So looking through all these gauntlet threads makes me laugh at times, because I'm going, really, people have a hard time not throwing away money on X, Y, or Z thing that I never bother to spend money on? Of course, there are other things that I spend too much money on that others would probably react to in the same exact way. So I thought it would be interesting to have a gauntlet thread for anyone who is interested to post their financial Achilles' heel, and what they're doing to work on it.
Mine is buying books. Don't get me wrong: I belong to the library (actually, two libraries), and I have access to more free books than I can ever hope to read in a lifetime even though I'm the kind of person who typically reads 2-3 books per week. I am also a member of Amazon prime, so I have access to their free books too. But while I have improved with my book buying somewhat since committing to becoming FI, I still spend way more money on books than I should. Given that I enjoy taking classes for fun, and that many of these classes require books even if the tuition is free (my last employer reimbursed me for the tuition but not the books), and that many textbooks are not available through the library, well, you can see how it is easy for me to rack up hundreds of dollars in book purchases per year.
Some strategies I'm following this year to try to decrease my book buying expenses:
1) take classes that do not require textbooks
2) evaluate whether it is really necessary to buy the "suggested" book (last semester, I could have easily gotten by without buying it, but I bought it anyway)
3) use gift money from family to buy books (well, I already do this)
Open to other ideas if people have them, and thanks in advance to those who post their financial weak spots here.