Always be making room for the things you want more of.
Want more books? Get more shelves or donate/regift books after you’ve read them.
Want to talk more about books? Start a read-and-swap book club.
There are only so many inches to a shelf, only so many hours to a day, so many days to a life.
Look at how much room you have, decide how you want it divided among the things you want to have in your life, and take steps to make it happen. For instance, I’m getting rid of clothes I don’t need because I’ve decided on a life uniform which creates more space for more books in my life (or it will when I’ve decided on which clothes to donate and which to recycle and actually do that).
And tell your mom “You have so many books already” isn’t a good enough reason not to buy a book.
Not having it in your budget to be buying anymore books right now? That’s legit. A budget is a budget, and she has decided how much to allocate to what things and when and why.
But not having room for books because of the books you already have? I call bullsh*t.
Respect your parent’s monetary budget, and ask them to respect your spatial budget in exchange.
Also published on Medium.