6 ways that I save money on books

As I’m sure you’ve noticed by reading my weekly goals, I love to read. I’m obsessed with reading. I read every day, at all times (but usually at night before bed). Reading has so many benefits, including:

• Mental Stimulation
• Better Writing Skills
• Knowledge
• Reducing Stress
• Expanding Your Vocabulary
• Improved Concentration

Since I read so much, I always make sure I have a stack of new books ready for me to crack open and get lost in. Books can be expensive, so I’ve learned of a few ways that I can save money on them, and it has helped immensely. These are my top picks.

6 ways that I save money on books

1. The library

I’m sure you guess I was going to bring up this one, right? The library is such a fantastic resource – to take advantage of it! Often you can check out books for up to a month, and you can check out as many, or as few as you want (I doubt they’d let you take out hundreds of books, of course, but I’ve taken out as many as 25 in one trip and they didn’t bat an eye!).

Libraries allow you to borrow books for free, so this is always the first place I go when I want to find new reading material.

2. Borrow from friends & family

If you have family and/or friends that own books you would like to read, ask them if you can borrow some. If they’re not currently reading the books you want to borrow, I’m sure they’d let you borrow them for a little while.

Be respectful of their property if they do decide to let you borrow their books. Return them in the condition that you borrowed them in, and always give them back in a reasonable timeline. Don’t hold on to someone else’s books long enough that they actually have to ask for them back!

3. Book outlet online

One way that I really love to save money on books is to order them from Book Outlet. They have a huge assortment of books that you can order, at prices as low as 80% off retail!

I often buy children’s books for $2-$3 each, and books for myself (fiction and non-fiction) for as low as $5 each. Check out their “Scratch & Dent” section of the site for even more great deals!

4. Yard sales & thrift stores

Don’t forget about thrift stores (year-round) and yard sales (in the spring & summer) for cheap books! I love buying books at these places, especially yard sales because they are often prices incredibly low.

Thrift stores often have special promotions on, as well, so you can pair one of the promotions with an already low price, and score an even better deal on some books!

5. Chapters & Amazon

Paying full price at these stores would be a bad idea, but if you are patient, you can often get your hands on some books at very low prices because they both regularly have sales on books in a variety of categories.

If you use Swagbucks, Amazon would be even better for you because you can trade-in your Swag Bucks for an Amazon gift card and use it on books, allowing you to get the books that you want for free!

Even if you don’t use Swagbucks, you can still find some pretty good deals on Amazon. They often have 40%-50% off the Top Books of the Month, too, which is when I usually snag some good buys.

My new favorite sections on the Chapters website are on their front page. They have a spot for “Up to 80% off Great Reads” and “Top 50 Books for 50% off”. This is often where I look when I’m trying to find new books to read.

Chapters also release coupon codes often, so I will usually wait until I have one of those before I buy anything, to save myself even more money.

6. Download free eBooks

As much as I prefer to put my hands on “real” books and not read them online, if I come across a fantastic eBook online for free, I will definitely download it!

I find my free eBooks on Amazon and can often find 3 or 4 books that interest me each week. New free eBooks are revealed every day on Amazon, so make sure to check back regularly to see what has been added.

How do you save money on books? Please share in the comments!