I’m in a lucky situation. I sold my townhouse a year ago — before things got too crazy — and I live with my parents. My job is part of the Base Realignment and will move to Kentucky in two years. I plan to move, so I’m staying with the parents until then. Even contributing to my upkeep (and putting money in savings), I have plenty of money to spend on books. Like an early poster said, I don’t drink, smoke, or gamble. I also don’t drive — so no car-associated debt.

I figure, I can spend as much as I want on books for the next year or so because I know that things will change once I get to Kentucky. Whether it’s using my Amazon Prime membership, Paperbackswap, or plunking down the discount card at B&N, Borders, or Books-a-Million, I buy books. Lots of books.

I buy used much of the time, have very very few autobuy authors, am making better use of the library loan system, am making fewer impulse book buys. None of that has to do with financial issues though. I have found my attention turning away from primarily romance driven into other genres that are more easliy found in my local libraries and UBS.

The question in the poll isn’t worded to accurately capture my response, however: I’ll probably still buy the same number of books, but not because I think everything will turn out all right. In the short term, I think things will, in fact, get worse. But I’ll still buy books because they are one of the cheapest sources of entertainment around, although I very rarely buy HC. I’ll cut back on other stuff or downgrade (go to cheap or moderately priced restaurants instead of the occasional birthday or anniversary splurge on expensive ones) before I give up books. And while I try to buy books in print new to support authors I like, I may have to wait until they are OOP and I can buy them for less at the UBS. Here’s hoping things don’t get so bad that I can’t afford books at all.

So to answer the poll I guess I should say I don’t think my book buying habits will change at all.