Reading Up On Saving

If any of you are readers, then you know the struggle of how to get ahold of books. For me, I hate buying them because they are so expensive, but if I go to the library and find a great book, it's a bummer to give it back in case I want to read it again, which I usually do. The solution? Thrifting of course! Finding books at insane prices, as low as $1, is a great way to stock up. When shopping for books at thrift stores or consignment shops, there are a couple things to keep in mind. It is not a library and therefore is not in any sort of order besides genre (hopefully). This makes it a bit difficult to find books, especially if you are looking for something in particular, it's like looking for a needle in  a haystack. Another thing to keep in mind is that there is a large array of books, meaning that you can get exactly what you want or nothing at all. You could come across the whole Twilight collection, but won't be able to find one Harry Potter book. It is the luck of the draw, depending on the store, day, time, and other factors.

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From all my past experience, I have found that thrift stores have a better book collection compared to consignment stores; they are bigger and generally a little more organized, like a department store. The first step when book shopping is to find the store you want to scavenge; for me, I find Salvation Army and definitely Savers to be by far the best. Savers, a huge, organized, thrift store that has a warehouse department store feel to it, has rows of bookshelves, with a range of genres. Savers is also huge on sales, and books is no exception. Normally when I am there, their prices are usually something like "buy 4 books, get one free" and they base their price on the previous price; if the cover price was up to $8 before, then the price now is around $1 or $2. Books are more expensive than one might think, so this is a great way to save!

I am a big reader, and I always will be. Summer is my time to read read read; at the beach, at night, by the pool, in the morning, whenever. I have so much free time and to me reading outside by the ocean or under the sun is the greatest feeling. My book collection is extensive, but will continue to grow as I read about 6 books a summer and need new material often. There are many that I read and loved and many I haven't been able to touch at all since I bought them; Under the Tuscan Sun, Life of Pi, Gift from the Sea, False Mermaid, A Year by the Sea, The Lovely Bones, Pride and Prejudice and many more are just some I have purchased.

My favorite book, White Oleander, is one of these books I stumbled upon in a thrift store, but this time I was actually looking for it. I had seen the movie at the request of my mother, and she has great taste in books and movies, being a big reader herself. She told me that it was a book first, but the movie was fantastic as well, with Michelle Pfieffer and Renee Zellweger. After watching the movie, I was hooked, and I made it a goal to keep my eyes peeled for a copy of the book, and I found it the very next time I went to Savers strange enough. It was quite crazy actually, and I loved the book even more than the movie.

Again, this is a super cheap and resourceful way to get books, both new and old. If you are like me then going to the book section is something to look forward to, because I know I will never leave empty handed because of the prices and the array of books.