I used to love to read but when the kids came along, I never seemed to have the time to settle down and lose myself in a good book (ot to watch the soaps or even to have a long soak in a bubble bath) but lately I’ve been rediscovering my love of books.
In my pre-frugal days, I often used to buy books from the Supermarket when we did our weekly shop and as soon as I’d read it, usually in a day or so, it would be relegated to my big box of books under the bed to be transferred into an even bigger box of books in the garage when under the bed got full up. I must have a fortune’s worth of books in my garage!
I’m not a big library fan (for me that is, I do love it for the kids) so I started to buy my books from charity shops and car boot sales, where I find books are so much cheaper that I can buy books by authors I’m not necessarily familiar with as I know I won’t have wasted much money if I end up not liking them. I’ve discovered loads of new authors who I like recently and am always on the lookout for their books on my travels, but I’ve also found another way to get my book fix 😉
I’ve started to use a fantastic website that allows you to swap your books with someone free of charge. The only costs involved are that of the postage and the site recommends that you use second class mail so thats not too bad, certainly cheaper than buying the book new and I’d say it’s comparable to buying it in a charity shop, the benefit being that you can go online to search for a specific book.
The site is Read It, Swap It and you can find it here.
Once you’ve registered, you list the books that you want to swap (dead easy – you just type in the ISBN number and the site does the rest), make a wishlist of the books that you want and the site will then match you up with someone who has one of the books you want and also wants one of the books that you have listed. You can even do kids books 😉
It also has the added bonus of meaning that you’re doing your bit for the environment by buying something used rather than new and lets be honest with books – it doesn’t really matter if its new or used does it.
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I’d say it’s comparable to buying it in a charity shop, the benefit being that you can go online to search for a specific book.
I would also put a vote in for Bookmooch, as you don’t have to find a match up with anyone, you can just “mooch” a book that you like if you have enough points to do so. Does mean that it is competitive for rarer titles though.
I like the idea of that, rather than having to find someone who has the book you want AND wants a book you have – sounds much easier x
I can't afford to use the library!!!! By the time I get around to taking the books back I could have bought several books with the fines – thankfully they don't fine children! So I too have swapped to secondhand book stores / car boot sales and I will look at this book site with interest. Thanks x
lol that sounds like me aswell but I was embarrassed to say as I thought I was the only one who never managed to get books back on time ;-D I feel better now x
Would you please e-mail me with some details on advertising in your blog “https://www.frugalfamily.co.uk/2011/07/a-brilliant-frugal-way-to-read-books.html“? I couldn’t find it here…
I've actually visited a book swap site long ago and I could no longer remember its name. I love the book-swapping idea as it's probably the least costly. It becomes a community too.
I like the community feel as well – some of the recommendations I've had were brilliant and I never would have tried them otherwise x
Bookmooch.com is also a good one, it's better as you earn 'points' rather than have to swap with someone who has a book you want.
I'm a bookcrosser, so bookcross all my read books x
That sounds like a good idea – thanks for letting me know x
I had no idea this site existed – thank you! Have lots of books from charity shops that are just hanging around after I've read them and books deserve to be passed on and re-read. Thanks!
You\’re more than welcome – we may even swap with each other at some point lol
Ooooh! love this 🙂 Thanks for the tip.I've been buying off ebay and had planned to sell them back but this is much better.
You\’re welcome….
Hope you find lots of new books on there x
I do kind of like that idea but post is so bloody expensive nowadays it's ridiculous!!! I'm very much a library girl 🙂 x
I possible would be a library girl if fines were not so high *cough* not that I ever return my books late 😉