I made fewer rules for myself.
Part 1: Best Books
From 2016 until last year, I did the Goodreads Reading Challenge. It started as a way to motivate myself to read more and I liked having a goal to work towards, but I was curious what would happen if I didn’t set a goal for myself. Would I read just as much? Would I choose different books? I have definitely had moments in previous years when I wanted to read something but hesitated, thinking “That is a very long read and I am already behind on my goal for this year, so I better leave that one for now.”
I decided this year I would not set a goal at all and see what happened. Because I still record what I’ve read (and have no plans to stop doing that) it’s easy to go on Goodreads and manually count the books I finished in 2023. The difference is that now when I log on there is no reminder that I’m 6 books behind schedule or whatever the number is at that moment.
Currently, I’ve read 38 books and based on my holiday plans, I will probably end the year at about 42 or 43. For comparison, that is about 8 or so books less than I’ve read the last few years, which is not a huge difference, but I’m pretty sure it was in large part due to not having that external pressure hanging over me. So, that’s decided: no more reading challenges for me.
I am still trying to make a point of reading books from a variety of perspectives and on a variety of topics, but I’m not setting any specific parameters for myself.
Here are the books I enjoyed the most this year:
Part 2: Things I Bought
Starting in 2019 I gave myself various challenges about what I would try not to buy throughout the year, all along the lines of avoiding unnecessary consumer goods and focusing my spending more on experiences and things that were directly related to activities I enjoy. Each year I had slightly different guidelines that I followed and adjusted from the previous year based on what I’d learned.
At this point, I know that it’s not hard for me to avoid buying a lot of things, but I still like to keep myself accountable by making a list of all the things I buy each year so I can review at the end.
This year I made 11 purchases, which is pretty average for me. Some of them included more than one item but surprisingly the majority of the items were clothing, and only a couple were souvenirs… Unless you count clothing bought on vacation in that category, which was kind of another surprise. It definitely seems like I am more likely to buy things while I’m away.
Looking at the list*, I am pretty happy overall. Most items are being well-used, and for the few that aren’t, I have been invited to a clothing swap later this month, so maybe I can find a better home for them in exchange for something I will get more wear out of.
I plan to continue to track my purchases next year, but again, I’m not making any detailed rules around what goes on the list and what doesn’t count. If it’s a ‘thing’ and it is just for me, it goes on the list.
*I did write out a detailed list along with this but it’s just so boring I can’t stand to post it.
There’s still a couple of weeks left in the year, but I plan to leave the house only to go dancing from now on, so I don’t think I’m in much danger of seriously upsetting the total at this point.
Dancing In Irreverence 