Saving Money: Books

I love reading and I love having books. When I was a child and we visited my grandparents in Oakland, we would also take a trip to the used book stores in San Francisco.  After spending the day combing through stacks of books, we'd have several decent sized boxes of books to take home with us. 

Shortly after we moved to the small town my parents currently live in, we checked out the local library. After a quick look around, we quickly realized that my parents had about the same number of books as the library. Luckily, the library in the next town over is pretty good and allows us to use it free of charge.

So how do I save money with books? Instead of paying full price for brand new, hard cover books, I usually check out books from the library, and if I really like it (as in, I will read it again and again) then I'll look for them on Ebay, Amazon and Half.com. When I have the money, I buy it from whichever site had the best price. I also put them on my wish list on Amazon so people can buy them for me for Christmas and birthdays.

The challenge comes when one of my favorite authors has a new release. I have a hard time waiting  for my turn on the hold list at the library, and I'll end up buying it anyway, so I try to buy it in the first day or two after being released (it's cheaper then).  Or, if it's available, I'll pre-order it on Amazon- the price is usually discounted. If I can manage to be patient, I'll wait and find it online.

We've also found some great deals on kids books at yard sales. If I remember correctly (most of our books have been in storage for more than two years so I don't remember what we have anymore), we picked up a bunch of Judy Blume books, the complete Little House on the Prairie series, and lots of Dr. Seuss books, among others, at various yard sales we've been to.

It's possible to build up a personal library without spending a fortune- just be patient and diligent when searching for books to add to your collection.