I’m at the best bookstore for Spanish-language literature in North America. The store is called Las Americas and is located in Montreal. I come here at least once a year and blow an outrageous amount of money on books. This year I wanted to be virtuous and buy one small book, at most.
However, I’m thinking of embarking on a new research project and I just spotted two books that fit in with it perfectly. One costs $22.95 and another one is a hardcover and costs $41.50. They are very recent and are not available anywhere else on this continent yet (that I’m aware of). I’m dying to have them but the guilt is torturing me.
Please, dear readers, help me alleviate the guilt. Should I buy them? Or just one of them? Or try to control myself? But if I do, won’t I kick myself for my stinginess once I’m back in Illinois?
To buy or not to buy, that is the question. I’m holding them in my lap right now and feeling incapable of letting them go. In case you haven’t realized, I’m obsessed with books.
Clarissa's Blog 
I say if it’s for research, you can justify splurging more than if it were only for pleasure reading. 🙂
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I would look for them online, just to see if they’re cheaper elsewhere, before buying them now. Take shipping costs into consideration, as well as whatever your own budget may be. If you can’t find them anywhere else for cheaper, you could buy both, or just the cheaper one. You can find a way to justify either option: if you buy both, they’re for research; if you only buy one, it’s because both together were too expensive.
Of course, as obsessive as I am with books, I would buy them both right away, especially if I wanted them for research or if they were hard to find.
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buy them while you have them in your hand!
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You need those books, buy them.
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Buy them, you can always resell them online on Amazon.
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“They are very recent and are not available anywhere else on this continent yet”
So buy them!
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If you won’t buy them you’ll regret it later.
So make your life simple and just buy them!
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Indeed. Buy them. Two copies in case you wear the first one out.
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OK, I just got them!!! Thank you, everybody, for the support! What would I do without you?
I feel very happy right now!
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Save your receipts as they are a tax deduction. Form 2106, employee business expenses.
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They never allow me to deduct anything because. I think I don’t make enough to be in that category yet. I think.
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You don’t spend enough, or don’t save enough receipts. It doesn’t matter how little you make (it’s actually easier to hit the required percentage the less you make). Every pencil you buy, every xerox you pay for, every interlibrary loan fee, every conference, etc., counts.
Of course I work in Louisiana where the universities don’t pick up any of our costs – we bring our own paper to work to put in the printers, things like this, so it adds up fast – but I repeat, if you start actually adding up all the “small” costs you will incur, you will be surprised to see how high the total amount is.
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