Family On A Budget

One of my guilty pleasures is that I love to read. I can sometimes burn through up to 4-5 books a week. That could get very expensive because with the typical paperback costing around 7.99 and hardbacks $24.99. On our fixed budget, buying new books is out of the question. So how do I feed my addition on a budget.

Trading books

There are a few internet sites where you can trade the books you have with other readers. The site I use is PaperBackSwap.com. It is the coolest thing for us readers. Here is how it works:

1. First you sign up and list at least 9 books that you want to trade. This is FREE and very easy to do.
2. One you list your initial 9 books you now have three free credits with which you can order any 3 books that are available. Mailed to you at no cost to you.
3. If one of your books is requested, you can print out a very slick mailer that can be wrapped around a paperback or cut out and used as a mailing label for larger books. Then you mail the book. Until May 14 2007 it will cost around 1.59 to mail out a paperback sized mailing. After May 14 the postage rates are going up.