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| Design by Nina of Nina Reads |
Used Bookstores
You guys, I love a good used bookstore. My town doesn't have any bookstores. But the city that's an hour away has the most glorious of used bookstores, Mr. K's. They're also an independent bookseller where you can get new books, too! The thing with used bookstores that is so great is that you can essentially get books for free! Most stores will take books, CDs, vinyls, movies, and more for trade-ins.
Thrift Stores
My favorite place to get books and pick up some old furniture to up-cycle? Thrift stores!
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| I had to because I have a |
The thrift stores in my town have amazing deals on books. They're anywhere from twenty-five cents to a dollar each. Yes. That cheap. The downside? They usually put out every single book that's donated, so you have to dig through a lot of books. There are a lot of good books to be found, though!
Don't know where to find thrift stores?
Use the locator on TheThriftShopper. (This even has reviews and hours!)
Find your local Goodwill.
Library Sales
If you follow me on Instagram, you may catch pictures that I've posted from library sales. My most recent haul was 18 books for $2 on the last day of my local library's sale.
It was all the books you could fit into a grocery bag for $2. The thing with library sales is you shouldn't expect the newest releases. And you should expect them to be former library books or a little bit used.
Don't know where to find a library sale at?
I have the best website EVER for finding them: Book Sale Finder
Kindle Freebies
Nearly everyone has an ereader these days. If you don't, go download a Kindle app. It's available on nearly all computers and devices for free. Just click here!
A lot of times, I've found great books just by going to the store through the app and searching through my favorite genres and sorting by price to see the freebies first. But if you don't want the hassle, I have an amazing website to introduce you to some Kindle freebies! There are loads of websites that will show you Kindle freebies, but I like this one because it only shows freebies with a rating of 4 stars or higher.
You can also join LibraryThing for free. They have two different giveaway programs. Early Reviewers requires that you review the book you receive. But the Member Giveaways program only encourages reviewing but doesn't enforce it.
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ReplyDeleteI love library book sales! I'd say that's where half of my collection is from, hahah.
ReplyDeleteMe, too! I'm "known" at several libraries in my area because I'm always the first in line for the sales. :) Hah.
DeleteWow this is a great post! I love checking out the library sales - there are some interesting finds there sometimes. I used to go to the thrift store to check out their book section but haven't lately but hopefully I will soon. Great post!
ReplyDeleteI'm hoping you do, too! I love a good thrift store. My only other hobby besides reading and cooking is up-cycling old furniture, so I absolutely love thrift stores. I actually have a list of ones I want to visit while we're on vacation next week. Hah.
DeleteThis is an excellent post! Sadly, all of the used book stores save for one pretty much went out of business, so the one left kinda hikes up the prices sometimes. And they don't really do trade in credit any more. But we have some decent thrift stores. I may have to go to goodwill and peruse some more.
ReplyDeleteLisa @Just Another Rabid Reader
I hate whenever that happens. There are a few in the town that I visit, but I still have my favorite. I would be devastated if they went out of business! Definitely hit up Goodwill. :)
DeleteWe have a great used book store near us and Love going to library book sales
ReplyDeleteYay! Library sales are my favorite. :)
DeleteI love perusing through the books at Goodwill. I hit a wonderful book sale at a library when I lived in Texas. I'm addicted to the other books. The older the better. I've found some wonderful books from the 19th century at some of those sales.
ReplyDeleteGirl, you and me both! I have an entire section of one of my shelves dedicated to older books. I always think it's so weird whenever I head towards the older books that there's nearly no one else looking at them. Not to mention, the covers on some of those older books are breathtaking!
DeleteLots of good tips! Also, Macklemore in that vest, so good!
ReplyDeleteAhh! I love Macklemore. Hah. And thank you!
Deleteyep, I practice all these tips too, lol. also lots of public libraries have a sales room inside the building, open all year long. and another idea os paperbackswap.com [which is awesome to get and rid of your books, and not just PB, but everything including CDs, DVDs
ReplyDeleteOur local library doesn't have a sale room, but I have heard of it! How I wish we had that here!
DeleteI love my library! I love it so much! I love it to bits! I don't even know how to express how much I love it! LOL! I used to spend a LOT of money on books, that quote about when you get some money you spend it on books and if you have any left over, you spend it on food and clothes? That was me! I wore my old clothes till they fell apart, I still wear clothes that are now 17 years old. I borrow my mom's clothes, she's a lot more fashionable than I ever will be. But I've been in heaven ever since I found my library, it's got such a huge selection of great books, that I've never felt that I had to starve for books anymore. LOL! It doesn't have all the books I want to read, but it's definitely feed my hunger for books. =)
ReplyDeleteAwh! I love hearing that!! My library is a struggle for me. They're starting to branch out, but they're not very diverse. Our YA section consists of one shelf. It's a sad state of affairs. But they've recently added a table for new YA and have been filling it up nicely. Crossing my fingers! :)
DeleteGreat post! Being a bookworm indeed can be expensive; pretty sure my lifestyle is the embodiment of Erasmus' quote about money going to books first and foremost, lol. The used bookstore I go to is a bit of a trip from my place, but I love browsing their selection (and the prices are good too!) :)
ReplyDeleteI make a point to make the trip at least once a month to my favorite store. I'm always so envious of people who live so close to bookstores and just drop by whenever!
DeleteI love the library sales too. I live in between two very small ones, but its fun to hunt for stuff.
ReplyDeleteI have three small ones close by that I hit up each year. I think part of the fun with library sales is the hunt! Hah.
DeleteI love libraries when I'm on a budget. But I have to admit I barely blink at the price tag when I buy books--they're the only thing I impulse buy!
ReplyDeleteI wish I could be like that. I'm too much of a conscious shopper. I usually wind up putting things back before I make it to the register!
DeleteHave you changed your theme recently? I love it!
ReplyDeleteI am totally on board with being a book worm on a budget! I love charity shops and getting impulse buys from there! :)
I have tried to do library sales but my locals have never had one apparently. I have a friend who works there and she said that they recycled all of the books because some of the children's books will contain things that are no longer accurate I was so annoyed! :)
Anyway, thanks for sharing & great post!
Alex @ The Shelf Diaries
I did! Thank you, Alex!
DeleteMe, too. I live for those shops, man!
How strange. I've never heard of that. I have several that I hit up in the surrounding towns as well as my own. I'm lucky with that!
Thanks for stopping by!
Great tips! St. Louis has a huge book sale every spring. I love how I always end up seeing people I know, because readers stick together!
ReplyDeleteMy favorite place for "free" books is the library. Even more than money, I'm limited on space. I love that the library stores my books for me!
Joy's Book Blog
Hah! I love the way you look at it. I'll have to remember that the library is just storing books for me the next time I visit. :)
DeleteI absolutely love used bookstores! They're absolutely amazing because you never know what you'll find unlike in "commercial" bookstores! They'll always have the expected bestsellers. Also, libraries do sales?! I'm too used to the university library now so I've forgotten about any other kind of library! I will definitely have to check those out! Great post :)
ReplyDeleteJuli @ Universe in Words
Yes! Oh my goodness. Library sales are an amazing thing. You definitely need to look into one around you!
DeleteOr you could check out books from the library and not spend any money at all (which is where probably 90% of my books come from). I know some people don't use the library because they don't have access to a good one, which is unfortunate, but it makes me sad when people forget it's even an option.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, the local library in my town is small and serious lacking. They don't buy a lot of books in my favorite genres, and they're around three months behind on getting new releases. But that's a post for a different day. Therefore, I've made my own way to find and read books that I want. The reason for this post is to help others who are building their own collection of books on a budget.
DeleteLibrary sales rock!
ReplyDeleteAnd Goodreads has giveaways too.
I totally didn't think of the GR giveaways. For shame!
DeleteKristen!! You are so resourcesful! Over the past few days you have ehlped me find so many outlets for authors and books!! This is awesomesauce and i will be signing up for both of those library things. Your such a cutie and yes girl..we are so hanging out at BEA. We have a whole year to gush and plan. YAY!!!
ReplyDelete*hugs*
❤ Brittany @
Please Feed the Bookworm
:) Yay!! I'm so glad to have helped! I am so excited for BEA, man! I am ready to go right now!!! I can't wait! :)
DeleteI love the e-freebies. I'll definitely have to check out that site you mentioned that vets them by ratings. I have one used bookstore about a mile away. Unfortunately the real "cities" are more like 2 or 3 hours from me. So its Barnes or the local used bookstore which also sells new books or online sources for me. I sometimes check out Amazon or Barnes for used books but you can't really rely on condition there. PBS is also good if you can earn enough credits to trade for the books you want and they are available there.
ReplyDeleteYou'll love that site, I think. I forgot to mention in my post that it's updated every morning, so there's always a fresh batch each day to look over. They're very good at including a lot of genres, too!
DeleteKristen,
ReplyDeleteThis post rocks :) thank youuuuu
I am ALWAYS on a budget. I used to make it a weekly pilgrimage to check my library sales. I found beautiful treasures :)
Sadly, when I changed countries this became a huge issue. 1) All the cool books I want to read are not available. 2) When they are, they are translations and I really don't like translations. 3) The public library is far far away :(
So yeah, it has been a struggle so I ventured on eBooks and yup! I found my solution :)
I also scout the daily freebies on Amazon, Kobo and iBooks, hehe. And bought an Audible membership. It really really pays off.
I hadn't heard about the LibraryThings early reviewer program, so I will definitely check it out.
Once again, THANK YOU for sharing!
Yay! <3
DeleteSome of my favorite books have come from library sales. I was mentioning in another reply, but I've found a lot of older books with beautiful covers for pocket change at library sales!
Oh no! I would positively die. I know what you mean about the library being far. The one that's like 30 minutes away is very lackluster. So I have to travel around an hour to get to a place that has books unless I chance it on Amazon. Which I'm always afraid of because I'm afraid of books getting damaged. Woe is me, right?
I've yet to try audiobooks, but I keep hearing about them. I may have to give Audible a try. LibraryThing is a great resource for discovering the lesser knowns. A lot of small press publishers use them.
And you are SO welcome, doll!
Hooray for book deals :D My favorite place to score FREE books is at the library ;) You can't keep them but you do get to keep the knowledge.
ReplyDeleteEveryone who has a local library is so lucky, Jennifer! And I totally agree. Unfortunately for me, my local library doesn't do a good job at cultivating a good catalog so buying it is!
DeleteThere are so many ways to get free and discounted books, especially as a book blogger. I rarely pay full price for a book. However, when I receive a free book for review, I feel obligated to review it, so it was free but I spent time on my review.
ReplyDeleteGreat post! I'd suggest Netgalley for any ereaders who review books on a blog as well! We have a great store near us called Half Price Books and I think they branch into other states. I shop the clearance books for .50 and $1 books. :)
ReplyDelete